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Woman Built House From the Ground Up Using Nothing But YouTube Tutorials (digitaltrends.com)
schwit1 quotes a report from Digital Trends: In this generation of self-starters and self-made women and men, do-it-yourself isn't just an option, it's a way of life. And if there's not an app for that, chances are there's a YouTube video for it. That was certainly the case for a woman named Cara Brookins, who is living proof that if you're willing to learn, you absolutely can. In 2008, Brookins was in the midst of a family struggle, having left a husband she called "violent and abusive." Looking to make a fresh start for herself, she took the idea of rebuilding quite literally, perhaps using the physical experience of constructing a house as an extension of her emotional and mental journey. Though she had no previous experience in construction or architecture, Brookins found a series of YouTube tutorials on building a home and got to work. Over the course of nine months, Brookins worked tirelessly with the help of her four children to build a new home for themselves. "I had rented this cabin for a Thanksgiving getaway," the mother of four told CBS News. "And driving there, we passed this house that had been ravaged by a tornado. It was this beautiful dream house and it was sort of wide open. You don't often get the opportunity to see the interior workings of a house, but looking at these 2x4s and these nails, it just looked so simple. I thought, "I could put this wall back up if I really tried. Maybe I should just start from scratch.'"
Stupid headline
I bet she used some bricks or wood or something, too.
-Dave
I dont know how it works elsewhere but here in Australia there are a number of jobs (electrical work, plumbing, telecom work and others) that you can't legally do unless you have the right license.
I built my own house. It's not exactly rocket science - and I was a rocket scientist IRL.
ahh.. The good ol Tract Housing. Ive seen them go up in 30 days when the owners pay an extra 10k
What you say is largely true about the people in the minimum wage sector of society, but you should have read the article before ranting.
She and her children are obviously smart and hard working. Having BOTH these characteristics is the advantage she has over those who will never get out of their situation.
I cannot understand what is wrong with you that you would say "but she didnt pull herself up by anything, by definition, because she had time and money to build a fucking house." Your statement is contrary to fact. Learn To Read.
I used to teach at a community college and we had so many students just as you described - minimum wage, kids, and black eyes and bruises. And not all single parents are female. And not everyone with the minimum wage job that decides to improve themselves is abused.
They took classes whenever they could to get a skill for a real job. They, too, pulled themselves up with brains and work just like the story above. Every single semester right here in America. And yeah, lots of them failed to finish.
I'm sorry that your friends can't get out of their ruts, but everyone in America is told almost from birth what the game is, how to play it, and most important, how not to play it.
Here's what you missed by not reading the article:
So, over the course of the next nine months, Brookins, a 110-pound computer analyst, and her four kids built their dream home from the ground up. They did everything from hand-mixing the mortar for the foundation to running gas lines and framing walls. And while it wasn’t easy, they persevered.
“It hurt,” she told CBS News. “It was not something that was a great match to us physically, but my kids got up every day and they came out here. I was working all day and they were in school, and we would work into the night sometimes by headlights. It was incredibly intense. There was nobody going to the movies. There were no dates, no hanging out. It was all hands on deck.”
Well you'd know the answer to that if you Read The Fucking Article.
You know, kind of like what she was doing.
Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
Some people are good at music, some people are good at math, some people are good at following instructions.
The various building codes are quite thorough, specifying the measurements and everything needed for safe construction. A typical construction site isn't a bunch of geniuses, it's a bunch of average people who more or less know how engineers and predecessors decided their job should be done (in terms of safety). Electricians refer to a table of wire gauge vs length - a set of instructions. (If they bother to do that, rather than just always use the same gauge for all 20-amp circuits). The electrical code says what size wire they must use. Plumbers put in whatever size pipe is required by code, etc. They don't calculate the velocity of drain flow at each job, they just refer to the code (instructions).
The inspectors then check the work as it progresses to make sure it's done according to code.
