We were looking into building a house. Has anyone had any experience with Jim Walters type houses? ( You pick the plan and they finance and build it on your property )

Has anyone heard or seen or tried steel framed houses?

Will straw bales work in a humid southern climate? are they resistant to termites?

Are my paragraphs working?

-- Mike Jennings (mike.jennings@eritter.net), August 21, 2000

Answers

Hey Mike! I've never owned a Jim Walters home but several of my wife's relates have and still do. All they ever said around us was good stuff. The homes are built well and floor plans we saw were real good. If I had been where we could've had one we would've had them to built ours instead of buyin an Amish bilt modular.

Paragraphs workin? Yeppie! Good Luck. Matt. 24:44

-- hoot (hoot@pcinetwork.com), August 21, 2000.

Mike, lots of people go the Jim Walters route. They'll do as little or as much work on the house as you want. I think the 'quality' aspect is dependent on the owner. I know some that are 'so so', and some that are magnificent...at least the part the public can see.

I've got relatives who are contemplating steel houses (studs, frame, roof, etc.) The price is a little cheaper. The 'package' price is alluring, but the real cost is in the interior finish work.

Termites will eat anything not metal. I've found them eating labels off tin cans, catalogs thrown in the compost pit, even vegetables...so I imagine they'd love straw. BTW, where do you find 'straw' in the south. I thought about strawbale construction, but all the books said straw, not hay. I've got all the free hay I need, made lots of hay forts growing up. But I'd be leery (sp?)of straw or hay bales in the south. Good luck.

-- phil briggs (phillipbriggs@thenett.com), August 21, 2000.

They bale wheat straw after they harvest the wheat

-- Mike (AR) (mike.jennings@eritter.net), August 21, 2000.