You could do what my dad did. Move out to the woods. Then the yardwork is God’s problem.
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The Uncle has a similar void, though smaller. Apparently it was part of the HVAC system.
Near as anyone can figure it was supposed to work like this: the heater or AC would blow air into uninsulated sections of exterior wall, just the gap between the sheet rock and the skin. No ducts. The air would move up through the walls into the attic, where it would blow into the vacant space of the attic. At which point it was supposed to sink into that central channel where it would pass into uninsulated sections of interior wall.
Vents were just shoved into rough cut openings in the sheet rock, not even screwed in. Most of the interior walls were insulated with shredded paper and scrap denim, exterior walls had regular fiberglass.
The wiring had originally been aluminum.
And again. This is the house a developer/builder put together for his own family to live in.
Yeah this one is sort of a stretch. IIRC collapses in McMansion sales were part of the lead up to the housing bubble crash in 08 and never recovered. These sorts of developments have been struggling for over a decade, and there are tons of vacant half finished gold course and cul de sac neighborhoods nation wide where the houses never sold in the first place.
Though the millennials killed it angle is new, this is not the first time an inability to resell these things has become a problem or a news story. And of course millennials aren’t buying them, these things sold at a vast premium over other housing available when new. And the people who own them can’t afford to take enough of a bath on them to make them “affordable” housing options for anyone that isn’t similarly well off.
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Blaming millennials for the death of everything is en Vogue.
I think what’s happening is that the McMansions built 15 -20 years ago are reaching their big ticket maintenance state and really NOBODY wants to buy them. Add that to all the other financial issues discussed above and they are no longer even close to being a good investment.
Maybe millennials are smarter than we know.
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Exactly. In other news, Ponzi Scheme Collapses! Details at ten.
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Maybe we should call it Generation Asteroid instead, because of all the lumbering dinosaurs that they are killing off (if you believe the press, that is).
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Another book I need to add to the list:
“In the new book Atlas of Another America , architect Keith Krumwiede mixes satire, sci-fi, and the sublime in his plans for utopian villages built out of suburban mega-homes.”
“Falling somewhere between satire, sci-fi, and earnest architectural speculation, the Atlas combines the estate plans with essays by Krumwiede, cheeky reworkings of pastoral paintings to include McMansion facades, and an opening “discourse” in flowery 18th-century language. CityLab talked to Krumwiede about his singular, impossible-to-categorize project.” -CityLab
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No, not flashing. There’s a special name for when you actually have a little rooflet, sort of like the bow of a ship, or a little dormer butted up against the chimney. I can’t recall the name this morning… If it comes to me, I’ll come back with a reply. Google ain’t helping me either.
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Depending on where those woods are, there’s more to it than that.
- Areas susceptible to forest fires, need to keep the tree line far enough back from the house to create a fire break.
- Areas with hurricanes, tornadoes, lightning, high winds, freezing rain, anything that could cause a tree to fall, need to keep the tree line far enough back to prevent a fall from taking out the house. Or, if you keep them close enough, working on them to make sure they’re strong, healthy, and pruned to avoid these issues.
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Maybe because we realize excess is insecurity on the part of the person intending to live or utilize said excess. Maybe that means millennials are more confident than previous generations.
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Cricket! It’s called a cricket!
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No. The only place I have been where I felt like I could live miles from nowhere was out in the desert.
I love the woods but I like being able to walk to the QFC and the library much much more.
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lol I had to look up “QFC” - my brain went “Quebecois Fried Chicken?”
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Knowing you, you’re probably killing the whole neighbourhood.
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That’s what we did even though we’re Gen X’ers. We had kids early so now that they’re all grown and flown my wife and I felt it was stupid to roll around in a 5 bedroom house and huge yard out in the suburbs.
To be fair, there was a time when I thought a big house in the suburbs was the ultimate goal, and we did like the neighborhood. There’s something about the “new house smell” and living in a place that is totally yours - like a blank canvas. I planted every tree and flower in the yard and had lots of fun projects.
Until the furnace and water heater goes out, and the roof needs replacing, and siding needs paint, and on and on and on… maintenance never ends and it felt I was spending every weekend at Home Depot. The house becomes an albatross around your neck.
We ditched the big house last year and moved to a condo right in the heart of downtown. It’s a tough adjustment to be honest. The difference is so severe it’s taken a lot longer to adjust than we expected. I find myself wishing I had some projects to do but then I quickly get over it. We’ve taken to eating out far too often but there’s always something fun to do in the city. It’s been several weeks since I’ve driven my car anywhere.
I think it’s a natural progression and I expect the Millennials will find their own way through it. We did the traditional steps: apartment as a new couple; starter house with lots of problems; slightly better house but too small; new, big house out in the suburbs; and now, condo in the city. Final step will probably be a maintenance-free patio home in a retirement community where we can park our big ass RV.
Each step is necessary in order to appreciate where you started.
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This article is garbage because it completely ignores Generation X. We hate those shitty home too, but would actually have resources to buy them. Typical.
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I would make it the timeout pit.
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Ignoring Gen X is as stereotypical as Millennials killing things.
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Victorian gothic architecture went through the same cycle in the 1800s. Now it represents the classic haunted house. but who’d want to haunt one of these things?
Good sir, we have not existed since 1994 when “grunge” was officially deemed to be dead by mass corporate media.
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The part used to make the top part of the chimney/roof intersection not flat. Gotcha!
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