The Owner Built Home & Homestead
A collection of information on low-cost, simple and natural construction materials and techniques in home-building.
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INTRODUCTION
I am intending this to be a how-to-think-it as well as a
how-to-do-it book. As a designer-builder of contemporary
homes—a self-appointed specialist in the low-cost
field—I have long had the compulsion to express my
feelings and thoughts in regard to the home-building
industry, and to do something constructive for the people
who are now suffering under it. I have yet to find one
critic who comprehends entirely why our houses are so
poorly constructed, why they look so abominable, why they
cost so much for building and upkeep, and why they are so
uncomfortable. Some critics blame the building contractors
personally; others feel that the fault lies with urban
codes and building restrictions. Some believe that
expensive housing is due to the high interest rates charged
by the bankers; others blame the trade unions for hampering
efficient construction. Every writer on the subject seems
to fondle some pet corrective measure. And every year some
noted architect develops a sure-fire technical solution to
the housing problem. Even more often the building material
manufacturers come up with a new wonder; an improved
wallboard or window or what-not which can be installed with
a ten-minute saving in labor!
Everyone in the building industry appears to be busily
engaged making "improvements" in his personal area of
concern. But quality makes a steady decline. The end
product is as inadequate and unsatisfactory and costly a
house as ever. The architect spends more and more time at
his drafting board, exhausting possibilities of new
construction techniques and more economical arrangements;
the contractor conscripts even more and specialized
equipment for building efficiency; the banker resorts to
undreamt-of-schemes to make it possible for everyone to buy
his new home—even if he lacks money to make the down
payment; building material manufacturers work overtime in
their laboratories making "more and better things for
better living." With all this hustle one might well expect
some major improvements in new home construction. Whatever
improvements occur are insignificant in comparison to the
improvements that should be made. The causes of the world's
housing problem still remain.
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