OT:thinking of building again: OT

ryantt

wife and I have been talking over the last few months, taking inventory of our lives more or less.  We have come to the conclusion that we want to downsize our life, live more simply if you will.  For those of you who have built recently did any of you look at alternatives to traditional stick building.  

We’ve talked about ICFs or SIPs, but today she suggested looking at a modular home, I know nothing of these.  

The goal is to cash out of our home and build something small and energy efficient, there are only 3 of us so space can be small. 

Anyways if you know anything about the ICF, SIP or Modular please share.    

GrillSgt

There’s a series on DIY of underground homes. They’re really not underground but dirt covered. It’s a some of sorts with a facade. Can be a bit dark but they make use of lighting behind a window looking frame that mimics sunlight. Super efficient. And attractive. 

We we recently underwent a major downsize from 8000 sf 6br to 2800 sf 2 br. The only thing I miss is a small walk-in closet and a master bath. Wife’s been great because she gave up an almost 200 sf dressing room closet. We converted the downstairs master into the den. 

Good of luck and keep us informed. Sounds interesting. 

ryantt

Thanks @GrillSgt. We’re Just tired of the rat race and want the simple life.   I hate the idea of being a slave to my house, I’d be good in a tiny house.   

DoubleEgger

Modular homes are big in NC. I looked at them years ago and they are pretty dang nice. A few friends had them. The only way you could tell the difference was thicker door jambs on a couple of interior doors. One of the nice things about them was the quality control. A supervisor is watching the entire process from an overhead control room. No cutting corners because a guy ran out of material and didn’t want to make a trip to the store or was drunk on a Friday afternoon. 

Gulfcoastguy

What is you climate like? Coastal or high wind threat? I took a six hour seminar on ICFs a few years back. My sister built her pre school building using steel insulated panels recently. Her heating and cooling costs are very low and the wind load rating is very high. I might be leery about doing that close to salt water due to corrosion.

ryantt

@Gulfcoastguy I live in northeast Ohio.  So it ranges between cold as can be -20 to mid 90s in the summer.  

Gulfcoastguy

Okay either would work for you. The SIPs that my sister used were corrugated metal with a thick slab of styrofoam in between, more for a commercial building in appearance. Let me get back to the house and I’ll try to pull up a link to something else that will give a more residential appearance.

Jeremiah

What is ICF and SIP?

DMW

Jeremiah said:

What is ICF and SIP?

Individual Cardboard Frame and Sawdust Infused Plastic.

ryantt

@Jeremiah SIPs are structural insolated panels and ICF is insolated concrete forms.  

Jeremiah

Lol I believed @DMW, damn cheap wine.

In all seriousness, our goal once our daughter is off to college is to get rid of this big (for us) house and do either a driving class A RV or an Airstream along with a metal building house. (As a homebase). (Something like in this pic). As for now, we want her to have the suburban-home childhood. 

thetrim

Dale Earnhardt Jr. lives in (or did at one point live in) a modular home in NC

Gulfcoastguy

Here is the product that I was most familiar with. http://www.nudura.com/divisions/nudura-products
Down here we mostly build on concrete slate foundations. As the slab in poured, you stub up reinforcing steel where the walls are going to go. When it is hard, you tie on about a 4 to 6 foot reinforcing bar, overlapping 18 inches, you lay horizontal rods at certain height intervals. When the block wall is 4 feet high, you fill it with a somewhat wet pea gravel concrete. Let that set up for a few hours then continue to place the insulated blocks. I saw two people form a section of wall 6 feet high for pouring in  about 15 minutes including framing in for a window. 

For exterior finish you could have stucco, cement board, or brick with cement board probably being the cheapest. On the inside of the wall you cut trenches to carry conduits for electrical and water and place your electrical outlets. After the building inspector approves the water and electric you spray foam over the conduits and scrape it level. Then you screw dry wall to the wall where plastic tabs are located and paint or do any typical drywall finish. 

When using this make sure to use a furnace of HVAC system about 30% smaller than typical for the square footage and climate. This is so that it turns on often enough to control interior humidity. The interior walls could be standard framed walls or ICP but standard walls are less likely to interfere with your wifi.

You will pay a small percentage over a standard house, but no termites, lower utility bills, lower insurance bills, less maintenance. The key is finding an experienced contractor.

DMW

Jeremiah said:

Lol I believed @DMW, damn cheap wine.

In all seriousness, our goal once our daughter is off to college is to get rid of this big (for us) house and do either a driving class A RV or an Airstream along with a metal building house. (As a homebase). (Something like in this pic). As for now, we want her to have the suburban-home childhood. 

I'm lol'ing. I really had no idea what those acronyms meant, just pulled that out of ....

ryantt

Thank you for the info @Gulfcoastguy this is exactly the info we’re needing.  

blasting

Jeremiah said:

Lol I believed @DMW, damn cheap wine.

In all seriousness, our goal once our daughter is off to college is to get rid of this big (for us) house and do either a driving class A RV or an Airstream along with a metal building house. (As a homebase). (Something like in this pic). As for now, we want her to have the suburban-home childhood. 

@Jeremiah As a shop kind of guy without spouse, ^this^ appeals to me,  Is this a modular set up?  A larger version on about 10 acres sounds like my perfect retirement pad when the time comes.

Jeremiah

@blasting google “metal building home” there’s many to choose from. I’m more inclined to be more basic (read cheaper) ones, then build-in a “living quarters” saving the rest for storage/ rv space. The most important aspect of this is I have the wife’s approval 

Gulfcoastguy

Jeremiah said:

Lol I believed @DMW, damn cheap wine.

In all seriousness, our goal once our daughter is off to college is to get rid of this big (for us) house and do either a driving class A RV or an Airstream along with a metal building house. (As a homebase). (Something like in this pic). As for now, we want her to have the suburban-home childhood. 

This is similar in appearance to my sister's preschool without the grace doors and a different layout and several times larger. She has been using it for two years with good results. I just believe that most wives wouldn't care for the appearance in a house.

saluki2007

We just finished building our home about 2.5 years ago.  We went traditional stick for frame, but went ICF for our first floor floor.  We wanted to have polished concrete floors and a basement.  ICF and a couple steel beams allowed us to accomplish this.  Gulfcoastguy gave you some great info.

milesvdustin

I just built a 1200ft2 pole barn house. 5” of spray foam in the walls and roof. Its efficient and was cheap compared to stick built 

ryantt

@milesvdustin do you have any pictures you can share.   We’d love to see what it looked like during the build and the finished home.