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Old 04-06-2015, 08:44 AM
 
24,169 posts, read 10,494,426 times
Reputation: 46141

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Quote:
Originally Posted by chuckmann View Post
Wow! Lot's of advertising. I perhaps failed to explain clearly...

Hey Warehouyse Joe, I need 21 of module seven, 17 of module three 14 of module 10, and all the electrical and fittings plus the bolts.

Joe goes to the warehouse, loads the require modules onto the truck, and sends thgem out.

The only difference between the mansion and the hovel is the exterior siding. The insulation and interior is mostly the same.

Open your mind. Let your imagination run wild. After all, who would have believed that a complex peiuce of technology would be made in China with a machine and a few peasants fresh of the farm?
I do not do Legos or IKEA.
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Old 04-06-2015, 10:29 AM
 
Location: Metro Detroit, Michigan
29,691 posts, read 24,753,174 times
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So basically, how can we cheapen homebuilding in an effort to better match America's "modernized" payscales?
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Old 04-06-2015, 10:20 PM
 
Location: Tucson/Nogales
23,137 posts, read 28,884,753 times
Reputation: 32487
I'm still waiting for the homebuilding industry to become Mexicanized, as well as modernized!

In Mexico, you can't even get home insurance on a house, apartment building or motel built of wood, it's concrete all the way, even the roof! But then, why would you even need home insurance when your home is all but fireproof, and free from brush fires?

Why the obsession with concrete in Mexico? "Wood is candy to the termites!"

And, I know, the subsequent posts to my post, the brain washing from the powerful, lobbying lumber industry in the U.S.: it's more expensive to build with concrete!

Not!
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Old 04-07-2015, 10:06 AM
 
Location: Ruidoso, NM
5,667 posts, read 6,560,930 times
Reputation: 4817
Quote:
Originally Posted by tijlover View Post
In Mexico, you can't even get home insurance on a house, apartment building or motel built of wood, it's concrete all the way, even the roof!
Structural Concrete Insulated Panel SCIP




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xajd...yer_detailpage
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Old 04-07-2015, 10:14 AM
 
Location: The Triad
34,090 posts, read 82,657,348 times
Reputation: 43653
Quote:
Originally Posted by tijlover View Post
I'm still waiting for the homebuilding industry to become (desert)ized, as well as modernized!
And, I know, the subsequent posts to my post, the .. lumber industry
The cost advantages are real.

In areas where the other benefits are needed it makes more sense to forsake
the aesthetics of other material choices. But outside of the desert and termite
infested areas... the aesthetics wil probably always hold sway.
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Old 04-07-2015, 08:12 PM
 
Location: Tucson/Nogales
23,137 posts, read 28,884,753 times
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When I had Arquimex design me a home in Northern Baja, I always wanted a house with curved walls. Yes, inefficient, space-wise, but I insisted upon it! And an accessible rooftop deck, where I could spy on all my neighbors, or look up at the stars at night!

Aesthetically pleasing? You bet!

Interesting, that in the SW, whether it be Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas, and you go to the older neighborhoods, circa 1950's-60's-early 70's, you'll see cinder block or slump brick construction, only the roof being wood.

I owned one of those all-brick homes in an historical neighborhood in Phoenix, notorious for termite infections, and the termites were forever eating away at my roof, My neighbor had to replace his entire roof due to termites.

Now! Why didn't they go all the way and put concrete roofs on those houses?

The advantage to wood, a no brainer, is the speed factor! Habit for Humanity has shown, if well-organized with a crew, you can tack up a wooden structure in days!

And as they say: haste makes waste!
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Old 04-08-2015, 06:21 AM
 
Location: Londonderry, NH
41,478 posts, read 59,627,700 times
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The irony is the cheapest form of stand alone housing (Mobile homes aka trailers) is prefabricated as is some of the most expensive Post and Beam mansions. A local high end home fabricator builds the post and beam frames, manufactures the SIPs with all the windows, doors and electrical installed in a small factory and, after the site built foundation is ready, assembles the entire structure on site in a few days.

The advantage is the mobile homes are built on an assembly line with little variation for lower costs. The disadvantage is you get what you pay for. the mobile home we lived in during college was small, cold and high maintenance. Fortunately we were not in tornado prone regions because these things explode if a tornado gets near.

The Advantage of the factory prefabricated post and beam home is complete customization, high quality materials and systems and very short installation time. The customization and materials costs results in quite high prices.

FWIW - We have lived in a trailer home, and never will again, a Brooklyn NY row house (very quiet and secure), a frame house built before WW2 and a mid 70's site built town house condo. The latter is starting to require long term maintenance. We were never wealthy enough to have a post and bean prefabricated luxury home. As we get older our grandiose dreams have been impacted by reality and a one floor condo would be an improvement.

If I had my wishes a 1,200 sq. ft. adobe in a small town in the southwest would be a nice place to live. We are really sick of winter here in the Northeast.
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Old 04-08-2015, 10:12 AM
 
Location: midwest
1,594 posts, read 1,403,340 times
Reputation: 970
Expensive housing helps keep most people relatively poor and running on the treadmill.

What would happen if good housing was dirt cheap in the US? Considering how much land we actually have it should be. We could reduce wages without lowering quality of life and make the country more competitive. But the incomes of landlords and banks would go down.

Who controls the game?

We had concepts for great, cheap housing in 1967. Of course the well to do took it over.



Moshe Safdie:

psik
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Old 04-08-2015, 01:49 PM
 
48,505 posts, read 96,629,449 times
Reputation: 18304
There are concrete buildings everywhere with commercial but few want it in a home ;so no demand equals not much availability. Common in Japan but then wood is very expensive .
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Old 04-08-2015, 02:45 PM
 
Location: Ruidoso, NM
5,667 posts, read 6,560,930 times
Reputation: 4817
Quote:
Originally Posted by texdav View Post
wood is very expensive .
Precisely. Wood is much more expensive in many parts of the world than here. We still have loads of lumber forests, and easy access to Canadian lumber.

Plus stick built houses are very quick and cheap to erect and easy to customize. Many people fail to realize how small a percentage of the total cost goes into the shell. All the expense and labor is in the utilities, fixtures, and fancy finishes.

The problem with many "new" methods is paying for the learning curve of engineers and contractors. It's expensive.
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