Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: modular construction for a common house?

[Franklin Wayne Poley (fwpoley]

My understanding of a "module" is just that of a standardized, repeatable
unit. Thus a 2 x 4 stud could be a module or a complete wall section could
be a module. The problem you refer to below could probably be overcome if
you had modules which could be assembled by lay workers (perhaps for
"sweat equity") using simple tools. I have been assured by four steel
engineers now that steel frame housing is so precise that all components
could be pre-cut and sent to the work site as a kind of "kit" which can
then be put together by laymen. You can get verification of this from the
list <steel [at] nccn.net>.
FWP.

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On Fri, 5 Feb 1999 cynthia.e.carpenter [at] us.arthurandersen.com wrote:

> All of Cambridge Cohousing was built using modular construction.  This
> includes townhouses, stacked apartments, and the common "house" - which is
> really the basement and first floor of a 4-story apartment building.  So it
> can be done.  However, many of the benefits we hoped for from modular
> building didn't materialize.  The project went way over deadline and budget
> and we're experiencing many quality problems, particularly with the HVAC
> system.  It's not clear to me how much of this was due to the modular
> building company and how much was due to issues with project management and
> design, but at least at this point, we're not a good reference site for
> modular building of common houses or cohousing projects.
> 
> - Cindy
> Cambridge Cohousing
> 
> 
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