Bridges aren't so simple

We fell in love with a property in the Catskills that has a one-acre lot next to a road and a six-acre lot across a small stream from the one-acre lot. I had fantasies of building a bridge so that we could place our home on the six-acre lot away from the road and above the flood plain. So I did a bit of research into building a bridge. The article Build Your Own Bridge on the Extreme How To website raised a lot of issues I did not consider. First, the number of regulatory agencies that would be involved, and second, the requirement that the bridge would need to support a fire engine.

I am still wondering if we could park on the one-acre lot and do a pedestrian footbridge and path up to the home on the six-acre lot. How would fire department and regulatory agency concerns impact that approach?

Buying Property

Here are some resources for buying property, with a focus on New York and New Jersey:

Buying Land

How to Negotiate a Land Deal (Inc)

The Do's and Don'ts of buying Vacant Land (US News)

Buying Land: 5 Critical Things to do Before Purchase (Accidental Hippie Blog)

NY State MLS

Septic Systems

NC State University: Investigate before you invest SoilFacts

• Determine the types of soils on the lot.

• Find out what type of septic system, if any, will work on those soils.

• Obtain a septic system improvement permit (IP) from your local health department.

• Obtain a cost estimate for installing the kind of septic system you need. Ask about the operating requirements and maintenance costs for the system

Septic Systems: Evaluation and Testing: Soil Depth

Catskill Watershed Corporation Septic Programs Overview

Flood Information

Flood Factor (Flood information by address)

General Maps

Sullivan County Webapps Image Mate

Environmental Maps

National Wetlands Inventory Wetlands Mapper

FEMA Flood Maps by Address

New York State Environmental Resource Mapper (wetlands, etc)

New York State GIS Maps

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation EAF Mapper

New Jersey State GIS Maps

CT Environmental Conditions Online Maps

New York State Watershed Maps

USDA Web Soils Survey Maps

The Long House: Inspiration for our new home

Our son has found a beautiful house for inspiration for our new home. It is the Daylesford Longhouse in Victoria, Australia. More great sites about this building are here and

Kalwall would be an excellent material for it, and I found out that there is a retail version with price quotes here: http://www.solar-components.com/Panels.htm. The company has a lot of exciting sustainable products and concepts that we can explore for our home!

Another option is corrugated translucent fiberglass, which is what was used for the Longhouse. Enduro Tuff Span looks like one option.

Palram seems to be a good company for translucent polycarbonate roofing and siding panels. One that seems appropriate is their Suntuf Panels . I like the Solar Control Silver, although I will need to see samples. It has a 20% light transmission rate but seems fairly translucent. More on these panels in their installation brochure.

I am researching prefabricated metal structures for support. This looks like a great company to work with, but they are Colorado based.