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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

#191

Post by adamcharnock »

newby wrote: post #184
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…

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

Thank you! It took some iterations, but we got there :D

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#192

Post by carabiner »

DVassallo wrote: post #51
carabiner wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah where can I find land like this within 30 minutes of Seattle/Tacoma?

You can’t. (I just bought 12 acres 50mins within Seattle.)

Wow. Might I ask where? I'm thinking of places like the outskirts of Monroe, North Bend. I've heard of people doing this farther out on the Peninsula in places like Port Angeles.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#193

Post by JaimeThompson »

oh_sigh wrote: post #153
drBonkers wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP uses 'kids' to imply maturity, not age.

There's nothing less mature than raising children and overseeing your home's construction, while holding down a full time job.

Their lack of mature shows when they talk about being concerned about the environment then using so much power to run their house.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#194

Post by wrycoder »

danans wrote: post #165
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…

NH electric rates are $.20/kWh [1]. If you are spending $15/month for heating the hot tub, then you are consuming ($15/month)/($.20/kWh)=75kWh/month to heat it. Assuming you are using are using a resistance heater (100% heating efficiency), to raise 200Gal of water (typical small hot tub size) from 50F to 100F requires about 25kWh of energy. To only use 75kWh/month (255kBTU), you would need to only raise it to 100F l…

I pay $0.13 per kWh in my town. (That's my marginal cost.)

The tub is well insulated, with an insulated cover, so you need to account for that. My estimate on the hot tub cost is by comparing my kWh usage after the tub was installed to the prior year use.

Most small tubs are electric, like mine.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#195

Post by tejohnso »

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…

The size and extravagance of this thing is rather off-putting. I was expecting a modest off grid passive house.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#196

Post by cglace »

Fiahil wrote: post #101
antisthenes wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amount of cognitive dissonance required to say "we want to limit impact" on one hand, and to run a 400Amp electrical connection to heat your hot tub and pool in Canada, is staggering.

"low impact" for North Americans, maybe... No wonder that we're at the begining of a climat change disaster.

Do you really believe the average North American has a heated pool AND hot tub in a frigid northern climate?

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#197

Post by tiborsaas »

nathias wrote: post #91

why do people find these abject squares beautiful?

I don't know, but it's beautiful. Maybe because of the ratios, maybe because it looks so intentional, it relaxes me.

At the same time, I find these boxes horrible: https://nlc.p3k.hu/uploads/2019/07/ferencvarosi-helytortenet...

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#198

Post by asjldkfin »

greedo wrote: post #176
asjldkfin wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

If you read TFA, you'll see that they own a townhome in Vancouver. This is a second home...

We're not talking about TFA, we're talking about the OP's comment- which mentions literally nothing that Splendor is so worked up about.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#199

Post by mholm »

thatfrenchguy wrote: post #126
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…

As someone who lives in the US, yes, 400A is insane.

It's entirely reasonable if they have a tankless water heater + electric heat. The amount of powerdraw that can be required during a shower means I would trip a 200A circuit during the winter. Average powerdraw would certainly be much lower, but you have to prepare for the peaks. Adding in an electric pool heater, more square footage to heat, and probably a fancy electric range, means you could hit 400A somewhat easily if you aren't being careful.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#200

Post by hankchinaski »

adamcharnock wrote: post #122

I've done this in Portugal, but on a smaller scale and pretty much with only my own labor. I purchased 6 hectares (15 acres) for mid-5-figures. I've built an A-frame studio house for around €10k (excl tools), and installed a 5kw solar system for about another €10k. The house has air conditioning and underfloor heating (water-based, heated using wood from the land). I've also brought a 50-year-old tractor and started…

Which area of portugal is this? I was looking to do exactly the same. Buy a cheap land and build a small house myself. I am just wary or property tax, bureaucracy and construction costs. Would love to read blogpost about your experience on this
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