My Wilderness Kingdom...finally!

[methusaleh]

As you all know I've been closing up the deal on my wonderful wilderness dream home, and I am starting to move in. I won't be able to occupy it full-time until the springtime because there is a lot of work to be done to make it into a real house, including building a driveway that doesn't require a tracked vehicle to navigate. It was built as a ski/snowmobile retreat and not intended as a year-round home. So you will see some things are half-built and there are tools laying about here and there.

House was built in 2002, elevation is 1680 feet, parcel is 120 acres, state and national forests on three sides, 100% solar w/LP generator backup (plus the gasoline one I already own) professionally installed in 2005, etc etc etc...what can I say, it's my dream!

I waited until there was some snow to make it look real lovely for photos, and here is the album I made (photos are labeled with comments)

Ringo - house

Enjoy! Come share a beer with me and my neighbors the moose and black bears!

 

[tattoopierced1]

how much was the solar stuff if you dont mind me asking... been looking into this for my next house...wanna get off the grid.

 

[size]

Looks peaceful and lovely. I would love it.

 

[jminis]

Looks like a nice place to call home. Best of luck with it.

 

[Ripw4]

damn...thats a nice crib...Of course I would have to stock the trout pond with some monster largemouth bass.

So..What is it going to take to get in your will!!
nice place bro..
congrats!

 

[methusaleh]

I had forgotten about this thread...

tattoopierced-- As I understand it, the whole shebang before labor was about $8000. There are four rooftop panels, I am not sure of the wattage on them, we have two 200A breaker/distribution boxes but are only wired in for about 320A so far (may add more panels), and four deep-cycle marine batteries wired in parallel for backup.

I believe the greatest expense was the panels themselves and the mounting hardware. I have the brochures on the panels somewhere, the conductive parts of them are made of some special ultra-efficient material, I want to say it is silicon based but I am not sure without looking.

And in response to my mention of this house on another thread...

It is located in Vermont about 25 air miles from the Canadian border.

My commute to work will be about an hour under average conditions; the house is in between Burlington and Montlpelier, and my job is closer to Burlington.

As it is now, it takes about an hour just to get from the front door to a civilized, paved road! First things we are doing are improving the driveway (well, actually building one!) and adding a leach field (just a dirty water pipe for outflow now).

Yes this is a full-time residence! Well it will be once I am done prepping it, probably no sooner than May of this year. It was built by a doctor as his personal weekend retreat.

I bought an ex-military Dodge pickup off a neighbor to use as a yard truck and snowplow. We have a Kubota tractor there (by the his and hers outhose) that has two buckets and a set of forks.

Yes I said outhouse...there is a bathroom now and the shower can be used, but the toilet is plumbed but not hooked up to anything...in other words, when you have to take a dump, put on your boots and go for a hike!

 

[Breezed_one]

Looks amazing. Looks ideal for what I would want in the future. Sucks living in Sacramento, Ca and to see that type of a place. Can I ask what something like that might cost. Not to be rude but I am curious what my dream might cost me one day. Love the pics

 

[scott72]

Looks amazing. Looks ideal for what I would want in the future. Sucks living in Sacramento, Ca and to see that type of a place. Can I ask what something like that might cost. Not to be rude but I am curious what my dream might cost me one day. Love the pics

Got half a million???

 

[methusaleh]

Not quite that much, but close to it.

Trust me, this is being financed, I don't have that kind of cash laying around!!!

Part of the reason I am making the investment of time and money to build a real driveway, is that the homeowner's insurance is absolutely sky-high as it is now, because it's impossible for a conventional fire truck to reach the residence. A deuce or a 5-ton however can do it, if they have them; I would assume such a wooded area does. The bank that is financing is dictating a whole list of things to be taken into consideration, among them the fancy-schmancy insurance.

 

[scott72]

Not quite that much, but close to it.

Trust me, this is being financed, I don't have that kind of cash laying around!!!

Part of the reason I am making the investment of time and money to build a real driveway, is that the homeowner's insurance is absolutely sky-high as it is now, because it's impossible for a conventional fire truck to reach the residence. A deuce or a 5-ton however can do it, if they have them; I would assume such a wooded area does. The bank that is financing is dictating a whole list of things to be taken into consideration, among them the fancy-schmancy insurance.

I can only dream of a place like that. Right now I live right in town and it blows. Someday I hope to purchase some acreage and build something nice where its peaceful. Where bouts is this place located in case I wanna visit?

 

[dlew308]

wow nice, can you ski down from your porch? too cool

 

[T-Bone]

Not quite that much, but close to it.

Trust me, this is being financed, I don't have that kind of cash laying around!!!

Part of the reason I am making the investment of time and money to build a real driveway, is that the homeowner's insurance is absolutely sky-high as it is now, because it's impossible for a conventional fire truck to reach the residence. A deuce or a 5-ton however can do it, if they have them; I would assume such a wooded area does. The bank that is financing is dictating a whole list of things to be taken into consideration, among them the fancy-schmancy insurance.

Yep my folks have a place like that. You have to have a good road built in order for fire and rescue to get in and out, or no fire insurance!. I wish I did have my own place like that, but to me its just too much hassle. You have to worry about plowing in the winter, insulating the pipes so they don't freeze, not to mention a myriad of other worries. Plus it takes so damn long just to get anywhere!. I like the convience of living next to a small town or city. I like to be not further than 15 minutes from the nearest hospital, supermarket, dentist. All these things are important to be close by. Also the response time of ambulance, firefighters and police are gonna be a lot longer the farther from civilization that you live.

 

[methusaleh]

Just wanted to update this since I hadn't...

We started moving in in mid-April and it took about a month to realize we would expand the place sooner than planned. We rented a self-storage space because the house is so darn small!

We are expanding the entire front 18 feet and adding a room off the back right now. Next year we will probably relocate the bathroom and possibly add another room to the rear. Within 10 years or so we plan to have kids to we will be raising the roof and adding a full second story.

Things I have learned since moving here:

1) Brand new brake discs can rust in one day no matter how much one drives-- when coming home means sloshing through 3 miles of rutted, muddy dirt roads!

2) Car washes are a dream of the past, vehicle gets covered with dirt again the next time I drive down the driveway! So once every few weeks I wash and wax our vehicles (can't help it, I'm a car nut) just to protect them. Cosmetic beauty of vehicles has been given up on.

3) When visiting friends in the suburbs and a car drives by at night, it sounds almost frighteningly loud. I've become conditioned to absolutely no noise except frogs and crickets at night.

4) The lakefront part of our property (not near the house thankfully) isn't always a nice place to be-- no nude sunbathing or privacy because there's always people fishing on boats. We can't even launch a kayak without people staring when the weather is nice.