If you decide to do it from hempcrete instead of concrete, I can recommend Essential Hempcrete by Chris Magwood which is a good book on the subject. Hempcrete is better suited for a DIY project than concrete, it also more natural, has decent insulation and acts as a humudity buffer, has good time shift properties and fire resistance. It also involves wood framing, but the framing is usually burried into the cast hemplime material.
Ask HN: Have you built a house?
181–190 of 229 posts
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#182Two things:
1) I am currently building a house. Pretty much every comment here is dead on. It's hard. Especially the first time. And especially anything that isn't "standard" will cost about 2x more than what you expect.
2) I stayed in an airbnb in Iceland this past spring. The house was built in the 70's and was mostly concrete. Interior walls were poured concrete. It was cool until I tried to check my email in outside of the room that had the wifi router.
There's rebar in all that concrete and I'm pretty sure it was a big faraday cage.
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also don't forget considering permifrost and pumbling regulations. In the north that's an issue and we tend to burry pipes deeper.
If you have permafrost, there are many, many other issues to deal with. (I live in/near permafrost). I think what you are referring to is that in most areas, you are required to extend the foundations below frost depth.
Right. And even “small” things like deck footings need to use sonotubes or similar to get below the frost line. Otherwise one or two years of frost heaving will ruin that new deck.
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#184I have no affiliation with this YouTube channel, but here's a guy who does an entire in-depth series on how to build a house from scratch[0], from surveying the land, to getting permits, to pouring the foundation, and so on. Good way to spend a few hours on a weekend. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn4L_aJ1rV4&list=PLRZePj70B4...
Was going to link this same channel. Unfortunately they've barely started on the project. But the amount of knowledge he shares should be enough to cause anyone to think twice about jumping into something like this...
Somehow, I find him to be especially inspiring and encouraging of beginners - especially some of the early no-nonsense framing basics.
He shows the clear experience of a lifetime of craft, yet there's something about his persona that's so reflective of people starting out, and his early days. Humility can't hurt either.
As an aside, the ratings on his videos are unbelievable. On YouTube, in 2018, his videos frequently hit 99%-99.5% thumbs-up. I'm shocked that's even possible.
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#185I'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…
+1 to this post by koliber. Only thing I would add is to plan as detailed as you can everything beforehand. Draw it up, visualize it. What sort of hinges on doors, how will the cabinets swing, etc. etc. Before you even start building a wall you have to decide how wide you want the trim around the doorway as you'll want the light switch just that far from the door and you'll want a 2x4 there with electrical. So there are a lot of cascading intertwined non-obvious decisions and it is remarkably expensive to refactor a house partway through construction.
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
If a construction technique is unusual in a particular area, it's usually unusual for a good reason - cost or impracticality or both. For example, in Minneapolis where I live, every house has a basement; they're required by code. The reason is deep frost cycles in the winter. But in Houston, nobody has a basement. It'd just be flooded all the time, and there's no freeze cycle to worry about. Standard house constructi…
> If a construction technique is unusual in a particular area, it's usually unusual for a good reason - cost or impracticality or both Or it's new technology. Concrete has a lot of heat mass, which means that it can be a way to build a lower-energy home. In my case, heat pumps are new technology where I live. Also, some contractors just don't get it when you ask them to put a switch somewhere or an outlet at a partic…
Back home I noticed contractors continue to only one or two electric plug sockets per room. This may have been fine 20 years ago but the number of electrical devices people have has really gone up. A plug socket only adds a couple of dollars to the cost but adds so much convenience in the long run. Its the sort of thing you have to engage you contrator on.
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
> do pros ever actually tape a ceiling border? Nope. They either use something that looks like a trowel, or freehand it.
I have seen a pro calk the edge, then it was easier to tape over it straight.
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 @-@
Your... bed has hydraulics?
this just came to my mind https://i.gifer.com/B514.gif xD
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's really crazy how much there is that you don't think about up front if you've never built a house. My first build (this summer) was a playhouse for the kids, 8 square meters single story. I built it mostly like you would a real house, omitting a few details (like insulation between inner and outer walls, since it's not heated anyway). I ended up with a budget overrun of 40% and spent close to twice the number of…
>budget overrun of 40% and spent close to twice the number of hours I estimated up front Sounds typical for construction.
or for software development :)
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 @-@
Your... bed has hydraulics?
Beds with storage under matress can have hydraulic parts (sorry, don't know how they're called exactly) to help lift the matress. Example: