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How to build a house alone [video]

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Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#71

Post by fsloth »

philipps wrote: post #60
bitexploder wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US building standards are pretty good for our wood frame houses these days. These houses can withstand pretty much anything but tornado or earthquake. Proper maintenance of the external facing structures of the house (roof, paint, siding, windows) mean it can last a very long time (100 years). We also insulate houses more or less depending on where they are. New homes are quite energy efficient.

I grew up in Germany and 100 years does not sound like a long time for a house to last. Maybe that’s they main difference: expectation of longevity. Which is surprising because while my hometown Cologne is in fact more than 2000 years old, many of its buildings were destroyed in various wars. I’m not sure where the cultural expectation that houses should last forever originates.

"I’m not sure where the cultural expectation that houses should last forever originates."

Probably partly from ownership of buildings transitioning form wealthy capitalists to middle class. For the capitalist the house is an investment since they get rent from it, but for the middle class family who own their house the house constitutes a huge portion of their wealth. Banks are the main winners, as they profit from loaning money to middle class to purchase the house.

The second factor is the rise of cities. As more people come closer together, the value of land naturally rises. Hence, the "natural" portion of the houses price does not come from the structure itself, but from the value of the land, and the market forces demand for the building.

If the building becomes... defunct, a huge portion of the middle class familys wealth disappears (sans the land - but, often the land is rented from someone).

Hence it's nice to imagine buildings last forever, while paying back your 50 year loan on the house.

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#72

Post by hulahoof »

Xuper wrote: post #52
kafquaesque wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool to see this! Most people will never build their own home these days (even with the cost savings).

Maybe for the better. With current divorce law mess loosing something you have built yourself would ramp up male suicide rate even higher then it already is.

Why all the downvotes? We have serious social issues for not taking male mental health seriously.

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#74

Post by icebraining »

Ftuuky wrote: post #37

My father rebuilt a 16th century house by himself on Saturdays. He used electricity and the house has modern features such as piped water and internet but no modern materials were used (concrete, aluminium, steel, etc.), only "old" granite and wood. It took him almost a decade but he builds houses for a living so it's not exactly a hobby despite the fact that he considered it as such. Do you think people would like t…

As a Portuguese myself, I can assure you I'd watch every single video!

Do they build old-style houses for clients too?

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#75

Post by megaman22 »

adventured wrote: post #14
chrisseaton wrote: post #5

It looks like the entire thing is made of chipboard and planks of wood? Is it a temporary building? How long does that last?

A house like that will easily last over a century if you take care of it and do routine maintenance. Obviously that's assuming it's not destroyed in a direct hit by a tornado or a once in a century nearby massive earthquake (such a risk applies to a super tiny fraction of all US housing). A friend of mine purchased a hundred plus year old wood house. The standards back then were non-existent, boards placed wherever,…

The thing old houses like that have in their favor is that the timber they are built out of is usually better quality than anything you could possibly buy today. Consequently a lot of things could be significantly overbuilt in a way you can't do today.

My house is 1880s vintage, and it's sorta post-and-beam, with 10x10 beams making up the frame, and double layers of 12" to 30" wide pine floorboards. You can't even begin to find lumber like that today, unless you've got a stand of high quality timber that's been saved out and not cut already, and a sawmill to do custom sawing.

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#76

Post by ctime »

Dowwie wrote: post #61

There's a couple in Alaska who have been building a house and vlog their experience: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChhBsM9K_Bc9a_YTK7UUlnQ

This couple (yt:Pure Living for life) are actually building in Idaho. They seem happy, good for them. The video on the importance of neighbors helping out was particularly insightful to me.

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#78

Post by willyt »

thorin wrote: post #39
hobofan wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That only answers one half of the question, doesn't it? Germany should also have the same unlimited supply of timber (it has the same percentage of forests of their land area), so why don't Germans build wood houses?

In the UK you struggle to get a mortgage on a wooden construction so have to be cash rich, you'd also struggle to get conventional housing insurance cover.

Nope thats not it. Many houses built in the UK now have a timber structure with a (mostly) non load bearing brick or blockwork skin on the outside. Most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a new build house that is timber or masonry structure, once it has been sheeted out inside. Timber cladding externally is less common.

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#79

Post by Tepix »

Retric wrote: post #47
Tepix wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stone houses last longer. Whenever I see a report about a tornado or a hurricane in the US I wonder what the damage would be like if people had stone houses instead of wooden houses that disintegrate during a storm and then in turn damage other houses. It reminds me of the Kessler Syndrome.

The roof in a brick house would still get ripped off, as would the windows and doors. Depending on wind speed the walls might or might not survive but the house would cost just about as much to repair.

I'm not sure if the roof construction is the same in the US and in Germany.

Pitched roofs do well against storms (30° roof slope is best).

Luckily, we don't have deadly hurricanes.

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#80

Post by megaman22 »

bufferoverflow wrote: post #19

He isn't even wearing a hard hat. That's an OSHA violation. I watch the video about him installing the stairs, and I cringed half the time. The guy is very close to injuring or killing himself.

OSHA is ridiculous, nobody actually does everything it stipulates. It's a CYA set of regulations. Under perfect circumstances, with money and manpower and equipment, and time enough, you could follow all that garbage. But most of the time, you don't have any of that, and shit needs to get done, so you do what you can, as safely as you can, and accept a little risk.
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