House in a Box

[pepperlove]

This is a great idea (seen on TODAY show just now)... houses built for Katrina folks and delivered in a box to be rebuilt in NO... so cool...but
media whore Couric says "ah, a house in a box? Just how nice can that be? A house in a box."

Geez.. what a witch.

Harry Connick Jr. anaswers "to those who have no home, I am sure it will be great!"

Yes.

[ohio_liberal]

1. Is that the Habitat for Humanity home?

I read where HfH is sending those kinds of homes. Sounds pretty nifty.

http://www.habitat.org/newsroom/2005archive/insitedoc010602.aspx

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Modem Butterfly]

44. Katie Couric is a pussy?

I have never heard that term applied to women before.

Consider me speechless!

[pepperlove]

61. OMG

is it a woman? I thought Katie was some kinda morphed MW. Scuse me.

[Modem Butterfly]

3. Sears and Roebuck did this in the 20's

You could buy a home in their catalog and it would be shipped to you, ready to assemble. Montgomery Wards might have done the same thing.

[Tsiyu]

5. I lived in one of those Sears houses once

And there are a bunch of them still standing lo these many years later in places like Cowan, TN.

Couric is a fecking idiot. Further proof that the Corporate Media is so goddamned irrelevant. That woman hasn't said anything in ten years that has enlightened, informed or inspired me. She is so out of touch, she'd rather see people have NO home than have a less-than-perfect home-in-a-box?

Just go shopping, Katie. Don't worry your dizzy little head over the Little People.

[pepperlove]

8. I LOVE you!

My wife says I am the only person in America who detetst that silly little twit Katie Couric! I spent 30 years in newspaper/news and she is the silliest, molst useless slice of "cutesy pie" crap I have ever seen sit in a news chair! I was so glad to hear Connick slam her - and she even mentioned it later in the plaza (seeking an apology I am sure).... then said that they need to explain what a house in a box is because it doesn't sound appealing...

???? I have NO house; a house arrives in a box and I can help put it together and LIVE again.... not appealing? OMG!

[txindy]

12. Tell your wife there's another person who detests Perky Couric, too

Not that I don't love perkiness. I do. It's right up there with rabies. :eyes:

As for Katie, well, a little depth would be nice. Just sayin'.

[pepperlove]

62. Trust me

I will show the wife all that apply! ;) She thinks her perkiness is great :puke:

[Sequoia]

66. Count me in, this past spring she

embarrased me by jumping up on a man during one of their broadcasts (some sports thing) and wrapping her legs around him. He looked a bit upset, but the cameras were rolling. I thought how 1) Unproffessional and, 2) Very unlady like. Jane Pauley would've never done something like that.

[SillyGoose]

67. Add me to your list. I cannot stomach Katie Couric. That perkiness

of hers is just so over the top. She's a fluffball that I refuse to watch or listen to.

[SaveAmerica]

75. Add me to that list that thinks she's a waste of space and don't

get me started on the 'glasses on, gonna take you down' way she interviewed Kerry compared to the 'xoxoxo hearts over i's love ya georgie' way she interviewed W. Just another person on the long list of those who share responsibility with the current state of our country.

[Tsiyu]

17. I love you, too!

You are not alone. Couric is a mindless, spoiled twit.

[elehhhhna]

74. I LOATHE HER, too. Fake perky motormouth. She interrupted

the blind man who'd been reunited with his guide dog about ten times this am.

[pepperlove]

86. I saw that

and wondered if anyone was as offended as I was when she kept doing that! She wants to hear herself yak all the time....

[Modem Butterfly]

13. You know, the remaining ones are said to be quite valuable

There is one in my old neighborhood. Very solid, if a bit small (like any older home, I suppose).

[Tsiyu]

18. The one I lived in had actually been moved

fifty miles from where it had originally been erected in Atlanta. It made the move just fine and is still being lived in 25 years later.

They were cool little places. Wish they still sold them!

[LostinVA]

14. Me too -- loved it!

I would buy one, but they go for A LOT of money, now....

