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and most Craftsmen houses were built from a kit from the Sear's Catalog. We used to own one, loved the house and the details but I don't know that it was built to superior standards by any means. The woodwork was nice, but it was just "more" than we see today. You can easily put the same into a house now. The woodwork was also fir, not the best wood to use, but it was painted so that is what they used. The reality is that many houses of that era were mass produced just like you see today but because they are "old" people think they are better.
Not "most" - "some" Actually Craftsman kit houses are fairly rare. Some of them are really neat. You could order them with different types of wood and with different features. They were not all the same and many, possibly most of them were customized as they were built. They were made of custom parts, but hand crafted and made to last (most of them, there were some really cheap ones). Yes, they are superior in quality (materials) and workmanship to what they are mass producing today (some custom homes are an exception). The Sears houses generally were not better than fully hand crafted custom houses of their time, but the quality was generally pretty good and far far better than anything they can make today. Even old growth fir from 90 years ago was much much better than the forced growth stuff they use now. The problem is we are realistically out of wood so they are making it by using genetics and chemistry to make trees grow really fast and provide lumber.
You cannot put the same woodwork into them today. Some is simply not available. One example is 16" or 18" custom baseboards. They simply cannot make them with the material available today. They can make them of plastic and paint them, but not natural wood. The closest they can come is to stick a bunch of smaller pieces together and get a similar look but again, this has to be painted. The same is true of many other materials. Much of the woodwork they cannot make anymore can be replicated in plastic, but it is only good for painting. You are not going to stain and clear coat plastic.
Menards is doing it again. You can buy a complete house kit. Several different sizes and styles. I saw one was $71,000. I would expect with today's methods, the kit houses may be better than mass produced houses, especially if assembled by a real carpenter rather than merely by nail gun operators (assuming you can find and afford a real carpenter).
Fir is what they use today West of the Mississippi. It is not very good lumber, but it is actually much better than the soft Carolina Pine they use east of the Mississippi. IF you live East of the Missippi, what you get as "lumber," woudl not even have been qualified to make packing boxes in the 1910s. Fortunately we have technological advances to make up for what is lacking in timber integrity, so our houses do not fall down all that often (sometimes they do, but it is kept pretty quiet).
The industry is slowly moving away from lumber and towards steel and plastics, so quality of building material may improve at least somewhat soon. They will continue to use mass production assembly line construction techniques into the foreseeable future though.
and most Craftsmen houses were built from a kit from the Sear's Catalog. We used to own one, loved the house and the details but I don't know that it was built to superior standards by any means. The woodwork was nice, but it was just "more" than we see today. You can easily put the same into a house now. The woodwork was also fir, not the best wood to use, but it was painted so that is what they used. The reality is that many houses of that era were mass produced just like you see today but because they are "old" people think they are better.
I wouldn't say that "most" Craftsmans were built from a kit, certainly there were a few thousand but those definitely were outnumbered by traditionally constructed homes built on-site of locally sourced (or at least regionally) materials.
I think it depends where the house is located as well, more "kit" houses seem to be found in the mid-west and some parts of the East, while out West there was still an abundant supply of quality old-growth redwood for a couple of decades that that was what was more often used in many houses out here, mine included, and it is solid stuff! There were plenty of builders, constructing multiple houses, but typically they would start and finish a house with just a few skilled workers and then move on to the next project as opposed to having dozens of specialized workers going in and out of multiple houses simultaneously going up and completing the trade work and then moving on like today.
You absolutely MUST have a functional, logical floorplan. You can pretty it up with whatever later on down the line but if you don't get that right you are doomed.
This is absolutely true. It's a huge pain to make significant changes to a floorplan. Doubly so if you're dependent upon paying others to make it happen.
Things I dislike about my new built (not custom) home are no bathroom windows. .
Why do builders not put windows in bathrooms? Do they not get that natural light is a welcome thing in bathrooms? I opted to get skylights in my current home in the bathroom that does not have a window. I HATE a bathroom with no natural light.
