What would be the best category of house to build base on the following? I would like to build a house on manor near the Smoky...

I would like to build a house on manor near the Smoky Mountains. The park is wooded and not on a busy road. I live a day's drive away but want to build this house as a vacation house and eventually a place to retire.

So, the house requirements to be:
-attractive - a log home would be pretty or a traditional looking home
-large enough to fiddle with a family - at tiniest three bedrooms
-built well ample that it will last at lowest possible 50 years (NOT a trailer)
-able to handle one closed up for whole season - sometimes 6-9 months at a time.
-able to resist things like flooding, insects/termites/mice
-It would be nice if it have some level of green-ness but that can come subsequent

I could find someone who could check in on it every few months to clear sure there isn't flooding or anything.

So what do you think? Modular? Log Cabin? Traditionally built home? Basement? Slab? Stilts?

I appreciate any information and proposal you have!! I've newly started thinking about this so I enjoy a blank slate
Before you say that the 'green' could come latter consider the advantages of doing it right the first time instead as an afterthought. Look into straw bale, cob or other natural materials,(save some trees for the subsequent generation), generally cheaper cost for materials but more for labor. Also, utilize tame (if not active) solar in youre heat/water systems(this pays for itself fast).
As a innate materials builder I recomend that you look at these options. Log cabin are not efficient use of trees and are not insect/termite/mice proof, cob can be. Straw bale is great contained by cold climates with it's R-40 insulation worth. Have seen straw bale building after a flood, verbs it real economically, do some patching, home sweet home, also if you use rice straw you will have no termites, mice or even ****-roachs contained by youre walls! Rice straw is such poor feed that although roaches can munch through it , they don't mass reproduce with that as a food source.
For the sake of the adjectives generations I also recommend photovoltaics, hose catchment- permaculture. Although these may be new vocabulary for you today by the time you are ready to start building you will hear them again. In five to ten years these words will be as adjectives as 'hybrids' in todays automotive scene, nonetheless ten years ago only the designers be familiar near them.
Flooding can destroy any home, the straw bale I saw have water but not 'flowing water'. Moving hose can remove embankments, bridges, levees adjectives kinds of things. Good luck and enjoy fun;-}
Peace Bob


I use to build log homes. There are many different designs from almost as lots companies. The log walls are great at holding in the bake as well as keeping cool within summer. Being in a mountain nouns I would highly recommend a tin or steel roof...it's more fire resistant than any other roof...plus it ultimate longer.

The logs provided by this log home companies are treated for insects and will resist them for many years....but added protection next to a log oil is best to be applied after a few years to maintain the logs looking good and insects out.

Get the logs that are cut on 3 sides....they fit together better and you enjoy a smooth flat wall on the inside to hang pictures or shelves.

Get one next to a fire place that will be able to warmth the whole place....after adjectives...you'll be in an nouns where you can grasp lots of wood to burn.
Answers:    Your questions are exceptionally difficult to answer without knowing anything almost: you, your family, your living conduct, the site, and how you plan to use your new home.

And nearby are other questions your should be asking yourself, similar to:
When do I plan on building? What do I plan on spending on construction? Is my site suitable for construction? How am I going to use the house?

Consulting with an architect will assistance you figure these things out and more that you haven't even thought of. And these are the items that stipulation to be figured out previously you worry almost finding a caretaker for the times you aren't there.

The style of the house can be established by your own aesthetic or you can agree to it evolve as a response to your needs and the site itself. From the little bit of information you enjoy given, it sounds like you are going to want more after a McMansion dropped down on your land, so you should thieve your time and do it right. Going modular may work, but you will be likely more constrained in how you will want the house to work for you. There are plenty of "green" ways of traditionally building a house and materials that you can use, which an architect will be capable of help you near.

If you want to be in your modern vacation home sometime near in the subsequent 2 years, I would suggest hiring an architect soon, as it will take several months for your house to be designed, drawings completed and estimates from contractors to be deliver. But be aware, that any architect worth his or her salt will be fundamentally busy and not likely to be capable of take on bright projects for several months. Yes the housing market is slowing some, but The Have's and The Have-More's aren't slowing down at adjectives.

If your time frame is further away, then catch a binder and start putting things that inspire you in it. If you are several years away from doing anything, afterwards it doesn't make sense to judge about some of the things you bring up because when the time comes to build, who know what will be available to you that isn't now.

Being competent to build a vacation home is a great accomplishment for you and your kith and kin, take your time, do it right, build the best you can afford, and your home will be something that your children will know how to enjoy for much more after 50 years.