My buddy is currently building an adobe in NM:
Ask HN: Have you built a house?
61–70 of 229 posts
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#62Not a contractor myself (I "escaped" into IT), but I come from a family that's almost exclusively contractors and had quite a few summer jobs on construction sites.
I think for more, err, concrete advice, some indication of the location you want to build in would be helpful.
Either way, you will likely want to involve an architect if you're building your first house, to help getting your ideas to paper within the confines of local building codes. You'll also want a structural engineer verifying the suitability of the design, especially with something as heavy as concrete.
If you're in the US (at least) or other places where wood framing is more common than concrete or stone, the "uncommon" material will likely increase cost noticeably.
Also keep in mind that unless you want to drywall the interior of the house anyway, you'll have to make sure you have pipes and conduits for everything in place before you pour the concrete. Even if you are planning to drywall the interior, you're still looking at making sure all your mechanical systems (heating/cooling, water, electricity) can actually be routed from one floor to the next.
If you're looking for an inspirational rabbit hole to go down, check out this thread on Garage Journal: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=145073
Just keep in mind that the guy building the house is actually a concrete contractor and not exactly new to this game.
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#63Once you have gotten plans on paper, and permits.
And you are getting the foundation placed(or placing it yourself) make sure of all measurements, don't shrug away half a degree off. Same with levelling the walls.
This will save you a lot of cursing.
Also if you are going with concrete then the electrics will be poured in, make sure you put a lifeline in for some circuits. (this is a connection from the entry point to a different point in the circuit than the connection you already have) This could save a lot of work if something goes awry and you lose a connection.
insulation is good, but you don't want water condensation in between materials.
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#64I have not built a house, but I have done enough renovations to know a few basic pointers: * Buy extra materials than what you actually will need. If it's your first time doing a specific task, mistakes will happen, some will be costly, some, minor. * Ensure you are building up to code. Make sure you read what your local residential building code specs are. Having things "not up to code" can be costly and fail inspec…
Also a good idea to keep extra materials around for future repairs and modifications.
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#65I just built a "normal" wood house.
I have no experience with building concrete houses. Are they normal for your area, or are you trying to follow unusual construction techniques?
Something to keep in mind: If you're doing anything slightly unusual, you need to be very careful about who you work with. There are people who will ignore your request to do something a certain way and just do it the same way that it's been done in the last 20 houses they worked in.
Assuming a concrete house is unusual, you will have a very hard time finding a general contractor to build it. You will need to interview very carefully.
In my case, I couldn't hire the general contractor I wanted, because I ended up buying land that came with a general contractor. I like where I live, but he screwed up a few of my requests. (Hired the wrong sub to put in my heat pumps, didn't put switches where I asked for them, didn't bury my gutters even though the contract specified that they were supposed to be buried.)
Had I hired the guy I wanted, I'm sure he would have done everything I asked for... I just wouldn't have liked where I could buy land!
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#66I did not build this, and it doesn't meet all your design criteria, but it's very interesting...
A couple of months ago, I visited a friend and her fiance at their home in the Colorado Rockies - way up in the mountains, not down on the front range. The architecture was very interesting, straightforward, and inexpensive. They simply cut a house-sized trench into the side of a mountain (about a 45 degree slope there), put a prefab quonset hut in the trench, and covered it with dirt/rocks. Then a poured concrete floor, and concrete-lined walls, and a brick facade with big airy windows. The interior was given a half-second story, and some rooms in the back.
Effectively, it's a cross between an A-frame cabin and a hobbit hole.
On the minus side, the back bedrooms have no windows/exits, and thus are not up to code as bedrooms. On the plus side, it's basically fireproof anyway (I'm sure it would survive even a forest fire). The other minus - or plus, depending - is that it's technically off grid, getting power from a generator and solar panels, and the only connectivity is satellite internet. This wouldn't be an issue in a more residential area.
Personally, I love this house. It's cozy, practically disappears into the gorgeous scenery, and was not difficult or expensive to build, even in the quite rugged terrain (almost a mile up a steep, switchbacked dirt road).
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#67I'm currently helping a friend build a house in Austria, where houses are generally brick and concrete. You don't want to build the walls out of concrete. Use thick thermal bricks, he kind with lots of internal cavities. Then, if you are in a really cold climate, apply a layer of thick rigid insulation on the outside, followed by a rigid top coat. Floors and ceilings only should be poured concrete.
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#68Came here expecting to find nifty "tiny house" anecdotes.
I see the virus is not spreading :(
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#69I did not build this, and it doesn't meet all your design criteria, but it's very interesting... A couple of months ago, I visited a friend and her fiance at their home in the Colorado Rockies - way up in the mountains, not down on the front range. The architecture was very interesting, straightforward, and inexpensive. They simply cut a house-sized trench into the side of a mountain (about a 45 degree slope there),…
Sounds cool, but the fire concern is very real and not so much flames as it is being unable to escape the smoke.
Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?
#70Be sure to look into cob and strawbale construction. Quite a bit hippy, but also a better process for the first time owner-builder.
There's a book called The Hand-Sculpted House. Also Google "cob house" and "strawbale house".