Tag: Land

Utilities

What role do utilities have on your property ?

As a youngster, I recall traveling with my parents through the countryside. There were these white colored cylinders that resembled submarines. And in fact as I grew up as a kid, I used to go visit friends and family and play around the tank imagining it to be a submarine. Nowhere in my mind was what this object was really used for.

Utilities transform a blank piece of dirt into something that can be developed. They serve to create opportunity to use the land other then to grow local common vegetation. They add value to what you purchase.

Utilities come in two broad formats. One is those which the owner of the property develops on their own. And the second type are those developed by outside sources and are brought onto the property by easement. Last week, I wrote about easements. They create areas of land that can not be built upon because of something like a utility passes under or over it. Easements create a dedicated space for maintenance of the utility without disturbing the home or building on the parcel. We call those utilities “stubbed in”. Easements are not established from the point on the utility the property owner assumes responsibility for maintenance to a home or building.

Within each of those two broad formats, there are several different utilities that can come that way. Those include electricity, gas, water, sewer, phone, Internet and cable television. Electricity, gas and water services from outside sources usually flow through a metering device before they can be used so that the cost of those utilities becomes proportionate to the amount used.

Electricity which powers almost everything in our homes can come from a local utility company and can either be stubbed into the property by underground cable or overhead wires. Water, sewer and gas services from outside sources are typically brought in by underground means. Cable television, Internet and phone can either be overhead wires, or underground.

People refer to developing their own sources of utilities as “being off the grid”. For a variety of reasons, one or more utility may need to be created by the land owner. Typically when this occurs, permits will need to be taken out from the Department of Building Safety or other agencies to establish those. Electricity can be created from solar panels, windmills, or hydroelectric means. Sources of water usually come from wells dug deep into the earth. Owner provided sewer services come in the form of underground leaching fields and tanks. Gas services can be seen as above ground bottled gas containers like those I played around as a kid. And television, Internet and phone services can come from handheld devices or satellite dishes.

In order for parcels to have their own sources of water and sewer, those lots usually are not located within a city or town and have a sizable area. This is because local governing bodies have rules and regulations on how much distance these two items must be minimally separated by. There can also be rules on how far away they must be from property boundaries since being to close can altar what the neighbor can do on their property. More and more I have seen governments only approve of domestic use water wells if they are fitted with a meter. If the property owner exceeds the amount of water approved, then a fee is assessed. So, if you purchase a piece of ground that does not have utilities on or into it, research what the local governing body has to say about these items. Utilities have a significant cost to put them in place, whether they are stubbed in from outside sources or developed right on the property. But those costs usually add value to the property that exceeds the costs involved. I have known individuals who’s whole motivation to purchasing property was to develop utilities into or on the property and then sell it for a profit.

Purchasing property that already has utilities developed makes that property easier to use. And if your dream is to have a new custom home, then that dream is faster to see happen.

Gary Miller
Principal and Architectural Designer,
Timbertree and Stonecastle Designs, LLC

*Next week the subject will be about drainage and its importance.

Setbacks and Easements

What are Building Setbacks and Easements ?

We all know of homes that feel to close to one another. I have heard individuals joke about how they could possibly touch each home that sit next to each other at the same time. It is interesting how they speak about new homes being to close. But the closest homes I have encountered are the ones built back in the early 1900s in Denver. I have literally had to walk slightly sideways to move between them. Neighbors joked how the cats of the area were able to jump from roof to roof because the older homes were so close to each other in Denver. I have been around properties where buildings were constructed right on the property line, making the side of the building the property line and the roof extended over into the neighbors land. I have met neighbors who disagreed about where their common boundary was and what to do about things built intruding onto the other property. There were instances when I witnessed how not enough room was allowed between buildings to allow a utility to be repaired underground and had to be hand dug out, and filled back in.

The use of setbacks and easements has allowed present day construction to not create these problems.

Most new parcels of land have established setbacks and easements that limit the location where the home and accessory buildings can be built. Easements are areas of land whereby access is given to agencies or companies to maintain what the easement is created for. Easements can be established for drainage or any utility above and below the ground. They are commonly made wide enough to allow repair vehicles access to the entire length of the utility or drainage swale. Easements can also include prohibitions against planting trees and bushes that would need to be destroyed if a repair was to be made.

Setbacks are a set distance from property lines that buildings can not encroach upon. Sometimes roof overhangs can be limited too by easements and setbacks. Overhangs may be allowed in those areas by a short distance. However, even rare, zero lot line construction allows buildings to be built to the property line. Duplex and other townhomes may actually use a zero lot line as a centerline through the common wall between units. When this happens and in homes allowed under 5 feet from a property line, the “Building Code” will limit what materials can be used within a determined distance from that line. This is for the suppression of fire spread from one unit to another property.

The combination of setbacks and easements limit the overall footprint of the home. You can not build onto either setbacks or easements. Materials and number of openings such as doors and windows change depending upon how close the home is built to a property line. You should acquaint yourself with each of these before you commission a design.

Gary Miller

Principal and Architectural Designer,

Timbertree and Stonecastle Designs, LLC

Do I Need A Soils Test?

