NationStates Jolt Archive

Let's get these questions started, shall we?

Do you think yourself physically capable of building your own house, if given the tools, materials and land?

Even if you aren't capable, would you want to build your house?

You can provide additional details at your leisure.

I recently considered this as an option. If I could get a piece of land, the tools and the materials, I know I am physically capable of building a house. All I would need is a professional building plan (I could provide the sketches, they could then be used to create a plan that could then be submitted for approval to whichever governing body was closest), as well as a few experts in relation to some subjects (electricity, plumbing and so on).

All in all, I could imagine myself working hard on that kind of a project, but it'd be a one-time thing and I'd need to be able to live in it afterwards. I'd also do as much work as I could possibly do, before handing it over to experts, so they could do more formalities than real work. As in, I'd set up the wiring, then have an electrician come look at it. I'd set up the plumbing and then have a plumber come look at it.

I know someone posted a link to environmental houses a while back, but I think that if I ever do go through with this idea, I'd study a bit on how I might get the most out of whatever plot of land I have and the materials available. Mainly for economic reasons, but also to put less of a strain on the local/global environment.

Finally, I'd try to support students in this project. If possible, I would contact a local university/college and see if they had any students capable who could then get some points for working on the house as part of their education.

I probably could, but I wouldn't want to.

The closest I get to it is designing/building play houses for my kids and their friends, we mostly use found materials (read pick up old stuff that other people are throwing out) and they mostly last about through the spring/summer with some of them not withstanding the Oklahoma winds.....which are frequently above 100mph in a storm.

I would like to build one of these, when I get time/money, for me to have as my own little house to hang out in.

http://www.summerwood.com/images/configuration/medium/524/248x173

Let's get these questions started, shall we?

Do you think yourself physically capable of building your own house, if given the tools, materials and land?

Even if you aren't capable, would you want to build your house?

You can provide additional details at your leisure.
.

I'm pretty sure i'd be able to build my own house after spending the last 3 summers working with my dad building houses. I don't think i'd have the time however and I doubt I ever will again. I would however like to pay my dad to build me another house (and i've talked it over with him as a possibility if I decide to go through with it sometime soon) as I trust his skill at it

... I'm kinda leaning towards a Hobbit-type house shown in the LotR movies.

dunno if I could build it myself, but if I had the money, I would contract someone to build it.

Umm... it wouldn't be a very good house, but I could probably do it.

I don't know how to lay bricks though.

No, me with a hammer is like me with grammar

plus I'm broke, lazy and willing to do some favors for the Russian mafia

I took carpentry for two years at a tech school, and my dad is a carpenter. I think I've got house building pretty covered.

I think it'd be a cool thing to do, but I'd have to do a lot of reading and training to achieve it. More likely, I would design one and then get contractors in to build it.

Been there, done that (with my family). My brothers and I get together with our parents to build the last couple houses we lived in (well the most recent was just for them).

There are lots of little things you will learn building a house - the best advice I can give you is to practice a bit. Perhaps volunteer to build houses for Habitat for Humanity.

Had I the option, I know exactly what I would do. I would excavate the side of a hill with a good view and build into the ground. Most of the place would be underground aside from one side with the door and big windows looking down the valley and a couple of skylights.

Preferably built with stone, but probably concrete for the structural elements. Radiant floor heating with a multi-fuel boiler to heat, electricity provided by a small windmill or perhaps solar panels. A little loaded to upfront cost but long run will be more economical.

Maybe design one, but not build it.

I would definitely build my own house. I don't know hwo I would build it as that would be dependent on the layout and climate of the site. Though for Montreal, I would probably focus on earth sheltered housing, collection and purification of rain water, passive solar design, two sources of electrical power and heating, and cavity free walls.

This is mainly due to the wetness of the Montreal climate, plus the extreme temperature changes. I've also been thinking a lot lately of having a system of interconnected hanging flower boxes along the exterior wall with a compost heap at the top so that as rain filters through the system, it washes nutrients down the wall. The added shade in the summer would greatly reduce the solar heat gain, cooling the building interior. When the plants died in the fall, the added solar heat gain would warm the building in the cold months.

Um, I guess I think about this a lot.

More than likely, but it'd be a simple, single floor, mostly open plan home, more accurately described as a "nest". I'd have no idea where to start regarding wiring or plumbing.

Had I the option, I know exactly what I would do. I would excavate the side of a hill with a good view and build into the ground. Most of the place would be underground aside from one side with the door and big windows looking down the valley and a couple of skylights.

Preferably built with stone, but probably concrete for the structural elements. Radiant floor heating with a multi-fuel boiler to heat, electricity provided by a small windmill or perhaps solar panels. A little loaded to upfront cost but long run will be more economical.

If you orient the building properly, you could gain a lot of free heating and cooling using passive solar design.

