"concrete is wrapped in insulation (polystyrene), and the insulation is wrapped in bituthane."
If you meant "Bituthene", a registered trade name product- from their Data Sheet:
"Do not apply BITUTHENE® Membranes over insulation or lightweight insulating concrete."
I know this material- I don't have to search the web to C&P from their Data Sheet.
:-)
Sometimes a guy reaches a point where he wishes he could "tag team' out of the wood business.
Re:Earth-sheltered homes
My understanding of a properly built one is that the concrete is wrapped in insulation (polystyrene), and the insulation is wrapped in bituthane. The footings around the whole perimeter have french drains, and you of course need to check the ground water levels. If done correctly, I'd think the risks of leaks is minimal.
The biggest risks I've read about as far as leaks go are the use of skylights, which aren't really needed in a properly designed house.
“ It’s great when you got wood when the other guys don’t “
Truer words have never been spoken!
Just a comment-
Probably the biggest issue with earth sheltered homes is water intrusion. Repairs are much more expensive than on a typical home.
If you build one, pay CLOSE attention to the details during construction. A pencil lead size imperfection in the system, or a settlement crack in the concrete can cost thousands (and thousands) to fix.
"...unless your design eliminates as much lumber as possible, "
If I were to have a house built, it would be earth-sheltered/underground, where most of the structure is concrete. This even eliminates the need for shingles, but I'd want to build this kind of home regardless of the lumber prices. It is just so much more energy efficient and low maintenance than typical stick built homes.
"... in Bemidji, where the lumber business is huge.."
So are Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox.
Which reminds me- after years of the city sticking caulk in Babe's crack, a Federal grant was used to get her fixed.
"If we wait for prices to come down, we’ll be paying a higher mortgage interest rate. It’s been interesting trying to crunch the numbers in order to make a decision."
Something about this has been bugging me since I read it and I finally figured it out: You can eliminate the ongoing costs of a higher mortgage by reducing the principal early, basically by adding a payment to principal of X for Y number of months (the math depends on how much higher the rates are), but you can't negate the historically high price of lumber. By that I mean there's not much you can do to affect that as a sunk cost unless your design eliminates as much lumber as possible, so it's anyone's guess as to whether or how long it would take for you to recoup the much greater cost of materials.
CURRENT
My oldest kid lives in Bemidji, where the lumber business is huge. He has a buddy who is in the biz and swears up and down that Canadian mills have yards chock full of materials, but refuse to ship it to the US because Biden put the breaks on Keystone.
RE: Lumber.
I discovered "buried treasure" while cleaning my warehouse to sell off the business and retire, Found a shit ton of 8' and 10' 2x4s, 2x6s and a few 2x8s that someone ordered/bought and apparently didn't use for the intended project. Also found some 5/8" treated plywood. They were "buried" behind barricades we use to block off traffic and stacked behind the warehouse racks. They must have been there for years.
Some of the best lumber I've ever seen- very few knots in the dimensional lumber; most have 0 knots/imperfections. The others have maybe 1 or 2 knots each, and they're quite small. Guessing at how long they've been there, I probably paid $200 for them and they're worth well over $1,000 at today's prices.
It's great when you got wood when the other guys don't.
Lumber is a racket pure and simple. You could fix it overnight by eliminating Canadian tariffs. It's pure politics. Just like the asinine dairy prices in Canada.
So much for free trade.
I had a house built during the end stages of 2007 housing bubble, took until 2 years ago to break even..I'm in the country.. Homes in the city doubled during the same time frame. location location...and i paid $75 a sq. ft.. maybe $150+ ft now to replace..my bad timing ruined my desire wanting to buy a cheap home or two for rental income in 2012/13....
I would guess house buying or building now would be a bad move..Many sleepless nights/headaches???? Every bubble pops, always has..Lots of problems getting a house built with supply/worker issues..I guess if you are filthy rich and don't care, go for it...
