Nasty Boston

Archive for the ‘Building a Home’ Category

In the spring of 2005, our family had grown tired of cramped apartment living. The wide-open spaces beyond the city limits seemed strangely inviting, despite the harsh desert conditions. A nice, sprawling ranch-style home somewhere out there would be perfect, but totally out of the question financially. In 2005, real estate prices were increasing with no end in sight. Indeed, home prices were already outrageous, and it seemed like we would never escape from our apartment “prison.”

So on weekends, we could be found driving through our California desert valley, looking for just the right spot to build upon, with no idea how we would ever find funds for the acreage, let alone a house. My credit was not in great shape either. I was making a decent living as a truck driver, but a layoff from my engineering career three years earlier had left my credit in shambles.

Then I discovered the raw land listings on eBay: this represented a breakthrough, of sorts. I learned that many properties could be purchased on a “land contract,” thereby avoiding conventional bank financing. That was all I needed to know; a financial solution was at hand!

Soon we found three adjacent 2-1/2 acre parcels to our liking. We were able to contact the seller directly, and make a deal: we put $2,000 down on the property, with a balance of $41,000 to be financed over 10-1/2 years at $455 per month. We finally had our “patch of desert”; on the 1st of June, 2005, we took possession of our 7-1/2 acre plot!

Of course, we weren’t quite ready to move out of the apartment yet. Yes, we now had our land, but no water, no sewer, no gas and no electricity. We didn’t even have a picnic table on the property yet, much less a house! Undaunted, we began making plans.

It would be autumn, 2008 before we could put together an actionable plan. That was when a neighbor told me about a nearby mobile home for sale. The owner was willing to make a deal. For a mere $2500, he would sell the home to anyone who would tow it away. Preparing the home for the move would require some hard work, but it still seemed like a good deal. We paid him the money. The home was finally ready to move about a month later, and it was towed to our property.

The mobile home had an addition which would require reassembly. With winter approaching, we had to hurry to close up all the openings in order to keep the rain out. As a matter of fact, we even had a heavy snowfall that winter, which slowed our progress somewhat. We had much to do before we would be able to occupy the home, not the least of which was to put water, septic, propane and electrical systems in plac

Hiring the wrong builder to build your house or any building project can be very costly. That’s why you need to be very careful with the builder company that you are going to choose. You need to do a thorough research about them and make sure that they are worthy of your trust. You must select a company from a number of home builders you can find in your area. How will you do this will have a huge impact on how your house will be built later on.

The first step that you must make it so put together list of builders. How will you do this? Well, there’s nothing better than the word of mouth. You will feel more secure if it’s your close friends, families or anyone you know suggested a particular builder. So ask the people around you first for recommendation. One of them might know someone whose home was just finished and is impressed by their builder’s job. If you can’t find anyone, there are the local newspaper ads, yellow pages, and the internet. If you have your list, you can start doing a background check on each and every company on it. It may take a while but rest assured that it will be worthwhile afterwards. During this process, your list of builders might be trim down to three to five companies. If you have these numbers, your next step must be to interview these companies. If you don’t know how to proceed with the interview, follow these tips.

Find a meeting place where you will be most comfortable. You can have it in your home or somewhere public where you can hear and understand each other. If you choose to go to a restaurant, make sure it’s not lunch or dinner because will you probably just be busy eating your food. A coffee with light snacks is probably the best choice. And choose a neutral meeting place where both of the party will be at ease. When you meet, pay attention if the builder arrives on time. If you can, write down notes your remarks about a particular builder because it will be hard remembering it all later. But you should ask them first if they are okay with it. Just relax, be polite and be confident while you’re doing the interview. Learn what you can about them. Ask anything that comes into your mind. Just think that your future house depends on the builder that you will hire. If there are questions that the builder can’t answer, you need to decide and weigh if it’s important or not.

Air Tightness

It is important for homes to achieve a high level of air tightness in order to maintain energy efficiency and provide comfort for occupants. Successful airtight building stems from an attention to detail at both the design and construction stages of the project. If warm air is allowed to leak out of a building, the benefits of improved insulation and other energy efficiency measures will be lost.

Air Leakage Testing

Testing for air tightness in dwellings is an important part of UK building regulation compliance. Close attention must be paid to the reduction of air leakage throughout the building design and construction phases. It is much simpler to design and build an airtight dwelling than to carry-out remedial measures in a draughty home.

Air Infiltration

Air infiltration occurs when air leaks through cracks and gaps in the building fabric. The amount of infiltration is influenced by the type of construction and by the speed and direction of the wind. Wind blowing against the building causes pressure differences between the inside and the outside. Air is drawn into the dwelling through holes on the windward face and leaves the dwelling on the leeward side.

