How to build a house alone [video] • Hacker News Board

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#141

Post by streety » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 1:27 PM UTC

vinceguidry wrote: post #114

agumonkey wrote: post #91

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.

Other channels in that vein: Wranglerstar - https://www.youtube.com/wranglerstar Pure Living for Life - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChhBsM9K_Bc9a_YTK7UUlnQ Paul Sellers - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc3EpWncNq5QL0QhwUNQb7w Not quite the same aesthetic but still interesting: Steve Ramsey - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBB7sYb14uBtk8UqSQYc9-w

WJP004 is also good https://www.youtube.com/user/WJP004/videos

Also doing much of the work himself.

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#142

Post by mrleiter » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 1:29 PM UTC

kstenerud wrote: post #22

mrleiter wrote: post #16

Back in the 50s, my great grandfather built the house where my mother and my grandmother grew up in all by himself. It took him 6 years, but he had no help. He started digging into the ground with a shovel. He was a carpenter and bricklayer and used his spare time and skill to do it. This house is still standing and my grandmother still lives in it. This is him with his wife, my great grandmother: https://i.imgur.com…

Very cool! If you have a picture of the house, I'm sure HN would love to see it!

I currently do not have one by myself, but you can see some of it from Google Maps street view: https://goo.gl/maps/rXx5DKRT4K12

It's this one: https://imgur.com/a/afZgOZ2

Naturally it has been maintained over the years, new roofing, new paint, but all in all it's the same house.

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#143

Post by ghaff » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 1:29 PM UTC

gerardnll wrote: post #102

nmeofthestate wrote: post #83

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.

Yet I live in a wood house in a fairly harsh climate--New England--that's over 200 years old, which is not at all uncommon in this area. I love that, when practices are different from where they live, people automatically gravitate to "they're obviously idiots" as the explanation.

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#144

Post by blattimwind » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 1:34 PM UTC

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #67

ivanhoe wrote: 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.

The large hardware store chains only stock standard softwoods and some board materials, all in subpar quality. This mostly caters to the "jigsaw and woodscrews" faction.

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#145

Post by Amezarak » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 1:35 PM UTC

gerardnll wrote: post #102

nmeofthestate wrote: post #83

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.

> And that's why they are easily destroyed with bad weather.

This is not the case: houses are not "easily destroyed with bad weather." Unless you sustain a direct hit from a tornado or are flooded by a hurricane's storm surge or other rising waters, your house is extremely unlikely to be destroyed by weather.

There are few construction methods that can reliably withstand either event, and even if you do, if you get flooded, you have to tear out the entire inside of the house anyway regardless - even a storm surge does not usually completely destroy a house, it just has to be torn apart due to the flooding.

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#146

Post by iguy » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 1:37 PM UTC

willyt wrote: post #117

iguy wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's not strictly true, the rules [0] on what fire tests a cladding material must conform to are quite complicated and depend on how close adjoining buildings are and whether there are any windows in them. [0] http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Built-Environment/Building/Buildi...

Right, I'm sure the modern rules are very detailed. But at some rough level of walking around & looking at buildings, there's a step change right after the great fire.

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#147

Post by saalweachter » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 1:42 PM UTC

lallysingh wrote: post #131

icebraining wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Land alone is often pretty expensive; can you get a regular mortgage to buy it?

Of course! And it's even lower risk because you can't really mess up land the way you can a house.

The land loans I've seen are not very advantageous, high interest and short terms; where are you getting them from?

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#148

Post by dennyis » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 1:43 PM UTC

toomanybeersies wrote: post #126

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).

My father's hobby is property investment. Well, it's a bit more than a hobby, he owns around 10 houses. He does as much work as possible himself, or when I was living at home, by getting me to do it for free (well, I get inheritance one day). The amount of money he's managed to save by doing his own work is staggering. We saved at least $10,000 by building a retaining wall ourselves. We mixed up over 6 tonnes of conc…

A good friend of mine owns around 50 houses and apartments, and does 95% of the work himself. He is super smart and impressive, however he is his own limiting factor in his growth. He literally can’t keep up with the work and refuses good deals. Learning to lead others effectively is key to growth in real estate investing and it’s a hurdle many unintentionally self limit their growth.

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#149

Post by pavel_lishin » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 1:43 PM UTC

Ftuuky wrote: post #51

gkya wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a fan of building, a fan of Portugal and a fan of portuguese literature (I plan to learn european portuguese), so you have one person interested here. I'd appreciate English subs though.

Yes, EN subs is a must have, I'm sure my brother is capable of that. Good luck with learning Portuguese. Just like French, you'll need some perseverance in the beginning. ;)

> Yes, EN subs is a must have, I'm sure my brother is capable of that.

The Primitive Technology guy, mentioned in other comments, makes completely silent videos.

Re: How to build a house alone [video]

#150

Post by shimon » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 1:43 PM UTC

megaman22 wrote: post #75

adventured wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 be…

And conversely, the thing that today's houses have in their favor is that there's a ton more engineering knowledge and testing applied to the materials and construction. They will last a very long time, and they will do better at resisting leaks, staying level, and operating efficiently.

Of course, at any time there are many poorly-built houses being made - it's not fair to compare only the old houses that have survived with the cheapest of current homes. And there are probably some "miracle materials" today that will be found to have big problems in practice, from lower-than-expected lifetimes to significant safety risks (c.f. polybutylene pipes, asbestos, lead paint).

Personally I enjoy living in a 125yo home. It's balloon-framed, and the joist spacing is inconsistent, and if you replicated this structure with modern lumber it would probably be dangerous. With 1890s-era lumber, it's just a little off-kilter. :)