Jennifer, I recently heard a television progra about those" sea -land" trailers which are fullly insulated , some of them. they set up their house I think it was Georga on a concrete plateform and then two trailers were used and anchored . when it was complete one sighted persn would see those two trailers, now a home locked together in the shape of a " T ". great idea. Lee
On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 02:19:54AM -0500, Jennifer Jackson wrote: > Are you perhaps close enough to a port to consider one of the new house > designs made from the old cargo containers? I have heard that they are > quickly gaining in popularity and are springing up all over Florida and > around the country too. They do limit your interior design, but are supposed > to be very sturdy and easy to build with. > > > Jennifer > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Michael baldwin > To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com > Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 12:38 AM > Subject: RE: [BlindHandyMan] building a house > > > Shane, > Actually, i wouldn't build a house right now. with the current house > market, you can probably buy something better then you can build for that > price. And if you build, it will probably be worth less than it cost to > build. > > that aside, I think building a house would be fun, and I hope to in 5 years. > > if your 80k budget does not include purchasing a lot, you might want to see > what lots are selling for where you want to build, assuming you are going to > need to buy one. > > 15000 sq/ft house for 80k...well, that will be tuff, $53.33 per sq/ft. They > say the average is $115 per sq/ft of home for a basic house. But I am sure > it can be done. > > If you want energy efficient, spend the majority of your money on your > building envelope. things like light fixture, flooring, cabinets, etc... > can be upgraded at a later date when you have the money for it. > > Cost will be different for you, than they are for me, so you need to speak > with contractors to get ideas of what things will cost. > > Compare using closed cell spray foam to other methods of insulation. It is > about an R7 per inch, and seals against air leaks as well. So in a 2x4 > wall, you will have an R value of 24.5. Add 1 inch of xps foam to the > outside, that has an R of 5, and you have a 29.5 R value wall. Closed cell > spray foam runs about $4 per sq/ft of 2x4 wall here. 2x4's are a little > less expensive than 2x6's, and much less than going with something like > ICF's. 2x4's will give you a few more sq/ft of interior space. Closed cell > foam also adds to the strength of your walls. > > if you do not mind vinyl windows, I would go with something like the > American Craftsman sold at Home Depot. They are reasonably priced and are > pretty good windows. They make the vinyl for Anderson Windows. But they > are about half the price of an Anderson or Pella window. > > Go with a non-vented attic. Insulation, spray foam is best, is put right > against the underside of the roof deck. This makes the attic part of your > conditioned air. This does not increase the roof temp by more than a couple > of degrees, like some will have you believe, and you do not have that hot > attic air working it's way back down in to your house. When you do this, > the roof should have a layer of water and ice shield on the whole roof > though, instead of roofing paper. The reason for this, is to give you a > extra layer of protection if your shingles were to fail. With the > insulation right against the roof deck, leaks can take a lot longer to show > up. Use a light colored shingle, or roof coating, to reflect the heat back > away from the house. > > The HVAC contractor needs to run a manual J to size your a/c and heat > properly. . Systems to small or to big can cost you more money. Radiate > floor heating can make a house feel more comfortable at a lower temp, but > you will not have that many heating days, and a central air system needs the > blower to circulate the air, so you might as will just used forced heat and > air. All that stuff about turning back the thermostat at night, and up > during the day, doesn't really work in my experience and opinion, your best > to only change it be a degree or to, or just leave it at the same temp all > the time. > > Try to use standard sized products in your house build. Example windows, a > stock window is much less than a custom ordered one. try to keep your > dimensions divisible by 4, there is less waste of product, so you are buying > a few sheets less of plywood and such. > > > Michael > > _____ > > From: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com [mailto:blindhandy...@yahoogroups.com] > On Behalf Of Shane Hecker > Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 2:50 PM > To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com > Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] building a house > > I'm looking to build a 1500 sq foot 1 story house. Here's some information > about a house I'm currently in. > It is about 1280 sq feet. It has standard 2x4 walls with fiberglass bats. > The windows are single panes in aluminum frames. The doors are insulated > metal. The attic has standard bats, but on top of this, there is blown > insulation. I think it's about r38 in total. I keep the ac at 78 during the > day, 75 during the night. In the dead of summer, my bill is between $150 and > $160. > My goal in building a house is to decrease the amount I pay for electricity > by a decent amount. The last thing I want is to have to pay $200 to cool a > house. In doing research, I've seen people say they have big houses and are > paying about what I pay. One article I remember seeing indicated that the > writer paid about $168 in the middle of summer for a 3400 sq foot, 2 story > house. According to the writer, it is all electric. His wife likes to cook. > The kicker is that he keeps his ac at 75 day and night. It is noteworthy to > mention he built with icf. > If I could build a 1500 sq foot house and have a bill at about $80, or even > $100 in the middle of summer, that would be great. It is my opinion that I'd > be a fool to not do everything I could to save energy within reason. > > Shane > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Dan Rossi > To: blindhandyman@ <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> yahoogroups.com > Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 9:08 AM > Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] building a house > > Hmm, so many possibilities for building a house from scratch these days. > I think that radiant under floor heating and heavy walls are probably a > good start, either masonry or rammed earth walls. Air tight but with > good air exchange. There is a company in Germany, can't remember the > name, but they make windows that are the most efficient in the world. > They have triple seals or something and have a lever that pulls them > closed and seals them. Plus they are triple pained and low E and all that. > However, you can probably spend the better part of your 80 grand just on > the windows. > > Is your goal to make a house that costs nothing to run, or do you want to > build the largest house you can get for the money even though it might > cost a bit more to heat and cool? They are kind of mutually exclusive. > In either case, I envy you as I think it would be quite a lot of fun to > design and build a house from scratch. > > -- > Blue skies. > Dan Rossi > Carnegie Mellon University. > E-Mail: d...@andrew. <mailto:dr25%40andrew.cmu.edu> cmu.edu > Tel: (412) 268-9081 > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > -- The shortest distance between two points is under construction. -- Noelie Alito .
