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Ask HN: Have you built a house?

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11–20 of 229 posts

Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?

#11
I have built more than one, not personally/manually but I have been in the construction industry many (maybe too many) years and I could possibly be called a technologist in the field.

You won't be able to build a concrete house by yourself using "traditional" methods, if you were, you wouldn't be here asking how to do it (Catch 22), but there are more than a few techniques/building approaches that were actually designed for self-builders.

Talking of concrete houses, the "working" ones are those that combine insulation with formwork.

One example is the "Plastbau" building method, usig EPS as insulation/formwork/structure and another on is the "Isotex" one combining wood and EPS, a couple of videos on Youtube, JFYI:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ythSGowrNcw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGuP2jp51g0

There are of course many more similar methods, but the overall idea is the same.

Using these kind of elements a house can actually be built by two/three people without particular knowledge/experience in the field.

Another possibility - often used in self-construction - is to "build" the whole house in EPS (in this case the EPS is in the middle of the walls and the reinforcing bar is on the outside) and then call some specialists to spray concrete (shotcrete).

An example here:

https://www.mdue.it/en/emmedue-panels

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8juvDvSeYL8

Otherwise there is nothing particularly difficult in a concrete carpenter's job, but you need to learn those abilities.

And you will need a "supporting" technician, i.e. besides designing the house, do the calculations and whatever else needed to get a construction permit, the project needs to be made by someone that believes in the self-construction approach and that simplifies/adapt the design to the construction method chosen.

Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?

#15
I do plan on building a house (buying some land, finding a contractor and getting it built).

Houses in Ontario are getting crazy expensive (as an example - a friend of mine was able to get land + house for ~800k when the going rate of a prebuilt house in the neighborhood was around a mil).

Also, if I am spending so much and plan to put down some roots - I like to have a house based on my designs rather than a cookie cutter bs that most contractors have.

EDIT: I also plan on using concrete (and rebar).

Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?

#17
If you're in a warm climate this might not be for you, but I live in a moderate climate and I've always been interested in a Rocket Mass Heater as the centerpiece of my house:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_mass_heater

Unfortunately I live in a cookie-cutter suburb so it's not feasable right now, but someday...

Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?

#18
I 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...

Re: Ask HN: Have you built a house?

#20
post #16

> I am thinking about a massive, concrete house. Great. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_concre...

yes, and cutting trees down and transporting wood around is so great for the environment...

It’s orders of magnitude better.
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