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How to build a house alone [video]

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Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#101
post #77

Richard Proenneke built a home in the middle of no where Alaska in the 50's, using only hand tools, check out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Proenneke Alone in the Wilderness - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKss

Great book too. Or at least it was when my old man gave it to me when i was 12. Fired up the imagination.

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#102

In my country houses are built with concrete, much easier with wood.

It's possibly a function of cost of labour and climate.

AFAIK houses in USA are built with wood. And that's why they are easily destroyed with bad weather.

I don't know if concrete it's generally more expensive than wood, but anyway, it's incredible how expensive were homes before the crisis and how 'cheap' they look.

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That guy is amazing. I've watched all of his video many times over. For the new to the channel, he does all commentary via subtitles so if you want explanations of what he's doing and why turn them on! Some people seem to like watching them without the commentary as it's relaxing, others want to know what and why. I watched 5 videos before I realised there was explanations. I hope he goes back to his furnaces and met…

Him and Mathias Wandel (woodwork shop) have some tangible zen effect on my mind. It may be subjective but crafting with simple material, and mostly your hands * is extremely satisfying to watch and also very tempting to do. Society creates a distortion in which every pleasure sits behind some door but here they do tons of fun stuff outside just like that.

I totally agree with you and I love Primitive Technology, but let's not lose track on that these videos are edited too. All the failures and retries are left out, what is left is only a clear path from start to finish that looks deceptively easy.

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#104
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The price of timber in Europe is way higher. I'm always amazed when watching US woodworking channels on Youtube how cheaply they get their materials, especially two-by-fours. This is causing another interesting difference, in Europe most of the simpler furniture is made of laminated particle boards (IKEA style), while my impression is that in US plywood is more common. In Europe plywood is fairly expensive, which mad…

I've yet to find proper wood in e.g. DIY stores over here, is that the reason? I should probably look for a proper wood store though.

Yes look for hardwood lumber stores. Some of them are chains, we have a small sawmill near us that has or can get just about anything i would want.

You'll still need the DIY shops for hardware/tools/etc.

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#105
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Him and Mathias Wandel (woodwork shop) have some tangible zen effect on my mind. It may be subjective but crafting with simple material, and mostly your hands * is extremely satisfying to watch and also very tempting to do. Society creates a distortion in which every pleasure sits behind some door but here they do tons of fun stuff outside just like that.

I totally agree with you and I love Primitive Technology, but let's not lose track on that these videos are edited too. All the failures and retries are left out, what is left is only a clear path from start to finish that looks deceptively easy.

Well, yeah, the advantage he has is all the accessible knowledge available via the internet. He would have done hours upon hours of research before embarking upon experiments that took humans thousands of years to discover and develop. It's still bloody cool!

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#106
Does anyone know what are the exact materials used? I'm so used to concrete/bricks/blocks around the area where I live, that this makes me wonder whether it will bear against a stronger winter (while I know the video was filmed in the winter) or wind. Can someone share their experiences with this type of a house? Also, are all houses in the states built like this?

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#107
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Him and Mathias Wandel (woodwork shop) have some tangible zen effect on my mind. It may be subjective but crafting with simple material, and mostly your hands * is extremely satisfying to watch and also very tempting to do. Society creates a distortion in which every pleasure sits behind some door but here they do tons of fun stuff outside just like that.

I totally agree with you and I love Primitive Technology, but let's not lose track on that these videos are edited too. All the failures and retries are left out, what is left is only a clear path from start to finish that looks deceptively easy.

Heh good point. It's mentally more pleasuring in timelapse where every steps only takes half a second instead of 10.

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possibly a function of cost of labour and climate.

AFAIK houses in USA are built with wood. And that's why they are easily destroyed with bad weather. I don't know if concrete it's generally more expensive than wood, but anyway, it's incredible how expensive were homes before the crisis and how 'cheap' they look.

Building houses with concrete is quite a skilled job involving a lot of labour putting together the custom forms. I suspect in higher wage countries it becomes more prohibitive as a building method. Certainly it's very rarely used in the UK for residential building. Timber lends itself well to building insulated structures. I guess nothing is stopping people building a bunker if they're worried about building something tornado-resistant and they dont mind spending more.

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#109
post #78
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I believe exterior timber was banned in London after the fire of 1666, and in many other towns not so long after that. A brick skin just gives you much more time to stop a fire from spreading. Even when the exterior walls are load-bearing brick, a lot of internal structure may still be in wood.

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#110
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The price of timber in Europe is way higher. I'm always amazed when watching US woodworking channels on Youtube how cheaply they get their materials, especially two-by-fours. This is causing another interesting difference, in Europe most of the simpler furniture is made of laminated particle boards (IKEA style), while my impression is that in US plywood is more common. In Europe plywood is fairly expensive, which mad…

I've yet to find proper wood in e.g. DIY stores over here, is that the reason? I should probably look for a proper wood store though.

I'm not sure where "over here" refers to but here in the UK "wood yards" are fairly common, especially in more rural areas and are typically much cheaper than DIY places. Often they'll even cut it to size and deliver as well!
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