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This has all been worked out a 1000 years ago and it's still done everywhere else in the world in the tropical zone but here, as here, most people hire their building done and profit motive is a bigger factor than sensible living.
Your first principles:
Figure earthquakes, termites, volcanoes, and hurricanes.
Why build expensive houses? Especially if they're going to get eaten, shaken, burnt, or blown down? Unless you're building out of ceramics and titanium, there's your reality. I guess one can live in a cockroach infested steel bunker, but why? It all matters.
So, you build for minimal expense and maximum utility during the lifetime of the structure, which is probably 30 years. You could build out of treated bamboo, like most places, or timber, on post and pier, or whatever, but you want the maximum level of quality of life out of the least expense. That's the ticket.
If its built by people that know how to build such things, it's very comfortable indeed. The disclaimer is IF. A California style structure is going to need a lot of help. This doesn't mean it won't work. It just means it will cost a lot(more).
Is it a big deal if your house happened to be shaken, burnt, or blown down? Not really, it took 3 weeks to build the first house. If built intelligently you had a fine standard of living without bugs, or AC, or any of the rest of that. You'll live 3 weeks in a hotel or a tent while the guys put your place back up. You'll salvage the durables out of the one that fell down and build the second.
Anyway, one perspective. You can grow the lumber for a house here faster than you can feed the house to termites. No worries!
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I desined my house for maximum cross ventilation. I live on the 2nd floor with two 8 foot sliding glass doors and a four foot slider between them; this way my whole front wall is glass that looks out on to my 400 sq foot screened lanai, where I am sleeping at the moment, it is much cooler. I put smaller lanis on the other three sides too. Underneath is my guest bedroom, which at the moment is rented, so far so good. I took the airflow concept a step further by installing a cupola on the 3rd floor accessed by a circular staircase. The theory goes, that in the summer, the easterly breezes will waft through the sliders, up the staircase, and exit through the cupola, which by the way, is my 3rd bedroom, just as soon as I can afford to put a bed up there. I even have a peek-a-boo ocean view from the 3rd floor. There are not fans in my house. Just as soon as it warms up, I will see if my hypothesis is valid, report to follow.
I love living up high. (You can take that statement anyway you want to.) With the wrap around lanis and 3 feet overhangs, the walls of the house seldom see the light of the sun or rain. I have two cats to keep the rats moving, too. As far as the stairs goes, that could be an issue in my elder years, but I have found that those who cannot deal with stairs usually are obese, which I am not. Besides, the stairs gives you good exercise during the day after running up and down retreiving things you have forgotten. When the legs and knees give out, I will install an elevator/escalator thingy.
FNG
P.S. One day my wife stated that single story houses are boring, I concur.
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As usual, JWFITZ is not afraid to think outside the box. There is a lot of logic to what he says. However I would counter that there are materials available to us now that were not traditionally available in the tropics. Reinforced concrete can be made earthquake resistant and has some other good properties. Steel roofing is great stuff and would allow a larger area to be under cover for a lesser part of the cost and labor involved in building the house than was true in generations past.
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I work on the opposite end of building theories as Jay. To me it is appalling to gather the material resources and human labor and sweat to build a home and have it have a useful life span of a bit over thirty years. That formula explains why the world is short about 600 million homes. Homeless people shivering in the dark.
The thirty plus year figure comes from the feds. The 600 million figure comes from my years with Habitat for Humanity.
My home is quite the opposite of bamboo or rammed earth. It is made of about 40,000 lbs. of recycled material and concrete and has a projected life span of over 200 years without maintenance (Naval engineering). At the same time it is cool and comfortable, termite and fire proof and well able to withstand hurricane and most earthquakes. I say most because no matter how smart we think we are nature will eventually win.
By building a home with a 200+ year life a person is in effect building the equivalent of six homes by conventional organic methods. So if a wood home which consumes perhaps two acres of forest to build my preferred home prevents 12 acres of forest from being needed. Plus it's very energy efficient. Plus it didn't cost more. Navy engineering gave me the 200+ year figure. They said it might well last longer, they just can't think farther than 200 years out.
By my analysis the most expensive and wasteful building method is wood or other organic materials... especially here in the tropics. And I say that as a master carpenter.
But this is not a challenge. To each his own. I would welcome building codes which provide everyone more choice. I have much more faith in owner-builders than "professionals".
By example- in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, with 35,000 homes destroyed in Homestead, Florida there was one builder with 23 homes on site that survived the hurricane. That was Habitat for Humanity. The homes were build by amateurs. Here we would say they had been built with aloha. Unfortunately they will all, on the average, last less well than 40 years. Geez. Banks are writing mortgages for forty years. That means that just about the time you get it paid off it is likely to be worthless. Smart?
I personally do not care if homes are one story or tow story or round or square. I want them to be well built and capable of serving their purpose (protect you and your family from the elements) well for generations. By protecting you I mean from more than sunburn and a rainy day.
There are a number of other theories out there. To all those who choose to invest their time and money to pursue their dreams I do wish you success.
Assume the best and ask questions.
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Some good ideas Mark. Look around, you should see many of them already incorporated.
Having designed and built the house we now live in...
