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Do It Yurtself

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Re: Do It Yurtself

#121

Post by dmitripopov »

thekhatribharat wrote: post #73

How does the construction industry work in the US? Do many people DIY? Do many people get hands-on with building homes while still hiring experts where needed? Is it common for city people to own farms/land nearby? It seems it isn’t really that costly to build a nice 1000 sq. ft. place complete with appliances and modern amenities. The construction industry in India is shitty - carpenters, painters, plumbers, masons,…

In Soviet Union of the 80s a male person with rural origins aged over 18 was considered capable of building a wooden house by himself (or little help from other males in the family) by default. Nowadays you can hardly find someone who is not a carpenter professionally but still capable of building.

Re: Do It Yurtself

#122

Post by captn3m0 »

oh_sigh wrote: post #16
starpilot wrote: post #7

Some terrible, hyper-critical comments so far. A 3d-printed concrete cube with a fridge full of Soylent would be vastly more efficient for productive techies. Can't we just admit that this is an incredibly creative hybrid of old & new. The end result is breathtaking.

I think people are turned off by the near professional quality of the photos for some reason. The one of the guy using the router in slo mo could be out of a Craftsman commercial.

The maker is a art director by profession.

Re: Do It Yurtself

#123

Post by sbochins »

karlp wrote: post #50
starpilot wrote: post #7

Some terrible, hyper-critical comments so far. A 3d-printed concrete cube with a fridge full of Soylent would be vastly more efficient for productive techies. Can't we just admit that this is an incredibly creative hybrid of old & new. The end result is breathtaking.

But the problem is this is not DIY, it's professional work, the word is being abused for some purpose. > He has a do it yurtself website w/ all the fancy content, presumably he's planning on selling that. Not surprised

Never heard of a definition of DIY that did not include building something of professional quality. I think it’s as simple as the name implies: you can do it all by yourself.

Re: Do It Yurtself

#124

Post by rgrieselhuber »

jokoon wrote: post #89

I'm more curious about the state of that yurt in 5, 10, 15 years. Heating, humidity, insulation, energy bill, insects, hygiene, maintaining the toilet and the hygiene issues that come with it. Building codes don't exist without good reasons. Health and comfort don't happen by snapping finger at good ideas. I would really be interesting if construction engineers seriously studied yurts. I have to say this looks pretty…

If only those Mongolians had building code engineers.

Re: Do It Yurtself

#125

Post by puranjay »

cwkoss wrote: post #33

Wow, imgur has really ramped up the ads and user hostile UX, I wonder if they are going broke.

I straight up quit halfway through because the videos/GIFs would take forever to load.

That and the ever present obnoxious prompt to download the app.

Re: Do It Yurtself

#126

Post by h2odragon »

thekhatribharat wrote: post #73

How does the construction industry work in the US? Do many people DIY? Do many people get hands-on with building homes while still hiring experts where needed? Is it common for city people to own farms/land nearby? It seems it isn’t really that costly to build a nice 1000 sq. ft. place complete with appliances and modern amenities. The construction industry in India is shitty - carpenters, painters, plumbers, masons,…

In more rural areas, you can still build your own home without a huge amount of paperwork and certification. As someone else mentioned, if your funding hasn't got strings attached you're even more free. Of course there's always the "forgiveness is easier than permission," factor too, but that only works if you're "somebody" to the authorities you hope to be forgiving you.

I built my house from 2003 to 2005 in rural TN with only a couple of permits needed (electrician, one for the well, one for the septic system) and no special laws about what contractors i could employ. This was self-funded, self labor, etc etc as much as possible; and probably about the most benign location for the effort in the entire USA.

Re: Do It Yurtself

#127

Post by uxp100 »

jokoon wrote: post #89

I'm more curious about the state of that yurt in 5, 10, 15 years. Heating, humidity, insulation, energy bill, insects, hygiene, maintaining the toilet and the hygiene issues that come with it. Building codes don't exist without good reasons. Health and comfort don't happen by snapping finger at good ideas. I would really be interesting if construction engineers seriously studied yurts. I have to say this looks pretty…

Possibly a construction engineer designed this kit.

These kits have been around a long time, I’ve been in one that has been standing for some time, I didn’t notice mildew issues (I’m guessing there is some type of ridge vent at the peak) temperatures were ok. It was in the Bay Area and plenty of apartments there aren’t insulated, so the yurt wasn’t much different.

This is an expensive build, Idk if wiring the yurt for electricity is worth it. If you keep it as all one room, a single lamp and spot to charge a laptop or phone pretty much covers it. Propane to heat water for a short hot outdoor shower, and cooking outside.

One thing to consider is if you are the type of person to make it really remote, maybe you’ll find that as cool as a mile hike in is to your yurt, you will occasionally want to hang out there without the hike.

Re: Do It Yurtself

#128

Post by yardshop »

irrational wrote: post #9

Is this Portland Oregon or Portland Maine? I thought it was Portland Oregon, but then they mentioned the footings were 12 inches below the frost line, and there basically is no front line in Portland Oregon since the winters are too warm and rainy. But I assume there is a frost line in Portland Maine.

In Maine, the recommended footing depth is 4 feet.

Re: Do It Yurtself

#129

Post by OJFord »

This reminded me of a more traditional (but focussed on efficiency) 100% self-build (and design) that I've been following for a while, but since the last infrequent update I seem to have lost it.

I don't suppose that's familiar to anyone else? I expect I saw it on HN in the first place, the URL was something focussed on the efficiency/climate aspect, though most of the content (and to be honest what I was interested in!) was just generally applicable how-to/DIY for each step.

Edit: Ah! I found it: https://www.savingsustainably.com (I wasn't quite right above, I suppose perhaps the efficiency goal is a product of 'FIRE' rather than climate concern). And some more update since I last caught up with it, excellent.

Re: Do It Yurtself

#130

Post by ansible »

eps wrote: post #83
skybrian wrote: post #46

If you want to read about the drawbacks, they're explained here: https://doityurtself.com/is-it-for-you/

With this particular project the con list also includes a compost toilet and the need to climb up and down the ladder to get to your bed. It's OK for few days, but I can see it getting very tiring really quickly.

I don't know about the compost toilet, but I climbed up and down a loft bed during college for years, it didn't bother me in the slightest.

Of course, that was decades ago...

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