If a person is good at finding and following instructions, there's little to nothing about building a house they can't do themselves. I've built a room onto a house, from foundation to roof. It just so happens I'm terrible at music, but very good at following instructions. My current house needs a lot of work. When I moved in, several electrical outlets weren't working. I spent an hour to fix them all, paying attention to have my work meet code, and common-sense safety. I had to tear out a wall and two sinks and replace them. I followed instructions. I'm not a construction genius, I'm just bad at dancing and good at following instructions.
> Fuck females
I certainly prefer that to the alternative.
I suspect that your subject line may be something you have little experience doing, though.
Now flush!
"BSD: Free as in speech. Linux: Free as in beer. Windows 10: Free as in herpes." --Man On Pink Corner in #52607549.
I now realize that it was obvious from the get-go.
I never really understand comments like this. My mother was smart and handy. Growing up she taught me lots of useful around the house skills. Painting, plumbing, electrical work.
Must be kinda sad being threatened by competent women all your life.
In the US, you need a license to offer attorney services for hire, but you can represent yourself, acting as your own attorney. In most states, you need a license to have people pay you as a locksmith, but you can fiddle with your own lock all day if you choose. You need a license to be hired as an electrician, but you can replace a light switch in your own house.
New construction and certain types of remodeling require that the city inspector check your work - whether you're a professional or not.
Does Australia have big hardware / home improvement stores like the US, where you can buy drywall, light switches, wire, and plumbing pipe? I'd bet most of the customers in those stores aren't licensed professionals, they are working on their own home. The home improvement store near me has a guy who has worked there over 20 years and really knows his stuff. If your local store has a guy like that, I might be interesting to ask him if Aus sn't similar - you need to be licensed to work on someone else's house for a fee, but you're free to work on your own house, so long as you follow code (ie do the job correctly).
I don't even use restroom without watching a YouTube tutorial about it first.
Need a tutorial on bidets? You'll like this, I think
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Pain is merely failure leaving the body
I definitely have had a "violent and abusive" husband and I have 'nothing' too. But I am unable to build a house. I am not really sure which part I am missing. May be I need more sob stories to fasten the planks?
So /. is now getting article submissions off of Reddit these days? Sad...
-> I dislike sigs...
That's not the point of the story. It's about child labour and the great things you can achieve with it (as the chinese have proven gazillion times).
In 2008, Brookins was in the midst of a family struggle, having left a husband she called "violent and abusive."
So not only the fact that she's a woman matters in this story, it's also important to throw some suspicion on her story of domestic violence.
Regardless of her gender or personal situation[1], what she did (which I assume is true, I haven't RTFA) is nothing short of brilliant. This woman has a great future ahead of her if she learned and executed all the skills necessary to build a house from scratch.
Very few people can do that.
[1] Both are irrelevant.
I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
Blasphemer!
But it might help inspire other women in abusive relationships. So it's worth mentioning anyway.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Because the market is highly inflated, and it is a quite known way to rob people blind.
The fact that banks lend money over such a long span of time, also it means again there is a carte blanche to inflate even more the prices.
I have pictures of my dad building my parents house. Not single handed and of course not the part that needs heavy machines, but the brick walls were build by him and his friends.(and help from his dad, who was the actual crafty guy)
bickerdyke
So not only the fact that she's a woman matters in this story, it's also important to throw some suspicion on her story of domestic violence.
I think so - domestic violence very often leaves the survivor with little self-confidence, and the fact that she has managed to not only pick herself up and leave a violent man, but had enough pluck to take on a demanding challenge like this, is remarkable - and perhaps inspiring to others in her situation too. Perhaps what she did was just the right thing; doing practical, hard work can be a real therapy, and the sense of achievement is pure gold. Any engineer knows this.
I built my own house. It's not exactly rocket science - and I was a rocket scientist IRL.
It is, however, one HELL of a lot of work and the difficulty level is far, far beyond what most people can do. As an engineer working on complex systems like rockets, you really ought to have the skill yo put together a house. For someone untrained, it's especially impressive.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
It's not child labor when they are your own children you are forcing to work from dawn to dusk. It's called parenting.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
The article talks about them doing it in 9 months then about where Youtube was at 9 years ago.
