Building a modern home in the woods • Hacker News Board

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#71

Post by nostromo » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 5:17 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…

A heated pool for a single-family home in the wilderness seems particularly decadent and indulgent.

It looks like they wanted a California house, with flat a roof and giant windows, in the Canadian Wilderness. But there's a reason houses in the mountains look the way they do. This house looks as out-of-place as a ski chalet would on the beach in San Diego. In any case, it looks as if they have enough money not to care.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#72

Post by somethoughts » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 5:18 PM UTC

nickhalfasleep wrote: post #6

0 words about forest fires or preparing a defensible boundary and setback. Their insurance is going to be fierce .

The other thought that came to mind is if its a second home - how do you prevent squatters/random people from "enjoying" the house while you are away.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#73

Post by Scoundreller » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 5:18 PM UTC

intrepidhero wrote: post #56

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'm from the US and I was shocked they needed 400A plus propane. We draw more current then you guys because our voltage is lower but still, 200A services are pretty standard for large rural homes.

My thought is that power can go out for days at a time after a big storm, so propane is mostly a backup electricity/aux heat source.

Maybe they have a heat pump setup which switches to propane when it gets really cold.

Wood is there, but somebody needs to feed it. And people inevitably get old or lazy about it and depend more and more on the convenient heat sources available.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#74

Post by WSSP » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 5:18 PM UTC

carabiner wrote: post #49

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…

Yeah where can I find land like this within 30 minutes of Seattle/Tacoma?

there's a lot of land on the WA/OR coast, but you won't find it cheap in a Seattle suburb, which is where a 30 minute drive along the coastline will take you

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#75

Post by tpmx » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 5:20 PM UTC

sswezey wrote: post #20

Ugh, the font doesn't scale when zooming, but the pictures do. The font does scale though when changing the container size. The font is massive on a monitor, terrible UX.

Yeah.

Also: It sucks that bookmarklets have fallen out of fashion. I just spent a few minutes trying to find a working bookmarklet that changes the font size and failed.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#76

Post by louis___ » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 5:20 PM UTC

So sad to see a somewhat wild area got uglied with a shiny, propane-powered mansion. Poor birds will just fly away from this spot

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#77

Post by asjldkfin » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 5:21 PM UTC

Splendor wrote: post #48

asjldkfin wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's amazing how much bitterness and jealousy can be encapsulated in just one sentence. It's almost poetic.

I guess we can file yours under "callous indifference". Someone complains about the societal issues that allow a couple to build a SECOND mansion like this in the woods while millions of people are homeless and your response is to paint them as "jealous".

OP isn't complaining about societal issues; OP is trying to drag a couple just because they have demonstrated some modicum of success and happen to be "white".

They literally mentioned nothing about societal issues, except the implicit racism in their assumption that whiteness somehow inherently detracts from people's accomplishments.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#78

Post by antisthenes » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 5:21 PM UTC

asjldkfin wrote: post #38

ttul wrote: post #3

TL;DR wealthy, privileged white couple in Canada build dream home in the woods thanks to extensive societal advantages which they enjoy. Film at nine.

It's amazing how much bitterness and jealousy can be encapsulated in just one sentence. It's almost poetic.

That's just your interpretation of it.

Where you see bitterness and jealousy, I just see indifference and light irony.

Maybe you're the one projecting?

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#79

Post by xyzzyz » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 5:22 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).

Supply is 240V in North America. You probably have multiple 240V circuits at your home, typically for electric range, oven, and clothes dryer at least. It is split into two for regular outlets and lighting.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#80

Post by JALTU » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 5:23 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…

In my short experience, there is a very practical difference between "manufactured" and "modular" which is explained at the Ideabox site link below.

We have seen/stayed in one of these Ideabox homes and they seem a good balance for a house when you're not a "I want to build my dream castle" kind of person (that's me).

https://www.ideabox.us/