Ron Van
Well-Known Member
Super nice clock! Ruby and I have two Grandfather clocks, however, they are both only around 7 feet tall (Luckily)!
I want to build my own 2000 sqft house in 20 years. What should I do?
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We were doing a project at our church, and I was the project manager/volunteer leader. The project was to renovate the original 1967 bathrooms into single occupancy restrooms, ADA accessible, with a shower in each one. These were fairly small rooms. The men's had a toilet and urinal. The women's had two stalls. They were just over 5' wide. ADA requires 5' for wheelchair turning. I tried for hours trying to lay the thing out to have the shower at the end of the room, but couldn't get enough wall space to fit the handrails in for the toilet. We were having another project done at church at the same time by professionals. We engaged the architect to solve the problem. He came back in less than 30 minutes with plans that worked, and were ready for submission to the town for permits. We went with a curbless shower in the middle of the room. The toilets were basically where they were. I wouldn't have thought of that as a solution, but it works. The showers won't be used frequently but they do get used occasionally so it is nice having them. If a staff member wanted to run at lunch, or bike to work, they'd have a place to clean up. Never under estimate the power of experience and training.
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When I was a young man and starting out in the field of design one of my mentors was an older guy that I really looked up to for all his accomplishments. He told me the world is divided into two types of people when it came to designing anything. He said maybe 1 in 100 people could design a car (likely much smaller but for illustration) and then he said the other 99 could tell you within a couple minutes of seeing it their opinion on if it is any good or not.
He went on to say how you react to that input is what will make you a success or not.
At the time I didn’t 100% understand what he was telling me but grew to learn it was very true over the years.
I think a lot of architects and designers could learn a lot from that example. Frank Lloyd Wright was a great architect but many of us wouldn’t be all that comfortable living in some of his houses. Find a architect/designer that is going to come up what you want not what they want.
Flyover
Trying not to screw things up worse
Regarding designing my own home, I am certainly not trying to be an architect. Instead I am taking a bottom-up approach to arrange some spatial experiences I have in my mind that I want to create, combined with some self-imposed practical constraints. Certainly there is a sort of "recurring dream" this creates, but if I met with an architect and they proposed new ideas I hadn't thought of that fit my criteria, I'd be open to them. In fact I'm going to be relying on others' greater domain knowledge & expertise not just for the architecture but for the whole process. Posting here is part of that!
" Find a architect/designer that is going to come up what you want not what they want."
Additionally if you engage in an enterprise where the architect also is the permitted "A" general, your chances must be approved by that entity, and noted in related documents.Not doing so can cause you C of O to not allowed.
Additionally if you engage in an enterprise where the architect also is the permitted "A" general, your chances must be approved by that entity, and noted in related documents.Not doing so can cause you C of O to not allowed.
Eddie_T
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I bought a book on house building before I started building my house. I don't recall the name of it so don't know if there is a revised edition that takes into account new materials and techniques. I loaned it to someone that didn't return it.
This book sounds interesting, but I haven't actually seen it;
Do-It-Yourself Housebuilding: The... book by George Nash
This book sounds interesting, but I haven't actually seen it;
Do-It-Yourself Housebuilding: The... book by George Nash
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Ron Van
Well-Known Member
I had to read this several times before my mind would allow me to see that it says, "God" father clock rather than "Grand" father clock. It makes more sense now.
Flyover
Trying not to screw things up worse
As you can imagine, I loved this video:
Guy says he built the house as cheaply as possible but I wonder how much it actually cost. He did all or almost all the work himself to save on cost. He is also a lot more skilled than I am now, or than I expect to ever be. Has me really wondering how much I can expect to up my skill in the next decade or two without changing careers or substantially shuffling my hobbies around.
Guy says he built the house as cheaply as possible but I wonder how much it actually cost. He did all or almost all the work himself to save on cost. He is also a lot more skilled than I am now, or than I expect to ever be. Has me really wondering how much I can expect to up my skill in the next decade or two without changing careers or substantially shuffling my hobbies around.
Ron Van
Well-Known Member
I’m sure you could build something like that. I think he has some great ideas. There are some areas I might want to finish a little nicer like the bathroom and the shower. They looked a little unfinished but it’s still a great concept.
I’ve always been fascinated with doing big things by myself. It’s like a challenge in some ways. I am inspired by this guy in Florida named, Edward Leedskalnin. He built a huge castle out of big blocks of coral by himself. And nobody knows how he did it. He did write a pamphlet on magnetism.
Edward Leedskalnin (Latvian: Edvards Liedskalniņš) (January 12, 1887 – December 7, 1951) was a Latvianimmigrant to the United States and self-taught engineer who single-handedly built the Coral Castle in Florida, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.[2] Leedskalnin was also known for developing theories of magnetism.
Here
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Youtube
Great video and inspirational. There where a few places where I thought the woman interviewer became a little condescending, but I felt she didn’t quite get what the guy was doing in designing the building. Maybe I felt closer to him as I also think the same way about reusing or using what you have at hand.
Where I live and grew up there are many lake cottages built by the original owner along Lake Erie and south of the lake many hunting camps built by the original owner. They are quite similar and where old Uncle Joe replaced the windows in his house in 1965 he hung on to the old windows and in 1969 they were used in the beach cottage. Many a shower was framed in and covered over with fiberglass roofing to make it waterproof. Many a kitchen island started life as a door.
These kind of places are simplistic mixed with the builders idea of artistic. I really like that but it doesn’t fit what most buyers are looking for that is the current thing. That doesn’t matter to the builder as he is building what he wants and what he can afford.
I know a guy that has a piece of rural property across the street from our current PSU branch campus. He wanted to build off campus housing that came “furnished”. He built a long block building with kind of a dorm room feel with one end wall a small kitchen with all open shelves and tiled counter made from huge cheap tiles 24” I think. Bench seats made from 2X built in and 2X box for a table with the same huge tiles. Same thing for a bed just a home made frame with plywood top. He said when they move out he can replace a tile for a couple bucks if one is broke. He pressure washes the whole place. Throws out the mattress. Everything is concrete or painted plywood or 2X and the same color. He says he doesn’t worry as there is hardly anything to break and easy to fix and the kids love living there because he leaves them alone.
I think most of us would be happier if we lived in a place that was what we liked and could do it how we wanted.
Flyover
Trying not to screw things up worse
Yes, a big reason I want to build my own home is the older I get the more I treasure being able to affordably arrange things the way I like rather than accept the way the status quo arranges them (and there is not a ton of overlap between the two). This is true in all areas of my life, not just my house, but most of my life happens there.
