The Home Ownership Thread

[Medwed]



Spending the week in Germany and I have realized how inferior the windows are in the US.  Why can't we have the double hinged windows in the US?  Code I'd assume?

We cannot allow big seamless plates of glass that would let too much light into our houses and we might actually see our life for what it is.

 

[PhilKenSebben]

We cannot allow big seamless plates of glass that would let too much light into our houses and we might actually see our life for what it is.

For some reason I expect there to be a single German word for 'The act of having seamless plates of glass allow too much light into our house so that we an see our life for what it is"

 

[Numbernine]

biggunblindnzeglassen

 

[Piobaire]



For some reason I expect there to be a single German word for 'The act of having seamless plates of glass allow too much light into our house so that we an see our life for what it is"

Schadenfreude?

Well, shotcrete. Holy ****. Left for work with a big hole in the ground filled with rebar, PVC plumbing, etc. Came home and there's a pool, monument wall, and raised spa in the back yard. I was told it'll cure for a few days then they'll be out to tile.

No way the pool will be ready to swim in by TG but thinking it just might be filled with the start up going by then which means all my hardscape/softscape will also be done.

 

[cross22]

Sounds great man! Post some pics.

 

[FlyingMonkey]



Spending the week in Germany and I have realized how inferior the windows are in the US.  Why can't we have the double hinged windows in the US?  Code I'd assume?

I'm not sure that you can't, at least there are passive house builders in the USA who use German an Austrian triple-glazed windows. Maybe they aren't double-hinged though. However, we had no code problems specifying double-hinged triple-glazed windows here in Ontario.

 

[Piobaire]



Sounds great man! Post some pics.

Going to hold off on more pics until it gets a little more along. Won't take too long until I can put up a shot of all the water flowing and landscape lights on.

 

[Medwed]



For some reason I expect there to be a single German word for 'The act of having seamless plates of glass allow too much light into our house so that we an see our life for what it is"

Lol, so true....

 

[idfnl]



For some reason I expect there to be a single German word for 'The act of having seamless plates of glass allow too much light into our house so that we an see our life for what it is"

In English, that word is sobriety.

 

[emptym]

Yeah, I love those German windows too. I have seen them in the US, but very rarely. I'm guessing part them not being common in the US is fear that people will jump out them.

 

[Medwed]

I was always wondering why windows are so small and ugly in new buildings. The reason is prolly cost, those ugly myopic windows with small plastic frames that slide up are the cheapest builder standard crap one can purchase. That is the reason they are everywhere in US. Home in US is a temporary dwelling until you need to sell it and move for another job thus no one cares what kind of windows they have.
RE construction quality is appalling and it goes back 100-130 years . I have lived in old 'Victorian' houses in MA that had no insulation in the walls.,Why? I imagine coal heating was still expensive 130 years ago why would anyone build a big family house with empty walls? Any guesses?
I also saw houses with no foundation, just house sitting on few bricks or straight in the ground. I saw houses on the highest hill in Boston and they had basement floods after every rain- no drainage, how is it possible ? Noone cares that is how.

 

[Ataturk]

They didn't insulate back in the day because anything you used would be a fire and/or mold hazard.

 

[Piobaire]



I was always wondering why windows are so small and ugly in new buildings. The reason is prolly cost, those ugly myopic windows with small plastic frames that slide up are the cheapest builder standard crap one can purchase. That is the reason they are everywhere in US. Home in US is a temporary dwelling until you need to sell it and move for another job thus no one cares what kind of windows they have.
RE construction quality is appalling and it goes back 100-130 years . I have lived in old 'Victorian' houses in MA that had no insulation in the walls.,Why? I imagine coal heating was still expensive 130 years ago why would anyone build a big family house with empty walls? Any guesses?
I also saw houses with no foundation, just house sitting on few bricks or straight in the ground. I saw houses on the highest hill in Boston and they had basement floods after every rain- no drainage, how is it possible ? Noone cares that is how.

Boston->NYC->Helsinki->St.-Petersburg->Budapest->Antwerp

 

[Medwed]



They didn't insulate back in the day because anything you used would be a fire and/or mold hazard.

Not true entirely. People were pretty smart those days and used perfectly fine insulation material that was also 99% mold resistant and 99% flame marsupialant, not to mention it was free. Guess what it is.

 

[Ataturk]

Air? Sand? Vacuum? Closed-cell polyethylene foam? I don't know.