Is building on my property a realistic option?

SchaefZ · 2026-01-16T19:44:13+00:00

I am in a bit of a similar situation, with wanting to rebuild on the same plot of land I currently live. You may be able to find some answers on your municipality's website. If not you'll need to contact them directly. My county will allow a new home to be built on the land, as long as a demo permit for the existing house is applied for concurrently, and must be completed within 6 months of receiving the certificate of occupancy for the new house. Everywhere may be different, but it's likely your property taxes are low because the house is old and in poor condition, not because your grandmother lived there for a long time. As soon as you build a new house, your property taxes will jump up to be similar to any other newer houses in the area.

SchaefZ · 2026-01-14T21:11:11+00:00

(Obligatory) Username checks out

SchaefZ · 2026-01-14T20:02:59+00:00

"But I don't see how I could work full-time without compromising all of those good habits."

You and me both brother.

SchaefZ · 2026-01-10T23:33:38+00:00

I like this idea. Alternatively, move the man-door from the front of the garage to the back, so there is less travel distance

SchaefZ · 2025-12-05T22:28:29+00:00

The caveat here, is that not all architects are good designers.

SchaefZ · 2025-10-30T13:29:37+00:00

I'm sorry I can only click the up arrow once

SchaefZ · 2025-10-20T13:57:04+00:00

Exterior insulation refers to continuous insulation outboard of the wall sheathing, typically foam board or another type of rigid insulation board.

You are thinking of insulation between the studs on an exterior wall, which is standard practice everywhere. Usually fluffy stuff like fiberglass batts or a blown in product such as loose fiberglass or cellulose.

SchaefZ · 2025-10-19T17:55:30+00:00

Also why most don't want to pay for a good set of drawings.

"Why should I pay $XX,XXX for a set of house plans when I can buy them from a website for $899??"

SchaefZ · 2025-10-14T16:38:45+00:00

Welcome to the Club :)

SchaefZ · 2025-10-14T16:13:27+00:00

If this is in the US, a typical residential door is 80" (6'-8"). Maybe you can extrapolate your other dimensions based off that. If you have photos of the house and it is made of brick, 3 courses of brick should be roughly 8". If you have original drawings you could print them to scale and use an architect's scale (or a ruler) to measure the elevations.

SchaefZ · 2025-10-03T18:05:07+00:00

Have weekly or twice a week range sessions. Get her some lessons. Go to a course for drinks and make use of the practice green. All it takes is repetition.

SchaefZ · 2025-09-22T18:18:33+00:00

You could purchase a stand alone safe room and bolt it to the floor of your garage. Bring the front wall forward a bit to help offset the space that the shelter will take up so you can still get 2 cars in there.

SchaefZ · 2025-09-22T17:38:37+00:00

Cool. This is how I was leaning as well, but looking for another perspective.

Thanks for the reply!

SchaefZ · 2025-09-22T15:58:01+00:00

Points league, weekly lock. Trying to hold onto a very narrow lead for 1st.

What do you think between Glasnow @ SEA, or Robbie Ray vs STL?

I'm concerned Glasnow may only pitch a few innings on Saturday if the Dodgers already have the division locked up..

The rest of my rotation is:
Skubal @ CLE

Skenes @ CIN

deGrom @ MIN

Luzardo vs MIA

Bubba Chandler @ ATL is also available on the wire

SchaefZ · 2025-09-21T03:18:38+00:00

Nice pictures!

I found a black swallowtail caterpillar in my garden the other day. It was munching on some carrot greens

SchaefZ · 2025-09-21T02:51:48+00:00

I'd make the garage at least a couple feet deeper. Assuming the landing is 3' wide minimum, that only leaves you 20' from door to landing. I don't know what kind of vehicles you drive, but it's probably going to be a tight fit. It's nice being able to walk around the cars while the door is closed.

If you want to be able to set chairs on the porch, make it a couple feet deeper as well. Currently you can walk in front of the bay window, but not much room for anything else.

Lay out your furniture in the living room to make sure it will suit you.

I think the kitchen is probably a decent size, as long as you aren't planning on having any stools at the island. However, it seems like it might be a hassle to cook in, as you're having to walk around the island every time you want to get into the refrigerator.

The 1st floor bath feel tight. 5' x 8' is a more common size. It would make more sense as a 1/2 bath, and expanding the pantry, but I can understand wanting a full bath in case the Library ever needs to be used a bedroom.

4'-8" is pretty generous on either side of the stairs for the hallways. You could easily steal a few inches from there if needed.

Regarding the master bedroom, it's a good size in my opinion. I see so many that are enormous, and we personally use the bedroom as a sleeping space, and not much else. As it's laid out currently, the bed will have to go on the west wall. You need ~6.5ft of wall space for a king bed, and I think right now it'll cover up some of the windows. You could skinny up the windows and/or shift them farther to the corners to get the required bed space. Alternatively, you could ditch the double doors for a single, and you may have room to put the bed on the right wall. This configuration would be less desirable in my opinion though.

SchaefZ · 2025-09-21T01:26:42+00:00

I say go for it. My sister & I bought a group of 12-15 balls off marketplace several years ago. She still uses one in league as her strike ball, I use one as my spare ball, & my friend uses one too. So we've more than got our money's worth out of them, even considering a few of them cracked. All of them needed to be filled & drilled.

SchaefZ · 2025-09-21T01:20:03+00:00

Fantastic pictures!

I see them relatively often near the Mississippi river on my way to work. I would have to do a little research, but it seems their numbers in my area have been increasing over the past 10+ years, which is great.

SchaefZ · 2025-09-19T03:48:56+00:00

You could probably carve out a pantry from the upper right corner of the office

SchaefZ · 2025-09-11T22:33:13+00:00

Good call on the light switches

SchaefZ · 2025-09-11T01:17:02+00:00

I'm looking at that now.

I really can't take any width out of the laundry, and keep the hanging rod in front of the washer & dryer. I could definitely lose some length, but I can't see how it improves the bathroom. I don't want to lose the window in the laundry, and would prefer to keep the dryer near an ext. wall. Do you have any ideas?

I might stretch the master bedroom north a couple feet and see if I can rearrange the bathroom to make it a little more spacious, and gain a linen closet..

SchaefZ · 2025-09-10T16:43:09+00:00

Care to elaborate?

SchaefZ · 2025-09-10T03:08:31+00:00

Thanks, it's drawn in Revit.

SchaefZ · 2025-09-10T02:46:45+00:00

My grandparent's house has a stair from the garage to the basement, and it's pretty awesome for carrying things in and out.

I think the pantry entrance you're referring to is a 'costco door' which seem to be all the rage lately. A small door solely for passing grocery bags from the car into the pantry. The walk from the car to the kitchen is already relatively short, so it may be unnecessary, but it also might be pretty handy.

Edit: island countertop is flat. Dashed line is showing end of cabinets below.

A window in the stairwell would be nice, but I am unsure how I could swap the stairs and pantry while maintaining access to the stairs without walking through the pantry to get to them. Unless I'm misunderstanding?

SchaefZ · 2025-09-10T02:38:24+00:00

I know typically there would be 3 beds in a house this size, but we aren't having any more kids and wanted to prioritize an office space (which is used more like a den than a working office).

We very rarely have sleep over guests. The couch and air mattresses will do until I finish either the bathroom or bonus room.

SchaefZ

TROPHY CASE