The Frameless Geodesic Dome I currently live in • Hacker News Board

Re: The Frameless Geodesic Dome I currently live in

#181

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 1:50 AM UTC

outworlder wrote: post #70

finnh wrote: post #54

If you want to live in a city, it's not the cost of the house that kills you: it's the dirt. In Seattle, where I live, my property tax statement tells me that my (large, nice) house is worth roughly half as much as the land it sits on. Given that these domes don't float, you still need a place to put 'em. If your goal is to opt out of the cost of housing - an evil which this blog post expounds upon at length - your f…

True, to an extent. But considering that some people still live in unkempt shacks, there is some room for improvement. Mass producing the dome parts seem like a nice proposition. Might not even be for housing at first but as an addon for a existing house. Say you wanted to clear your garage and store your stuff somewhere else in the property. Maybe for government-sponsored housing programs. Or, I don't know, Africa?…

[deleted]

Re: The Frameless Geodesic Dome I currently live in

#182

Post by mpyne » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 1:57 AM UTC

NegativeK wrote: post #160

enraged_camel wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>The great thing about the non-governmental world is that there are CHOICES. I don't know about that. Where I live, the only Internet provider available is Comcast. I would guess that many people here have the exact same problem. Sometimes regulation can eliminate choices, but at other times it can enable them. For example, when the government forces cab companies (via regulation) to not discriminate based on neighb…

While I disagree with its premises (which makes me a devil's advocate, I suppose,) the response to something like Comcast is that the government is involved in setting up ISP monopolies/duopolies.

Just like government setup Standard Oil?

Government is involved in regulating Comcast, for sure. But as far as I can tell the issues that make telecommunications hard for new entrants has more to do with the sheer cost of building-out a suitable network than any amount of government regulation.

Re: The Frameless Geodesic Dome I currently live in

#183

Post by flovec » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 2:00 AM UTC

ChrisNorstrom wrote: post #172

flovec wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The finite numbers I have are thus: Land: I purchased 5 acres for $2,000 of Craigslist. It's worth about 5-6 getting it from a real-estate company. Slab: 4" deep, 8" deep around a 1' perimeter..1100 sq ft total - 18 yards concrete, $2200 - Bobcat rental (days w/ gas), $450 - Rented tools (concrete blankets for cold, et), $150 - Rebar/tongue-groove insulation: $1000 Solar: Currently, I run off a generator, which was a…

I truly honestly envy you. To be out there free from all the drama and crime of the cities. I dream of escaping to the country side myself one day.

Thank you. It is beautiful, and part of the reason I'm out here! I do love the vibe a good city can give off, though - getting lost in the mix and such. It's nice to be able to do that on occasion.

Re: The Frameless Geodesic Dome I currently live in

#184

Post by mpyne » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 2:05 AM UTC

tjic wrote: post #133

mpyne wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regulatory stupidity is hardly limited to the government though. Have you never tried to implement a Microsoft "standard"? While UL is certainly nice enough, how many people know to look for it when they buy appliances? And how does this avoid in general the problem that if UL becomes too onerous, the affected appliance makers simply start their own voluntary licensing firm with better results? "Oh, but people would…

> Regulatory stupidity is hardly limited to the government though. Have you never tried to implement a Microsoft "standard"? Indeed, regulations can suck no matter who creates them. The great thing about the non-governmental world is that there are CHOICES. I vote with my feet (and my dollars, and my contributions). I switch from MSFT to Red Hat, from Red Hat to Debian, from Debian to Ubuntu.

Just remember there's sometimes a high cost of switching.

At some point the costs become so high that it's possible the costs become comparable to the costs to switch to an entirely different government, too.

Re: The Frameless Geodesic Dome I currently live in

#185

Post by flovec » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 2:06 AM UTC

molsongolden wrote: post #179

jorgem wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How deep is the water table? Is that why the land was so cheap?

There is a large aquifer in the valley so wells do pretty well but the water rights are tight. A residential well permit is for interior water use only. With 35 acres you get the right to irrigate one acre. You aren't supposed to recapture grey water or rain. There's a lot of potato farming in the valley and the old farmers have most of the good water rights, the rest of the water is owed to new Mexico and Texas and…

You're absolutely right about the water rights; I don't _think_ I'll end up getting animals, but purchasing another 30 acres would be a good investment if I did want to homestead in that fashion and use water for other reasons.