As Carey said, design for your lot, not just an area, a neighbor half mile in any direction of me would have different considerations. Just as a perfect house on the mainland could be problematic here, the perfect house on Beach Rd HPP might be horrible in Glenwood or WaaWaa
Single level, slab on grade. Not all single story houses are boring, but the majority of multistory can be challenging in a wheel chair. Taking groceries etc upstairs is a pain (IMHO) and one reason I never cared for apt dwelling.
Roof extends over the lanais, 3 ft extension elsewhere means I can usually walk next to house even in the rain. Outside seems an extension of the house.
All walls and roof R20 makes for pretty even temps. Fireplaces in LR/Kit/Dining and the bedrooms. Ambiance when wanted, take the chill off when needed. Metal roof, concrete SIP walls. Flexibility demonstrated in Oct 2006 and recent earthquakes.
And because a wheel chair is possible in our future, no hallways, 3 ft doors and minimum 4 ft passage areas like in kitchen, ADA considerations, easy access showers.
All major room exterior exits are combination of french doors and sliders, plenty of windows (vinyl sliders) - lots of natural light and airflow. All interior doors are solid core pocket doors.
Exterior walls are 8', 9', and 10'. All ceilings open beam. The only flat, 8ft ceilings are 2 closets.
All roof is simple gable design with 2 ventilation windows in each opposing gable. These have never been closed since moving in (1.5 years), even when using fireplace.
3 bedrooms, each with its own private full bath, plus a full community bath.
House sited for views, for trades, for morning sun. There are times when blowing rain is a nuisance factor, but depending on time of year all sides are involved, hence no perfect solution.
Living room, kitchen, dining is one large room divided only by the kitchen counter. Seems to work well with people.
Doggie door from bedroom into fenced area, means the spoiled ones can take care of business on their own.
Master suite has an exercise room (doubles are dog feeding area) with a non kitchen area with small fridge, sink, micro so nurse can take care of me in my dotage.
Every now and then, I'll think how I may have designed something differently, but usually somber up when I remember the cost aspect. We had seriously thought about skylights, but would be wondering when they'd start leaking. Overall, we are very very pleased with our design and it is pretty darn close to the model I made years ago.
Best of luck with you quest.
David
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Sure, modern materials certainly have their place and will go a long way to making things more durable than bamboo treated in salt water. I only suggest that sort of thing as a last resort before living in the mud. The main key is the structure concept that works in a passive and energy efficient manner, mostly to keep you sensibly dry. As any real estate pro will tell you at the moment, we're sure as hell NOT short of housing, at least in the US or in this state. What we are short of is affordable housing--and that's a whole other matter. Much of what passes for affordable housing isn't really affordable, and there's a lot of people out there, like those Rob speaks of, that would be pleased as punch to be able to afford a couple of pieces of bamboo and a tarp.
It's all a cost/benefit analysis in the end. And as my new mantra for such things goes "if we discuss in terms of numbers, rather than adjectives" we draw closer to the best conclusion faster than elsewise. There's a lot we can learn from how problems were solved in the past. Often evolved techniques are much better than engineered ones.
It's probably good to discuss why houses are built up on posts in the tropics. It's basically because you want to live in a chimney. You want cold air under the shade of the house to be drawn into the structure through vents in the floor, where it heats up inside the structure(which is warmer--it's in the sun) and vents through the roof. If you add a woodstove, even a very small one, you accelerate the process greatly. Obviously the net effect is a drying one, as the cold air pulls moisture out of the structure as it warms and keeps the house dry. And it works. If you forgo the basic flow through principles and just build a modern structure on stilts you won't get a bit of the positive effects, and not a few worse ones.
Anyhow. Thought I would mention that. It's a powerful reason not to build on the ground.
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This has been a very interesting topic and for the most part it seems the home we have chosen for our future domicile is almost perfect! ( http://www.polehouses.com/index.cfm?fuse...ry.display&category_id=2)
-Blake
http://www.theboysgreatescape.blogspot.com/
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Cool!
Just be sure you don't neglect the floor and peak vents! Windows open do not suffice!
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Frequently, folks have entire walls which open. There will be sliding doors which vanish into pockets leaving one wall entirely open to the outside.
Each house is different since generally no two lots and no two owners are the same. For a Hawaii house, the huge eaves are also to keep the sun off the sides of the house so it will be cool inside. Five feet is not too large of an overhang. Having a huge lanai blends the interior living with the outdoor living especially if one edge of the lanai is on grade. If one has a hillside, then a two story house can become wheelchair accessible but it will need some design work to get it that way.
Raising the ceilings also cools off the house as well as vents in the closet floor with louvered closet doors. I generally prefer post and pier, light wood framing with huge roof overhangs and loads of openable windows and fixed glass windows as well. Framing in sheets of glass is an inexpensive way to increase the light and views. If the wood is kept dry and is of a species with some termite resistance, then the house should be expected to last well over 100 years.
Each house will be different.
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
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I think you just described my 35 year old plantation style 2 story in Kapoho.It is perfect for this area.Unfortunately they didn't use termite proof wood on the Big Island when it was built.I also have some water damaged beams.
That will all be corrected as I remodel and I am sure it will last much longer.I prefer preowned homes because of the mature landscaping.I can adapt the landscaping to my liking.
If I have to get a stair lift or build a ramp,so be it ,but I love the breezes on the upstairs lanai.
Also,no one in my family has ever had to use a wheelchair.I hope I have the same good genes.
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