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The Pretty Good House

prettygoodhouse.org

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Re: The Pretty Good House

#271

Post by aaronax »

alfor wrote: post #231

Is there open source plans? It seem to me that we could have open source full plans for a few models of cost effective houses. Then builders and prefab manufacturers could bid on the price and selection of parts to build it. The houses I see builded here are terribly inefficient. Complex shape and roof lines with a lot of unused space. They are made to look like an old house that was upgraded multiple time instead of…

In the US I believe these complex shapes are one way of making a large house have a less bulky appearance. An enormous box can be ungainly.

Re: The Pretty Good House

#272

Post by jq-r »

darkwater wrote: post #219
jq-r wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slightly sarcastic a bit, but isn't the point of all that engineering schooling, certification, titles, social prestige etc some kind of assurance that those people don't make mistakes? Or if they do, very slight ones? In a sense you cannot have it both ways right?

The idea behind is surely that, but it doesn't mean they can screw things anyway... the difference is that they will be accountable by law for it (which is an important difference, especially if compared to the world of THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS")

I guess in theory that would be true, but in practice (at least where I live), there is no accountability. So yes, doctors, lawyers, architects/engineers etc, get all the prestige and social status, without the downsides.

There was an exception though, like 10 years ago where the doctor was removing a patient's appendix and damaged major artheries. The poor patient lost the leg and the other one is not functioning well. They've sued privately (and had top lawyers) and after a very long process they've kind of won some meagre settlement. What was actually interesting was the fact that the major regional hospital never had a "doctor's error" in the last 20 years, only so called "complications" (which was "nobody's fault").

Doctors (and similar) don't get insurance against damages at all. Why would they?

Re: The Pretty Good House

#273

Post by anthomtb »

poutine wrote: post #36
bruce511 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm intrigued to see that you consider 1000 sq feet (100 sq m) to be "so small". It's twice the size of the first house I owned (which was also 2 bed, and pretty typical starter size here) [1] To me 1000 sq feet for 2 bedrooms sounds fantastic. So many ways you can use that space creatively. So many different layout options and shapes. My recommendation would be to start with an architect. Given a good budget and def…

If you built a 1000sf detached home in North America you'd have a hell of a time selling it later on outside of some very specific conditions as it'll not be much cheaper than a 1500-2000sf home. Home costs do not scale proportionately with their square footage. For example you still have one refrigerator in most homes regardless of size, one front door, pay base flat fees for services and trades just to show up, per…

Along the same lines, adding bedrooms is basically free in terms of additional maintenance. Especially if you are not actively using them. All you will need to do is vacuum/sweep and dust in there once a month, maybe less often than that.

The only marginal financial cost will be energy required to heat and cool the space. Seeing as the original commenter is in the SeaTac area, with a temperate climate, one would think total energy costs tend to be low (I do not live there so I could be wrong).

Re: The Pretty Good House

#274

Post by anthomtb »

Scoundreller wrote: post #179
kleiba wrote: post #174

My wife and I have entertained the idea of a bigger house for quite some time. Well, that boat has sailed. Building has pretty much become unaffordable for us, unless we'd move way out to the country side. And I mean WAY out - we would spend a lot more time every day driving everywhere). We'd also have to build a rather modestly-sized home to fit it into our budget. The thing is, the only reason we've started thinkin…

> Except that the old one will be, at its core, still an old house Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I like the idea of the core of my house being true 2x4s made of hardwood, instead of scam “2x4s” where they say it’s because of their sawblades but I’d say it’s because the mills squeeze too many “2x4s” out of a log.

Are you saying that if you remove the wall surface of an older house the studs would actually measure 2 inches by 4 inches and be made of something other than pine? How old of a house would have this type of framing?

