Building a house. How about Canadian import houses?

[sdskinner]

Well, my wife and I have decided to settle down in Japan. My wife is Japanese and her family has some land but it is farm land. We are now finding out how fun(satire) it is to rezone the land from farmland to house land.

But my real question is about houses. We have looked at a variety of homes and it seems that many of them are quite nice. But some of them cut corners to make the price lower. Out of all the houses and companies that we have looked at we like Selco homes. They are imported 2x6 built homes from Cananda. They have solid wood floors, while 6 panel doors, vinyl windows and loads of insulation. They do use fiber glass insulation and some builders have told us to stay away from it as it can absorb moisture etc and cause problems. The builders are pushing a hard foam type insulation(expensive) but Selco does not offer it. How big of a difference is it? I am aware of all the humidity problems that many homes in Japan have. Should I go with the foam and choose another house or is the fiberglass OK?

I understand the whole vapor barier idea. The Selco home wall is as follows from the inside out.
wallboard-plastic vapor barrier-insulation-plywood sheeting-semi permiable sheet-siding
Note: there is no space(air) between the siding and the permiable sheet. Some builders have stated that this is very important. Is this true? Does it matter so much.

I would appreciate any pointers on what is needed to get a good decent home. So any opinions would be welcom.

Lastly the builders(Selco included) have homes ranging in price from about 30 man per tsubo to 60 man per tsubo. But it seems that most of the extra cost is does not really change the quality of the house but the more you spend the more frills you recieve(nice siding, better kitchen etc). And they also tell us that the price of the house includes everything including the foundation but does not include water, sewer, electicity hookups or strengthening of the ground(pouring contrete under the homes foundation). Anyhow they say that you should add about 10 man per tsubo to take care of all of these things. It seems that this is high. Are they trying to just get more money out of us. What should we look for to protect ourselves from paying to much.
Thanks,
Steve

[Taro Toporific]

Read the story of my favorite off-the-deep-end-crank and truely f'ed gaijiin, Arudou Debito.



http://www.debito.org/residentspage.html#HOUSEBUILDING

Bottom Line: Ignore ALL the rules, use cash, build whatever you want, and NOBODY in this country will have the guts to stop ya. The family and I did that on the Rice Ranch in Shikoku using free logs from the local coppance.

[Big Booger]

I feel for you.. making J-land your permanent base.. Oh my.. Are you financing this home in Japan?

As for the insulation, I used to lay it back in college days. If it is humid you'll want the foam. Otherwise the fiberglass insulation will just turn to mold in 5-15 years. It isn't the insulation itself, it is the paper that the mold will attack. Mold cannot eat fiberglass insulation, but it can eat the paper backing of the insulation, and mold can also eat and grow on dirt deposited onto the glass fibers.

If the area you live in doesn't get humidity above 50% for any extended duration, then you should be content with fiberglass insulation. If not stick with the foam. The foam actually does a better job insulating due to it's ability to fill in cracks and crevices that otherwise would be missed with a fiberglass fiber/paper job.

here's a site that covers some of the greener ways to insulate a home:
http://www.greenbuilder.com/sourcebook/Insulation.html

My brother is a homebuilder and I will tell you, if you are not there everyday they build the home, they'll cut corners anyway.. they'll do things that you can't even imagine.. so I'd make sure to be there during building hours if possible. If not check in on an UNREGULAR basis. Keep them on their toes. If they know you are watching, they'll think twice about screwing you over.

Also, make sure everything is up to code.. I know some code breaking contractors back in the states that give new meaning to the words: unfit to live LOL

That said I've never laid nor seen insulation in Japan.. so I am not in a position to advise about J-homes. You might want to discuss this with an unrelated contractor who is not working on your home. Pay them 5000-15000 yen for a consultation.

[Taro Toporific]

I
If the area you live in doesn't get humidity above 50% for any extended duration, then you should be content with fiberglass insulation. If not stick with the foam. ...I know some code breaking contractors back in the states .

In Japan, dentists and contractors are criminals. Nothing they do or say is straight. Yes, foam is better for damp Japan but foam ain't all that expensive.
Fiberglass cost for an entire N. American house: no more than $3,000 max, $1,200 avg
Foam cost for an entire N. American house: no more than $5,000 max , $2,000 avg

Foam cost, R-28 for my 900 sqft studio workshop was less than $200 using scrap foam from a local foam concrete-form company last summer in Colorado. Two-part foam injection materials to mix on site would have been $1,800+.