[don954]

68. sutherlands is still selling home kits

http://www.sutherlands.com/houses.htm

[Extend a Hand]

6. there are several

Sears&Roebuck kit houses near me. They are really cool too.

[ohio_liberal]

24. Here's a pic of one model

Looks quite nice:

[pepperlove]

25. Oh wow.

VERY nice. I'd sure trade!

[Sequoia]

65. No way, that's just too good lookin'. I'm amazed.

[oneighty]

22. I own a Sears home

It is a very nice home. Our village has dozens of Sears homes. Nothing at all wrong with a 'house in a box'. Further the term is over simplified. It is actually a prefabricated house. Very common in America.

Hey Butterfly.

180

[pepperlove]

27. Didn't they come

COMPLETE though as in "with all materials?"

From my understanding, THIS house in a biox is just the framing... built, broken down and shipped; then the other stuff has to be purchased or donated and added on site.

[oneighty]

29. Mine is concrete block construction.

They were shipped in by railroad. Each piece was marked as to location in the construction. Yes as far as I know they came complete right down to door knobs. There are sixteen like mine in the immediate area. There are many many more of wood construction and having same general floor plans.


180

[pepperlove]

30. It was such a cool concept

I guess it would be cost prohibitive nowadays?

Maybe they ar epart of what wwe "more mature" folks <heheh> call "the good ol' days".

[jmowreader]

48. They were built close to railroad lines for a reason

The Sears home came in a boxCAR. They generally filled the whole thing. IIRC you got something like 30,000 items, all precut, prethreaded, and ready to assemble. Put all this stuff together according to the easy-to-follow directions and you had a whole house. I think they even gave you a welcome mat for the front porch.

There were whole developments of Sears homes. A developer would buy a hundred of them, have a rail siding built at the edge of the development boundary, unload the train and build the houses.

Here's a fun fact: Sears was a pioneer in mortgage lending to blacks. See, Sears had its own mortgage company that operated only via the mails. Whereas a conventional lender had you come in to fill out the paperwork and be interviewed (where the lender would notice that you were in fact not white, and mark your paperwork "don't lend to this (fill in your favorite racial epithet)" Sears never saw your face and evaluated you based on your ability to pay. Which meant that a LOT of Sears homes were built by black people--they could actually get financing for them.

[HoosierClarkie]

59. I own a 1920's sears home with a sears barn.

Most solid house I have ever been in. Can't even here cars pull in the drive way. :)

[truth2power]

52. I knew some people who were living in

one of those S&R homes. It was quite nice.

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. I'd like to put her in a box , just to shut her up.

She sickens me. :puke:

[pepperlove]

19. The trouble is

she is in the TV box... grrr.... and I do like Matt Lauer... Katie is a $12 million-a-year MW (media whore)... and I have seen her ask some of thee DUMBEST questions!!! It embarrasses me.

[SammyWinstonJack]

49. Lauer isn't much better imo. nt

[pepperlove]

51. What I find

about him is that he so often has to sorta laugh Katie off... and go over her or just condescend because she is the diva.

[Moosepoop]

7. It's a great concept

But the article contains what must (I hope) be a typo.
Habitat for Humanity's CEO is quoted as saying that "100 million dollars will build approximately 1500 homes".

That can't be right.

[Misunderestimator]

9. Why wouldn't that be right? That's $66,667 per house.

Seems pretty cheap. :shrug:

[Mairead]

56. you're joking, right?

Fox&Jacobs build and sell homes like that for ca. $100K in Texas today--and that price includes land, labor, and profit...three things that Habitat needn't worry about.

[Misunderestimator]

57. self delete

not worth it

[Mairead]

69. Good choice, considering :-)

"National Home Centers tracks the price of framing materials for a 2,000-square-foot, slab-foundation house in central and Northwest Arkansas. In the past two weeks, those prices have jumped more than 25 percent, from about $12,000 to more than $15,000.

