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Ask HN: Where to find open-source house plans?

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Re: Ask HN: Where to find open-source house plans?

#121

Post by wrmanis »

LightRailTycoon wrote: post #48

Truss manufacturers will usually provide structural drawings for your house using their trusses, if you talk to the lumberyard that sells them. You bring floorplans, and they'll design the trusses to support it. Lumberyards often have fully kitted plan+materials packages you can order, and can often make some changes to suit your needs. Someting like https://www.hancocklumber.com/package-type/home-packages/ Local lum…

I know this is a little buried - but I own a truss manufacturing operation and I'd totally recommend finding one to talk to. If you can find drawings, or sometimes even just sketch out a floorplan (we frequently build out barns or other simple structures based on literal napkin drawings) we'll give you a layout of all the trusses, joists and beams that you could take and just stick frame it yourself based off. Naturally we're here to sell trusses, but I think most plants like us are always down to help out folks in the community if we've got the time.

Re: Ask HN: Where to find open-source house plans?

#122

Post by bombcar »

simonsarris wrote: post #114
bombcar wrote: post #37

I want the plans for a bog-simple square house with boring peaked roof. I want it to be designed to minimize cuts and make building simple. I want the roof to be two slabs with no fancy protrusions, angles, gables, etc. I want something that is easy to build and maintain. As far as I’ve been able to find out, bardominiums are the closest to what I want.

That's essentially what I designed for myself, to reduce budget while (IMO) still looking pretty and historic. It's a 30x38 foot box. I've wrote a bit about it: https://map.simonsarris.com/p/designing-a-new-old-home-begin... But what you decide for the interior plan, to be ideal for you, is very much up to how you plan to use your house.

That's just what I was kind of looking for - I'll be certain to read up on it.

Part of what I want to see is how others use their space, and use that as a "springboard" to how I could use mine.

Re: Ask HN: Where to find open-source house plans?

#123

Post by bennyp101 »

krab wrote: post #56
krab wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In our city, that's the responsibility of the city council and their traffic signs. Actually, there is only an equivalent of HOA for apartment blocks. House owners are usually only bound by law and personal relationships with neighbors (I'm in CZ).

Check street view to get an idea how such a street looks like. Not my place but fairly similar feeling. https://maps.app.goo.gl/AUurWkVyhLMxzmHWA My point is that the needs may be very different according to context.

Not really relevant to the discussion, but those are some lovely looking buildings!

Re: Ask HN: Where to find open-source house plans?

#124

Post by paulusthe »

zemvpferreira wrote: post #21

Here's the thing: The idea of planning a house without taking into account the site where it will sit will never produce a good house. Would a pre-existing plan account for the sun exposure of your land? Would it have a roof that makes sense for how much it rains or snows? Would getting sunlight in the bedroom also mean facing traffic? Would it take advantage of elevation for views or make sure to block a nearby neig…

> If you really want to design your own house (a great idea), look up materials around A Pattern Language instead. Learn what makes a great house, then design a plan incorporating those ideas but customised towards your plot and your needs.

I get this is hn where diy ethos runs deep, but please don't do this. Hire someone to design it and oversee construction for you.

Expertise exists and matters.

Re: Ask HN: Where to find open-source house plans?

#125

Post by hasbot »

wrmanis wrote: post #121
LightRailTycoon wrote: post #48

Truss manufacturers will usually provide structural drawings for your house using their trusses, if you talk to the lumberyard that sells them. You bring floorplans, and they'll design the trusses to support it. Lumberyards often have fully kitted plan+materials packages you can order, and can often make some changes to suit your needs. Someting like https://www.hancocklumber.com/package-type/home-packages/ Local lum…

I know this is a little buried - but I own a truss manufacturing operation and I'd totally recommend finding one to talk to. If you can find drawings, or sometimes even just sketch out a floorplan (we frequently build out barns or other simple structures based on literal napkin drawings) we'll give you a layout of all the trusses, joists and beams that you could take and just stick frame it yourself based off. Natura…

Is the price of a truss fairly linear or is there a length where the price starts to really accelerate? I'm considering building a 30'x60' pole barn with 18" or 24" eaves making the trusses 33' or 34' long.

Re: Ask HN: Where to find open-source house plans?

#126

Post by hasbot »

rcazangi wrote: post #104

At the risk of being slightly off-topic, what are good sources to find out wether and in which conditions building your own house is financially advantageous vs buying an existing (new or old) house.

At least in America, with the massive increase in material and labor costs and greater building codes, a newly built home identical to an existing home will cost more than the market price of the existing home.

Re: Ask HN: Where to find open-source house plans?

#127

Post by jacob171714 »

spacecadet wrote: post #66
jacob171714 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its best to take and use the principles of it in another house. I personally don't want a bunch of tires breaking down and leaking chemicals and fumes into my house over a couple decades. Also much of the savings are from using your labor or volunteer/intern labor rather than paying someone else.

People have built earthships without tires to great lengths and personal energy expenditure.

If its worth it for you then thats great. But at least the original earth ship requires packing like a hundred or two tires without power tools. There are machines that make bricks out of earth and there is probably a way to use recycled material to hold those to together in the same way as tires

Re: Ask HN: Where to find open-source house plans?

#128

Post by justusthane »

ghaff wrote: post #72
mgkimsal wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they can park on the street. If the HOA allows it... ;)

Or the town. It's very common in places that get snow for on-street parking to be prohibited during 5 or so months of the year because of the potential need for snow plowing.

Not to dispute that but just for another point of view, I've lived in four different towns, varying in population from 1,300 to 120,000, all with very long winters, and they've all allowed on street parking all winter (usually alternating sides of the street to accommodate plowing).

Re: Ask HN: Where to find open-source house plans?

#130

Post by jjtheblunt »

RektBoy wrote: post #45

For my amusement, I presume you're from US or UK. How much do you usually pay for a house project? For comparison, I've paid around $2000 for whole family house project, it's not just plans but also heat-loss computation, heating systems plans etc. Country CZ (EU). It's two story house made of "bricks", with gas+wood+heat pump heating systems. I would say pretty classical here. For ~$270k, not counting the property.…

How are "bricks" different from bricks?
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