A fictional email to a fictional friend set some time in a fictional future.
The new house is coming on well. Visited the site yesterday and as it’s such a vast development I had some trouble remembering where our new place is, but after a visit to the site office I managed to find it.
As I say, it’s coming on well. Frank came along because he’s interested in new housing fashions even though he lives in one of the old brick places which are taxed up to the eyeballs these days. But as you know, Frank is Frank and he clings on.
As for the new house, it’s almost finished. They don’t hang around these days. The walls are all made of Sustainable Matrix which looks good and quite retro really. Frank says it’s basically a modern version of wattle and daub, which of course it isn’t, but that’s Frank.
The sustainable roof fibres are woven in and a central stove is in place. As you know, the stove is controlled centrally depending on wind so there is no messing around with controls or anything. All nice and simple.
Not that we’ll do much in the house apart from VR and sleeping of course. Frank says the house is basically an office cubicle but Frank loves to be cynical.
Out of interest I asked the builder how long sustainable houses last these days. Worth knowing for when we buy another. The builder was very busy stamping down the earth floor, but it paused for a moment as they do when you address them directly.
The builder was quite informative in the end. It pointed out a few things such as latrine durability and went on to explain how the house should easily last twenty years before sustainability sets in.
As I say, it’s coming on well. Frank came along because he’s interested in new housing fashions even though he lives in one of the old brick places which are taxed up to the eyeballs these days. But as you know, Frank is Frank and he clings on.
As for the new house, it’s almost finished. They don’t hang around these days. The walls are all made of Sustainable Matrix which looks good and quite retro really. Frank says it’s basically a modern version of wattle and daub, which of course it isn’t, but that’s Frank.
The sustainable roof fibres are woven in and a central stove is in place. As you know, the stove is controlled centrally depending on wind so there is no messing around with controls or anything. All nice and simple.
Not that we’ll do much in the house apart from VR and sleeping of course. Frank says the house is basically an office cubicle but Frank loves to be cynical.
Out of interest I asked the builder how long sustainable houses last these days. Worth knowing for when we buy another. The builder was very busy stamping down the earth floor, but it paused for a moment as they do when you address them directly.
The builder was quite informative in the end. It pointed out a few things such as latrine durability and went on to explain how the house should easily last twenty years before sustainability sets in.
6 comments:
20 years is an advance on todays' guarantee:
https://www.architectscertificate.co.uk/services/structural-building-warranty/new-build/#:~:text=How%20long%20is%20the%20warranty,year%20period%20for%20the%20remainder.
Years ago I suggested to someone that modern houses were probably built with an expected lifetime of about 40 years. He goggled: it had never occurred to him that houses wouldn't last forever.
Clearly if you think it might last forty years the warranty you offer will be shorter.
I love the idea of "sustainability setting in"!
Sackers - good point - twenty years is a major improvement.
dearieme - some houses built in the seventies certainly look as if forty years was their expected life.
Sam - sustainability enthusiasts certainly seem keen on built-in decay.
If walls have a good overhanging roof to keep rain off they will do quite well.
But in future when we are all munching crickets, will cattle be kept purely for their shit.
For the daub.
Doonhamer - greens don't like cattle so humans may have to contribute the daub.
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