The Property

Our property is east of Eureka Springs, AR, close to Beaver Lake. It includes 33 wooded acres that stretch across three hilltops. We chose to build on the western end of the middle hill--an area previously occupied by a doublewide trailer (Google Earth still shows the trailer).

The last owners had installed a 500-foot well, a septic system and a concrete storm cellar (east of the build site) around 2003. You can see the cellar and old concrete footings in the image.


The house will be oriented with the length running north and south. This puts the majority of windows facing east and south.

This is the eastern side of the storm cellar. We plan to keep it and use the roof as a walkout patio. The house's floor will actually sit a few feet above the cellar.


Don built a temporary platform to check the crawlspace height. Nate and I test it out.


When completed, the floor will be level with the road that is maybe 100 feet from the house. We will build a short footbridge to the front door to span the dropoff before the foundation. The plan is to make this a gravel moat with a french drain.