The weather extremes are actually a good thing! Plenty of sunshine for solar-powered anything. That, combined with the 30 degree temperature difference in day and night helps ease the load on fridges running off solar; during the winter you just pull in cold air :)

Re: The Frameless Geodesic Dome I currently live in

#186

Post by fusiongyro » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 2:15 AM UTC

grannyg00se wrote: post #137

fusiongyro wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You and the author are free to ignore these problems (at least, until the government evicts you from your own residence) but don't conflate ignoring a problem with solving it.

Does that happen with non permanent structures? I don't count the problems as ignored. They're actually not relevant for the intended use case.

From the article:

> If I want to spend my time writing blog posts, exploring new programming languages, and other things that I want to do but I am unlikely to get paid for, it’s helpful to opt out of certain common expenses. Housing is a major expense that is ripe for pruning.

I'd say "the intended use case" here is clearly to replace your primary residence, which is both what makes the project interesting and what casts the ignored topics in sharp relief.

Re: The Frameless Geodesic Dome I currently live in

#187

Post by ballard » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 2:33 AM UTC

finnh wrote: post #54

If you want to live in a city, it's not the cost of the house that kills you: it's the dirt. In Seattle, where I live, my property tax statement tells me that my (large, nice) house is worth roughly half as much as the land it sits on. Given that these domes don't float, you still need a place to put 'em. If your goal is to opt out of the cost of housing - an evil which this blog post expounds upon at length - your f…

The only way to scale it seems is for cities to go extremely vertical. Then if there were attractive choices for DIY housing that meets building code

The alternatives include taking on a longer commute or being farther from the action.

Re: The Frameless Geodesic Dome I currently live in

#188

Post by sologoub » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 2:35 AM UTC

saidajigumi wrote: post #153

flovec wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you're renting, right? Isn't part of the point not to be wasting capital on rent? (I'm a CO man myself)

"Wasting capital on rent" may be the worst nonsense in our financial folklore. Always run the numbers. Rent vs. mortgage calculators and spreadsheets are readily available. Understand the factors they use, and perhaps tweak for your own needs and priorities. I'm glad that I did, as I completely dodged the disaster that was the housing bubble as a result -- my rent always looked like a killer deal compared to nutso ho…

Bubbles happen in many more things than just housing. It just happened to hit way more people than any of the previous bubbles.

I don't know much about the market conditions outside of SoCal, but here the housing seems to have recovered to 2005-2006 levels. It doesn't look like it has much fuel to go up for a long time, but those who bought 2009-2012 are definitely comfortably in the black. Some could be up as much as 50-60% from especially distressed properties. Doesn't sound bad to me...

Factor in ridiculously cheap borrowing costs (even a couple months ago, there were 30 yr. mortgages for around 4%), and you have pretty decent investment opportunities.

In an unbalanced market, one can always find ways to realize short-term gain. Trick is to not get suckered in and overplay the hand.

Re: The Frameless Geodesic Dome I currently live in

#189

Post by bostonvaulter2 » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 2:37 AM UTC

molsongolden wrote: post #179

jorgem wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How deep is the water table? Is that why the land was so cheap?

There is a large aquifer in the valley so wells do pretty well but the water rights are tight. A residential well permit is for interior water use only. With 35 acres you get the right to irrigate one acre. You aren't supposed to recapture grey water or rain. There's a lot of potato farming in the valley and the old farmers have most of the good water rights, the rest of the water is owed to new Mexico and Texas and…

Why aren't you allowed to recapture grey water? That seems crazy. I guess rain makes a little sense since the water is supposed to flow to New Mexico and Texas.

Re: The Frameless Geodesic Dome I currently live in

#190

Post by ams6110 » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 2:50 AM UTC

makmanalp wrote: post #39

michaelt wrote: post #12

In my country I'm not sure what the legal situation would be - as I understand it you can't just throw up a trailer park where you want. And a plot of land with permission for a permanent residence is worth about half the cost of a house. What's the legal situation in your country? Have you ever invited girls home, and if so how did they react? I think your dome looks awesome and fascinating, but I don't know if ever…

Actually what I'm wondering is how you conform to building and fire codes, etc.

Those things are largely ignored in rural areas, unless there is a complaint. Believe me I've seen people living in structures that violate every building, electrical, and plumbing code in the book, but out in the backwoods nobody cares.