Building a house (off-topic!)

Like I said, I shouldn't be the one asking questions about how to live in the desert...  

It seems you have catchment pretty well in hand already.
If the new house adds to that ability, all the better.  

Gentlemen, I have hit a snag… the county plans examiner told me that my design needed an engineer’s stamp because of the wall height. I was aware that this might happen, but my preliminary research indicated that I might pay $.50 to $1 per square foot for the service. I was okay with that. But in reality, no engineer wanted to take on my project. Most are currently buried with work and could not be bothered. The one guy I finally found raised his estimate three times. After the third increase at $4,000 I told him not to proceed with a formal proposal. Not only did I not like his price and business ethics, his firm would not sign off on any design with ICF below grade. That is not a code requirement, just their company policy. Oh, and the lead time would be at least 8 weeks after receiving a deposit.

Maybe I am overreacting, but I did not want to pay that on top of permit costs just to break ground. I really am on a finite cash budget, and I might need those funds later on, especially the way the economy and inflation are going. I am not acting as a GC, my budget is for materials and I will be doing as much of the labor as I can. $4,000 could mean a lot of materials.

Luckily the plans examiner is extremely helpful and supportive. He just has to make sure non-engineered structures meet code as they have some responsibility by approving the plan. He told me that the maximum wall height I can build without engineering is 12’ wood frame, 10’ masonry (which includes the EF Block). Also, I cannot frame on top of block to reach 12’.

I figured out I could still manage to build the main section of my shed roof design with a 12’ wall if I reduced the pitch to 2/12. But this forces a choice between the EF Block and the skillion roof. As amazing as the block material is, I’m not willing to give up the vaulted ceiling and clerestory lighting. I am headed back to the drawing board to reflect wood framing and a lower pitched roof.

The other issue is the side with the porch and smaller bedrooms won’t work as the roof would be too low, even with the reduced pitch. I have enough crawl space there to step them down, but my wife’s RA is progressing to the point where I don’t want any steps in the floor plan. I have a design change in mind, but it will require further re-drawing…

Bummer!  I don't know what else to say, Jonathan, but bummer!  That's awful.  I hope you have a stroke of brilliance and come up with an easy fix for this.  

This may be naive but have you asked the block company if they have an engineer they work with?

Im assuming that licensing is statewide, and not county by county.

Jim, the guy who gave me the quote was actually the fourth referral from the folks at EF Block. He said he knew of others, but that they would likely be even more expensive. His suggestion was to roll with the quote, although he strongly disagreed with the ICF below grade.

You are correct, the license is by state. I followed leads from the county office, the engineering firm that printed my drawings, as well as Google and online groups.

Gary, it is a bummer and a setback, but the silver lining is that lumber prices are dropping dramatically, and I expect I will save money on frame construction, which may help offset everything else going more expensive. I feel optimistic that it will work out.

I'm sorry to hear that, Jonathan.
I hate it when a well laid plan fails to gel.

Hopefully you can regroup and start rolling.

That certainly IS a silver lining.  I didn't expect lumber prices, or any prices for that matter, to come down so quickly.  

Gentlemen, House Plans version 2.0 are complete and turned in to the county planning office 🙂.

The new design still uses EF block for the perimeter walls. The roof is a half-monitor type, with a 12’ clerestory wall down the center. The plans examiner said I can frame in the end walls above the 10’ masonry maximum since it does not support the roof. The new design will be cheaper to build than version 1.0, and has some aspects I like better, some compromises I dislike. But overall I am happy with it and glad to be moving forward with the permit process. Once approved I will get my block order in and start digging!  

Cool!  The plans look good, and the ability to move forward is excellent!  

August… yikes… it is four months and counting that my plans have been road-blocked at the county level. It is hard to talk about without getting mad and speaking in cursive… but this week I believe I caught a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel.

My permit correction letter stated that my new plans still required engineering because my land parcel is classified as wind exposure C. The plans examiner told me I could build a 12’ wood frame wall within prescription of code, but that was assuming a general wind exposure B. Because of the large distance between structures in Golden Valley, my parcel classified as C, therefore the county CBO called out the requirement for engineering above 10’. It took me almost two months to find an engineer that is taking on new projects, and willing to work with my hand drawn plans. He is out of state, but licensed in Arizona. I am still bracing for his estimate, but at this point I am not inclined to change everything again just to try and avoid engineering.

