Building a modern home in the woods • Hacker News Board

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#61

Post by EricE » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 5:13 PM UTC

b4st1en wrote: post #57

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…

I had the same reaction (European too). If it's in Canada the supply voltage is 120V, so roughly half what we have in Europe, apples-to-apples it's comparable to 200A in Europe. Still, it's a very high amount of power (48kW) that would not even be subscriptable in France for a consumer (the max is 36kW).

240v is delivered to homes on two legs - the legs are split to make 120v circuits for lighting and wall plugs. 240v circuits with both legs are common for things with a large draw such as HVAC, electric water heaters, electric stoves/ovens, electric dryers, etc.

Remember, they didn't want fossil fuels - if you are going all electric, especially for heating (in CANDADA!) you are going to pull some wattage.

That big outdoor pool - in CANADA - doesn't help either.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#62

Post by ReleaseCandidat » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 5:13 PM UTC

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…

> Am I the only one who almost spit out his coffee when reading this paragraph?

No, I thought that was a typo and should be 40A (so 120V * 40 A or 400V * 12A).

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#63

Post by CalRobert » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 5:14 PM UTC

I haven't used them myself (I live in Europe) but in the US there are companies that will build passive houses and ship them to you in parts. https://www.phoenixhaus.com/ comes to mind.

I took a similar approach to building a new house on a field in Ireland - my house was built in Latvia and assembled in a week or so by a local crew.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#64

Post by gdubs » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 5:14 PM UTC

0xbadcafebee wrote: post #4

Doesn't the author actually mean postmodern ? "Modern home" architecture is from the early-mid 20th century. If you're looking to build a home, do yourself a favor and watch Essential Craftsman's Spec House series ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn4L_aJ1rV4&list=PLRZePj70B4... ). Your eyeballs will grow wider and wider with all the considerations, but you'll be better informed for it.

Modern is usually referring to mid-20th century in terms of style. Post-modern doesn’t include everything after that — it’s kind of a mess to describe but probably the simplest explanation is that post-modernism is a reaction to modernism. It’s a style full of visual puns, and structural manifestations of literary criticism.

“Contemporary” is the more generic umbrella term for things that are modern with a lowercase “m”.

Of course, nobody agrees on what Postmodernism is so please feel free to tell me why I’m wrong :)

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#65

Post by ggcdn » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 5:15 PM UTC

Interesting read, who hasn't dreamt of doing something like this (perhaps at different scales). I've started saving for a parcel of land in the Kootenays to build a.. ahem... much less grandiose dwelling for weekend getaways.

I would invest in a couple of these [0]

[0] http://www.onestopfire.com/sprinklers.htm

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#66

Post by CalRobert » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 5:15 PM UTC

claudiulodro wrote: post #25

The way to do this if you're not wealthy is to get a cheapo plot of land on the Oregon/Washington coast ($<100k for up to .5 acres) and put a manufactured home on it. It's way simpler, cheaper, and the construction on manufactured homes has improved a lot over the years (they're framed with 2x6s to survive transport, and this makes them sturdier and better insulated than most traditional houses). I did it and it's be…

The book How to Build a House, by Larry Haun, is a great read if you want to try this yourself.

irishvernacular.com/ also has a guide to building a lovely, modest, warm home yourself (with friends, admittedly) for <50k .

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#67

Post by EricE » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 5:16 PM UTC

jakewins wrote: post #41

Aeolun wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

400A?! My house can make do with 60A, and my previous one with 40A Do they use 350A to heat a swimming pool? Talk about a waste of energy.

Are you in EU? Recall North America uses 120VAC, so a 400A service is equivalent to 200A in the EU

NA Houses still get 240 delivered to them - so yeah, 400A is huge.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#68

Post by antisthenes » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 5:16 PM UTC

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 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.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#69

Post by crowbahr » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 5:16 PM UTC

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 a European you probably don't have an outdoor heated pool & hot tub in a frigid northern climate.

I also think it's ridiculous, for what it's worth. 400A is a wild amount of electricity for a supposedly high efficiency, modern home.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#70

Post by shtopointo » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 5:17 PM UTC

ttul wrote: post #12

fartcannon wrote: post #7

Leaving out the actual financial information makes this post a little useless. Before I can imagine it, I want to know if I can do this or if I need to be a trust fund baby.

These kids may not have a trust fund, but to have already bought and sold a Vancouver townhouse with enough equity to buy raw land and build a fairly baller house on it… they definitely had parental help.

Dude works for slack – a quick search reveals that he was one of the early employees. I know nothing about him otherwise, but he doesn't have to come from money, being lucky with the IPO could explain the windfall to afford the house. In other news, it looks pretty (and over the top), but I doubt most of us here will ever be able to afford something like this.