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How about that thread concerning that off-the-grid community that despises society out west in the desert where they built their homes out of car tires, bottles and dispose of their bodily waste in 5 gallon containers and leave them in the desert?
Where were the howls of total spin there? Where were the accusations of people's gullibility there???
Where was the demand "I would like to see a cost breakdown, I doubt there is one, into land, labor, material, advertising, and local fees." in those threads?????
Those were built with hundreds of thousands of hours of slave labor and were certainly not cheap to build by anybody's standards. I seriously doubt that you and 2 of your best friends could build anything like them with found materials.
They were not built with slave labor. That is a myth.
Stick and sheet-rock palazzo costs exorbitant amount of $ to build and operate. If you write down the reasons why frame house makes economic sense, you automatically would get a list of "what's wrongs" with modern society.
There are better alternatives (for your health & environment), but they are rather labor & material intensive with questionable resale value. It's a dilemma. At $200,000 being average price ($300,000 with interest), it takes an average income earner about 12 years of hard labor and hand to mouth existence to pay it off. If you cannot afford a $200,000 house, it takes about 12 years of your life to pay off whatever shack you can afford, regardless. I could build a decent house in 3 years of hard labor, and it would be enjoyable, socially enriching and educational labor. I have bulk materials at my fingerprints: stone, clay, wood, sand. Yet, few of us can take 3 years break from wage slaving, even it means financial and common sense.
When (and big if) I'll break out for a while, I'll try to modify traditional Ukrainian home and stove design, wood+clay frame makes air conditioning redundant, traditional masonry heaters (huge fire chamber capable of burning of just about anything, big thermal mass, a heated place to sleep) are more than adequate for mild Ohio winters. Crooks from SEARS offered to replace my old propane heater for $5,500 (after a "discount"). And if you need construction/repairs done on modern homes - get ready to be ripped off. Those of us occupying lower ledgers of the social pyramid would be much better off by learning about home-building trade and alternative designs. A person making $8/hr simply cannot afford $100+/hr services (not speaking of the risks and shoddy workmanship). "Do-it-Yourself" is their only hope.
Last edited by RememberMee; 01-18-2013 at 01:04 AM..
Most building codes are there for a reason. These houses don't meet building codes. If you want to live a third world existence, move to a third world country.
Most building codes are there for a reason. These houses don't meet building codes. If you want to live a third world existence, move to a third world country.
You are under wrong impression that everything "first world" is better than "third" or second world. It's not true in general, and it's not true in particular. How would you know they don't meet codes you don't know? If manufactured and stick homes meet first world building codes, there is no reason much safer, healthier, energy efficient and fireproof buildings could not be tailored to meet those codes. Frame house is not a monument to superiority of the first world, it's rather something else.
You are under wrong impression that everything "first world" is better than "third" or second world. It's not true in general, and it's not true in particular. How would you know they don't meet codes you don't know? If manufactured and stick homes meet first world building codes, there is no reason much safer, healthier, energy efficient and fireproof buildings could not be tailored to meet those codes. Frame house is not a monument to superiority of the first world, it's rather something else.
These houses are cheaper because people don't comply with building code. There is no reason that an adobe built or straw built house couldn't meet building codes, but most don't. Suggesting that one of these house is superior on an environmental, safety and energy efficient basis is an unproved assertion. You can fairly easily build a stick built home today that is a net zero consumer of electricity.
These houses are cheaper because people don't comply with building code. There is no reason that an adobe built or straw built house couldn't meet building codes, but most don't. Suggesting that one of these house is superior on an environmental, safety and energy efficient basis is an unproved assertion. You can fairly easily build a stick built home today that is a net zero consumer of electricity.
Those houses are cheaper because labor is free (or almost free). Realities of the first world America are such that 30%+ (as the very least) cannot afford plastic first world amenities. They have basically two choices - do it yourself, or getting by without. I don't know how you could claim that stick houses requiring helluva lot of plastic, chemicals and overpriced handy crooks are somehow more superior to a traditional European designs requiring little more than wood, clay, and chalk to build. And one doesn't have to be a building purist, it's OK to adopt sensible modern improvements. A modern net zero consumer of electricity requires lots of energy, pollution and environmental damage to build.
It's not "theorizing". I have purchased a home that seen better days, I had no time to "do-it-yourself". I spent little fortune to make it inhabitable, and looking back at relative little half-arsed work done I'm scratching my head in disbelief. Had I had free time I could make a decent, much healthier and energy efficient "non-traditional" house at a fraction of the costs, I would have avoided dealing with all those crooked individuals. People who feed of housing industry prey on our lack of time and our inability just to quit our jobs and do it ourselves. A plastic stick house doesn't make any financial sense (for the ones occupying lower ledgers of the pyramid), we are forced into it by the necessity to sell our wage slaving arses.
There are crooks in the home maintenance renovation business and there are honest people in the business. It's relatively easy to separate the two. The choice of housing is a separate question.
As you've learned, labor is not "free." You "had no time" to do the work because it was more valuable for you to have a job than build a house. What you had was a lack of FREE time.
Suggesting that some third world construction approach is somehow environmentally more friendly than modern construction is just silly. Third world living often produces substantial pollution and horrible indoor air quality.
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