How to Build a House: A Practical, Common-Sense Guide to Residential Construction - Softcover

Rentz, George Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1450288618 ISBN 13: 9781450288613

Verlag: iUniverse, 2011

Inhaltsangabe

In How to Build a House, author and professional engineer George Michael Rentz, PE is informative and entertaining while taking the mystery out of residential construction. With more than thirty-five years in the construction industry, Rentz provides an overview of the information necessary when you are considering buying or building a new home. From the basics of site selection and design to cost estimates and construction, How to Build a House describes all of the steps integral to residential construction from the ground up. Through personal anecdotes, Rentz shows how developing good plans and selecting the right contractor are key to enjoying the process of watching your new home being constructed. How to Build a House provides insight into the construction process in order to avoid the struggles and hassles often associated with home building.

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How to Build a House

A Practical, Common-Sense Guide to Residential ConstructionBy George Michael Rentz

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2011 George Michael Rentz
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4502-8861-3

Contents

Introduction..............................................................viiChapter 1 Site and House Planning and Design..............................1Chapter 2 Foundations.....................................................19Chapter 3 Masonry and Fireplaces..........................................31Chapter 4 Framing.........................................................43Chapter 5 Roofing.........................................................60Chapter 6 Windows and Exterior Doors......................................65Chapter 7 Exterior Siding.................................................74Chapter 8 Stairs, Ramps, and Elevators....................................81Chapter 9 Exterior Trim Work..............................................86Chapter 10 Plumbing, Fixtures, and Hardware...............................90Chapter 11 Electrical and Lighting........................................97Chapter 12 Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning.....................104Chapter 13 Insulation.....................................................108Chapter 14 Sheetrock and Interior Walls...................................111Chapter 15 Ceramic Tile and Stone.........................................118Chapter 16 Floors.........................................................123Chapter 17 Interior Trim and Cabinets.....................................127Chapter 18 Paint, Finishes, and the Punch List............................135Chapter 19 Glass, Smoke, and Mirrors......................................142Chapter 20 Carpet.........................................................145Chapter 21 Appliances and Furnishings.....................................147Chapter 22 Landscaping....................................................150Chapter 23 Cost and Scheduling............................................153Chapter 24 Warranty and Maintenance.......................................156Conclusion................................................................159Index.....................................................................163

Chapter One

Site and House Planning and Design

The patch of planet Earth the house will sit on is the house site. The site includes the geographic location—where on the planet you are—and the specific physical characteristics of the earth under and surrounding the house.

The geographic location of the site includes the following considerations:

  Are you in the northern or southern hemisphere? If you don't know, in the northern hemisphere, hurricane winds blow counterclockwise and water goes down the toilet counterclockwise. In the southern hemisphere, it is the opposite.

  In this hemisphere, are you near the equator or the poles or in the middle?

  Generally, what is the climate where your house will be built?

  What is the yearly rainfall? How much rain is in the hundred-year, twenty-four-hour storm?

  What is the average monthly temperature, including hottest and coldest months?

  What is the average humidity?

  What is the yearly amount of snow and the design snow load?

  How deep is the frost action in the ground?

  What is the highest wind speed and from what direction?

  Is the house located in an earthquake-prone zone?

All of these items must be addressed in the design of the house.

Specific characteristics of the site include the following considerations:

  Are there roads to the site?

  Is electric power already there, or will you need to use mobile electric generators until power is brought to the site by the utility company?

  Are potable (drinking) water and sewer services already there, or do you need a well and a septic tank with drain fields? If you need a septic tank, what is the percolation rate for the soil? If you have sewer service, is it gravity flow or do you need a pump station?

  Is the site high and dry on good, firm soil, or is it in a low lying wet area with loose, fluid soil?

  Is the site flat, or is the site on a hill or mountain or steep slope or cliff?

  Is the soil solid rock, rocky, sandy, clay, quicksand, or a combination?

  Is the site on a lake or ocean or body of water or in the middle of a big city?

  Is the site in a subdivision with covenants that dictate the type and size of the house and use of the land?

These site characteristics impact the construction cost and time, and the future maintenance of the house.

Choosing the Best Site for Your House

Choosing the best site for your house can be done in two ways. First, do you already know what type of house you want (Spanish, farm, townhouse, etc.) and just need a site to build on? Will any site do as long as you can make it fit the house? Second, do you know what area you want to live in (ocean, mountains, city, subdivision, country), and will you design the house to fit the site (kind of like site-specific art)? I recommend that you choose the area you want to live in and match the house to the site. You still have certain types of houses you like but aren't dead-set on a specific one and nothing else. You're flexible—and they say that's always good, unless you're trying to row a rowboat with a rope. Unless the site you pick is so unrelated to the type of house you like, matching the house to the site is the best way to go. Keep in mind, however, that a New York City townhouse on the top of a peak in the Rocky Mountains just doesn't seem right.

Access to the site is the only thing some people think about when it comes to site considerations. What are the directions to the house? Directions to some houses in the sticks will usually include something like "Turn off the paved road just past the dumpster," but there's more to site access than directions. First, be sure there is a road to the site that can handle construction traffic, such as concrete trucks and building supply trucks. If you have to build a road (not a driveway) to get to your site, you will need to find another source for information. Road construction is a topic separate from residential construction and is not discussed in this book, except to say that relative to the cost of houses, roads are very expensive to build and maintain. If you have to build a road, don't let some levelheaded bulldozer operator talk you into letting him cut your road in for you so he can save you some money. If the chewing tobacco drips from both sides of his mouth at the same time, you know he's levelheaded. In that case, just tell him that when you want to chew some horse dung, you'll let him know. Go hire a civil engineer to design the road and supervise the construction.

Some roads are not designed for highway loads (such as tractor-trailers) and can be seriously damaged by construction traffic. Some roads are too steep for construction traffic, and the construction material will have to be offloaded at the base of a hill and double...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: iUniverse
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2011
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1450288618
• ISBN 13: 9781450288613
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 188
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: KreGa Onlinehandel GmbH; 4950000000000; info@krega-onlinehandel.de; ; Birkenweg 31; Brakel; 33034; Deutschland