Re: The Pretty Good House

#275

Post by netjiro »

yojo wrote: post #269
Gravityloss wrote: post #236

Here double pane has been the standard for about a century and triple pane after the eighties. No problems whatsoever. I don't even know what's the standard nowadays. Newer windows also quiet down traffic well and reduce the drafty feeling. So there are really very few excuses to not use them. But I don't know what's the name of the phenomenon when someone who uses some primitive technology comes out with all kinds o…

On windows: the seal between single pane windows never fails, because it does not exist. The original windows in my house have been working for 110 years. I put storm windows over them in the winter to get a little extra efficiency. Some of the double panes added during the 90s remodel have busted seals and need to be replaced. It’s a minimum $1500 to get a window replaced around here with a quality modern replacemen…

> does not pencil out to replace the original windows

Depends on the cost of energy and the interior comfort level you want.

Re: The Pretty Good House

#276

Post by deltarholamda »

jonasdegendt wrote: post #102
toast0 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> Frequent checking on the work and hounding the people to fix it. Isn't this partially what you pay your architect for? If you're willing to pay top dollar you should be able to find one that's very hands on and coordinates the whole building process as your representative.

An architect that will do field supervision on a 1,000 sq. ft. house is going to be quite rare. You're more or less relegated to a freshly-minted architect, who may or may not be qualified (not enough experience) to do the kind of double-checking needed.

Of course, paying more money could certainly help, but now you're paying 2,500 sq. ft. prices for a 1,000 sq. ft. house.

There's not really a replacement for doing daily or at least twice-weekly inspections yourself. The architect may catch some things but miss a completely botched plumbing job. And just for fun, every issue you catch will become a fight with the sub-contractor.

Re: The Pretty Good House

#277

Post by bloak »

tlb wrote: post #240
bloak wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good point. Perhaps the result of that argon/nitrogen comparison was a coincidence, or perhaps heat capacity doesn't much affect thermal conductivity. Here's an argument that heat capacity shouldn't affect thermal conductivity in a solid : imagine a block of material with a smooth temperature gradient through it and the temperature at any point remaining constant, so there is heat flowing through it. Now ima…

Yes, I don't think they're strongly related in a solid. But in a gas, heat transfer is mostly driven by convection. Gas near the hot surface heats up, rises, moves to the cold surface, falls, and repeats. So what matters is the specific heat capacity * the flow rate between hot and cold surfaces.

Thanks for that explanation. So the "thermal conductivities" I quoted above, if they don't take account of convection, are perhaps not even particularly relevant. The advantage of argon over nitrogen might be greater than those numbers suggest?

Re: The Pretty Good House

#278

Post by [deleted] »

Gravityloss wrote: post #236

Here double pane has been the standard for about a century and triple pane after the eighties. No problems whatsoever. I don't even know what's the standard nowadays. Newer windows also quiet down traffic well and reduce the drafty feeling. So there are really very few excuses to not use them. But I don't know what's the name of the phenomenon when someone who uses some primitive technology comes out with all kinds o…

[deleted]

Re: The Pretty Good House

#279

Post by interactivecode »

yojo wrote: post #269
Gravityloss wrote: post #236

Here double pane has been the standard for about a century and triple pane after the eighties. No problems whatsoever. I don't even know what's the standard nowadays. Newer windows also quiet down traffic well and reduce the drafty feeling. So there are really very few excuses to not use them. But I don't know what's the name of the phenomenon when someone who uses some primitive technology comes out with all kinds o…

On windows: the seal between single pane windows never fails, because it does not exist. The original windows in my house have been working for 110 years. I put storm windows over them in the winter to get a little extra efficiency. Some of the double panes added during the 90s remodel have busted seals and need to be replaced. It’s a minimum $1500 to get a window replaced around here with a quality modern replacemen…

I dunno the single pane windows on my 100 year old house also have seals around them that let water through. They really need to be fixed or replaced.

1500 is not much if you compare it with any tech device upgrade cycle.

Re: The Pretty Good House

#280

Post by interactivecode »

hansjorg wrote: post #158
uggwar wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We just refurbished our house here in Norway. New windows and 10 cm extra insulation. I am shocked how well the windows perform! Ice on the outside, but nice and warm on the inside. Amazing!

It's a bit annoying with new windows that they perform so well that you'll get dew or ice on the outside a lot of the time. Supposedly, windows with an outer self cleaning layer get less condensation, but they're quite expensive.

Better than the dew and ice of the inside like with single pane windows!
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