[Big Booger]

From your article Taro:

But size isn't everything. Up here in Hokkaido insulation is. MATSUKEN HOUMU (aka Matsumoto Kenkou KK) has house insulation called "FP kouhou". I don't know the English but it is waterproof, moldproof, settleproof, and fire-resistant foam pumped into prefab walls at the factory. It costs 13 times more than regular rolled fiberglass insulation, but comes with a 30-year-guarantee, which no other builder would give. A good hard look at Matsuken's flashy showroom got us into negotiations.

Seems like 13 times more is outrageous, but when you consider you'll live in the place at least for 30 years.. you might as well face the facts and go with a better insulation. Plus your heating and cooling bills are waged by your insulation choice. Cheap insulation= higher energy bills.

[sdskinner]

The foam insulation that I have seen is made in sheets like plywood. It is a fairly had foam. It varies in thickness from about an inch to around 3 inches.

And yes it is very humid in Japan especially in the summer.

As for the insulation that I was in the Selco home is had no paper backing that I could see(I looked in the ceiling above the bathtub). Just the insulation. They use about an R-19 in the walls and I believe an R-38 in the floors and ceilings.

And Debito,
I have read your story. I can across it about 2 months ago. It was very informative. How do you like your house? Anything that you would have done differently or changed?

Steve

[ramchop]

Well, my wife and I have decided to settle down in Japan.

Was it really a joint decision or more a "My wife decided and I sort of had to go along with it"? :P

[canman]

Skskinner, take it from me, don't get the sheets of styrofoam insulation it doesn't work. If they use fibreglass and put in a vapor barrier it will work wonders. My house was built four years ago, and it was built in the traditional post and beam style. Now the house is fine structuraly, at least I hope so. But up here in Aomori ken its pretty cold in the winter and this styrofoam crap that is in my walls does nothing to stop the cold and the wind. In my classroom(its connected to my house), if I turn off the heater within an hour the temp has dropped from a comfortable 21C to 7-8C, maybe lower. There is no way that with the proper amount of fibreglass that the heat would just leak out like that. Also if you are worried about the humidity, ask someone who lives in Vancouver, its just a humid and moist there, and they still use fibreglass. I am now thinking about how to re-insulate the house, either using the blown stuff, or something else, but it is too damn cold with what we have now. Hence our heating bills are about 25 000 per month. That is to heat a 65 tsubo sized house. I will try to upload a few pictures if you are interested in the insulation I have.

[sdskinner]

Please upload some pictures. That would help a lot to see if we are talking about the same stuff.

By the way what company did you use? And any advice?
And 60-70 tsubo is what we are planning. The Selco home does use the vaper barrier. And some people have claimed that it should be fine but I also hear people telling horrow stories too.

Thanks,
Steve

[Taro Toporific]

Debito,
I have read your story. I can across it about 2 months ago. It was very informative. How do you like your house? Anything that you would have done differently or changed?

I don't have a "house": it's a 80-mat 'studio workshop' built on the farm that just happens to have a kitchenette, bath, wet bar, etc., hee, hee.

Bro'-in-Law and I used single pane windows, some 1 inch foam and NO vapor barrier because it has semi-OPEN eaves Japanese style.....every few weeks a bird passes through house. Shikoku is the tropics as far as I'm concerned. In the winter we use kotatsu, charcaol fired. The house, errr um, I mean the "studio" smells of cedar and linseed oil.

Bottom Line: Going native is the best sometimes.

[Big Booger]

Spray foam;

http://www.rvalue.net/page4.html

That can tell you all you need to know. As far as the styrofoam sheets.. I have used that in addition to the cotton-type fiberglass.

When you said hard foam type, I thought you meant the spray. I'd go with the spray type if available. It does a better job. Just make sure they let it vent for a few days after spraying so as not to trap any fumes in. They can be toxic.

Either way it is your call. Your investment. Your future.

[ibiza]

Is there any way one can get a house with duct work, and a normal american furnace?

If I was building a house in Japan, I would hire a few contractors from the states, and fly them out to Japan so that they could work together with a Japanese contractor in building a custom home.

I don't know how equipt Japan is for gas lines though.

[sdskinner]

"Is there any way one can get a house with duct work, and a normal american furnace? "

Sure you can but it cost about 300 man yen. But I have no idea on what it would cost you to operate it. Anyone have one?

Steve