Construction: January 2008 Archives

Along with putting in a septic system, we will also need to have a well on the property. This is another area in which we will need to do some research since we know next to nothing about wells. We found the a site called wellowner.org which is a consumer information site that should hopefully help get us up to speed. There is certified local contractor finder on the site which could be useful.

We think one way we can get the most out of our little house will be to have a full basement. We can store all the stuff that doesn't fit in our apartment in the city, outdoor furniture during the winter and possibly an even put in an extra bedroom. And what better way to go than a prefab foundation? We are investigating Superior Walls as an option for the foundation. Zach's mom used this type of foundation for her place in Colorado. She said it was fantastic. No guesses yet as to how much it will cost to dig a basement, or to buy the prefab foundation. We will update when we find out more. We are pretty sure that we will have to access the basement from the outside since there is no place for stairs inside the weeHouse. But we will be researching that possibility as well.

The lot on which we will be building is not on a sewer system so we will need to build a septic system. This is very common in rural areas where the houses are spread out and far away from the city center or in areas where the landscape is too extreme for conventional sewers. We are now in the process of educating ourselves on how septic sytems work. We are pretty sure we will have to do another perc test before we can get a permit to build on our land. The last one was done about two years ago, we think, and the test only lasts for two years. We still have a lot to learn about how it all this stuff goes down. The real estate agent also mentioned that according to the perc test, we will most likely have to build a "mound" type of septic system. Again we still have more research to do, experts to consult and tests to preform on the land before we will know for sure.

This site about how to build a septic system is exhaustive and very easy to understand: How to Build a Septic System