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Comment by mason240 | Hacker News Reader

Having lived in American houses for about 30 years now, leaking isn't an issue if you have a good roof that is maintained. I live in the north, an even worse than rain we get lots of snow that leads to "ice dams" forming on roofs. Even with that we don't have problems with leaking.

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The ice dams are due to poor air sealing and attic insulation. If you fix those, you won't get ice dams anymore (and your utility bills will go down!)

http://structuretech1.com/ice-dams-2/

Knowing family in N.E. where it rains, and snows quite a bit and remains damp for most of the year (ponds) the construction type doesn't seem to be deficient in that sense. They are however, not the same construction as older house from 1800s, early 1900s --but those too have their issues with very irregular construction. Things which would not be allowed today (narrow staircases, irregular architecture and of course, no accommodation for modern plumbing or electricity).

I've pondered where you even start today if you want to build an 1800's style "built to last" home that ignores cost, and focuses both on longevity and ease of maintenance.

With some modern design concepts (e.g. leaving plenty of plenum for unanticipated future cabling/plumbing needs) I think you could come up with a very pleasant place to live, just at probably quadruple the price.

Is anyone building stuff like this today? Or would this have to be some extremely custom stuff you need to research and act as a contractor managing a bunch of subcontractors?

> I've pondered where you even start today if you want to build an 1800's style "built to last" home...

> Is anyone building stuff like this today?

can it even be done while satisfying modern building codes and energy efficiency requirements?

Post and beam construction is the way to go for that type of house. Cost is about 1.75x the average home.

They are built all of the time. Invest in good windows, metal roof, and good drainage and the house will be around 200 years from now.

The farmers I worked for as a teenager revovated their Dutch built barn (ca. 1660) into a home. The secret is keeping the water out.

Absolutely, if you have a good roof which is maintained, not the cheapest possible roof which goes unmaintained because naive buyers think that because it's a new house with an "insurance" policy they will never need to maintain anything.

So the problem isn't so much the roofs but rather a lack of education and informed buyers.

The problem is use of softwood timber frames (because: cheap) in a very wet country, adding the cheapest possible roof, then cladding the whole lot so you cannot see any leaks or other damage happening. Then selling the resulting tiny flat to a first time buyer who doesn't know any better for an average of £232K (2016 figure). IoW a systematic failure at all stages.

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