Air Buoyancy

Warm air inside the dwelling is more buoyant than the colder air outside. Buoyant air rises by convection and, in doing so, draws-in cool air from outside. As buoyant air rises, it increases the pressure inside the dwelling which pushes warm air out of holes in the building envelope

Air Leakage Paths

Air can leak through the ceiling below a roof void, particularly around the loft hatch cover and around its frame. It can escape through open joints in the brickwork and concrete blocks that make up the external walls. Draughts commonly occur at window and door locations, particularly between the frames and the brickwork. They can also occur between the frames and the doors or opening sashes. In the case of suspended floors, air leakage can occur where timber joists are built-into masonry walls. Air can pass through cracks between floorboards and through gaps at the junction between the floor and surrounding walls. Generally, significant problems can arise from the gaps left around electricity and plumbing services penetrations in walls, floors and ceilings.

Air Barrier Construction

‘Air barrier’ is a term used to describe a specific layer created within the thermal envelope that separates heated and unheated spaces. The air barrier will effectively restrict the passage of air between the internal and external environments. At an early stage, the designer should identify the exact position of the air barrier and mark it on a drawing. Its exact position will depend very much on the design of the building and the materials used in the construction.

Air Testing Procedure

When the building work is complete, an air test will usually be carried out by a specialist company. A temporary airtight screen is fitted into an external door opening of the dwelling. Water traps are filled, trickle vents closed and extract vents sealed. An electric fan is then mounted in the airtight screen and operated to blow air into or out of the dwelling to create a pressure difference between inside and outside. The air tightness of the dwelling is calculated by measuring the rate of airflow through the fan, while a range of pressure differences are maintained between the inside and outside of the dwelling.

Air Test Failure

In the event of an air barrier failing an air leakage test, smoke testing and thermal imaging can determine the main areas of leakage. Failure of the air barrier at the air testing stage can be very costly in both time and money.

Team Effort

Air tightness is the concern of all members of the design and construction teams. Communication between all workers is vital to make sure that practical working details are produced and that the air barrier is constructed with the utmost care.

Building your own home can be one of the most rewarding yet testing ventures of your life. One of the most common issues which blight many a self build is poor control of the budget which can result in frightening overruns on costs. For many embarking on such a venture will often mean risking just about everything they have. Even if it doesn’t mean risking everything it will usually involve the sort of figures which make most people at least a little sweaty under the collar. Fail to plan and plan to fail. It’s often said but often ignored. There can be nothing worse than finally getting to build your dream home only to become financially stretched in the process.

Before starting any self-build project you need to get serious about costs. Price up as much as you can and be very realistic about time-scales. You need to look at what money you have to hand and what is coming from other sources. Once you begin setting out plans make sure you stick closely to them and avoid costly changes of direction once building is underway. Your budget will need to reflect the true costs of materials and labour in the location you are building. It’s also wise to set aside up to 15% for the unforeseen issues which nearly always arise. If you’ve maxed out your available sources of funding there may be little room to get extra money at a later date. It should go without saying but make sure any loans you take out for the build come with competitive rates of interest.

Keeping track of your cash is the key to self-build. It’s not a given that lenders will release cash as and when you need it. Often you will need to fund large portions of the build until money is released by your lenders. On a standard arrears stage payment mortgage this may mean paying for everything including the foundations and fundamental construction work before you see anyone else’s money flowing into the project. An advance stage payment self-build mortgage is an alternative worth exploring which can provide money in advance of each stage of your build. This will often mean more upfront cash to help you buy the land and the provision of funds to get building underway

There are many companies out there offering house building services, but not many of them are professionals who can pull off a great job. While on your search for home builders, you have to be very careful in choosing companies that can give you a good money value return. Though professionals may cost a bit more than usual, it’s better than opting for cheap services with unreliable operations. Here are several reasons why you should opt for professional home builders.

1. Well Designed Floor Plans

The basic of any house is the floor plan. For this you need an expert designer who can keep your needs, designs and demands in light and draw up a plan that highlights your dream home. With professional services, you can be sure of expert designers who can give you a well structured design that is in league with the plot space and also your budget. Some people tend to download floor plans already available online but those are pretty generic and would not be helpful unless you hire experts.

2. State-of-the-Art Building Technology

Professionals and expert companies have state of the art technology for building houses. The materials used are certified according to quality standards and expert engineers make up a reliable team of builders. Having a house build is one of the most important decisions of life and it should be done by reliable construction companies instead of cheap services.

3. Save on Time and Cost

When you hire a company or a contractor to construct your house, you actually save a lot on time and cost. Instead of hiring individual engineers, builders, painters, designers, you can hire one professional company and get all these services together. You don’t have to also waste time in finding for the right person for the job and neither do you have to worry about any additional cost. With custom home builders you can be sure about the services.

Initially, it would be a hassle to get a home build within an affordable cost and people prefer buying modular houses instead of having a custom place built. However, with the availability of professional services, it has become easier for people to now afford house building services and easily have a place that they have forever been dreaming of become a reality. All you need to do is look for reliable services that provide you a good return value for your money