Building a home to last for generations?

Started by jhambley, December 06, 2010, 10:01:23 PM

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jhambley

If you were asked to build a home that would last for generations, what materials would you use. Seems like most buildings in Europe that are hundreds of years old use stone. What would you use?



astidham

adobe and earthern plaster seem to be long lasting products also, both made from earth!
"Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice"
— Henry Ford


MountainDon

Those old European buildings that are still standing and in good to excellent repair also receive a lot of maintenance from what I've seen. I was told it is expensive too.


I'd vote for using ICF's; nice solid steel reinforced core. Finish the interior and exterior surfaces to suit. You could achieve an old look and have modern day energy efficiency.

Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

muldoon

topography, think 500 hundred year flood plain: NA type location.
then french drain with stainless steel, 6000psi concrete slab epoxied to bring up to 12000 psi.  ties hammer drilled into bedrock. 
brick or stone exterior.  steel stud framing, perhaps two courses doubled up to provide maximum insulation. 
door and window openings reinforced with heavy duty steel square stock and welded. 
large overhangs on roof edges to keep water from structure. 
electrical, phone, data, etc ran in innerduct sleeve - all wiring lands on patch panels.  to be pulled and replaced as time moves on.
extra room in plumbing pathways, as they will be replaced in time. 
overengineered roof trusses, copper metal roof. 
..
of course, looking at generations out, the greatest dangers may be taxation and keeping it and not construction materials anyway. 

altaoaks

muldoon may be right, taxation may be the real enemy of time, i think an underground house like glen did, and of course, NO PERMITT, and make it stealth, kinda like a bomb shelter.  if they cant tax you on it, you are a mile ahead for all your future generations.


UK4X4

I don't see foam lasting generations, brick and cement yes

cable ducting would be a good idea, in the UK we have 6" gap between the two walls so rewires are just fishing expeditions !

My UK house was built in 1907, so its just had its 100 year old birthday. along with just about every house in town !

The lime and sand cement is toast so the outside was concrete rendered, the damp course - think tar tape failed in few places, repaired by drilling some holes and drip feeding silicone oil for a month fixed that.

its on its second wiring and second plumbing to date

Additions since it was built............a bathroom inside the house !

entry doors widened

The fireplaces in every room replaced with central heating.

some walls removed when the central large chimney was removed

an extension to the kitchen

a garage.

Original steel cast frame windows, changed for UPVC

Oh and don't try and drill the black bricks............they are way to hard to drill.

I see another 100 without any major issues

walls gone plaster removed, steels in and the floor sanded and sealed.

For you chaps interested in the building methods, cavity walls all arround, the dividing wall with next door is cavity too only with the bricks on their sides,
the exterior walls are brick cavity brick

lime and sand fill, it was lime plastered with horse hair fill, the upstairs 1 wood wall was lath and plaster




wildcottonroad

Interesting to see a wood stove on a counter top. Not sure that would fly with code here;)  Of course, there seems to a be code on how to properly wipe your rear end while in your house these days.  :(Let's not forget the 100 dollar permit and the ability to demonstrate that wipe in front of an inspector.

umtallguy

I am really interested in monolithic domes. Concrete and urethane foam, as long as kept stuccoed, or sealed with urethane has and effective lifespan of millenia.

Its also fireproof, can be bullet proof, earthquake proof, and other then the windows, structurally rated for 300 mph winds with a huge safety factor.

Resale value is my stopping point for the moment.

StinkerBell

Quote from: wildcottonroad on December 07, 2010, 07:39:44 PM
Interesting to see a wood stove on a counter top. Not sure that would fly with code here;)  Of course, there seems to a be code on how to properly wipe your rear end while in your house these days.  :(Let's not forget the 100 dollar permit and the ability to demonstrate that wipe in front of an inspector.

* Remember front to back ;)



Consider for a long lasting home...Consider the Pyramids.


glenn kangiser

Quote from: StinkerBell on December 09, 2010, 03:28:56 PM
Quote from: wildcottonroad on December 07, 2010, 07:39:44 PM
Interesting to see a wood stove on a counter top. Not sure that would fly with code here;)  Of course, there seems to a be code on how to properly wipe your rear end while in your house these days.  :(Let's not forget the 100 dollar permit and the ability to demonstrate that wipe in front of an inspector.



* Remember front to back ;)



Consider for a long lasting home...Consider the Pyramids.

That's what I am doing wrong... [noidea'

Thanks, Stinky.... I think you just saved me a fortune in Charmin..... [waiting]
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

Squirl

#10
Stone (Granite), with as little concrete mortar as possible.  Copper roof. My understanding is modern concrete will continue to cure over it's life and eventually crumble.  I believe the service life is 100 years.  Definitely not brick.  I have lived in many old brick houses.  The clay begins to turn to dust at 50-100 years.  Slate roofs also work for a 100-200 year life span, the problem is the weight.  If the timbers aren't big enough, the roof begins to sag.

Also location, location, location. Avoid earthquakes, floods, fires, tornadoes, riots, volcanoes, typhoons, etc.... Basically stay away from California.  Also all structures need maintenance, so it will have to be where someone will want to be in it for the next 200 years.

Don_P

The average lifespan of concrete buildings is 40 years, we do scrape alot of buildings before their service life is over though. Rusting steel expands several times in volume and spalls concrete in a tough environment. Old brick is a different animal than modern brick so it is hard to make comparisons there. I do agree that stone is probably the longest lasting exterior if coursed or very well laid. Lime based mortars although soft and weak also heal and are easily repointed, adding co2 to burnt lime and the lime begins to revert to limestone. It's easy enough to size timbers correctly. Wood is food for various fungi and insects so some form of poisoning the food value will make it last longer, I like borate it has very low mammalian toxicity but it is leachable. There are timberframes in Europe that date from the 15th century to present and a few older. There is a stone building built by ancestors of mine starting in 1120 that is still standing in fair repair, it is maintained by the government.

I'm not a fan of monument building. I was brought up with the thought that we should be building for a century and the materials would be replaced by responsible stewardship in that period. If you keep a roof on an outhouse and build it well it will easily last that long. I've remodelled a few old buildings and could normally have dropped it and rebuilt a new one about as easily and cheaply. Our mindset usually favors new over old and I don't see that changing anytime soon, the forum here is a testament to that.

cbc58

post and beam timberframe.  i grew up in a 250 year old house and it lasted generations and has character.  HUGE tree hit it and nothing happened to the frame - inspector said it would have crushed a normal house.