For those of you that have built your own home

[desy]

You buy concrete by the yard which is 27 cubic ft your sq ft still had me screwed up.
It doesn't mean you place it foot thickness it how you fgure out a 3" slab by so many sq ft to give your your volume and then you you order a yard or yard an a half or whatever is closest to what you need.

 

[Rogodin2]

Not to mention, that's the first house that the big bad wolf blew in. It all goes back to listening to the 3 Little Pigs!

So you listen to jack and jill for your relationship resource?

I knew lifers were stupid, but your comment is the ultimate reinforcement lad.

Your stick-build homes are terrible structures.

They aren't built to use solar gain, thermal mass, high R-value walls/floors/celings, and you're paying the lazy contractor to build an inefficent house.

There are very few contractors (and NO DEVELOPERS) that understand that contemporary homebuilding is an anachronism and completely worthless.

Rogo

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Why on earth would anyone pour a floor that's 1 foot thick. I can't think of any reason.

That is the thickness of an average human body?

 

[bctbct]

8'X10'X4"=approx. 1 cubic yard of concrete.

Total number of sq ft divided by 80 if the slab is 4" thickness will get you pretty close.

We poured a slab 2' thick once at work because it was much faster than doing footings. It cost a fortune in extra material.

 

[Rogodin2]

Why on earth would anyone pour a floor that's 1 foot thick. I can't think of any reason.

DRpizza

Thermal mass lad.

Look it up and post a decent reply after you've pulled your internet foot out of your mouth.

Rogo

 

[nweaver]

Originally posted by: DrPizza

Originally posted by: desy
Mary Jesus and Joseph there are 27 sq ft in a yard 3X3X3 !

Since you can get the concrete cheap, build your own with ICF forms right to the soffit, and put in geo-thermal for the heating cooling system.
My wife designed the first all concrete house in this city using ICF's and they are much easier to use nowadays.

You're scaring me too. There are 27 CUBIC feet in a yard of concrete.

However, if you're talking about how many square feet of floor you can pour at 1 foot thick, yes, 27. Why on earth would anyone pour a floor that's 1 foot thick. I can't think of any reason.

I live in the bunker. It'll withstand some pretty severe stuff (pretty close wildfires every couple years, we landscape for this, high winds, floods, heat, cold drought, winter storms, nuclear fallout, kids, just about anything...). It's also very nice, as the floor is the same, balmy temp all year round (around 70 I would think, maybe a little cooler)

 

[nweaver]

Originally posted by: Rogodin2

Why on earth would anyone pour a floor that's 1 foot thick. I can't think of any reason.

DRpizza

Thermal mass lad.

Look it up and post a decent reply after you've pulled your internet foot out of your mouth.

Rogo

Indeed....in the summer, it radiates coolness up into the house. In the winter, we open the curtains, and the sun beats on it all day (on sunny days, we have huge south facing windows) and then releases that heat (that and the walls) all night long. We don't usually use any heat unless it's really cloudy or consistently below about 20 degrees.

 

[nweaver]

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: TheSiege
couldn't straw bale disintegrate over time, and also wouldnt it be a huge fire risk?

Not to mention, that's the first house that the big bad wolf blew in. It all goes back to listening to the 3 Little Pigs!

lol.....did you leave a bread crumb trail to work too?

they don't disinegrate. Realize straw is a unique organic material, and doesn't break down easily. It has no moisture (or shouldn't, unless it gets wet prior to putting it into the walls) and so it won't "rot" or disintegrate. It's also damn cheap, at 2-3 a bale, and you would put what...3 bales in between studs. Not to say it again, but no modern building material matches the insulation value of straw. go research straw homes on google.

 

[Rogodin2]

nweaver

Keep us posted about your home!

Most people don't understand the advantages of home building outside the box.

This is a great thread 🙂


Rogo

 

[nweaver]

it's built, nothing to keep posted about. We bought it this way, it was built a few years ago by an old Army Corp of Engineers guy (he did 95% of the work himself). There are a few things I would change (adding more telco jacks, running Cat5 and RG6, etc) but for the most part, it's almost perfect. It's in the country too, no streetlights, nothing behind us but mountians.

 

[Rogodin2]

nw

I'm glad you've found such a home, I'll have to build mine, though the home on property is well built and decent.

There is a nice draw where I will build the second structrue on my property.

Glad to see you move it all through the TM.

Godspeed

Rogo