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Building a modern home in the woods

johnnyrodgers.is

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Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#181

Post by carabiner »

gigatexal wrote: post #124

my takeaway: it sure is nice to be rich. nice home; kudos but is this really HN material ;-)

This is HN male oriented wealth porn. Just as some women fantasize about dream weddings and pore over the NYTimes Vows section, or some teens watch influencers give tours of their high-rise apartments, we have HN men who really, really want an ultra modern mansion in the woods. The craving for luxury is universal and it's no surprise this guy is a senior engineer at Slack. Seriously, what an extraordinary house.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#182

Post by astockwell »

To all the questions about including costs, the only blog I've ever come across that was transparent and honest about costs of building a custom home was Mike Davidson in http://ahousebythepark.com/journal/

Granted this was 2010-2012 on a super-desirable WA plot, and inflation has probably 2-3x'ed, but still, it's a very interesting read and a good model for how to disclose costs and still maintain a modicum of humility.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#183

Post by downrightmike »

MezzoDelCammin wrote: post #50

"The bigger issue was that the energy demands for the house, which included hot water heating for the pool and hot tub, outstripped the electrical supply we could get on a rural residential build: 400A" Am I the only one who almost spit out his coffee when reading this paragraph? I mean, building a remote home in the middle of a forest is a cool idea, sure. But then end up feeding the whole thing with 400A worth of e…

There are highly efficient heat pump powered water heaters, going out anywhere remote, these and other heat pump systems should really be used. This is a really great overview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J52mDjZzto&t=1840s

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#184

Post by newby »

adamcharnock wrote: post #155
newby wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does one start a rural ISP? Would you mind sharing a bit about that?

Sure! I saw startyourownisp.com on HN years ago, and once I moved here I remembered that starting an ISP was actually a thing. I started a wireless ISP (WISP). The rough process is: - Find the customers* - Find somewhere to broadcast from* - Find a wholesale fibre provider* - Register with your country's regulator & read a bunch of laws - While you are doing the above, learn about networking. Get this right before yo…

BTW, I really like the coverage checker at your website. Clever! So simple...

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#185

Post by Splendor »

asjldkfin wrote: post #131
Splendor wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that they can afford to build a second mansion while millions are homeless. It's a pretty simple equation.

I don't see anything in OP's comment about second mansions or the homeless.

You've already changed your argument from "they never said anything about that" to "okay they said it but I think they were making assumptions". Log off. Go touch grass.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#187

Post by wrycoder »

rhacker wrote: post #129
wrycoder wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm running a small hot tub in central New Hampshire. I figure it costs me $15 per month in the winter. Edit: Service in the US is generally 200A or 400A. I'd say 400A is overbuilt for what they have, but that doesn't mean they actually use much of that capacity. For example, I average 1000 kWh per month, which is about 1.39 kW 24/7, or 12 amps average on my 200A service. The 200A is to have headroom for peak demands…

It's funny how removed we are from reality. Even if $15/month might be cheaper than a propane bill, it would be far far more expensive against the planet to heat it with gas/coal burned at a factory 100 miles away, converted to electricity, then converted back to heat inside the spa water heater.

I think that an air/water heat pump on the tub, with say a COP of 8, would be less expensive to operate than propane or straight electric. But, I couldn't justify the capital expense. (Small hot tubs are electric.)

I like my wood/propane mix for heating, because it's immune to power outages. At some point I'll get too old to cut/split/haul wood, though, and will have to figure something else out.

I'm not sure why there's a push to eliminate gas cooking in favor of electricity. Perhaps some people are concerned with methane leaks in the natural gas distribution system.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#188

Post by adamcharnock »

newby wrote: post #179
adamcharnock wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure! I saw startyourownisp.com on HN years ago, and once I moved here I remembered that starting an ISP was actually a thing. I started a wireless ISP (WISP). The rough process is: - Find the customers* - Find somewhere to broadcast from* - Find a wholesale fibre provider* - Register with your country's regulator & read a bunch of laws - While you are doing the above, learn about networking. Get this right before yo…

Thank you so much! Another question if you don't mind - how difficult was the bureaucratic aspect? Registering with regulator etc... what would you consider the biggest hurdle?

Well this is going to vary hugely by country. I think that got easier in Portugal from 2017, so I was a little lucky in that regard. I think it is also fairly straight-forward in the UK/US too. We had to pay a €700 one-off fee, and we need to fill in a report (i.e. spreadsheet) once per quarter with our total customers (and various other bits).

We also need to log netflow data due to the EU counter terrorism directive, and keep it securely. Last I heard it had been deemed unconstitutional by the EU courts, but the law had yet to be revoked.

The hardest part BY FAR, was getting the fibre connection. My advice for this is to do your research to find the available providers in you area/country. There is no fibre map for Portugal, so this was tricky. Reach out to actual people and ask for contacts at telecoms companies in your country. You are looking for Direct Internet Access (DIA). This comment of mine is a bit relevant [1]

The WISP facebook groups [2] [3] really helped me with this, and in figuring out what I need to go and learn about. Don't let those groups stress you out though. I've un-followed them now.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30128418

[2] https://www.facebook.com/groups/249134358750920

[3] https://www.facebook.com/groups/2167897793237945

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#190

Post by mbrevoort »

MezzoDelCammin wrote: post #50

"The bigger issue was that the energy demands for the house, which included hot water heating for the pool and hot tub, outstripped the electrical supply we could get on a rural residential build: 400A" Am I the only one who almost spit out his coffee when reading this paragraph? I mean, building a remote home in the middle of a forest is a cool idea, sure. But then end up feeding the whole thing with 400A worth of e…

Just because you prudently plan for 400A of peak capacity doesn't mean you would actually come anywhere near using it at any given time. Part of building a house in the woods is planning for contingencies.
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