VAUGHAN, Ont. - Liberal Leader Mark Carney says his government would double Canada’s rate of residential housing construction over the next decade to nearly 500,000 new homes per year.
Prefab is not as useful as it sounds. Houses are already factory made - they just bring the factory to the site on a truck. Most of the parts are already pre-cut in a separate factory, only a small minority need to be cut. They just take parts and put them together.
Most prefab attempts are cheaper only because quality standards are lower.
? Woodframe construction starts with lifts of lumber dropped onsite after a basement is poured, you cut what you need as you go off the prints. You’ll probably get a truss package and chances are you’ll have your trilam and silentfloor joists delivered at the correct lengths or slightly long, that’s about it for pre-made pieces. I’ve helped a relative frame new houses over the winter for the last 5 or 6 years.
The vast majority of your lumber will be standard 92-5/8 or 104-5/8, he first sized to fit standard 4x8 sheets of drywall, the second a different size (I forget what) which is also available. They plywood is mostly 4x8 sheets where you cut only the edges and around windows.
I could set a stop on a miter bench, stack 8’ers in 3 and saw enough studs in a coffee break to do a house. The time is in doorways, window bucks, sillplates and closets, all of which require a pile of measure twice, cut once.
I’ve done that - I was in construction and we had one house with 10 foot walls which are not standard. It was faster than the windows, sillplates and the like - but not by much. We don’t have a miter saw on the truck so it was even up the ends, then measure, snap a chalkline, then cut 1.5 layers. Then move that second layer by enough to not cut the layer below and finish the cut. (you cannot continue down the stack as errors accumulate) Windows and doors are standard so after some time I just knew the most common sizes - I did have to do some works for the odd sized windows.
If you think that’s prefab, I question your knowledge of construction, or at least what comes in a prefab kit. For reference, here is a link I found after seconds of searching. Note the information for interior and exterior walls - there are pre-made slabs which are ready to put in place. No pallets of studs and plywood required. Yes, the roof is still clad on site for a number of obvious reasons, but the comparison of prefab to stud length dimensional lumber is laughable.
I did traditional construction for a couple years. a few years ago several of my neighburs lived in prefab houses and they all reported minor quality issuse that because of the natureeof prefab and how they cut corners couldn’t be fixed.
Prefab is not as useful as it sounds. Houses are already factory made - they just bring the factory to the site on a truck. Most of the parts are already pre-cut in a separate factory, only a small minority need to be cut. They just take parts and put them together.
Most prefab attempts are cheaper only because quality standards are lower.
? Woodframe construction starts with lifts of lumber dropped onsite after a basement is poured, you cut what you need as you go off the prints. You’ll probably get a truss package and chances are you’ll have your trilam and silentfloor joists delivered at the correct lengths or slightly long, that’s about it for pre-made pieces. I’ve helped a relative frame new houses over the winter for the last 5 or 6 years.
The vast majority of your lumber will be standard 92-5/8 or 104-5/8, he first sized to fit standard 4x8 sheets of drywall, the second a different size (I forget what) which is also available. They plywood is mostly 4x8 sheets where you cut only the edges and around windows.
I could set a stop on a miter bench, stack 8’ers in 3 and saw enough studs in a coffee break to do a house. The time is in doorways, window bucks, sillplates and closets, all of which require a pile of measure twice, cut once.
I’ve done that - I was in construction and we had one house with 10 foot walls which are not standard. It was faster than the windows, sillplates and the like - but not by much. We don’t have a miter saw on the truck so it was even up the ends, then measure, snap a chalkline, then cut 1.5 layers. Then move that second layer by enough to not cut the layer below and finish the cut. (you cannot continue down the stack as errors accumulate) Windows and doors are standard so after some time I just knew the most common sizes - I did have to do some works for the odd sized windows.
If you think that’s prefab, I question your knowledge of construction, or at least what comes in a prefab kit. For reference, here is a link I found after seconds of searching. Note the information for interior and exterior walls - there are pre-made slabs which are ready to put in place. No pallets of studs and plywood required. Yes, the roof is still clad on site for a number of obvious reasons, but the comparison of prefab to stud length dimensional lumber is laughable.
I did traditional construction for a couple years. a few years ago several of my neighburs lived in prefab houses and they all reported minor quality issuse that because of the natureeof prefab and how they cut corners couldn’t be fixed.
Oh I was referring to prefab for multistorey buildings, where concrete elements are prefabricated.
Which is about as prefab as the studs in a stick frame house which is also shipped to the site the correct size.
Either way the point is most of the useful prefab innovations have been done decades ago and are normal.