141–150 of 229 posts
If you want to build with concrete, look into ICF (insulated concrete forms). These are foam panels that easily fasten together make the forms. After the concrete is poured, the forms stay in place to form the insulation. If you are handy, you could probably do the pour yourself with friends and family, saving you a lot of money.
I've built a house, in the sense that I was working as the general contractor and hiring out crews and tradespeople to do the actual work. My involvement differed anywhere between hire-a-crew and pay them when they are done down to doing certain things myself 100%. A few takeaways: - Things seem simple from the outside, before you do them for the first time. They are in actuality quite complicated. Even something as…
I'm thinking about dipping my toes into this world by building a shed. As David Lynch said: "Whenever you can build a shed, you've got it made" "I'm a shed builder. If I was just left alone, I would build sheds. I would plan them at Bob's Big Boy Coffee Shop, and I would become very excited with these coffees and a chocolate shake. So, when I left Bob's, I would be racing home with plans for certain parts of a shed,…
It was fun! Like a "hello world" for human habitats.
For custom homes, the amount of details and things to consider for the structure itself is enormous. Each area is a specialized skill, from the paperwork and inspections, the waterworks, electrical, ventilation, lighting, accessibility, and more.
We worked with the architect for over four months, making him earn his pay to fit everything to our requirements. While we were quite demanding, the wife was an architect in California and I run software projects, we were sympathetic and tried to give clear change requests along with reasoning.
During the build, we visited the location regularly and was allowed to make last minute decisions. Again very aware to make sure the changes were trivial and straightforward.
While we settled on wood frame house (with ceramic sidewalls), we also looked at steel and concrete. I think the most compelling concrete build is this "Hebel House" with the use of aerated concrete. This type of concrete provides insulation along with other concrete properties such as resistance to fire.
For homes with modern amenities, there's too many specialized knowledge for one person to do a build in a reasonable time frame. There are firms with a team that can help with the build. And it's important for the most important stakeholder, you the owner, to be fully involved but also work with the experts.
No, I have not built a house. However, I highly recommend you take a look at two books before you move earth. The first is "House" by Tracy Kidder. https://www.amazon.com/House-Tracy-Kidder/dp/0618001913 The second is "Renovation" by Michael Litchfield. https://www.amazon.com/Renovation-4th-Completely-Revised-Upd... The first book is a detailed, engrossing narrative about building an actual house (it exists). The sec…
Additionally, you may want to check out super adobe structures. It would be interesting to try automate construction of some of calearth's [0] designs. I can imagine a machine filling and laying the earthbags fairly easily... and IIRC some of their designs have already been certified and legally built in San Bernardino county.
I've built a house, in the sense that I was working as the general contractor and hiring out crews and tradespeople to do the actual work. My involvement differed anywhere between hire-a-crew and pay them when they are done down to doing certain things myself 100%. A few takeaways: - Things seem simple from the outside, before you do them for the first time. They are in actuality quite complicated. Even something as…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As someone who has done some home renovation projects, this is so true. For example, if you mess up a grout line when you tile, your eyes will be drawn to it every time you see it.
I assembled my bed before two days and the panel covering the hydraulics is bit off angle because of my mistake. It still bothers me every 5 minutes @-@
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As someone who has done some home renovation projects, this is so true. For example, if you mess up a grout line when you tile, your eyes will be drawn to it every time you see it.
I assembled my bed before two days and the panel covering the hydraulics is bit off angle because of my mistake. It still bothers me every 5 minutes @-@