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Ask HN: Have you built a house?

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Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?

#171

Post by jorblumesea »

jerrre wrote: post #78
emodendroket wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - Things seem simple from the outside, before you do them for the first time. They are in actuality quite complicated. Even something as straightforward as painting a wall will be hard when you are doing it for the first time. You will make mistakes if you do it yourself. Try to do it yourself only in areas where you can tolerate such mistakes. I'm not a home-builder but I am a home-owner. Let me add that any work…

I think that depends on personality maybe? I'd rather live with sloppy work I'm proud I did myself than to think I hired somebody and they delivered a bad job.

Also depends on how much money you saved. A bad job for $200 is not as big of a deal as a mediocre job for $2k.

Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?

#172

Post by dionidium »

damon_c wrote: post #143
dionidium wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

I built a shed. https://imgur.com/a/MHm6gpc It was fun! Like a "hello world" for human habitats.

Very cool!

Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?

#173

Post by hnzix »

mauvehaus wrote: post #99
ghaff wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Even something as straightforward as painting a wall will be hard when you are doing it for the first time. Painting is one of the things I do myself, in part because it's something I do often enough that I more or less know the various gotchas, techniques, etc. It's also the case that, when redoing areas that were already painted which is most of what I do these days, I can take some very timesaving shortcuts that…

I've never hired anybody to do interior paint, so I'm wondering: do pros ever actually tape a ceiling border? I've always just cut in by hand. I've found that it's usually high enough that any minor imperfections aren't noticeable. The last time I did a wall or ceiling, the crown molding had been painted so many times, it would have been nigh impossible to tape it and get a satisfactory result. But I've been living i…

Tape is good for perfectly symmetrical timber edges like door and window frames (tape the wood, not the wall).

For everything else it's way faster and neater to do by hand, but it takes a lot of practice to get right.

Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?

#174

Post by burfog »

jakamau wrote: post #21
sonaltr wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes, and cutting trees down and transporting wood around is so great for the environment...

I'll entertain this line of thought. 1. Most of the trees that are cut down are coming from farms. The trees were planted with the express purpose of being harvested. 2. The transportation network for traditional building materials is built for scale. Outside of the last mile, that transportation network is far more energy-efficient than transporting materials and equipment for non-traditional buildings. Counter-poin…

For the wood, add the impact of frequently pumping in termite poison. Also add the impact of increased energy usage for heating and cooling.

Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?

#175

Post by tangentspace »

dionidium wrote: post #136
koliber wrote: post #6

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,…

I started building a shed this winter: https://photos.app.goo.gl/cMVk5TpIdQ0x0WvZ2

I'd say it's an excellent way to get a feel for what it takes to build a home. There are a TON of details, especially if you don't want it to rot.

If you intend to heat it in the winter, be sure to consider the effects of condensation. I made the mistake of building my first shed without proper ventilation, and it was like indoor rain when I turned on a space heater. For my second, more permanent shed I've followed building codes for real homes to avoid making any more big mistakes like that.

Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?

#177

Post by AngryData »

If you are building with concrete I would pay close attention to a few things. Insulation, concrete is shit by itself. Airflow, normal wood houses use the tiny gaps and seams and shit to help draw air through the house all over, a concrete home doesn't and you should make sure you have proper ventilation throughout the house or it will be damp and musty and grow mold. Plumbing and wiring, if you don't have tubes plumbed before you pour you have to build essentially an entire wooden house on the inside to hide the wires and water lines and drywall it all over, near doubling your costs. Foundation, a concrete house needs a more substantial foundation, and if anything settles out of plumb and square later, you can't do anything about it, unlike a wooden home that can be jacked up.

Also, make sure you verify you can get utilities to your house. Just because everyone around you has water and power and internet hookups, doesn't mean they will hook you up, or not charge you a literal fortune to do it. And don't fuck around with permits and shit, they will fuck you if they can.

Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?

#179

Post by dylan604 »

wlesieutre wrote: post #158
dice wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>budget overrun of 40% and spent close to twice the number of hours I estimated up front Sounds typical for construction.

Needed more practice in construction estimating, which is yet another discipline that you wouldn’t immediately think of when someone says “build a house.”

After spending his entire career in construction, one of the last jobs my dad had before retiring was in preparing bids for proposals. The company wanted people with lots of experience in the bidding process. Not just on-budget, on-schedule, but people that had been through over-budget, behind-schedule so that they knew what to be aware of as potential pit falls.

Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?

#180

Post by somberi »

nextos wrote: post #83

I've lived in 7 different brand new houses within a relatively short time period. Brand new meaning I was the first person living there. Even different countries, contractors, etc. The whole experience has made me quite strong-minded about a few things. And I've also converted to hardcore minimalism. First, I've seen so many crazy bad construction jobs that whenever I buy a new house I'll try to buy something modular…

Koda is lovely, but expensive. Nothing wrong with that, but might be an obstacle for the value-seeking segment.

https://katus.eu/learn/news/koda-prefab-homes-2-years-later

and a related read:

https://katus.eu/learn/news/new-hype-airbnb-prefab-modules

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