The letter also said I needed to provide an ESR (Evaluation Service Report) on the block. Neither EF Block or the Perfect Block have this. It costs the manufacturer somewhere around $70K to obtain, plus $20K annually to maintain… and it isn’t required by code. These are leave-in-place concrete forms that are not structural. They are technically a “method” more than a material. The county officials were only convinced of this after they were directly contacted by both block manufacturers and my engineer and provided with multiple sets of documentation from each company. My engineer even suggested that I might want to hire an attorney if the county refused to approve the plans. Begrudgingly the county conceded that the ESR was not necessary. (This took weeks to accomplish).

I thought things were a go, when the plans examiner called and told me there was a snag. I would have to add R-13 insulation to the block walls to meet the wall minimum. Either R-8 foam board on both sides or 2x4 with R-13 fiberglass inside. This is insane. The empty blocks have a static R-value of 22 by themselves, and (once filled) the thermal mass multiplier puts them at R-47 in my climate zone. The owner of EF Block just about lost it. He advised me to use an alternate material, as he felt this particular county office was acting on a bias against this building material type, or against my building plan specifically. He told me he was furnishing blocks for two other projects in my county with no such issues or hang-ups over documentation. I sent (again) the sections of the block literature related to R-value… and this time the examiner said I was clear to use it without adding insulation.

So currently I am waiting on my engineer’s proposal, then a plan review and wall design. Except for the cost and lead time I am hoping that the road blocks are cleared and that I can finally get a shovel in the dirt first thing in 2023. I’m starting to feel like actually building the house may be the east part…

Oh wow, Jonathan!
I can definitely relate to your situation, but it's not as if you're groundbreaking.

I'm here within 1/2 mile of 13' above mean high tide and stupid hurricane and flood codes apply to houses way out in the woods.🤷‍♂️

Man, that has to be frustrating!!!  But maybe you have cleared the road blocks and can start next year - which is only a few weeks away.

Jim, the tragic reality is that when I turned in my first design we were still under the 2012 IRC. By the time I redesigned to side step the engineering the county had adopted the 2018 IRC. If I had been able to submit my new design before February, I don’t think a lot of this would be happening 😞.

That said, I VERY much appreciate that I only have to comply with general international building codes, and I do not have to *also* meet local ordinances which in your case do not sound like they are sensible or reasonable for your rural building site. I count my blessings and you have my sympathies for sure.

Gary, 2023 is indeed just around the corner and hopefully will be a better year for tangible progress!

After 3 months and $3,000 I received structural engineering for my high wall, and a plan review and engineer’s stamp on the rest of my hand drawn plans. I printed out two sets at staples and submitted them to Mohave county. I just received an email stating that my permit has been approved and is ready for use upon pick-up and payment of fees ($1,900). Yippee! Time to get this project in gear…

I have been preparing the build site by expanding our chain link fence. I added 100’ and relocated 150’. Whoever put the original fence in back in the 80’s went a little crazy with the concrete post anchors. Some had blobs of concrete 2’x3’ and weighed probably 300 lbs. Yikes. Those were some big holes to re-dig and you pretty much just got one shot to drop it in where you wanted it. The relocated section isn’t quite as straight and pretty but it keeps dogs in and coyotes out.

Yippeee!!!!  Congrat's!  

And I see the '81 is doing fence-stretching duty.  

Congratulations!

Thank you gents! And yes, the ‘81 had fence stretching duty. Not to mention those 14 posts with monster blobs of concrete… those were removed from the ground courtesy of a tow chain, front hitch and 4wd Lo.

In my experience 4Lo will move anything.

I dug my foundation with a two ton mini excavator. Now comes the much harder work of hand finishing the trenches to grade and setting the footing forms. It is tough going in the rocky desert alluvium and the temps have been as high as 112*F. The race is on to get the rebar placed and inspected, then concrete poured before monsoon storms start coming… that backhoe was small but deceptively heavy. The old ‘81 got quite a work out hauling it to and from the build site. 💪

Yippee!!!  Progress!  But be careful in that heat, please.

As for working the 81, I sorta understand.  I rented a man lift recently for work at church and it was heavy.
 But the trailer it came on was massive.  While the 460 in Big Blue didn't seem to care, the weight of the rig, the little tongue weight it has, and the lack of brakes on the trailer made it a handful.