At the end of last week, the company estimated that the framing cost per square foot in central Arkansas was $7.59, up from $6 two weeks earlier. The calculations include all studs, roof trusses, floor joists and wafer board used for floors, walls and roofs."

http://www.ebuild.com/guide/resources/product-news.asp?ID=191120

So unless Habitat is really planning to ship a complete house in the box, and the rest of the material comes to $50K....

[Misunderestimator]

70. The reason I didn't post was because it's not worth it to argue...

Not because you have any point.

[Mairead]

71. Who's arguing?

[Misunderestimator]

72. Just seems to me that $67,000 is a very reasonable price for a home

for a family with children. And that you are insinuating that Habitat for Humanity is somehow OVER quoting that amount? Why? What's the purpose?

[Mairead]

81. I agree it would be a SUPERB price for a home if it included land & labor

But it doesn't, it's just the pieces in a box...and if one poster in this thread is correct, not even all the pieces but instead just the skeleton without the piping, wiring, roofing, or finish materials.

That's why the price sounds far too high--$66.6K per each is 2/3 of what Fox&Jacobs sells a complete, finished house and land for.

Whereas if it's only the skeleton, and skeletons are selling for $15K per each in quantity 1, then maybe it really was a typo and Habitat will get the skeletons for 6K (which is 40%, the rule-of-thumb wholesale price for many things) and buy 15000 of them instead of 1500.

That's really all I meant.

[ikri]

10. Sure it's right

$100 million breaks down as:

$5 million for the houses
$5 million labor costs
$85 million for the CEO & shareholders
$5 million for the kickback

[pepperlove]

16. Ooo yes, I forgot

what administration this is for a second. My bad. You are so right on.

[BiggJawn]

11. This NOT a new idea....

As mentioned, Sears did it back in the early part of the last century. They sent you a train-car full of boards, cut to measure and numbered. And an instruction book. And those houses still stand.

Then in the 50's, National Homes of Lafayette, Indiana pioneered pre-fab construction, trucking pre-built wall sections and roof trusses to the job site.

And don't forget, you can still buy a house on wheels. Now they come in 2 pieces and they join them together on site.

So it's old technology, but still a great idea.

And I sure as hell don't watch Katie for her hard-hitting Journalism...."Wide shot, four, get those legs in the shot..."

[Modem Butterfly]

15. Frank Lloyd Wright imagined something similar for the Usonian house

His usonians houses inspired ranch style, BTW. They were meant to be inexpensive and utilitarian with redeeming architectural features. I believe he wanted them to be considered the people's houses...

[pepperlove]

20. Indeed he did

and the idea was ripe with "God bless America" back then; but alas alas...

[Modem Butterfly]

21. That's extremely ironic, considering Frank Lloyd Wright was an atheist

!

[pepperlove]

23. I meant the concept

of creating/providing an affordable, DECENT house... have no idea about his mistakes in life - jut that he was a formidable designer of houses etc.

[Modem Butterfly]

31. His mistakes in life?

What are you talking about? The Usonian concept was extremely sound, but did not really catch on at the time because there was a Depression followed by the war. Ultimately, the ranch, a bastardization of the usonian concept, really caught fire in the post-war boom.

[pepperlove]

32. Athiesm. n/t

[Modem Butterfly]

33. So you think Frank Lloyd Wright's atheism was a mistake?

[pepperlove]

34. I don't like

Katie Couric.

[Modem Butterfly]

35. What does that have to do with anything?

[pepperlove]

36. It was part of the discussion

I made my statement about athiesm and Wright... on to other matters more pressing. I'll not be drawn into foolishness.

Looks like *'s polls are steady right now... :puke:

[Modem Butterfly]

37. Too late

[BiggJawn]

45. Ahh, hit and run, just for fun.

You sound a LOT like somebody else here with "pepper" in their name....

[pepperlove]

50. May the Lord

bless ya. ;)

[mondo joe]

53. This is the United States. We don't have Lords.

Except Jack Lord.

