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The Pretty Good House

prettygoodhouse.org

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Re: The Pretty Good House

#91

Post by topkai22 »

alanwreath wrote: post #27

Love this new resource. I've been geeking out over what seems to be some near term changes on what it means to build a home. For the longest time it seemed to mean (in the US at least): - wood - waste - lifelong high expense - manual and with the sudden explosion of - 3D printed houses (https://communityimpact.com/austin/georgetown/housing-real-estate/2022/11/17/3d-printed-homes-in-georgetown-offer-new-approach-to-bu…

I was talking to a (housing) developer friend who is also into many of these technologies last year. In short, 3d printing and modularization can reduce cost, but not as much as I would have thought 10 years ago. Framing is only 1/6 of the construction code of the average house, with another 1/6 going to roofing and siding. The other 2/3 of constriction costs are things like design, permitting, dirt work, plumbing, electrical, insulation, finishes, paint, landscaping, etc, most of which aren’t substantially moved by the new techniques.

Re: The Pretty Good House

#92

Post by bestham »

ssl232 wrote: post #90
bjarneh wrote: post #88

> Even the best windows and doors on the market perform much worse than even an average wall New windows here in Norway are often triple or quadruple glazed, and they have a pretty good R-value; so they are not that much worse than average walls at least.

TIL quadruple glazing is a thing. Is the light noticeably more attenuated through 4 panes of glass compared to 2 or 3?

It is really hard to tell when every window is of the same dampening. But yes, I guess they lose some light.

Re: The Pretty Good House

#93

Post by bjarneh »

ssl232 wrote: post #90
bjarneh wrote: post #88

> Even the best windows and doors on the market perform much worse than even an average wall New windows here in Norway are often triple or quadruple glazed, and they have a pretty good R-value; so they are not that much worse than average walls at least.

TIL quadruple glazing is a thing. Is the light noticeably more attenuated through 4 panes of glass compared to 2 or 3?

> Is the light noticeably more attenuated through 4 panes of glass compared to 2 or 3?

I don't notice a difference now that I have two double glazed windows on top of each other (kobla vindu - I don't know the English word for it), I'll include a picture here:

https://spesialvinduer.no/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Skaara_...

Re: The Pretty Good House

#94

Post by sgt »

bjarneh wrote: post #88

> Even the best windows and doors on the market perform much worse than even an average wall New windows here in Norway are often triple or quadruple glazed, and they have a pretty good R-value; so they are not that much worse than average walls at least.

Here in South Africa, single glazed is still a thing. I've been replacing all my windows with double glazing. I considered triple but that makes them very heavy and expensive. Benefits are both in hot summer and in the relatively cold winter.

Re: The Pretty Good House

#95

Post by MrDresden »

gumby wrote: post #63
galenko wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. That’s still a lottery and you are basically saying I’m paying more, so I expect a better service. This does not guarantee results. At all. What you want is a third party. Someone who understands the trade and the codes and will check in on the building site daily and will make sure everything is being done correctly. And if it’s not, will stop work and put everyone in their place. I frankly have no idea what the…

That person is called a construction supervisor: someone hired by the owner who makes sure the contractor is doing good work and not ripping you off, as well as keeping the owner in line and making sure they don’t get in the contractor’s way, delay decisions etc. Around here they aren’t interested in projects under $5M.

In some parts of the world, mine in Europe included, those guys are required by law and are usually employed by the municipality (but the construction project owners are charged for their services via a special fee).

They take on some personal responsibility for the way the construction project is handled (at least for the things that fall within their purview).

Re: The Pretty Good House

#96

Post by danmur »

toast0 wrote: post #66
carabiner wrote: post #11

I'm looking at building a home as a first time home owner in the next few years. One thing I'm wondering is how many headaches can I avoid if I just choose an expensive builder and not try to haggle or save a buck at every turn? I just want a 2-bedroom, 1,000 sq ft bungalow and am willing to pay 60-70% more than the average $/sqft in my city if they do a good job. I'd rather have a nice small place rather than a huge…

Unfortunately, if you want it done right, you really have to be involved. Frequent checking on the work and hounding the people to fix it. Which also means you need to know enough about construction to ask the right questions to figure out what's right or not. It's very hard to effectively contract that out. If you can date/marry someone in construction/architecture, and let them supervise, it helps. You can just pay…

This sounds so familiar :P

Re: The Pretty Good House

#97

Post by bradknowles »

ssl232 wrote: post #90
bjarneh wrote: post #88

> Even the best windows and doors on the market perform much worse than even an average wall New windows here in Norway are often triple or quadruple glazed, and they have a pretty good R-value; so they are not that much worse than average walls at least.

TIL quadruple glazing is a thing. Is the light noticeably more attenuated through 4 panes of glass compared to 2 or 3?

In triple and quadruple glazing, you frequently don't get three or four layers of actual glass. The two outer layers are still glass, but the inner layers are usually thin sheets of plastic, and the voids are frequently filled with noble gasses like Argon for improved insulation.

Although I have seen in Alaska where they do double glazing windows on the outside as storm windows, then about six inches to a foot inside of that, they have another layer of double glazing. Yes, the walls are super thick.

Re: The Pretty Good House

#98

Post by duckmysick »

I'm curious about rain screens. One of the pages says "Perhaps the single most important thing you can do for your walls is to include a rain screen, which is like venting for your walls."

How does that work exactly? Here's how I understand it: I would have to cover an entire building with some sort of a skeleton (layer) of wood, with an air gap in between. And it will cause the rain drops to slide down to the ground instead of the wall absorbing it.

Sounds expensive. Am I missing something?

Around here (mostly concrete or brick buildings with a thick exterior polystyrene insulation) water-repellent acrylic or silicone renders are more popular. Example: https://isomat.co.uk/product/marmocryl-silicone-decor-2-en/

I guess using both would be overkill. Not to mention attaching a rain screen with the outer layer of polystyrene would be more difficult.

Re: The Pretty Good House

#99

Post by skybrian »

alanwreath wrote: post #27

Love this new resource. I've been geeking out over what seems to be some near term changes on what it means to build a home. For the longest time it seemed to mean (in the US at least): - wood - waste - lifelong high expense - manual and with the sudden explosion of - 3D printed houses (https://communityimpact.com/austin/georgetown/housing-real-estate/2022/11/17/3d-printed-homes-in-georgetown-offer-new-approach-to-bu…

Have you read the construction physics blog? It covers a lot of this.

Re: The Pretty Good House

#100

Post by dirtyid »

carabiner wrote: post #11

I'm looking at building a home as a first time home owner in the next few years. One thing I'm wondering is how many headaches can I avoid if I just choose an expensive builder and not try to haggle or save a buck at every turn? I just want a 2-bedroom, 1,000 sq ft bungalow and am willing to pay 60-70% more than the average $/sqft in my city if they do a good job. I'd rather have a nice small place rather than a huge…

Get a good architect or prefab. Hard to really control for better build quailty unless someone with knowledge inspecting on site, has connection with good crew, or adverse conditions of building in open controlled.
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