Materials and construction technique vary considerably across the US but
wood frame construction is used in many places with some variations. I
didn't think the construction time for my house was particularly quick.
This will be my seventh house but only the third I've had built new.
I don't remember how long the first one took to build but the second one
near Boston was about 25% larger, had two stories vs one and also had a
full basement. As best I can recall it also took about 5 months.
My Florida house was of very different construction called the Concrete
Block System (CBS). The base was a concrete slab with poured concrete
columns every 8 feet with the tops of the concrete columns topped by a
poured concrete lintel with steel reenforcing bars running through the
columns to tie floor and lintels together. While the lintel concrete is
still wet it has steel straps embedded which are then folded over the
tops of the roof trusses to prevent the trusses from shifting or
lifting. The space between the columns is then filled with doors,
windows and concrete blocks. The roof is normal wood truss construction
with plywood sheathing then covered with waterproof roofing material and
1" thick concrete shingles or clay tiles. The purpose of this design is
to withstand a category 3 hurricane. The house did withstand hurricane
Andrew in 1992 with almost no damage. We were north of the eye of
Andrew and didn't see its full fury but we did have 120 mph winds at
about 5:00 am. (Cat 3 = 111-129 mph, 178-208 km/h). It did its job but
I don't think the South Carolina house will be anywhere near as tough.
Chuck Norcutt
On 1/16/2014 5:11 PM, Charles Geilfuss wrote:
> Rolf,
> I'm no expert, but from what I saw they are quite different. I spent a
> few months working in northern Germany in the late 1970's. A number of
> people I worked with happened to have houses under construction at the
> time. All had basements and walls were primarily masonry. Being in a very
> cold climate with higher energy costs, the walls were much thicker and
> better insulated. Same for the windows: better quality, double/triple
> glass, etc.
> Where Chuck is building there are no basements (high water table, risk
> of rising water flooding, lack of cold weather, etc.). Construction is
> primarily light wood frame construction as wood is readily available in the
> USA and much cheaper than masonry. Some houses are veneered in brick but
> most have synthetic siding (cement, vinyl. etc.).
> I was very impressed with the building standards in Germany, but of
> course it all comes with a higher up-front price.
>
> Charlie
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 9:38 AM, Ralf Loi <ralf_loi@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> <<
>> ... The house will not start construction until at least mid-April
>> and not likely be finished before September or October...
>>>>
>>
>> Chuck,
>> first of all good luck with the move, it sounds like a good place to stay.
>> What I'm impressed with is the very short time in wich your house will
>> be built. But, I suspect that materials and construction tecnique are very
>> different than here in Europe.
>>
>> Ralf
>> --
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