Any construction tips?

[u/Correct_Tax_9136]

How to procure & preserve materials, electrical integration in walls and fences, how to properly organize and cultivate skilled labour from scratch, how to pick a good site for housing, proper dimensions, any equipment tricks ,how to know good scrap from useless scrap, how to build quietly etc

Realized this was a blindspot for me. Hoping to be a sponge of knowledge

[u/WaffleHouseGladiator]

In the ZA your best bet is to take an existing structure rather than expend time, labor, and resources trying to build one.  Look for something remote, discreet, and able to be defended.

[u/SerVaegar31]

I know people are saying don’t worry about building yadda yadda and they’re right you should have something set up before the apocalypse. One thing that’s over looked I think is a faraday cage when I build my house I don’t care how unlikely an emp is that is on my to do list. As for tips if you’re forced to build something… wood needs to be treated in some form to withstand the elements. There’s a few ways to treat wood without chemicals to make it last a long time. You can use motor oil which works great especially used motor oil. If you have fire that’s another way to seal wood but you’re just burning the outer most layer as soon as it starts to blacken stop. Remember screws aren’t always better, nails will flex and move if wood grows and shrinks while if enough strain is put on a screw it will break. The biggest detriment to most structures after the apocalypse happens are pest and fire. Trust me you don’t realize how many fires there will be when there’s no one to put them out so don’t have your neighbors to close if you can help it. Same with pest with no barriers and or deterrents termites and rodents will have there choice of where they’re going to make home.

[u/JuggernautBright1463]

If you can build a tiny house, there are blueprints online and step by step guides. Otherwise take all the DIY courses you can and have a stock of power or hand tools available if you need them for anything. I spend my minor tax receipt on a new power tool each year occasionally I even have a DIY project come up that requires them 

[u/MrMaker1123]

Nothing is useless.

You have to first know what you can make out of it and then it's useful. The more things you know how to make the fewer times scrap is useless.

[u/LordsOfJoop]

Work with a group today because it'll be a great deal easier than trying to organize something in the future.

When it comes to sourcing materials, you'll need to have a definitive goal in mind; just wanting stuff isn't going to help sort through what will and won't work for getting it and keeping it secure.

Grab books on construction techniques, architecture, structural engineering, and maintenance; spending time with people who earn their living with those skills is also strongly encouraged. Learn from people, then books, then from your own efforts - in roughly that order.

When you're selecting a site, consider: is it close to building materials, safe from fire risks, adjacent to water supplies, and able to withstand major expected natural events - fire, flood, unstable ground. Check to see if it can have plumbing installed by professionals, determine what materials that you'd like to use to build it, and estimate the labor costs for construction as well as maintenance.

For scaling purposes, consider if you're focused on building houses, warehouses, or greenhouses; each is a necessity, and trying to turn one into another is a task best left for a professional with a lot of experience and supply access. Is it meant to be a standalone structure, part of a community, an observation post, supply substation, community building? Each has a different set of requirements and limitations.

When it comes to sorting through scrap, figure on your goals: is it meant for secure storage over a dozen years, stacked in a dry, dark space, or is it something that will be used within a matter of days or weeks? Accessibility is determined by utility and demand; accessibility determines how shelves and racks are designed and placed. My strongest suggestion is focusing on things that can decay first and finding a way to salvage them; although, at a certain point, trying to save some moldy plywood is just being stubborn as opposed to flexible. Be flexible.

if you're building, be as loud as necessary; trying to work in silence is going to slow the work considerably - get it down quickly, and if you can't risk the noise, consider how much that you actually need the work done in the first place. If it's close enough to inhabited spaces, you're competing for resources, and if your neighbors aren't friendly, construction won't help unless it's all fireproofed materials.

when you want a place all to yourself and as much of the resources that you can get, burning out someone is a lot faster and cheaper than trying to negotiate; while it may not be your ideal set of terms, all it ever takes is it being someone else's ideal set of terms. Don't bank on having friends that don't share a wall and an ideology. Fire is cheap and it makes stuff expensive quick.

Do as much of the work ahead of time as you can; accessibility, logistics, and labor are all easier to arrange when there's still infrastructure to support civilization. Trying to do it after the fact isn't a viable choice for almost all of it. Consider how much faster a nail-gun is operate when there's still easy access to electricity, as compared to fighting over dwindling generator time.

[u/Pasta-hobo]

It's easier and faster to make bricks and mortar from a clay deposit and plant ash and build a brick structure than it is to fell trees, process the lumber into planks, and use those to build a wooden structure.

But you REALLY have to sun-dry your bricks before you fire them.

[u/LostKeys3741]

All around the ancient world, many civilizations near the equator have built, "The Open Courtyard" home.

China, Greeks, Romans, Mexico, just to name a few.

Once power goes out, you will not have a way to power AC. And you wont have gas or electricity to power a heater for winter. Therefore modern Lunchbox houses will be too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter.

In the winter time, the Chinese version of their courtyard homes they build a thick back northern wall to block the cold wind coming in from Siberia. They then have angled eaves to allow shallow dim winter sunlight to shine into windows but the same eaves still provided shade from tall summer sunshine. The open courtyard stands warmer in the winter yet cooler in the summer. The chinese version also has heated sleeping slabs from their kitchen stove exhaust.

I didnt watch the Greek/Roman or Mexican open courtyard vids but I think they would have more intricate ways to be cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

The Mexican open courtyard is unique because it uses adobe mud compared to the stones Greek/Roman used for their open courtyard.

I am sure the Romans have some fancy aqueduct features or plumbing.

[u/suedburger]

Just use the houses that already exist what ever crap structure you are gonna piece together is probably far inferior to something that already exists. Fencing already exist as well. Nothing about building is quiet. I don't get the weird fantasy to rebuild when things already exist.