Stickbuilt home in footprint of mobile?

14' is pretty narrow. I'd suggest either cantilevering out, building up the downslope, or digging into the hill to get more elbow room. I would never build on the top of a hill or mountain, due to almost constant wind cooling in winter, lightning possibilities, and the worry that it would be a sitting duck for any tornado or windstorm.

FWIW, I saw a lot of the "Katrina cottages" being built for Mississippi. They were built in the same plant that built our manufactured home, but to the specs the Mississippi wanted for housing near the shoreline. They were a lot more cute than most singlewides.

Square floorplans are fine for single folks, but we like having some space between us and guests at night. On the coldest nights, we move out of the master bedroom on the north end, and sleep in the smaller guest room in the center of the home. Works for us.

Above all, study floorplans and then study them some more. The design that I pushed for us to get is about the best one I've seen, and DW is super happy with the layout as well. Other floorplans I looked at were obviously just disasters.

I second that idea of staying away from 2 story houses. We both have had passing issues that would have been much more difficult to deal with if stairs were involved.

You need better friends; 28 X 35 is 126 linear feet. But it is a good point that the squarer the shape, the more square footage for a given price. I'd like a round house- then the devil couldn't corner me LOL! The design I'm working on is rather inefficient; it is a cross gable, with a lot of linear feet for the square footage, and 12 (expensive) corners, as opposed to 4. But I'll have windows on three sides of all my major rooms for light and ventilation. Between good insulation, and a mild climate, hopefully I'll be OK.

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"What one generation tolerates, the next generation embraces." -John Wesley

Actually, I like the way the current mobile is laid out ... I'd probably want to build something identical to it. I wouldn't mind keeping it if it wasn't trashed ... also, it was a very low-quality trailer to begin with (plastic sinks? and the countertops aren't even formica, but some kind of fiberboard?!). The walls aren't even 2x4 ... more like 2x3, I think! It would be a nightmare to heat ... I only heat the front bedroom now, to keep my well from freezing up and to overwinter my porch plants ... that costs me $100 a month!

Nope, it would have to be bricked (blocked) in ... otherwise, my 14 cats would use the space as a gigantic litterbox, and the odor would percolate up through the floor. Ask me how I know this, LOL ...

The other issue with building out over the low side is that's where the septic system is, although I may end up having to replace it anyway. I don't use it ... I unhitched the water from the trailer so as not to have to drain the lines in winter, so it hasn't been an issue for me, but the lady across the road (the mother of the gal I bought the place from) slipped up and mentioned the septic system had been leaking at the lower end because of people parking on the lawn, over the tops of the lines. It was funny, because she's a real estate agent, and probably realized that this defect hadn't been disclosed to me before I bought the place. She quickly changed the subject, and the look on her face was priceless!

That's another very important consideration and something I'm surely keeping in mind. I dearly love a two-story house, but just getting up and down my hill will be challenge enough without stairs too, LOL. Also, I want a small house (cheap to heat and cool, and I'm seldom indoors anyway) and stairs take up a lot of room.

I really appreciate everyone's suggestions and I'm keeping them in mind. I (hopefully) have years to figure out what I want to do here and get it right!

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"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.

As somebody with limited finances who has lived in a series of mobile homes over the years, one consideration for me (if I were you) would be the long hallway having to walk back and forth from one end to another. I had a 12x60 and used to feel I was stuck in a cattle chute. Now I have a 14x52 and that small change in dimensions has made a very good change for me. Sinnce I was a little kid, though, my dream has been to have an octagonal home. You have presented a really interesting problem as to siting. Makes me wonder if you couldn't just buy part of an adjoining parcel and relocate your home altogether so you could dictate the footprint you want based on where your well is so you don't contaminate it with your (new?) Septic system. I LOVED what you said about the secret of the leaks leaking out! Virginia is a caveat emptor state. There is no duty to disclose for the real estate agent so maybe yours felt she had that legal (but not ethical) out? Heck, if she is creative, perhaps she could find you a place with a house you like that you could barter your place for with similar land? When you factor in cost and hassle of replacing what you,ve ot, maybe it would be better to just swap property?

