Comments on: Home construction forum

Question: Home construction forum

zek — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 20:31:10 -0800

I'm building a small DIY house. Where's my online community?

I enjoy what I'm doing and am making great progress, but I find that I'm overwhelmingly turning to my carpentry books and obscure manufacturing pages for simple advice. In a pinch I can sometimes turn to Usenet but it seems that the Internet is kind of an industrial wasteland for the DIYer who's tackling anything more than a deck. I feel very much that I'm on my own. Are there any resources I'm missing?

By: unSane

unSane — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 20:34:59 -0800

Interesting question. I'm also building a house. I'm acting as my own General Contractor but have a guy who's basically managing the day-to-day construction details. If you can't find a forum I could see myself setting one up as I have free server space.

By: ericb

ericb — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 21:41:22 -0800

DIY Network; This Old House (applicable to old and new projects).

By: RikiTikiTavi

RikiTikiTavi — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 22:27:03 -0800

Journal of Light Construction

By: RikiTikiTavi

RikiTikiTavi — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 22:29:18 -0800

...but it's more suited for the professional. Note, though, that except for the occasional elitism, the more professional-oriented boards are what you want, anyway.

By: RikiTikiTavi

RikiTikiTavi — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 22:39:23 -0800

I really should think before I post. Although I hold in my hands a stunning counterexample[1], for the most part Taunton Press has excellent information, generally in dead tree form. You probably already knew that, though. They do have an online forum for Fine Homebuilding (obviously what you're interested in), but it's a bit nasty to navigate IIRC.

[1] Taunton Home "Bathroom Makeovers". It's slightly better than the normal consumer-oriented books out there, but it's still a member of a fairly content-free genre. Probably worth it if you're really new at this stuff, but not useful for the more experienced. Thankfully, it's a library book.

By: wackybrit

wackybrit — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 00:13:51 -0800

Not exactly a community but Ask The Builder is about as useful as it gets.

By: Alt F4

Alt F4 — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 05:29:29 -0800

I'm about a week away from my final inspection. E-mail me if I can help you out with anything.

By: Heatwole

Heatwole — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 08:09:49 -0800

Try the Dwell Forums, you'll have to weed through, but I find a lot of good discussion on materials.