Building the perfect ADK ski house - a work in progress

I'm comtemplating another addtion to our house.  I want to make sure I don't miss some important details as I did in the last expansion.  

We started with an inexpensive chalet in the "Acres" in Jay.  When we were weekenders it had the basics of a small bedroom, kitchen / living room combo and a loft for guests to sleep in.  Later we finished the walkout basement with a mud room enterance, master bed room with a utility / drying room.  A washer, dryer and a warm room to dry wet clothes is a must for a ski house in my opinion.  When we moved here full time we added a garage with a heated workshop and above it my office, a bar / TV room and a real guest bedroom.


The original chalet is in the background and the additon in the foreground


The builder suggested the raised breezeway connection that has plenty of windows and light.  Besides the bar this is my favorite part of the house.

When we added the addition I made a few decisions that I regret and now I am planning to correct.  I did not have any water or septic added to the additon due to the old septic system I was told could not handle any more and it saved money.  We have since had to upgrade the septic system.  I now want to add a bath room to this.  Also I wanted a dark area for the big screen TV but I did not realize that not having any windows on the back of the house hurt the air flow in the summer and preventing the cool breezes down drafting off the mt we are on from coming into the house at night.  We also need more storage room for all our summer toys and stuff in the winter. We are getting too old to sleep in the basement so the guest room will become our room and the basement will be the guest room.

I'm thinking about adding a dormer off the back with a storage room off the garage on a slab foundation and a bathroom with some closets and windows to fix my issues with the addition.

Anyone else have ideas that a ski house (this one we will in full time) must have.  My wife has deemed this is my last addition project so I need to get this right.

Here are a few key things I did learn from this that could help others
Bury your propane tank so you don't have to look at it and connect your gas grill to is
a screen porch in the DAK's is a must have if you want to sit outside at night in the summer
make sure you understand the wind and cooling effects of your property
If you don't pave your driveway you will have to have it graded and gravel added often - just pay for paving it upfront
I would probably go with a metal room next time - regular roofs don't last very long in the DAKs
If your house is on a hill proper drainage is the best investment you can make

Nice house, but how much work gets done in the office with the bar right there?

I couldn't agree more about the metal roof. I have a flat roof, which I have to rake after a day skiing. I also agree with your point on paving the driveway.

I saw the house in the link below when in DC a while ago and thought it was full of good ideas for a ski house. Check out how they built the exterior walls - I thought it was pretty cool.


http://solardecathlon.middlebury.edu/

tom

Very cool house so far, Coach. I like the breezeway, though it must get a little chilly in the winter.

If you haven't already, I suggest reading Sarah Susanka's book The Not So Big House. Her basic premise is that too many North Americans spend too much money on houses that are too big, badly designed and poorly built. Take the same $ you could spend on a 5000 sq. ft. McMansion and build a 2000 sq. ft. custom house with really nice trim and details. Clearly, you are not living in a McMansion but the book will give you some excellent food for thought and design ideas. Probably the best thing I got out of it was to get the TV out of the living room. The living room is a place for being social and relaxing. Put the TV in a "media room" where you go and sit when you want to watch the tube.

Good luck. If you need someone to draft up some plans, Telemark Dave is your man.

Edit: another place to get novel ideas:
http://www.treehugger.com/design/

One further thought. Metal roofs are great but you have to think about where the snow will land because it WILL slide. Trust me, we have metal. Looking at your pics, if the roof was metal, the avalanches would bury your pathway, break your copper walkway lights (the rabbit will be safe), cover your BBQ and possibly take out the stairs.

And inquiring minds need to know: the little bear climbing up the rope to the beehive - is that bird feeder, or what, exactly?

Sick Bird Rider wrote

One further thought. Metal roofs are great but you have to think about where the snow will land because it WILL slide. Trust me, we have metal. Looking at your pics, if the roof was metal, the avalanches would bury your pathway, break your copper walkway lights (the rabbit will be safe), cover your BBQ and possibly take out the stairs.

And inquiring minds need to know: the little bear climbing up the rope to the beehive - is that bird feeder, or what, exactly?

we use a roof rake anyways to keep the ice from building up on the eves - my wife having grown up in Buffalo and lived in Watertown is fanatic about that.  The metal roof would make that a moot point.

The bear is a wind chime.

This is such a fun topic.  I have nothing really to add as my experience is with a much smaller building. But of course I will add something anyway.

For the cabin, I went for the steepest roof that was consistent a usable space inside.  I think our roof is pretty close to 45° with a dormer and it's steel. I love it when it snow and you can hear the sheeting snow coming off the roof. The icicles are cool too.



Also admittedly OT for this thread, here's everything I learned building the cabin:

http://nyskiblog.com/building-ski-cabin/

Naive question since I know nothing about this stuff, but would it generally be cheaper to buy someone's existing ski hut rather than build your own?

We started with a chalet that was built before the Olympics and we are the second owner.  We paid under $50k for it and have been fixing it and adding on since.  I might be cheaper to sell it and buy something else but what is the fun of that?  Also I want to make it custom to my taste and needs.

Good job Coach. Good thread too.
I just bought my first house last week. It is a small cabin without water or septic. I intend to build an addition on the front of it with all the creature comforts. I am a carpenter/excavator and I finally have a chance to build something for myself. I hope to drill a well this Spring.
My situation is way behind what you have. To answer some of your concerns... Paving the driveway is nice but having a place to push the snow is even more important. Metal roofing is the way to go and actually brings your insurance down because of fire danger. Dormers are OK but don't get a sky light. God can't install one that won't leak. I respect that you built the bar before any plumbing in the rest of the house. Put hose bibs and electrical outlets all over the exterior.
Good luck!

Oh, I forgot. If you don't have pictures it didn't happen. My new smoke shack...

Congrats lolkl!  Cool looking building - would love to see the interior.

Zelda just looked over my shoulder and was lusting over the generous square footage vs our place.  

Wouldn't touch skylights in any building I owned.

Everything I'm hearing from real estate agents in the So Adks is that the price of raw land is down vs homes because it's more expensive to build than buy existing.

That works unless you want something... out of the ordinary.  

Right now in the So Daks you can't swing a dead cat and not hit a for sale sign. We have a town house and it is right for us. We take care of the interior - the HOA takes care of everything else. We open the door on Fri night, ski, hike, boat or what ever all weekend and lock the door when where done. I found a house for sale last summer which is exactly what I would build if I wanted to on the perfect lot in the perfect location, but it would double my investment in the Daks, after a long hard think I decided that I would rather not increase my financial exposure and I did not want to retire there. The Daks are great 12 months out of the year but I can't see it as home yet. It would be like making a job out of your hobby.

lolkl wrote

Oh, I forgot. If you don't have pictures it didn't happen. My new smoke shack...

Nice place.  Not far from where we started.  Making this into a home has been great fun for me.

Totally agree on the sky lights - we had one in the house we bought in Waterown and had to remove it becuase Watertown, lake effect, and sky lights to not mix.