[Modem Butterfly]

55. Or Traci Lords

You know, whatever floats your boat.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

64. Sometimes we have Lord of the Dance!

[elehhhhna]

77. You'll start foolishness then not be drawn into it? How big of you.

[beam me up scottie]

43. Explain.

I'm fascinated by hate and bigotry, especially the christian kind.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

39. Do you consider atheism a mistake? nt

[LizMoonstar]

40. maybe that's why the FLW houses in

BnR's home neighborhood look so much like fancified versions of the photos posted here?


I almost don't blame Couric - I cringed at first when I saw the headline, until I realised they were 'kit' houses, not little trailer homes. Those tiny trailers, though a step up from no home, would not be good in the long run.

[Lochloosa]

26. Here is a Sears House still standing

looks pretty good to me....

[pepperlove]

28. That does it

I want one.

[bleedingheart]

38. My bro-in-law is an architect and he worked for a company that made

pre-fab housing. It was a great company. The sad part was that the owner died prematurely of cancer and the operation folded. It was a really cool place and they made really good solid housing. It was very similar to how Sears used to sell houses.

[peekaloo]

41. Ha, HC shut up Hatie Katie Choleric with his answer.

She actually seemed embarrassed.

[pepperlove]

42. As well she should have been

the thing is, her captors there think every thing she does or says is so "cute", the help her laugh it off.

Stupid remark? Oh, that's just our little Katie.

[lse7581011]

46. 'Bout Time Somebody Did! n/t

[pepperlove]

47. It was so cool

just a quick, cool answer to her...she looked like a deer in headlights! HAHAHAH it was wonderful moment. Bet they don't replay THAT!

[Tracer]

54. I would like to see ...

... design teams (like Andres Duany & Elizabeth Plater-Zybeck) come up with some "New Orleans-appropriate" designs that could be used for producing pre-fabricated housing that could be shipped to NO and erected on lots where the existing houses will surely have to be torn down.

Pre-fab has improved greatly over the years and the speed of completion has to be a plus.

[pepperlove]

58. Great idea!

Let's all write them and ask about that! Wow -- they can do such wonders for folks in such short times... given the materials, no telling, NO might be back in weeks!!!!

60. katie couric always has to look good

She made a smiling dig at a little kid the other day, because he wasn't talking like she wanted him to, and she always has to look good. She must know her position is untouchable and flaunt it sometimes. Is that the definition of a diva?

Re houses, I remember talk about japanese architect Shigeru Ban doing paper houses for people in Indonesia after the tsunami. They are beautiful and cheap.

[pepperlove]

63. Yes, she THINKS she is a diva

therefore the network buys it... works for her...

Oh I want one of those oriental houses! Our home is done in oriental style... I spent 4 years in Japan as a youngster (military brat) and hen went to the Philippines and Hong Kong during my military tenure... I LOVE the decor/style.

[elehhhhna]

80. oriental? methinks you mean asian,

[pepperlove]

82. No, I am sure

he mentioned jAPANESE DESIGNER... oriental is what my home is...

[elehhhhna]

79. She NEVER looks good. Her makeup's atrocious and her hair changes

(not for the better) weekly. She's starting to remind me of Tammy Faye Bakker (axcept I LIKE Tammy).

[pepperlove]

83. Hahah good analogy

Yes, Tammy Faye was fun and even made fun of herself... I loved her... Couric is trying desperately and not too well to hang on to some youth...

[Kingshakabobo]

73. But, but, how do they fit the spa, sauna and in-ground pool in a box?

:sarcasm:

[pepperlove]

85. Maybe Trent Lott

could tell ya?

[in_cog_ni_to]

76. Sears use to sell houses like that. You picked out your model

from the catalog and it was shipped to you. That was a "few" years ago. ;)

This is a GREAT idea!

[SaveAmerica]

78. After Andrew it was found that Habitat for Humanity homes were built

to code and were stronger and more able to withstand hurricane winds than the other new homes built in the area. Maybe all houses in hurricane areas should be built by them.

[pepperlove]

84. I will agree

from what I understand they are very well built... can we push that agenda? :)