As someone in the middle of their own self taught renovation project I'm interested in the details of the build. Unfortunately I can't find anything beyond photos of her posing in the finished house and adverts for her associated book.
"Physics is to math as sex is to masturbation." -R. Feynman
Also: I recognise the implied sadness in the "was" there. My mother too, alas, was.
Well, one doesn't usually do things without some sort of impulse or reason, so these often get mentioned in articles.
Ezekiel 23:20
https://naldc.nal.usda.gov/dow...
Yup. Quite handy. You can get a hard copy from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Wood-Fr...
Yes we still have not returned to correct prices post housing bubble. A basic house is about a 4-6 weeks with a 4 man full time crew and another few specialists call is half a man year at about 1000 man hours.
No sir I dont like it.
Click on the daughter's link on the website, she is heavy into social media and self promotion. Looks like a case of the tail wagging the dog - she built her own house with the plan of it going viral to promote her book. You've all been had. Title of the post should read "ambitious mom finally goes viral with daughter's social media magic"
This crap was a puff piece a month ago on the evening news, and now it's making it to /.?
I am shocked!! Its almost like there was an effort to drum up interest.
From her bio: Cara Brookins is a computer analyst and social media marketing expert based in Little Rock.
This woman has a great future ahead of her if she learned and executed all the skills necessary to build a house from scratch.
I've called around to all the local lumber yards, and no one has scratch, so I guess I'm dead in the water for my home building project. I'll check at the grocery store too, since I understand you can make pies from scratch as well.
But to the point of the article, one of the most useful things on Youtube is those instructional tutorials. I use them all the time to eliminate a lot of guesswork and unneeded disassembly when working on my cars or motorcycle, or various work around the house or in radio. I have a few tutorials I made myself about Software Defined Radio.
Some of the tutorials we find aren't that professional, or the person isn't all that great at communicating, or is long winded. But they all get an A for the intentions of being helpful to others.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
It's quite safe, actually. The codes may be voluminous but they are designed with a HS education level in mind. A basic house is actually quite easy to build if you dedicate the time required to understand how the parts go together and have good instructional materials.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
It was a shed by rest-of-the-world standards. Outside of USA, e.g. Europe, only the dog's "house" gets built of wooden planks. Usually it is bricks, stone, concrete being used to build a home or office, maybe whole tree logs if you are russian or scandinavian. And of course, rest-of-the-world houses have foundations, often including a fully sub-terranean basement that can withstand a war.
The beefier construction makes houses last many hundreds of years (*), so the successive generations of families are not that easy to displace coast-to-coast on the whim of a capitalist pig, to to serve his profit interests. Thereby, you just don't get a Detroit in Europe, it takes a volcano or a nuclear disaster to depopulate a city, not even a mere earthquake will do.
(*) For example, in Venezia it is hard to find a palace or any house for that matter, built AFTER the late 1700s and many hail from the 1400-1500s (gothic era and early renaissance). In the USA, any town is proud to display a 90 (ninety) year old church to every passer-by, because such an old building is a rare find in the county or even in the whole state.
Okay, calculate your cost to build your house. Take off work for the several months required, along with 2 your buddies. Pay all of their salaries plus benefits. Buy all of the materials. Rent or buy all of the tools.
By my eye, her house looks like a 24x48 two story, or about 2200 finished square feet that took 9 months of construction time. That kind of house, with careful shopping, could be contracted out for about $200k in many Arkansas markets, not including land but including service installation (water/septic/elec. connections). Three of you for 3/4 of a year at average arkansas wages and tax/insurance rates is about $120k total. Figure 10k for cheap water/sewer or well/septic. 1k for permitting. 1k for power main. You've got $68,000 left for 16000BF of lumber, 14000SF of wood siding/sheathing/misc, 20 cubes of brick, 15 square of shingles & underlayment, plus 30 yds of concrete for footings and a few cubes of CMU. And at that point you only have a shell of a house without electrical, heating, plumbing, bathrooms or kitchen, and no finishes.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
It is, however, one HELL of a lot of work and the difficulty level is far, far beyond what most people can do.