I'm pretty sure I could build a house, though fancy stuff like water and electricity would be out of the question. Know how to draw plans for a house, lay a foundation, hammer some wood together for the frame, and the rest is cake. Would I want to live in the house? No way, Don't like wood cabins, and it would pretty much just be a big shed. It wouldn't even have a toilet. :p

I think most people would be able to make a house if they really had to, though the quality would probably not be what they had hoped for.

A two story glass house. But not a box shape..

I fix just about everything on my house. I've added on extra rooms. Sure, I could build my own house and it would be excellent by contemporary standards. Then again, I could just build a log cabin and it would be satisfactory by age-old standards.

It's dealing with the government -- permits, inspections, assessments -- that's the stuff that sucks.

The biggest issue is a foundation and where you live...

Down south you can get away with a floating slab

In the north you cannot...

Either way, you need a method of mixing and pouring the concrete slab if you are doing this by yourself... Then the matters of waste disposal (read - sewer), and drilling a well... The rest can be done on your own...

Or you can go the hermit way... house is on cinder blocks that you must re-level every year, you pound your own sandpoint well, and you take a crap in a hole...


Otherwise, so long as you can measure and cut straight - it's all good...

The biggest issue is a foundation and where you live...


Otherwise, so long as you can measure and cut straight - it's all good...
That's why I contracted the concrete out on my addition.
Plus, you get an expert that can finish it and pour it dead level.

well... I wouldn't put your expections too high...

They rarely get it dead level, the bigger the slab, the worse it gets...

I used to be an Iron Worker - Pre-engineered steel buildings too... The steel was cut at the factory by machines, and of course nothing would line up quite right at the site...

Also, framing is always called "rough" framing, lmao... It won't be straight no matter how you try... One reason is the slab, the other reason is your chalk lines... The longer the line you are snapping, the more it will sag at the center - no matter how hard you pull on it... Best doing many lines of short lengths...

Just some advice, you don't want to be going mad because everything doesn't line up perfectly... You will have to "wing-it" for a proper fit, sometimes trimming... this is why you want to cut on the longer side of things, too short and the whole piece is useless or scrap...

Well, that's the plan in a few years, when I have the property and the money. It's gonna be a nice, open timber frame. Could I do it all by myself? Hell no. Never timber framed before, much less seen it done. However I know I could do the plumbing and electrical on my own (of course have a professional come in and take a look). As well I've had a few friends who've built their own places, so having their input and assistance would be a plus.

My highschool house idea was to buy some land, and a bunch of small storage sheds you build yourself. Then build them in a specific layout, add light insulation and vapour proofind, and build connecting "halls" to them, then bury the entire thing under ground.

Awesome home made, and cozy and cheap, bunker.

well... I wouldn't put your expectations too high...


The guy I hired was off level by a quarter inch over 60 feet. I can live with that.
He was out of square by a little more. Three eighths of an inch on the diagonals. There's a lot to be said for lasers.

I always chalk square lines on the slab so that the framing comes out right. (does 3-4-5 sound familiar? It should!)

Building it right isn't hard -- it just takes someone that gives a damn.

You can always get good work if you make your expectations known during the bidding phase. And supervise like hell during the construction.

Let's get these questions started, shall we?

Do you think yourself physically capable of building your own house, if given the tools, materials and land?

Even if you aren't capable, would you want to build your house?

You can provide additional details at your leisure.

I recently considered this as an option. If I could get a piece of land, the tools and the materials, I know I am physically capable of building a house. All I would need is a professional building plan (I could provide the sketches, they could then be used to create a plan that could then be submitted for approval to whichever governing body was closest), as well as a few experts in relation to some subjects (electricity, plumbing and so on).

All in all, I could imagine myself working hard on that kind of a project, but it'd be a one-time thing and I'd need to be able to live in it afterwards. I'd also do as much work as I could possibly do, before handing it over to experts, so they could do more formalities than real work. As in, I'd set up the wiring, then have an electrician come look at it. I'd set up the plumbing and then have a plumber come look at it.

I know someone posted a link to environmental houses a while back, but I think that if I ever do go through with this idea, I'd study a bit on how I might get the most out of whatever plot of land I have and the materials available. Mainly for economic reasons, but also to put less of a strain on the local/global environment.

Finally, I'd try to support students in this project. If possible, I would contact a local university/college and see if they had any students capable who could then get some points for working on the house as part of their education.

Try these students:
http://www.taliesin.edu/

I have enough money to make someone else build a house. Does that count as doing it myself?

Actually, I doubt I could ever build a house on my own. I have enough skill with tools that I could be on the construction team building one, but I have neither the strength nor the will to do it on my own.

Think again, Seathornia. Designing a hard drive with a window is not as easy as you might think. I mean, designing and building a house is not as easy as you might think. Foundations have to cure for more than 25 days before you build anything on them. It took my parents almost 3 months to get a two level extension including a 3-season porch, a workshop, a patio, and deck onto their house. See when someone builds houses for a living they can invest all of their time in building but if you want to try to build something yourself you have to factor in the cost of construction, right now running at $300 or (and often) more, the limited amount of time you'll have to spend on your porjects because of your job and life, weather, etc.