Home Building Kits

Description

This is the only book that gives homeowners who are dreaming about building or planning to build a new home the good and the bad on all types of prefabricated houses. Shows that prefabricated can be mainstream traditional design and does not have to look like a mobile home or a modular "Dwell" box. Prefabulous describes the many systems available for prefabricating all or parts of a new home, including timber frame and log, as well as modular, panelized, structural insulated panels, steel framing and concrete systems, which are relatively new. Prefabulous describes these systems, compares their advantages and disadvantages, and shows beautiful examples of houses built using these techniques. Although all of these "prefabricated" houses look very different, all of them were manufactured partially or almost completely in a controlled factory environment and transported to the home site to be erected. As a group these systems offer a faster, more energy-efficient, and sometimes more cost-efficient method of building. Includes a foreword by Not So Big House author Sarah Susanka, who writes: "For homeowners who want to know the options, the advantages and disadvantages of those options, and to see how those prefabricated parts come together into a good, attractive home, read this book."

Description

Your brand new home, delivered on a trailer A Prefab is a mass produced house, constructed in a factory and assembled on site in a few days or weeks. Once regarded as a cheap, easy solution for urgent housing problems, the prefab has evolved to become a synonym for ambitious design and sophisticated detailing solutions. The amazing history of prefabricated houses started in England in the 1830's with a building kit for emigrants moving to Australia. Even today, prefabricated houses provide a high percentage of living spaces in many countries of the world. This book covers prefabs from the USA via Europe to Asia and Africa, giving insight into the various industrially prefabricated components, the difficulties of delivery to the building site, and the intricacies of assembly and completion. As well as tracing the liaison between modernism and industrialization that evolved to produce the latest prefabricated solutions, it also features a unique compilation of one-off prefabricated houses by well known international architects, as well as successful dwellings manufactured off-site for everyday modern living. Readers will also find contact details for relevant suppliers and manufacturers.

Description

This is a newly revised and expanded version of The Houses That Sears Built. This new edition includes more than 20 new photos of existing Sears Homes throughout the country as well as a plethora of recently discovered information. This major revision also includes reproductions of newly-discovered original documents from the Sears Modern Homes Department as well as compelling interviews with men who worked at the Sears Mill in Cairo, IL. You'll also hear the fascinating stories from Sears Homeowners who actually built their own Sears Kit Home many decades ago! Want to learn how to identify a Sears Home? This book contains new graphics, photos and easy-to-reference bulleted points that will tell you and show you - step by step - how to identify a Sears Home. It also includes four brand new chapters, such as "Chapter 3 - The Amazing Mr. Sears; A Brief Look at The Handsome Genius and His Store," "Chapter 5 - Milling About Sears Homes, A Look Inside the Sears Mill at Cairo, Illinois," "Chapter 8 - Homart Homes, The 'Other' Sears Homes, "Chapter 11 - Those Dandy Houses, Testimonials; Trivia and Reminiscences of Building a Sears Modern Home." Since the first edition of The Houses That Sears Built was published in Spring 2002, the author has appeared on CBS Sunday Morning News, PBS's History Detectives, A&E's Biography and WGN-TV News, as well as the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Dallas Morning News and more than 50 regional publications. As a result of this publicity, Ms. Thornton has received more than 1,000 emails and letters from readers all over the country, telling stories and sharing precious memories about their own "Sears Modern Homes," and she incorporated many of these stories into this new edition. This new edition of The Houses That Sears Built is more than a revision - it contains a tremendous amount of new information and trivia and wonderful photos that the Sears Home enthusiast will treasure and enjoy! About Sears Homes: Between 1908-1940, Sears customers ordered about 75,000 houses out of the Sears Roebuck and Company mail-order catalogs. The houses were shipped by rail to city lots and farms all over the country. Each "kit home" contained 30,000 pieces, including 750 pounds of nails and 27 gallons of paint and varnish. A 75-page instruction book showed home buyers, step by step, how to assemble those 30,000 pieces of house. Only 10% (approximately) of the Sears homes in the country have been discovered. Because of this, our communities’ best architectural treasures – our grand collection of Sears homes – are being damaged by remuddling and worse, demolished. There is tremendous interest in this topic and hopefully, The Houses That Sears Built will spur that interest even further. When you have finished reading The Houses That Sears Built you will be your community’s expert on Sears homes. You’ll learn how to identify Sears homes from the inside, outside and from courthouse documents. You’ll learn the interesting details of Sears homes’ construction. One chapter is devoted to the $1 million order of Sears homes that was shipped to Carlinville, Schoper and Wood River (Illinois). Another chapter is devoted to "The Lost Sears Homes." These are Sears homes which appeared only once in obscure Sears Modern Homes catalogs and were not included in "Houses by Mail: A Guide To Houses from Sears, Roebuck and Company," by Katherine Cole Stevenson and H. Ward Jandl.

Description

A delightful look at America's past. From 1908 to 1940 some 100,000 people purchased their ready-to-assemble homes from Sear's mail order. Presented here are approximately 450 models sold by Sears together with a description, a picture, floor plans, prices and locations.

Features

• ISBN13: 9780471143949
• Condition: New
• Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Description

Excellent reproduction of rare catalog illustrates and describes 86 different types of houses and bungalows still in evidence across America. Over 300 photographs, illustrations and floor plans with full descriptions comprise an invaluable sourcebook for study, authentication or restoration of antique articles or architecture.

Features

• ISBN13: 9780486267098
• Condition: USED - Very Good
• Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Description

The E. F. Hodgson Company of Dover, Massachusetts, calling itself America s First Prefabricator, was one of a number of companies who used specialty mail-order catalogs to advertise and sell sectional and ready-cut houses. From a small New England town, the Hodgson Company competed with such economic giants as Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward to catch the eye of a growing America in the 1890s. Using the railroad to market, the specialty house mail-order catalog companies competed all over the United States. There is still a good case for the idea that the Hodgson Company was in the market before Sears and equaled them in production. But even so, Hodgson also became better known outside of the United States in such places as Belgium, Italy, France, Newfoundland, and Jerusalem. We hope that the reproduction of these 1935 and 1939 Hodgson Houses catalogs long lost to history will reintroduce to America this fascinating company and its portable houses. From 1892-1944, the Hodgson Company was the most important economic force in a simple agricultural community. It is one the best examples of how small businesses played, and still play, an important role in the United States economy and that of the New England region.

Description

Advertised as “a new standard for living,” the Lustron Home was introduced in 1948 in response to the urgent need for housing for veterans returning from World War II and their rapidly growing families. These enameled steel, prefabricated houses became very popular, and were heavily promoted from 1948 to 1950. Approximately 2,500 went up all over the United States and even South America. This work chronicles the history of the Lustron Corporation—how it got started and why it failed. The architectural differences between the six basic models of the Lustron Home, and how they could be built in as little as two days, are fully described. Also included is a listing that documents the location, model, color and various other particulars of the roughly 2,500 houses completed.