Ideas – Building a hangar house!

2020 05 30

House Requirements

Gathering My Thoughts In A Doc

I have known some architects over my life, and was interested in how they work. It turns out they like it when the customer is prepared. I sat down and created a PRD – product requirement document. All in all, the document was useful, but it was not complete by any means.

Design Goals

My initial design goals are simple.

Single family, one adult child in college, having guests for extended periods (twice a year for a month).
Modern/contemporary/international style, with “simple and welcoming” entrance.
Ranch type
- Two bedrooms (or two master suites)
- Office (which can be later converted to a master bedroom)
- Open kitchen / dining area / living area
- Two car garage, may be detached if necessary
- Possibly media room
Energy efficiency built in into construction
Heating: radiant floors

Thoughts on the Office

I find that huge master bedrooms are a waste of space for me. Yes, I spend at least 8 hours of my day in one, but I am not conscious for most of that time. I am thinking of having an office instead of a master bedroom. For resale value, I would like the office to be easily convertible into a master bedroom.

Another office alternative would be a small second floor addition with windows on three sides of the room, and maybe a bathroom upstairs. Perhaps a spiral staircase up to that room to save space, with a pillar in the middle doubling up as a support for the upper floor.

Thoughts on the Hangar

Maximum hangar size allowable by the CCNRs is 2,000 sq ft. Hangar door opening should be at least 12 foot tall. The width should be at least 46 ft, and the depth at least 33 ft. This is about 1,500 sq ft of hangar space. Hangar floor can be bigger, just need a wall to add the office space inside to make sure we comply with the 2,000 sq ft limitation.

Hangar should have a small bathroom with toilet, shower and a sink, nothing fancy. Hangar should have a 220V, 50-100 A electrical connection, probably with a separate panel from the house.

If the hangar is connected to the house, the retaining wall should have a doorway, and a small storage room should be constructed behind it. There should be another room of a similar size directly on top of the house. These rooms could then be later converted into a lift to the main level of the house. The architectural and structural plans should reflect this idea. If the plans allow, maybe the lift could also be extended to the office space upstairs.

Thoughts on Garage

Two car garage, with a bit of extra space for storage of bicycles, skis etc. Maybe a workbench as well, although the workshop will be in the hangar.

If there are steps from the garage to the main floor, leave space on both floors for installation of an elevator later on.

Thoughts on Construction Elements

Foundation

Concrete slab foundation for ease of installation and durability, and embedding of radiant heating elements.

Windows

Vinyl, with off the shelf sizing. Minimize custom window sizes throughout the house. Tilt and turn windows, and lift and slide for sliding patio doors. No dividers.

Roof

Roof lines should be simple to minimize construction costs, and enable maximum solar capacity. The main roof line should be perpendicular to the street, that will make the roof face south for maximum exposure.

Tesla solar roof is a possibility, although a standard, cheap roof with owned solar panels and a Tesla whole house battery system will do just fine.

Ceiling

At least 10’ ceiling on the main floor. 9’ ceiling in the office den upstairs (if there is upstairs).

Fireplace

Since there is no natural gas at the property, and I don’t plan on installing propane (unless convinced otherwise), the fireplace should be able to accept firewood. EPA certified, zero-clearance wood-burning fireplace.

2016 12 20

Inception

miro Ideas 0

How it all started

I got my pilot’s license in year 2001, right before the 9/11 attacks. Got an instrument rating in 2002, then promptly stopped flying when the family grew.

After moving to California, I started flying again, renting from a local club. A co-worker offered me a ride in his RV-10 in January of 2013, and I got “infected” with Van’s Aircraft total performance.

I wanted to build one in my garage, but the garage was too small. Nevertheless, I started the build, but work and family commitments kept me away from it. I learned that it is hard to balance family, work, and time intensive hobby like airplane building. I sold my kit, and purchased a flying RV-10.

Airplane Weighing

Another “inception” moment came when I made some major changes to the airplane I owned. I replaced a wooden propeller with a metal one, I removed air conditioning which did not work anyway. All these changes caused the weight and balance sheet to get out of whack, so I decided to have the airplane weighed.

A local RV / Experimental aircraft club had aircraft scales, available to club members for weighing RVs only, “no spam cans”. A “spam can” is a regular certified aircraft like a Cessna or a Piper. I joined the club, and flew in to get my RV weighed.

Prime location

It turned out the owner of the scales lived in a fly-in community. I taxied my aircraft directly to his house, and parked it in his “driveway”, where we weighed it. The most time consuming aspect of weighing an aircraft is removal of fuel from the fuel tanks, as you can never be sure how much fuel exactly is there.

During the fuel removal we chatted extensively, and the Scale Captain answered many questions about the community, rules, fees etc. We drove around the neighborhood, and I noticed the “for sale” sign at a few properties. Thinking nothing of these, I just departed after weighing, but the damage was already done.

Taking the plunge

A few months later I flew in to the airpark, and drove around the neighborhood. One lot in particular looked great to me, and it was for sale. I contacted the Scale Captain, and asked him about that lot. He replied that it was for sale for a long time but the owner was asking an unreasonable price. He gave me a contact for a local realtor.

I contacted the realtor, and we had a nice chat. I flew in another time, and met with them at the property. The realtor shared the story of the property with me. The owner was a pilot and wanted to build his dream house there, but passed away tragically. His wife wanted to recoup the investment and placed the property on the market, but they bought it at the top of the market, and it was unreasonably priced. It sat on the market for 10 years, and nobody was buying. Recently though, the owner reduced the price to a much more reasonable amount.

After a short time for weighing my options, I decided to buy the property.

Offer

I wrote an all cash offer, and offered 12% below asking price. The offer was accepted without a counter, and soon after I became a proud owner of a lot in an airpark. That was in December of 2016.