We are in a tight spot. We want to build a house soon, but lumber is in the neighborhood of $1400 ($500 would be historically high). If we wait for prices to come down, we’ll be paying a higher mortgage interest rate. It’s been interesting trying to crunch the numbers in order to make a decision.
Had to buy materials yesterday for a project at work. $60 for a sheet of 3/4” cdx is simply infuckingsane.
"I do know that when wood jumped way up, some people actually did hold off on projects requiring wood, but if you need a roof now, waiting isn't really an option."
Trader and investor sentiment, along with some complex algorithms, are all important in commodities futures pricing, but they're also broadly projective of supply and demand issues. As in, they can soar and crater based on sentiment, but the pricing trend line can help determine projects. When a friend wanted to build a fence but wood prices had doubled in 2020, it just took a minute to look at LBS contracts and tell him prices were forecast to drop X% in (I think) September. And they did.
Oil is a global commodity. The price crashed early in covid due to a crash in transportation fuel, bunker fuel for ships, energy demand etc. That led to shutting down of production capacity. No one wanted to, they just had to because there was nowhere to store the oil. And ramping back up is not a simple process. So when demand recovered there was a lag that we had not begun to catch up to when the Ukraine thing hit. Russia supplies 10% of the world's oil. It doesn't matter if we buy their oil or not as long as someone does. That someone is likely the Chinese. But to the extent that some this oil is no longer reaching the market, or is having to find a different route to market, someone will be putting a straw into the tank that we are used to buying fuel from. Or bidding more for oil from North Dakota, West Texas, or the Gulf of Mexico.
In TBR's case there is a limited supply in California due to special additives for air pollution reduction. So California gas is, I believe, only formulated in California refineries.
" some people actually did hold off on projects requiring wood"
Pretty sure there's a BiF/lesbian joke in there.
Somewhere.
Getting back to oil and gas, most of Europe is paying roughly $8 per gallon.
They have trains, subways and buses that run like clockwork.
They..... grab your pearls...... Walk and ride bikes, scooters and motorcycles.
And, their cars are smaller, and made lighter with thinner glass and less dense bodies and doors.
Grap your pearls again...... XL SUV's are very rare there, and hard to drive and park in many roads.
Don't forget the price of shingles, but primarily metal. I'm covering my soffit boards with metal vented sheets, and wrapping my fascia with metal.
Everybody is using the excuse of material increase to pass the cost increase to the end guy/customer.
I could get by with replacing the rotted wood soffit, but when you wrap it, you don't have to paint anymore and it adds curb appeal. Along with re-surfacing my driveway and area behind my garage.
Another tidbit below:
"Historically, rising oil prices have been highly linked with rising asphalt prices. “During the last ten years, asphalt prices rose seven percent for every 10 percent increase in oil prices,” said Edward J. Sullivan, chief economist and group vice-president at PCA. “In contrast, concrete prices have not increased anywhere near that pace."
GGMM - I Googled "oil futures contracts" and it pretty much answered what I was looking for. Thanks GGMM. While the political climate can definitely affect gas prices, it's really investor speculation that would seem to have the larger actual impact.
Others have already picked up on my other point that the added cost of what it cost to fill the tank in my car is only a small part of the overall impact of rising fuel prices.
I do know that when wood jumped way up, some people actually did hold off on projects requiring wood, but if you need a roof now, waiting isn't really an option.
Tallmark - If you live life thinking the worst of people, it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It will make you miserable and ultimately result in you becoming someone that few (if any) people will want to be around. Everyone has their negative moments, but perhaps you should try to balance them out with some happier thoughts once in a while ;-)
Everyone starts price gouging and they complain it's because everyone is doing it as they laugh all the way to the bank....Where are all the oil company profits ending up along with lumber and meat packing plants??? So sick of businesses crying for help...your all fucken scumbags as are you freelancing handyman/plumber type fuckheads ripping off anyone you can....
Those horses travel in style . We have the rodeo going on and if you see the rigs the girls have for their barrel racers it’s better then most people’s homes.
Increasing the price from $1000 to $1500 per horse is a pretty big jump. 50% increase.
That sounds cheap .
