I understand it's common there, but like you I'm from a place where houses definitely have a lot longer life expectancy than 30 years. Can't say I'm a huge fan of this constantly tearing down and rebuilding thing, but nevertheless I'll be interested to see where this project is going.
Yeah, I was pretty conflicted about the whole thing at first. I actually considered selling the house as is and then buying and old (built-to-last) one and fixing it up, ‘Llama style’ ;-) Two problems. 1, nobody here will buy a used house. 2, Banks don’t like giving loans for renovations. (For a new house, no problem.) Anyway, welcome to the channel. 🍻
What struck me most was the undersized lumber used in the construction (as well as the lack of insulation). Do you think there is a trend in house construction to move houses from a depreciating commodity to an appreciating asset, or is that still a ways off? I imagine the engineering standards are high for earthquakes and typhoons. Thanks for sharing as it is VERY interesting!
Undersized lumber in the frame. Yep, that was one of the things that clinched our decision to rebuild rather than renovate. (Most likely that place wasn't up to the more recent, earthquake building codes.) But it's interesting, if you look at houses built 100 years ago, they've got these great sturdy frames, and in fact many of them are still standing and definitely worth a renovate. Then came the 'everything disposable' era. I do get the sense that people's thinking (at least about homes) is starting to shift back, albeit slowly. As for people considering a house as 'an asset', I think we're still a ways away from realizing that.
very interesting! And I cannot wait to see Parts 2,3,etc... and, if possible, I would like to know some of the costs associated with the teardown and build. from my understanding, hauling off bulky items can be quite expensive.
Yeah, that wasn’t cheap. 😓. Thanks for the suggestion. I may include something about costs in a following video. (And sorry about the delay getting the next one up. Now that I’ve finished the ‘abandoned school’ project, I’m back on the job!)
All that wood crunched up into splinters. Not really seeing undersized framing; beams in the upstairs ceiling looked sizable. Normal 2x4 elsewhere. what size are 2x4s in Japan?
By “undersized” I just meant sub-standard according to the current earthquake-resistant building codes. The house was actually pretty stable…until the next big one anyway. (We were originally going to just renovate, but the carpenters said it was kind of pointless since the house had already served it’s “expectancy”. That’s Japan..)
Their bulkheads look less reinforced than what I'm used to seeing, but that might not matter. I wonder why all the latticework across the studs downstairs?
I totally understand your feeling. That was an option, and one I considered. Two reasons for the counterintuitive decision. First, the house is literally across the rice field from my wife’s parents’ place, and our lives are pretty intertwined so we wanted to be as close as possible. Then there’s the ‘akiya’ (empty house) issue. Since demolition is expensive but nobody wants to live in a used, poorly-built house, they just get left, abandoned. Like, forever. (There’s one on the OTHER side of the same rice field.) So even if we found and built on a vacant new lot, we would not be able to sell the old one. Luckily, the concept of ‘building to last’ has been gaining in popularity lately.
This was great
Thanks!! 🍻
Thanks for the great video .
Very excited to see part 2!
I understand it's common there, but like you I'm from a place where houses definitely have a lot longer life expectancy than 30 years. Can't say I'm a huge fan of this constantly tearing down and rebuilding thing, but nevertheless I'll be interested to see where this project is going.
Yeah, I was pretty conflicted about the whole thing at first. I actually considered selling the house as is and then buying and old (built-to-last) one and fixing it up, ‘Llama style’ ;-)
Two problems. 1, nobody here will buy a used house. 2, Banks don’t like giving loans for renovations. (For a new house, no problem.) Anyway, welcome to the channel. 🍻
Pretty interesting mate.
What struck me most was the undersized lumber used in the construction (as well as the lack of insulation). Do you think there is a trend in house construction to move houses from a depreciating commodity to an appreciating asset, or is that still a ways off? I imagine the engineering standards are high for earthquakes and typhoons. Thanks for sharing as it is VERY interesting!
Undersized lumber in the frame. Yep, that was one of the things that clinched our decision to rebuild rather than renovate. (Most likely that place wasn't up to the more recent, earthquake building codes.)
But it's interesting, if you look at houses built 100 years ago, they've got these great sturdy frames, and in fact many of them are still standing and definitely worth a renovate. Then came the 'everything disposable' era. I do get the sense that people's thinking (at least about homes) is starting to shift back, albeit slowly. As for people considering a house as 'an asset', I think we're still a ways away from realizing that.
very interesting! And I cannot wait to see Parts 2,3,etc... and, if possible, I would like to know some of the costs associated with the teardown and build. from my understanding, hauling off bulky items can be quite expensive.
Yeah, that wasn’t cheap. 😓.
Thanks for the suggestion. I may include something about costs in a following video. (And sorry about the delay getting the next one up. Now that I’ve finished the ‘abandoned school’ project, I’m back on the job!)
Emotional moments...
I though I was being ironic... until I suddenly started crying! 😭 😂
All that wood crunched up into splinters. Not really seeing undersized framing; beams in the upstairs ceiling looked sizable. Normal 2x4 elsewhere. what size are 2x4s in Japan?
By “undersized” I just meant sub-standard according to the current earthquake-resistant building codes. The house was actually pretty stable…until the next big one anyway.
(We were originally going to just renovate, but the carpenters said it was kind of pointless since the house had already served it’s “expectancy”. That’s Japan..)
Their bulkheads look less reinforced than what I'm used to seeing, but that might not matter. I wonder why all the latticework across the studs downstairs?
I understand why you go on a new house but I don't understand why you just can't leave your old one: why do you have to pay to destroy it?
I totally understand your feeling. That was an option, and one I considered. Two reasons for the counterintuitive decision. First, the house is literally across the rice field from my wife’s parents’ place, and our lives are pretty intertwined so we wanted to be as close as possible. Then there’s the ‘akiya’ (empty house) issue. Since demolition is expensive but nobody wants to live in a used, poorly-built house, they just get left, abandoned. Like, forever. (There’s one on the OTHER side of the same rice field.) So even if we found and built on a vacant new lot, we would not be able to sell the old one.
Luckily, the concept of ‘building to last’ has been gaining in popularity lately.