Go to your local lumber yard and try and find a straight 2x4, or 4x8. The wood quality has gone downhill in the last 10 years. Are these crooked and warped boards what you want your dreamhouse made from? How often do you want to replace wood shingles, or wood rotted soffits, or wood pest/termite infected beams. Not I. My last house had bat-n-board wood siding as did all the other houses in the neighborhood. Lasted about 12 years and then cost a pretty penny to get replaced. The wood garage door started to warp and rot after 6 years. Buy quality at the beginning and you won't be patching and replacing these things years down the road when you are older, and have less time on your hands.
In S Florida, the best kind of house to build seems to be one constructed of reinforced concrete slabs--not concrete blocks, but poured slabs of concrete. Your roof and walls last forever, will NOT be blown away in a hurricane, and are totally mtc. free.
If I ever built a house down here, I would go with poured concrete.
If I ever built a house down here, I would go with poured concrete.
<<Go to your local lumber yard and try and find a straight 2x4, or 4x8.>>
Lumber has never been straight, walls aren't plumb, corners aren't 90^ and floors and ceilings are never level, these are FACTS of building. It's all how you build it. A wood frame house beats steel anyday, if it's built properly.
<<My last house had bat-n-board wood siding as did all the other houses in the neighborhood. Lasted about 12 years and then cost a pretty penny to get replaced.>>
Ya know, I agree, wood siding sucks, that's why stucco is so popular these days. Wood siding has nothing to do with wood framing.
Lumber has never been straight, walls aren't plumb, corners aren't 90^ and floors and ceilings are never level, these are FACTS of building. It's all how you build it. A wood frame house beats steel anyday, if it's built properly.
<<My last house had bat-n-board wood siding as did all the other houses in the neighborhood. Lasted about 12 years and then cost a pretty penny to get replaced.>>
Ya know, I agree, wood siding sucks, that's why stucco is so popular these days. Wood siding has nothing to do with wood framing.
MrBond, purplehayes, Sluggo, Wangel, Rahvin, Winndog, everyone.... thanks for all the information and feedback. This will be the biggest project of my life, thus far. I want to make sure I make the best choices, given my budget and the real world issues.
My main concern with wood has to be bugs. With the climate in Hawaii I want to make sure the only guests in my house are the ones I invite, not termites. Code in Hawaii requires that all lumber be pressure treated (which I guess is suppose to help with rot and stuff?). The other thing someone told me to consider is the length of time I plan to live in the house. If I'm only gonna be there 10-15 years, then maybe I don't need to concern myself with the problems others may encounter in the future. Then again, resale value does come into play.
If I go under the assumption that I will raise my family in this house and stay there for many years, I really want to build something that will last. The extra costs now should be offset by the long term value.
Oh, and if you think this is fun... wait until I post some of my plans and get your feedback on those!
My main concern with wood has to be bugs. With the climate in Hawaii I want to make sure the only guests in my house are the ones I invite, not termites. Code in Hawaii requires that all lumber be pressure treated (which I guess is suppose to help with rot and stuff?). The other thing someone told me to consider is the length of time I plan to live in the house. If I'm only gonna be there 10-15 years, then maybe I don't need to concern myself with the problems others may encounter in the future. Then again, resale value does come into play.
If I go under the assumption that I will raise my family in this house and stay there for many years, I really want to build something that will last. The extra costs now should be offset by the long term value.
Oh, and if you think this is fun... wait until I post some of my plans and get your feedback on those!
<<Code in Hawaii requires that all lumber be pressure treated>>
Pressure treated lumber is injected with all sorts of fun chemicals, most will kill insects that attempt to eat them. This will add to the cost though, pressure treated lumber isn't real cheap, but then again, I can't imagine steel is either way out there. If you go wood frame make sure you do exterior finishes that will prevent damage. Stucco is a cement finish that is very weather and insect resistant, if overlapped on the foundation you should have no ability for the insects to attack the structure. The key to termites is to keep the wood away from the dirt, a good high cement foundation with an overlapping stucco finish should give you a very long lasting structure.
One other thing, being that you are near active volcanic points you are liable to experience quakes and wood frames beat steel frames hands down.
Pressure treated lumber is injected with all sorts of fun chemicals, most will kill insects that attempt to eat them. This will add to the cost though, pressure treated lumber isn't real cheap, but then again, I can't imagine steel is either way out there. If you go wood frame make sure you do exterior finishes that will prevent damage. Stucco is a cement finish that is very weather and insect resistant, if overlapped on the foundation you should have no ability for the insects to attack the structure. The key to termites is to keep the wood away from the dirt, a good high cement foundation with an overlapping stucco finish should give you a very long lasting structure.
One other thing, being that you are near active volcanic points you are liable to experience quakes and wood frames beat steel frames hands down.
yea... stucco is the only thing I want to consider.
I guess what makes this such a hard decision for me is the amount of money I can save by using lumber. It's not that lumber is that much cheaper (although it's been mentioned that prices fluctuate)... if I go with steel, by choices here are very limited.
Using wood, I can do more of the work myself... well, at least more than if it were steel. I won't be doing an owner/builder type thing, but I do feel more comfortable with construciton I'm familiar with.
I'm so confused!
I guess what makes this such a hard decision for me is the amount of money I can save by using lumber. It's not that lumber is that much cheaper (although it's been mentioned that prices fluctuate)... if I go with steel, by choices here are very limited.
Using wood, I can do more of the work myself... well, at least more than if it were steel. I won't be doing an owner/builder type thing, but I do feel more comfortable with construciton I'm familiar with.
I'm so confused!
There are also 2 or 3 different types of pressure treated lumber for differing degrees of ground contact.
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