Take a moment to maintain sanity. Add "photography" to your preferred feed and hit the like button on your favorites. It sprinkles many nice photos into the madness and gives you a moment to breath. There are so many beautiful photos posted each day and I just want to say thank you for them.

Free bread for those in need. A reader sent me this photo taken at Great Harvest Bread Company in Cedar Rapids.

Do you have some buildable property and want to build your own home? I will show you how to design and build the best, strongest, most fire resistant and energy-efficient home on a tight budget. Yes, it can be done and it is easier than you may think.

Do builders still build spec homes? If you do, please let me know. I am happy to share my Ironwood Homes plans with you. We can build unique, high-quality, and affordable homes. Let's bring the cost of new homes way down!

A real starter home. What if you could choose to build a small home with plans to expand as your family grows? No more buy small, sell and buy bigger. If the original mortgage is low and you can save the future additions may not add to the cost of your original home.

The previous posts provided an insight to the plans for how to build an Ironwood Home but just what does an Ironwood home look like? The simple answer is: Just about anything you want it to be.

Ironwood Home Plan notes: When you are looking at the plans (images) in my posts please remember to read the Alt text. There is more information in there because I have 2000 characters rather than the 300 allowed in a post.

A1.9 Fire Resistance There is no more important aspect to building a new home than resistance to wildfires. One day it may be the only way to get a home loan and insurance in certain areas. The Ironwood Home is specifically designed to a maximum but affordable fire-resistance level.

A1.8 Roof Decks From the structural frame to the exterior finishes, the Ironwood Home is designed to accommodate roof decks. I am a firm believer in outdoor living spaces and with homes being so tightly packed together a roof deck may be the best outside space you've got.

A1.7 Interior walls Interior walls is the easiest part of designing and building an Ironwood Home. They are all non-structural and at most must be designed to support upper cabinets and other heavier objects. Your interior can by anything you choose. Only shear panels are immovable.

A1.6 Exterior Finishes An Ironwood Home is designed for non-combustible exterior siding and trim. Fortunately, there are many options available. Most are affordable an easy to install. You can always opt for brick, stone or stucco as well.

A1.5 Insulation No home should be built with inadequate insulation but it is easy to also over insulate. More is not always better when you are talking about costs and a point of diminishing returns. The Ironwood Home is designed with wall cavity insulation and exterior full-coverage insulation.

A1.4 Roof Assemblies Roof truss assemblies are very similar or the same as standard roof trusses. A major difference is they don't tie the exterior walls together, that is done in the structural frame. A roof truss can be made much lighter and in 2-3 pieces for easier delivery and installation.

A1.3 Bay Extensions A Bay is typically 12 feet wide by 4 to 6 feet deep. Bays are used to add square footage to the home and more importantly break up the box look. Use bays for front entrances and interior nooks. Off-set the height to create multi-level roof lines.

A1.2 Wall Panels The exterior wall panels are 12' wide by 8, 9 or 19 feet tall and fit between the shear panels in the structural frame making prefabrication practical and efficient. Build off-site and prior to the site being ready to reduce on-site construction and improve build quality.

Architectural A1.1 Frame Layout Options Structural frames can be arranged in many ways allowing you to design any home size, shape and style you want. Configure your home to best fit the property or take in the best views or block out the worst views. Plan for future growth in the initial design.

Structural sheet S1.5, Foundations An Ironwood Home is best suited for a slab on grade foundation but can just as easily be designed for a crawl space foundation or over a basement. Because the shear panels anchor directly to the foundation the design critical to structural performance.

Structural sheet S1.4 This sheet provides the requirements for structural sheeting (plywood). You can use OSB sheeting (not my preference for many different reasons). Apply all sheeting to building code standards for structural sheeting.

Base Plan Set, S1.3 Frame Arrangements This plan lays out the basic rules for placing several frames together or stacked or separated with in-fill trusses to create the basic design of each home.

Base Plan Set, Structural S1.2 This sheet takes you through the structural frame assembly on-site.