Quote:
Originally Posted by Stitchawl
If you're going to move in once the house is weather-tight, having professional builders do the shell and the roof, they could finish their part in just a couple of weeks. The outer walls and roof are that fastest part of a house to put up. It's the inside work that takes so long; outting up wall studs, plumbing and wiring, interior wall covering, etc.
What are you doing for a foundation? I have a feeling that basements aren't so common in your area. Will you use a cement slab or just pylons?
Stitchawl
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We're probably going to build with a timber frame, so the outer shell should indeed be ready in a couple of weeks. If you build with bricks, it can take a couple of months. At least in Belgium.
We're not going to move in right after that. We're probably going to move to a cheap apartment very close by, so we have at least some comfort (like running water and electricity
) but we can still work in our house in the evenings.
My father who build their current home himself (even the shell) told us it will take at least a year after the shell has been put up before the house is habitable. Because we can only work in the weekends and sometimes in the evening. We're not going to take time off from work to build, other than our annual vacation. But we'll see. Maybe we can move in faster. We knew it would be a long journey when we decided to buy the land, so it's okay.
I think basements are pretty standard in Belgium, but we're not going to build one. It's ridiculously expensive, and because the groundwater in our area is pretty close to the surface we'd have to have a special kind of basement. We're just using the standard strip foundation.