Knew a guy who had a 16' wide...he took treated posts and concreted them in the ground every two feet down each side of the trailer. He then built a gable roof over the trailer with 2x6's and colored metal.

After living that way for a couple of years, he pulled the trailer out, put in some blocks and floor joists, and proceeded to build the rest of the house...

Willow Girl, I wouldn't limit myself to the footprint you have now... unless you have a slab poured. Even then, you could build one portion of your home on the level footprint, and expand out any direction you want, no matter how steep the slope is, by digging 'postholes' sinking sonotubes, filling with concrete, and your set. Have all the top of the tubes at the same level, and at the same points your 'sills' would be sitting on, as if you were building a traditional frame house (not on slab).

Build a grid of sonotubes, set your sills on top, then start framing. You can actually do all of that work yourself... post hole digger, sonotube (or you could just build a square frame out of scrap lumber), a few pieces of rebar, and a couple of bags of cement for each one.

As long as you think you'll be mobile enough to get up and down stairs, I'd recommend doing at least two levels. If your building this yourself, your major costs are your floor (especially if on a slab) and your roof. I built my own home, and the extra floor cost me less than a thousand bucks (probably half that, but ended up later putting wood floors down upstairs, which raised the price).

If your moving to California and going to build on some fire prone/mud slide zone, forget about what I said.

Blueprints? What are they? Get one of the notebooks with grid paper and start sketching what you need. No one but yourself will know what you like, need, and want. I've never seen any house plan that came remotely close to what I wanted, so I did it myself, and the only blueprints are in my brain. If you're going to have to hire someone, you might get by with one of the house drafting programs, which will make 'plans' carpenters/plumbers/electricians can use.

good luck, and remember to think outside of the (trailer house footprint) box ...

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

Why don't you bulldoze more into the hill and build an earth-bermed house.

That's something I like about the mobile I have now. NO HALLWAY!
When you walk in the front door, there is a bathroom slightly to the right, and beyond that, a bedroom on the front end of the trailer. The middle is a big combined living/dining room. The laundry and back door are off the kitchen. A door opens directly from the kitchen into the rear bedroom, and beyond that is another bathroom.

It's a nice layout, just the right size for one person. The only thing I'd change is to put another window in the bedroom, so it would catch the morning light. Maybe add 5 ft on to the end to make the bathroom a bit bigger, too. Other than that, it would be perfect, if it wasn't trashed!

The land around me is developed. There *is* a very small house next door, and if it ever came up for sale, I'd be all over it! Since the owner just built an enormous pole barn, though, I have a feeling he's planning to "stay put." Darn it!

That's also a possibility. The longer I work this land, though, the harder it will be to leave it. I have relocated to a new homestead four times already! I want to be able to pick apples off my own trees, LOL.

This property is far from ideal (mostly because of the darned HILL) but it also has some unique features that I like. The longer I'm here, the more possibilities I see, and the more I like it. Then there's all the work I've already put into it, arghhh!

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"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.

depending on material you can cantilever 2 to four foot which would give you 18 ft .
Its also possible to rent an asv and make the terrace a little wider.

as for building .
if you have a trailor you can always prebuild walls and store them.
I have a design for a 24x36 two bed room. That all the wall framing can be hauled on a 18 ft trailer and set up on a floor of slab in a day.
of course with detailed plans about anyone can frame in the walls on site and have them up in a day just takes planing .
the only advantage to prebuilding the walls is you can build one as you have the funds and keep them in storage . or if your building in a place you dont often go you have have the home boxed in in a day reducing the chance of your material walking off .

If you really want to stick with your present footprint, remember that all dimensional building products are multiples of 4 '. So I would simply bump it out to 16', You will hardly notice the difference on the clearing. Less waste in general. Could use your current plumbing connections as is too. Save money.

And yes, single story with 3' doors inside, or maybe even 3'4". plan ahead for your wheelchair days. Better to plan and not need it than need it and not planned for it.

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We will meet in the golden city, called the New Jerusalem,
All our pain and all our tears will be no more.....

Good point!

Don, I'm not looking at building the thing myself -- undoubtedly I'd hire it done. Hopefully at that point in life, I'll be able to afford it!

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"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.