It's considerable work, yes. The difficulty level is mentally low, but physically significant. I'd want to be buying pre-built trusses, because coming up with a good surface upon which to construct them is difficult.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Youtube instructions can be dangerously wrong, either maliciously or by incompetence. Would YOU frame your house according to the average of a few Youtube videos? If two youtube videos conflict, how do you resolve the difference? I'm a DIY builder too, but relying solely on the internet is wildly stupid, especially when it comes to installing dangerous stuff like electricity. The best way to learn something correctly is to ask someone who is confirmed to know how to do it properly. Doesn't have to be a professional, but you should be able to verify the expertise level, which you can't do on YouTube.
I'm sure everything's fine dandy until you come to try and insure or sell it.
WTF? You built your own house but then left out the rocket pad?!? Dude, you waited your whole life to "grow up" and acquire the means to obtain everything that child-you wanted, and then you blew it!
Oh, you built a submarine base instead? Ok, fine. Sorry I snapped at you above.
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
If you have access to tools, which you can either rent or find at tool libraries at most community colleges, it usually takes about 12-16 weeks to build a fully functional top of the line house.
Land is the primary expense in housing in most urban areas.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
If she wasn't such a gorgeous babe there would be no story. This is all about eye candy. Not house building.
I have all the rights I require to be successful and happy. I'm not sure what your problem is
"In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson
Land is often the expensive part of a house... I suspect they were building in an area where land is relatively cheap give the implied economics, but who knows, maybe she has a trust fund.
"In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson
That's interesting. To me, there are positives and negatives to be able to do your own work. I do my own electrical, and I do it right. One of my good friends is a licensed electrician. I help him from time to time and he's not yet pointed out any safety issues with my work. I taught my brother, or helped him learn, and he just passed his certification test today. In other words, I can do the work right, and know when to call my electrician friend with questions (or look it up in the electric code).
On the other hand, I just bought a house from a guy who shouldn't have been doing his own electrical work. It's okay because of course we had the house inspected before purchase, so I knew I'd need to correct a couple of issues with the wiring.
Starring Amy Adams maybe
You're missing the point. The issue here is that they said this:
left a husband she called "violent and abusive."
instead of:
left a violent and abusive husband.
Either it's true or it's not, throwing in "she called" is a combination of ass-covering and clickbait.
lucm, indeed.
Yah, It was rough after leaving my whore wife who wouldn't stop with the mind games..
Why didn't you leave her earlier if she was playing mind games? Even better: why did you marry her in the first place? You missed the red flags? Or maybe you are looking for abusive relationships because you have issues.
lucm, indeed.
I'm impressed that easily available resources on the internet is sufficient for anyone to build a house. I wonder if the article would see the same kind of comments if it was a man...
It's a standard technique taught in speaking groups like Toastmasters. You need a hook to create a bit of drama for your story. You can talk about helping your sick grandmother, or the child with leukemia, or someone overcoming great odds. You see this all the time on television commercials...if they're not using sex to sell, they're telling you it's better for your children, or your safety. You see it in every political campaign when they give some stupid anecdote to sell you a bill of goods.
So yeah, her situation with her ex isn't germane to the story, but people will relate, or feel sad for her, and then happy she overcame it all...real or not.
Just another day in Paradise
I bet those kids didn't fight for 9 months and the mother was insanely happy.
Whenever my girls fight I find a chore for them to do. Channel that energy into something productive.
Or maybe it's simply because it's her version of the story and in the absence of some official ruling on this matter (by court?) they wanted to avoid a lawsuit? Also, whether it's true or not is irrelevant for the motivation factor: people act on what they believe is true rather than on what objectively is true. Our brains have no "sensing truth at a distance" feature built in.
Ezekiel 23:20
Good day to you too sir.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?