We often admire the beautiful old mountain cabins that are found in out of the way places. This one was built in a community that is now abadoned west of Robbinsville, North Carolina. Its builder knew some important principles of home design that have been forgotten by many today. The home was built in harmony with its environment. That is why it is still standing, though abandoned for over 50 years. The materials were carefully selected to be durable, but were locally produced and affordable. We can learn some lessons from this uneducated builder, that can help us have better mountain homes today.
* How to design for your property.
* How to design for your budget.
* How to design for your lifestyle.
What is so important about designing a home to fit your mountain property?
Let's use an illustration. Have you ever owned a Cadillac?
These cars were designed for a purpose, to give the riders comfort and style.
Would you buy a Cadillac, remove the trunk lid, and use it to haul building materials?
Why not? Because Cadillacs were not designed for that purpose.
But many people are making the same mistake
by building on their mountain property a home that was designed for a flat subdivision lot in the suburbs.
Sure, the house looks beautiful in the magazine.
Perhaps they thought they were saving money on cheap house plans.
But, how much more was spent excavating their lot and building all those retaining walls
to squeeze that house on their steep property?
Fighting the environment in this way is an expensive war and it is leaving ugly scars on our mountains.
But the mountains will always win. Far too many homes have foundations that shift and settle.
Their expensive retaining walls sag and crack from intense soil pressure.
Steep dirt banks are unsightly and often wash out.
Many problems can be avoided by building in cooperation with the mountains.
Have your home designed to fit your property.
Everyone has limits on what they can or want to spend.
What is your limit?
Your budget must pay for the property, the design fee, site excavation work,
the construction of your home, utilities, and landscaping.
Your designer can help you with this.
In my first meeting with the client, I like to discuss their needs and their budget.
My first goal is to give them a rough estimate of the cost of building their home.
I want to be sure they find this acceptible before I begin their plans.
It would be disheartening to have a set of plans designed for your dream house,
and then find out you cannot afford to build it.
There are many ways to adjust a home to reduce costs.
The size of the home could be reduced.
The design of the roof can be simplified.
By altering the plan, site work could be reduced.
If the basement is exposed on one side, some of the living area could be moved to that level.
By making the home more energy efficient, the utility payments will be less, saving lots of money,
and helping the owner qualify for a higher mortgage payment.
The home could be more carefully designed to reduce wasted space.
Rooms could be designed to fit more closely to the furniture that will be used.
The last option would be to build with less expensive materials and furnishings.
Each client has different opinions on where they are willing to reduce the cost of their home.
By discussing this with the client, the designer can design a home that fits their budget and lifestyle.
Your home should also be designed to fit your needs.
There is no way a mail order plan can be designed for your way of living.
We all live differently.
This includes our hobbies, families, individual health concerns, storage needs, tastes in decorating,
and how we entertain.
If your home is designed to satisfy your specific needs, you will have a much better home with less cost.
You could even spend your savings on better materials and fixtures.
It is also important that your home be designed to be accessible by those with handicaps.
Our mountains are a favorite retirement destination. Every home should be designed for this.
A person on a wheelchair or with a walker should be able to get from the car to the living room,
kitchen, dining, a bedroom, and bathroom without barriers like stairways and narrow doors.
Most of my remodeling designs are to change the home for barrier free access.
How much better to design for this from the beginning!
Many homes in the mountains have very steep driveways making access difficult, especially when there is snow and ice.
To save space they often have basement garages with no parking on the main level.
They will have to carry groceries up a full flight of stairs.
If this stairway is outside, it will be covered with ice in the winter.
There are better ways to design mountain homes.
My hope is that people will plan more carefully before they build,
that they will have better homes that cost less and are an asset to our beautiful mountains.
Remember you can't fight the mountains. They are bigger than us. They will win.
I hope this information leads you to a better mountain home.
If you have any questions, ideas, or would like more information, feel free to contact the author.
For a written proposal, including the cost of plans, make a free, no obligation appointment.
How to Contact The Mountain Home Show
Appreciation......
This web site contains information obtained from various sources.
The Mountain Home Show is not liable for the accuracy of this information.
Please contact the source of this information with your questions.
* How to design for your property.
For the last ten years, our mountains have been experiencing the greatest home construction boom ever.
So many people have fallen in love with our beautiful mountains and have built homes here.
But many of these people could have had better homes built for less money.
Perhaps its not too late for you to have a home that is better designed to fit your property and your needs,
while saving substantial cost.
They should have made their plan fit into the environment.
Instead, they tried to change their environment to fit their plan.
How can this be done? By having your designer inspect your property.
By careful observation, all the factors that affect your home can be studied
such as the direction of the view, where the sun will be shining when it is cold and when it is hot,
how steep your property is, how to provide driving access and utilities, and which trees you want saved.
Then your home will cost much less to build and you will be far happier with the results.
This home was designed for this property.
By calculating the slope of the hill, the house could be planned with the correct width
so that each level has a comfortable access to the ground level.
By making the home narrower and longer, more of the rooms face the view downhill.
By careful planning, excavation work can be greatly reduced.
Saving more trees will prevent soil erosion.
By making the floor levels match the ground level, the home can have patios with easy access to the yard.
The residents can enjoy having most of their rooms facing this beautiful mountain view shown on the right.
* How to design for your budget.
* How to design for your lifestyle.
This home was remodeled to add a wheelchair access to the main level.
Richard C. MacCrea
New Homes I have Designed
Remodeling Projects I have Designed.
My Procedures for Designing and Planning
Richard C. MacCrea
Home Planner
Email Richard
P.O. Box 446, Murphy, North Carolina 28906-0446
(828) 837-5787
Other Pages on this Web Site
The Mountain Home Show, Home Page and Site Map (How to find what you're looking for)
Detailed information about the home show (For guests and exhibitors)
Articles (About designing, building and remodeling a mountain home)
The Mountain Model Home (An experimental home that is extremely energy efficient)
The Mountain Model Cabin (A very small mountain cabin designed to sleep four comfortably)
Construction Diary (The joys and frustrations of building these two model homes)
Home Designing and Planning (How to get great plans for building or remodeling your home)
Email Us (Questions about The Mountain Home Show or Your Mountain Home Project)
The Mountain Home Show, P.O. Box 446, Murphy, North Carolina 28906-0446
The Mountain Home Show owes its success to the businesses that participate in the show. They arrange such wonderful exhibits. It is obvious that they take great pride in their work and our show.