5 ms·

I remember coming across a video of a product from Europe where the entire wall assembly is sold as one piece (outer wall, insulation, inner wall). I'm not sure

by byw 4y ago

I remember coming across a video of a product from Europe where the entire wall assembly is sold as one piece (outer wall, insulation, inner wall). I'm not sure if this type of product is common in Europe. If you then have wire conduits and junction boxes built-in, you are a lot closer to a livable home. Perhaps floor assemblies with hookups for plumbing. I'm not sure why these things aren't standardized to be the point of plug-n-play. A lot less work for the tradespeople maybe.

jahnu 4y ago
Very popular here in Austria. And they are mostly very good quality. I have friends who built one of these "Fertighäuser" (prefab houses) and even though cheaper than a custom build they are really impressive. The walls are delivered just as you describe. https://www.liebfertighaus.at/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/AdobeStock_43593150-1200x480.jpeg https://www.liebfertighaus.at/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ado... https://www.google.com/search?q=fertighaus+teile&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=fertighaus+teile&tbm=isch There are some efforts now being made to reduce the amount of concrete and build with more sustainable wood.
- jeffrallen 4y ago
  Good quality prefab panels from eastern Europe installed by incompetent foreign companies with no incentive to stand behind their work result in occasional sob stories here in Switzerland. You get what you pay for.
  - barrkel 4y ago
    Here in Switzerland, you are likely to pay through the nose for a mediocre product / service. Caveat emptor, particularly since consumer laws are weak.
tauntz 4y ago
There's a rather huge prefab industry here in Estonia. Starting from small pre-fab components (such as a single small wall section) to some houses that are essentially 90% completed in the factory. If you have the foundation already done, then the assembly of the rest of the house takes around 3-5 days Random promo video of one company: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqAxoBAE2pc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqAxoBAE2pc.
- kavalg 4y ago
  Looks pretty, but how about fire, excessive snowfall or wind, rodents and pests, flood/water leaks etc?
  - Etheryte 4y ago
    Well for one, if it didn't stand excessive snowfall you'd find out pretty quickly in Estonia.
- prox 4y ago
  What’s the price for prefab like? Their website wouldn’t say.
StefanHamminga 4y ago
This is extremely common in the Netherlands. Also very well sorted out these days. My parents' company used to assemble these. A specialised contractor digs and pours a concrete foundation for the walls and once those would be cured a crane, a loader truck and a crew of maybe 3-6 people would on average have a new house ready every 3 days (walls, floors, roofs, wiring, piping), 'ready' being very close to how they're sold to individual owners. A prefab house design will typically be replicated in several projects / cities, usually with a few customisation options. Different prefab factories have different levels of standardisation and automation. The prefab production lines I designed long ago for example used fully parametric designs to offer standard concepts sized to fit. At the time (~10-15 years ago) a novelty, by now must be pretty standard.
- ayewo 4y ago
  Sounds really interesting. Do you have any links to learn more about your prefab designs and a company that assembles these designs?
  - whizzter 4y ago
    Not in the Netherlands but in Sweden one of the biggest house makers is Älvsbyhus, you can select a base model (begin by selecting number of floors/layout, then size) and customize colors and some details online. https://www.alvsbyhus.se/vara-hus/ https://www.alvsbyhus.se/vara-hus/
    - bergenty 4y ago
      Basically trailers or RLBs. We have those…
meetingthrower 4y ago
I built a house like this in US. The company is called Bensonwood / Unity up here in NH. It is not cheaper but it is faster and higher quality. From slab to dried in house in 4 days. Passive house level airtightness and insulation. Wall assembly is zip->10 inch blown in insulation around 10inch I-Joist -> OSB -> 2x3 interior wall studs to hang your sheetrock off of and run utilities. (All pre-drilled for faster running of pex and conduit.) You do have to do all the interior work after, though.

by byw 4y ago

jahnu 4y ago

Very popular here in Austria. And they are mostly very good quality. I have friends who built one of these "Fertighäuser" (prefab houses) and even though cheaper than a custom build they are really impressive. The walls are delivered just as you describe. https://www.liebfertighaus.at/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/AdobeStock_43593150-1200x480.jpeg https://www.liebfertighaus.at/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ado... https://www.google.com/search?q=fertighaus+teile&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=fertighaus+teile&tbm=isch There are some efforts now being made to reduce the amount of concrete and build with more sustainable wood.

jeffrallen 4y ago
Good quality prefab panels from eastern Europe installed by incompetent foreign companies with no incentive to stand behind their work result in occasional sob stories here in Switzerland. You get what you pay for.
- barrkel 4y ago
  Here in Switzerland, you are likely to pay through the nose for a mediocre product / service. Caveat emptor, particularly since consumer laws are weak.

tauntz 4y ago

There's a rather huge prefab industry here in Estonia. Starting from small pre-fab components (such as a single small wall section) to some houses that are essentially 90% completed in the factory. If you have the foundation already done, then the assembly of the rest of the house takes around 3-5 days Random promo video of one company: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqAxoBAE2pc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqAxoBAE2pc.

kavalg 4y ago
Looks pretty, but how about fire, excessive snowfall or wind, rodents and pests, flood/water leaks etc?
- Etheryte 4y ago
  Well for one, if it didn't stand excessive snowfall you'd find out pretty quickly in Estonia.
prox 4y ago
What’s the price for prefab like? Their website wouldn’t say.

StefanHamminga 4y ago

This is extremely common in the Netherlands. Also very well sorted out these days. My parents' company used to assemble these. A specialised contractor digs and pours a concrete foundation for the walls and once those would be cured a crane, a loader truck and a crew of maybe 3-6 people would on average have a new house ready every 3 days (walls, floors, roofs, wiring, piping), 'ready' being very close to how they're sold to individual owners. A prefab house design will typically be replicated in several projects / cities, usually with a few customisation options. Different prefab factories have different levels of standardisation and automation. The prefab production lines I designed long ago for example used fully parametric designs to offer standard concepts sized to fit. At the time (~10-15 years ago) a novelty, by now must be pretty standard.

ayewo 4y ago
Sounds really interesting. Do you have any links to learn more about your prefab designs and a company that assembles these designs?
- whizzter 4y ago
  Not in the Netherlands but in Sweden one of the biggest house makers is Älvsbyhus, you can select a base model (begin by selecting number of floors/layout, then size) and customize colors and some details online. https://www.alvsbyhus.se/vara-hus/ https://www.alvsbyhus.se/vara-hus/
  - bergenty 4y ago
    Basically trailers or RLBs. We have those…

meetingthrower 4y ago

I built a house like this in US. The company is called Bensonwood / Unity up here in NH. It is not cheaper but it is faster and higher quality. From slab to dried in house in 4 days. Passive house level airtightness and insulation. Wall assembly is zip->10 inch blown in insulation around 10inch I-Joist -> OSB -> 2x3 interior wall studs to hang your sheetrock off of and run utilities. (All pre-drilled for faster running of pex and conduit.) You do have to do all the interior work after, though.