Bought a piece of land, about the build a house. Have some questions.

October 29, 2009 4:53 AM

Bought a piece of land, about the design a house. Have some questions regarding materials.

I just bought a piece of land and is looking into doing a rough design of my own house with simple 3D software (probably Google Sketchup) and then handing it to an actual architect to plan out the more technical stuff. I always see in magazines of cabinets, wall panels, beams, and various parts of the interior/exterior with very unique wood finishing. What is a good place to source affordable, high quality wood to use as building materials? Same thing with metal and concrete. I want my home to have a mix of metal, concrete, and wood. What is a good place to source affordable and high quality building materials? Also, weather here is pretty hot and humid, anything I should watch out for in terms of choosing materials?

posted by willy_dilly to home & garden (5 comments total)

Also, any pointers on window placements if I want to improve ventilation around the house. Again the weather here is hot and humid.
posted by willy_dilly at 4:56 AM on October 29

Building materials such as concrete and lumber are more like commodities than most retail products; the price doesn't vary a lot between suppliers. You decide what you want, price it out, and decide whether to go with the original plan or to change the plan. Your opportunities to shop around are also dependent on where the building site is located and what vendors are in the area. You're not going to find some super-cheap vendor on the other side of the country that can somehow ship you 15 tons of their special concrete at a better price than you can find locally.

The prices of highly processed products like cabinetry and fixtures can vary much more. If you have a general idea of what you want then you can shop amongst several suppliers of similar goods.

But you're getting ahead of yourself. Figure out how much it's possible / makes sense to spend on this house, get an idea of what typical construction costs might be, and get some specific ideas on paper. It's way too soon to be shopping for concrete.
posted by jon1270 at 5:33 AM on October 29

A word of caution .

In terms of the exterior I assume you are referencing a hip "new" architectural style that uses concrete, metal and some sort of plank mahogany product (dark brown/red, shiny, imported wood like banquri or ipe). This wood sucks. This style is a scam by architects and hardwood suppliers. In Portland there are huge projects (condos, office buildings) with this stuff, cupped and warped and faded out, hanging off of them. Lawsuits sure to follow.

I am a builder and have used this stuff for several small outdoor projects (color feature on a deck, little awning) and it has invariably dried, warped and discolored within a year, and this is with both penetrative and barrier type finishes.

Just my two cents, but this stuff is expensive and doesn't last.
posted by ijustwantyourhalf at 6:33 AM on October 29 [2 favorites]

1. The place where you get materials is going to depend on the place where you are. You're not going to have hundreds of board-feet of lumber shipped halfway across the country.

2. If you're not building it yourself, your builder will be getting the materials, not you. If you are building it yourself, well, honestly, you should already know how to find these materials.
posted by adamrice at 9:18 AM on October 29

I can't answer the primary question, but I think I have a handle on window placement idea.

orient the house with large windows facing south (for the northern hemisphere) to collect light and heat in the winter months, but a large awning/porch roof to block summer sun. Have smaller windows on the northern side, and use chimney effect windows at the highest part of the house. to provide good summer air flow, open the top windows and the northern windows, leave the southern windows closed. cooler air will flow in as the hotter air flows up and out.

A very good right up on how to shade your southern facing windows is at Home Power
posted by jrishel at 8:41 AM on November 3