If I lived in Florida, I'd want the most windows facing north, some windows facing south, and the fewest windows facing east and west. Where I live now, the most windows facing east and north are best. Since window placement is super important, the sun path and weather patterns for each region need to be taken into consideration. There is no rule of thumb for the entire northern hemisphere.[/quote]
We live in southwest Florida, and most of our windows (and sliding glass doors in the great room, master bedroom and breakfast nook) face the west and southwest because that's where the view is. And those are where we view the spectacular sunsets over the water and all that nature has to offer there. But those windows face a covered patio and wide overhangs, and are hurricane impact windows with good energy ratings so they don't let much (I can't feel any) of the sun's heat in even during the hot part of the afternoon- there's also a UV coating on those windows- you can't see it when you look out but you can when you look in from the outside. So while the ideal exposure for the southern hemisphere might not be the south and west, there are ways to mitigate that heat and light that come in from those directions.
That I have a place to live
Away from busy main street
Hate
Small bathroom
Gets very humid inside, activates my allergies
small garage
neighbors too close and they cut down large privacy trees right before I moved in
Kitchen cabinets are horrible, goodwill specials
I agree with Travelassie about house orientation. The back of our house faces west because the front of the lot faces east . And just about the entire rear of the house is windows/doors. If we didn't have a deep screened porch running about the entire length of the house in back - the house would bake in the afternoon sun.
Also in Florida - structural issues are very important. Because of soils - storms - termites - and homeowners' insurance (and homeowners' insurance deductibles). You want block or similar construction - an excellent roof (hip - no gables) - decent building elevation - and some kind of storm proof windows and doors (we have impact windows and storm resistant doors and garage doors). Depending on your lot/soils - you may need more or less site preparation (we needed about $5k worth of fill to get the elevation we wanted). Then there are maintenance issues. So you want to use low maintenance materials. Once you get those things in order - you can think about the plans/floor plan - then get down to details.
The floor plan will depend in large part on you - and the nature of your family. A house that works for a young family with 3 small children won't work for an older retired couple (and vice versa). This is our house (we're an older retired couple - no kids). Robyn
Here is what I love:
-3.5 acres of privacy in a great neighborhood, in a great town in a nice location.
-1.5 car garage under the house and 2.5 car detached barn style garage for the toys (the half bays are not big enough for a full car, but are good for storage)
-The huge custom shed i have in the backyard.
-The perenial gardens, decks and trellis
-The new england classic cape cod styling (wood shingles, center chimney, great hearth, wood floors, exposed wood beams..
Here is what I hate:
-Kitchen is functional but too small and no easy way to expand it. (cant fit a breakfast bar or a table in there, although there is a dining room table in the adjacent room)
-master bathroom is a bit tight, does not have dual sinks, but we can upgrade to make 2 fit.
-master bedroom closets, it has his and hers 6'x2'deep closets but the wife complains that she doesnt have a huge walk-in closet. (i say she has too much clothes...)
-orientation of house on lot, on a 3.5 acre lot the property line shouldnt be 25 feet from the house, also there is a huge wall of french doors and bay windows (which I love) but they are on the north side of the house...
-extreamly tall pines and hemlocks (which i love for the privacy) block out the afternoon sun for like 3 hours before the sun sets, since the house was built so close to the property line most of these are needed to keep the privacy from the neighborshouse.
In short, rotating the house 90 degrees counter clockwise, mirroring the floor plan, moving it east about 50 feet and making the kitchen 5' bigger in both directions would have solved most of the issues i have with this house.
Best features: 2 plus baths; this was the selling feature or certainly one of them: large laundry room and nice master closet but not over the top like some new houses. If sq ft is an issue, don't waste too much on the darn closets. Of course a fireplace, even if you live in Florida, AZ or Ca and I love our large, private lot with trees and wildlife all around us.
Negatives: our 2 secondary bedrooms are too small. We only have one eating area. We have adjusted to that though, it is large, room for a formal dining table and between the kitchen and the living room. So it serves both our occasional need for a formal dining room and our daily needs. We only have 1 living area, which, again, because we are retired and have no kids. plus a huge screened in porch we are doing fine.
What we are about to do to the house: we are updating the kitchen with granite, new back splashes, new deep, single sink and new appliances. Unless you can afford or want to splurge on a top of the line fridge, I would not go with a side by side. Ours looks huge, but doesn't hold 1/2 of what our daughters holds. We are also glassing in the screened in porch and adding heat and air, Plus we are taking out the stained carpet in the halls and living room and adding wood floors.
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Florida Has Its Own Issues
. And just about the entire rear of the house is windows/doors. If we didn't have a deep screened porch running about the entire length of the house in back - the house would bake in the afternoon sun.
