Build Your House Yourself University

Today is the last installment of a series of mini lessons that I’ve done on insulation.  In this week’s episode, we’ll talk structural insulated panels, or SIPs, and insulated concrete forms, or ICFs.  These options are especially unique because they not only provide extremely effective thermal insulation, but they also provide structural framing components for the house, including walls, floors and roofs.

Show notes at www.BYHYU.com

According to Green Building Advisor. com, “spray polyurethane foam is better than any other type of insulation at reducing air leakage.”  And that’s one of the biggest reasons that spray foam insulation is becoming one of the most popular insulation options in North America.  This week's mini lesson will discuss the two types of spray foam insulation, open cell spray foam and closed cell spray foam.  We'll also cover rigid foam in insulation.

Show notes at www.BYHYU.com

Blown in insulation, also called loose fill insulation, is made of fluffy fibers of cellulose, fiberglass or mineral wool.  It’s blown into walls, attics and floors with special equipment. One the main advantages of blown in insulation is that it fills in odd shaped cavities, crevices and gaps and eliminates cold spots.   Learn more about blown in insulation in this week’s mini lesson.

Show notes at www.BYHYU.com

For most people, blanket insulation is the insulation that comes to mind when they think about insulation in a home. Most of us have seen attics filled with pink or yellow insulation.  That pillowy insulation that we’re familiar with is blanket insulation and in most cases it was made of fiberglass, which is the most common type of insulation in the United States. But blanket insulation can be made not only of fiberglass, but also of other flexible fibers such as cotton, mineral wool and sheep’s wool.  Today’s mini lesson give an overview of those different types of blanket insulation.

Show notes www.BYHYU.com

Today’s mini lesson will help not only those wanting to build a new house, but those who want to remodel an older home, especially the kitchen.  As promised last week, we’ll be talking about choosing kitchen cabinets.  If you think choosing kitchen cabinets is simply a matter of choosing stained, wood cabinets versus white, painted cabinets… keep listening.

Naturally, you’ll choose a style that you find attractive, but beyond looks, there are lots of factors that you’ll need to consider that will impact the quality and cost of your cabinets.   For example, a standard 30 inch cabinet can range from just over $100 to well over $1000, depending on its construction, finishes and how customized it is.  Today’s lesson will help us understand the different materials used to construct cabinets and how those materials impact cabinet price and quality.

Show notes at www.BYHYU.com

What siding you choose for the exterior of your house will greatly influence the overall appearance and style of your home.  More and more, people are choosing not just one type of siding, but several.  It’s not unusual to see houses with a mixture of brick and stone, or stucco and stone, or even fiber cement siding with brick or stone.

While appearance is a very important consideration when choosing the type of siding, you should also consider the material's price, durability and maintenance. Siding is not simply an aesthetic feature, but it functions to protect your house from the elements.  In today’s mini lesson, we’ll talk about the pros and cons of the most popular siding options.

Show notes at www.BYHYU.com

Most people are not considering building a tiny house.  Most of us want homes that are larger, in fact MUCH larger, than a typical tiny home. Mobile, trailer-ready tiny homes are usually between 100 and 300 square feet and tiny homes with a permanent foundation can be up to 600 square feet.  To put that into perspective, according to reference.com, the average American bedroom in a new home is between 120 and 150 square feet.  And master bedrooms are typically larger, averaging more than 200 square feet.  That 200 square feet, by the way, does not take into account the master closet space or the master bathroom. 

The closest any of us will ever come to tiny house living will be the time that we spend in a stateroom, on a cruise ship.  The typical room on a cruise ship is 150 to 200 square feet.  So, if you can’t imagine your whole house fitting into such a small space, a tiny house is probably not for you.  But, even if you have no desire to live in just a few hundred square feet, there are many lessons that we can learn from the tiny house movement.

Show notes at www.BYHYU.com

If you are thinking of being the general contractor of your own home, today’s mini lesson will give you an overview of the different subcontractors that you’ll have to hire.  Even if you decide to hire a builder to oversee the construction of your dream home,  it’s helpful to have a general idea of what each subcontractors does. I’ll briefly describe the role of the major tradesmen in residential construction and give some tips and tricks on hiring and managing those tradespeople.

Show notes at www.BYHYU.com

When I was growing up, we were told to say “rooves", with a hard “V.”  These days “roofs” is the more common pronunciation.  I might say either or both today in our mini lesson about choosing the right roofing material for your home. 

When choosing the type of roof you want for your new home, you’ll need to consider how much money you want to spend and how often you want to maintain, and potentially repair or replace your roof.  The roof is first and foremost a functional structure, but don’t dismiss the importance of choosing a roof that is aesthetically pleasing.

We often give quite a bit of thought to the way the front of our house, or the front elevation, will look, but we sometimes fail to give the color and texture of our ROOF as much consideration. What roof you choose will have a big impact on your home’s curb appeal.  I recently read that if we think of the front of the house as your home’s face, then the roof is like your home’s hair.   And you know how important someone’s hair is to their overall appearance. 

So today I’ll give an overview of the 6 most common types of roofing materials.  We’ll talk about how they function, how much they cost and how they look.

Show notes at www.BYHYU.com

People seem to really like the quiz questions at the end of each episode, so this week we have what I’m calling a semester exam.  The whole episode is dedicated to exam questions that are based on information that we’ve covered in episodes 1-19.  Most of them are original questions.  I repeat 2 or 3 previous quiz questions, but for the most part, these are original.  I plan to do a semester exam every 20th show, so let me know how you like the format.  Our exam today will have 35 questions.

Show notes at www.BYHYU.com