What is a Soils Test ?

As you stand on the ground you are thinking about building a home on, the dirt feels solid, unmovable and full of life. Surely a home can be built here with no problems you feel. And then someone mentions a need for a soils test. What is that?

A soils test, or by the more technical name “Geotechnical Test”, analyzes the composition of the soil below the surface for its ability to support a foundation of a building. In the Denver area, and Front Range of Colorado, a soils test is required to be done in order for a foundation to be correctly designed and you need to turn in a copy of it to the Building Department there if you want a building permit for a home there. Since the test determines how much weight the soil can take on without sinking or sometimes expanding, it is done by a separate geotechnical engineering firm and is compiled into a report that the structural engineer uses for their design

Along the Front Range of Colorado and throughout Denver, the soils contain a significant amount of clay and bentonite. Both substances have beneficial uses in cosmetics, and in gardening and in making things like bricks and clay fired dishes. But under a home or building, they are responsible for the shifting and lifting of homes and concrete floors and movement in streets and sidewalks. That simple lifting or called “heaving” creates cracks in foundations and floors and also show up as drywall cracks inside and cracks in bricks outside.

The test determines the amount of these substances and other soil constituents to determine the possible amount of movement they can create. Parcels of ground with significant amounts of these problem items can change a foundation design from a simple spread footing to one that requires expensive drilled reinforced concrete piers to hold the home in place. Basements can go from having a concrete floor to a wood floor framed over a crawl space under the basement. Walls in basements are usually hung from the floor above and left floating above a basement floor to prevent the transfer of upward lift into the house above. All these things of mitigation add significant costs to a home.

In Twin Falls, Idaho, the Building Department there has a presumption that the bearing capacity of the soil inside the city limits is 1500 psf. So for every square foot of soil, that the spread footer of the foundation sits on, it can uphold 1500 pounds of weight. Therefore a footing that is 18 inches wide at its bottom can transfer up to 2250 pounds of weight from the home for every foot of length of its foundation walls. Add up the lengths in feet of all of the home’s foundation walls and multiply that number by 2250 and you will have the maximum weight the home can be before it possibly settles or sinks. This of course is a very simplified example to give an idea of what a bearing capacity number can mean to a home design. One of the purposes of the soils test is to determine that bearing capacity number.

Other items a geotechnical test can provide is at what depth within the depth of the hole drilled for the test, is water present. It always amazed my inner child need to drop a stone into the test hole and weight to hear either that thud of a dry hole or the splash of it hitting a surface of water. A tape measure is then used to determine how close to the surface is this water table. Water that is discovered higher then the planned depth of a basement can mean possible trouble with water entering a basement in the future and added expenses in a basement design to try to keep that water out. Sometimes though, the water level is too invasive and a basement idea may need to be abandoned all together. Knowing this thru the use of this test saves a lot of headache in changing plans for a basement.

Another item discovered is a point called the “Point of Refusal”. This is simply where the rock under the ground is hard enough and close enough to the surface that the drill device that takes samples for the test comes to a point where it can not proceed. If the “Point of Refusal” is to high, then the excavation for the foundation could become more expensive, especially if blasting is needed. Or again, a decision for a basement is abandoned.

Typically the test is performed by a company drilling a 6 inch diameter hole going down nearly 25 feet into the ground. Samples of the soil are brought up at different depths in the hole and collected. Those samples are taken to a laboratory where they undergo analysis of composition as well as swell and shrink potential tests. Usually I would see in Denver two holes drilled in the area of the proposed basement could be and one hole made in the area of any garage may be.

After seeing the extent of how underground soil can effect the home above and how easily a home can develop cracks or become flooded by water, I encourage this test as it helps to ensure a better and more sound foundation for the dream you have.

Gary Miller

Principal and Architectural Designer,

Timbertree and Stonecastle Design, LLC

Know Your Land – See Your Dream

What Do You Want Exactly ?

You found that perfect piece of land. It is the beginning of a dream. Every process has a beginning. Knowing your very first step towards having a custom home can seem daunting. What do you do first? Do you first choose an architect, choose a contractor without drawings or go visit the local building department?

You purchased a parcel of ground. You have many choices to choose from. The very first step is to decide whether you want a custom home, a pre-designed home from a plan service, or a home directly from a builder who has a design in hand. You may even choose to hold onto the property, later selling to someone else at a profit. However, should you want a custom home, this ongoing blog will answer your questions about how to proceed.

Should you want a custom home, now is the time to visualize your dream. You will need to gather many examples of things that appeal to you. Do you want a three bedroom, Victorian style, two story home? Is your dream about a four bedroom rambling ranch with a craftsman style exterior? Could it be something else totally different? Collect clippings from magazines. Print pictures from the Internet. Go visit homes already built and note what appeals to you. You need these to help you describe to an architectural designer or architect what your dream is. I have seen many individuals who knew they wanted a custom home but were conflicted inside about what that would be. It is the role of architectural designers like myself, to take all the puzzle pieces you find and pull them together to form that picture perfect place you want to call home.