A couple of months ago I blogged about how a turn-of-the-century wrecking company used the wood salvaged from World’s Fairs to create a stock of building materials to accompany the architectural plans that they sold. These were some of the earliest kit homes, and many still survive because the materials, while recycled, consisted of tight-grain, old growth wood or brick. Basically, these kickass materials had a whole lot of strength and as a result were much more sustainable than the engineered products we tend to build with today.
One of a zillion awesome Sears kit homes, still in incredible shape. There are countless pre-fab homes like this from the early 1900s-1940s around the country in every shape and size. They are remarkably durable. Image from an article in Cottage Living, 2008.
But, these are different times. Because we cut down all of the aforementioned kickass trees over the past 150 years, we have to be more innovative than we once were. Enter the 30-something couple who wants to buy a house. In particular, a “sleek modular home like the ones they’d been obsessing over in Dwell magazine,” like the couple featured in a recent Chicago Tribune article. I’m in my 30s. I like to think that my friends and I are smart enough to never buy super crappy new construction or homes that are insanely inefficient non-sustainable energy suckers, so I appreciate that this couple wants an energy efficient home that isn’t jammed full of “luxury items” and marked up to some ridiculous amount as a result. But honestly, I’m still a little leery of modular housing today.
Mithun and HyBrid Architects, based in the Northwest, have designed pre-fab modular homes like this one as an affordable alternative. Such models are always described as being sustainable, but usually because they decrease waste, not because they are necessarily built to last. Only time will tell and in case it wasn't obviously, I'm not terribly hopeful that many of these will age well. Photo copyright Mithun, Juan Hernandez
The author of the Tribune article compares Sears mail order homes to double-wide trailers–which is ridiculous as Sears homes could stop a tank–but she does touch on my concerns about sustainability. Sure, fill those walls up with insulation and slap some solar panels on the roof, but will these new, boxy-chic, affordable modular homes last more than 10 years? What is the structure made of? I’ve watched a modular home in Chicago fall apart after only a couple of winters, and it ain’t pretty. In fact, the last time I was in it I was literally trapped inside because the doors wouldn’t open due to shifting. Fortunately, I have the ability to push hard, suck in my stomach to rib level, and wiggle with great focus when threatened.
The article also points, out that “modular home construction leaves behind 50 percent to 75 percent less waste than traditional building, causes less impact on neighborhoods, costs less and is safer for builders.” Well, I would say this all depends. Is it a better alternative to most typical new construction? Absolutely. Are you tearing down an existing home to build a modular home? Most likely, considering how dense this city is. If you are building new, will a new infrastructure (plumbing, electrical lines, driveway, road, etc. etc.) need to be built for this new, modular building? Likely yes.
I really don’t mean to be a Negative Nancy, but I can’t help but get a wee bit irritated when I see too many dramatic statistics in an article because they are always skewed. Yes, if you have to build new, you should build smaller and smarter than the way we’ve been building for the past 50 years, but you’ll just never convince me that it’s a better alternative to simply improving what already exists, provided it was built back when homes were built well.
Think about it.
In conclusion, I guarantee you that if the Big Bad Wolf came into the neighborhood and wanted to huff and puff, I’d run into the Sears home, open the windows wide, and like a child at a parade watch the Dwell-icious modules blow apart and down the street like brightly colored bowling pins. Sustainability–and by “sustainable,” I mean homes that will LAST, not just homes that use less raw materials–is still where it’s at. Clearly there is a faction of people who fetishize kit homes that are a century old, so, why not just caulk around the edges and upgrade the furnace? And if you’re still on the fence, take your time. They’ll still be there when you’re ready to buy.
I do not know which title to use when I write this; my job as a full time writer for TreeHugger.com about green design and prefab, my previous career as a builder of prefab, or my present volunteer gig as president of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario. But I have a foot in all of these waters and I disagree with you completely on a number of issues.
1. The Sears homes are not prefabs, they are kits, they were delivered as a bundle of precut lumber and siding and windows that were built by the purchaser. The 2×4 is the ultimate prefabricated component, but that is all they were. If the builder was good and followed the patterns, they were probably as strong as you suggest; I suspect that there are quite a few built by people in a hurry that are long gone.
Modern prefabs are built in a factory, under strict scrutiny and supervision. They also have to be designed to handle the stresses of transport and lifting by the cranes, and have about 20% more lumber than a conventional house to meet these requirements. Everything is built in jigs, nailed with plates and hydraulics and really strong.
the 50 to 75 % waste is a gross exaggeration, it is probably less than 30%, and I already noted that prefab uses 20% more wood. But at least that wood is going into the structure and not into the dumpster.
Re your comment “I’ve watched a modular home in Chicago fall apart after only a couple of winters, and it ain’t pretty.”- Half of the housing built in America today is prefab, and that covers a lot of variance in quality. A lot of the mobile home builders are trying to do modular and offer it cheap and fast, and I have been in their factories, you can lean on the stuff and it will fall down.
But the people doing the new, modern modular stuff are a different breed, looking at using technology to build a better product.
I am an architectural preservationist and love Sears and Alladin homes, they were great, affordable designs. But they were only as good as the guy or gal who bought it out of the catalogue and nailed it together. I frankly have more faith in the quality of modern prefab.
Thanks for your feedback, Lloyd. Ranty monologues, while fun to write and a delightfully inexpensive form of therapy, are never as interesting or beneficial as passionate dialogues. Thanks for the conversation–sometimes I wonder how hundreds of people can read an article and not question me! On the other hand, I usually have some pretty darned good points…
Best! Carla
I spend my day doing ranty monologues, the best kind. (and you do have good points) If you want to see the kind of comments I get click on my name.
Wow, that just seriously made my morning. Hilarious. I have a new goal now! If only I could find a way to get paid for my ranting now, surely all would be right in the world. Or perhaps more wrong that ever?
Yay Carla!
in case of the big bad wolf, i’d run to the modern pre-fab a couple of doors down because falling fiber cement panels will never ever hurt me. plus then, as the “structure” has fallen, someone could finally build something of quality without completely disregarding context and aesthetics.
Saying all Modular/Prefab homes are the same and fall apart after a few years is a gross overstatement. I’m not sure what kind of prefab home you were in but it sounds like it was not built up to the standards of most modern modular/prefab homes.
Note the following report from FEMA:
Recently, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) confirmed that modular homes withstood a hurricane far better than site-built housing. In its report “Building Performance: Hurricane Andrew in Florida,” assessment teams from FEMA concluded that modular homes withstood the 131-155 mph winds of the Category 4 storm in August 1992 far better than site-built housing.
“Overall, relatively minimal structural damage was noted in modular housing developments. The module-to-module combination of units appears to have provided an inherently rigid system that performed much better than conventional residential framing. This was evident in both the transverse and longitudinal directions of the modular buildings,” according to the report. (Get your free copy by calling 800-480-2520 and requesting publication FIA-22, item 3-0180.)
Modular/prefab today is much different that it was even a few years ago. Just look at this:
http://www.greenbeanchicago.com/chicagos-prefab-home-aims-leed-platinum/
http://www.indianabuildingsystems.com/
Very nice post! I just came across to your old blog and I find it really useful. I enjoyed reading the whole article. I can’t wait to check out more of what you have.
Cheers,
Frenks