My neighbor has expressed a desire to rebuild the wooden fence between our houses. We share one side of the fence with her, and it's definitely in need of repair--warped boards, aging, etc. Should she be fully responsible for paying for the fence, since it was her idea to fix it? Or should we contribute some money since we share one side of the fence? [more inside]
posted by starkraven on Apr 2, 2013 - 36 answers

Everything I do, all day, every day, hurts. The more I do things that are painful, the more the pain snowballs. We're going to build a house that we hope will help reduce the accumulation of pain, and maybe even let me recover a little. Help me make sure I'm covering all the bases in house design accommodations. [more inside]
posted by galadriel on Feb 13, 2013 - 35 answers

I need help with sourcing unusual building materials for my DIY doghouse that looks like my ridiculous-looking house. [more inside]
posted by halogen on Sep 28, 2012 - 21 answers

Filtering through lenders for a mortgage in a home building situation. [more inside]
posted by phox on Mar 29, 2012 - 4 answers

Looking into building a house near Golden/Boulder CO area. Planning on using ICF's. Looking for suggestions of almost any kind. Would like the house to be about 2000sqft. Am a teacher and worked construction for several summers (but only w/ stick built houses) a few years ago so I will have some time and rudimentary knowledge. Trying to keep the house as simple as possible to keep costs down. Simple rectangular shape and roof and trying to avoid the need to any custom building supplies. If we keep it under $300,000ish we won't need financing. Is it possible? [more inside]
posted by no bueno on Aug 10, 2011 - 4 answers

I want to build a Monolithic dome home! (I think) [more inside]
posted by no bueno on Jul 26, 2011 - 22 answers

Say I wanted to buy 1000 metres squared of suburban land to build a house on. Is my family allowed to live in a couple of caravans on the site while the house is being built, or will my local council nix that? I'm in Australia by the way.
posted by singingfish on Jun 19, 2011 - 9 answers

My cousin and I live in separate parts of the country currently, but we'd like to go in together on a 10+ acre piece of land roughly 30 minutes outside of St. Louis now with the intentions of both building on it several years down the road. What are we not considering? [more inside]
posted by wordsmith on Jun 5, 2011 - 20 answers

I am thinking of getting a conservatory put on our house. It's a traditional UK terrace with a "wing" at the back containing the kitchen, bathroom above. About 6 ft wide. The yard to the side includes our back gate so we can't fill that with a conservatory. Our kitchen doors are on the back. I want to find plans that show how a conservatory can work, but googling just brings either conservatory companies (no plans) or estate agent sites (all terrace houses with a conservatory for sale). [more inside]
posted by LyzzyBee on Jan 17, 2011 - 6 answers

I want to pay cash for a lot, then have a modular house put on it or have one built. Have any MeFites done this, and what sort of books or people should I be referencing for getting started? [more inside]
posted by fireoyster on Mar 22, 2010 - 6 answers

Free or cheap or scavenged or used building materials in the GVRD or BC. Where? How? [more inside]
posted by Meatbomb on Jan 17, 2010 - 14 answers

We've never built a home before. Help us not look or act like n00bs! [more inside]
posted by Aleen on Dec 21, 2009 - 14 answers

After noticing some small cracks on the interior walls of one room, I went outside and saw several HUGE zig-zag cracks have appeared between the bricks at the back corner of my house. All the indications of a bad case of subsidence. Time to panic; the house is now worthless! What are my options? [more inside]
posted by moorooka on Nov 21, 2009 - 13 answers

I'm going to be building a modest split-level home this spring – 1900 sqft – in Madison, WI. Should I expect the cost of materials to be lower or higher than it was to build the exact same house 6 months ago? [more inside]
posted by BirdD0g on Apr 22, 2008 - 10 answers

I want to build a house: 1,500 sq.ft., passive solar/energy efficient features, $100,000 - possible? [more inside]
posted by raikkohamilonso on Mar 7, 2008 - 25 answers

Is Habitat for Humanity fun? How does living (or not living) in the volunteer housing affect the experience? Tell me about your experiences...
posted by shivohum on Sep 29, 2006 - 13 answers

I bumped into my neighbour the other day and he asked to meet with us and his neighbours on the other side. Apparently it is a legal requirement in Ontario that when you undertake serious renovations that you discuss it with the neighbours. So I asked him what he planned on doing. His response: we're going to demolish the existing house and build a new one. [more inside]
posted by mikel on Jul 8, 2006 - 16 answers

Can anyone recommend a good contractor / home builder in the Boston / Metrowest area? [more inside]
posted by bondcliff on Apr 25, 2006 - 6 answers

What are some advantages and disadvantages of buying a newly built home? [more inside]
posted by ND¢ on Feb 2, 2006 - 19 answers

Is it cheaper to buy a house or build one from scratch? [more inside]
posted by designbot on Nov 14, 2005 - 18 answers

What causes houses to "beat"? It's very windy here in St. Louis today, and every time the wind really kicks up, I hear a distinct "hoom, hoom, hoom", at a frequency of about one per second. When I was a kid, i thought it was the spinning vents in the attic, by the house I live in now doesn't have those. Spurred by this thread on beat frequencies, I thought I'd pose the question to the AskMe hive.
posted by notsnot on Mar 20, 2004 - 13 answers