Building a farmhouse this summer. Need insulation ideas.

[iPwnz]

With covid situation having improved (thought prices of things are still over the roof) I will finally begin the construction of my farm house this summer probably in April. Being a rural area the place doesn't get so hot in the summer but its very cold in winter. So I'm looking for inexpensive insulation ideas which can preserve the cold/heat. I'm not looking for anything fancy or premium. So far I'm thinking industrial (?) aluminium foil. I haven't decided the main material to be used for the construction. I'm thinking solid wood planks or those plywood-like wooden plank. Also sources from where I can get the required materials. Also where can I get wire mesh for fencing use? I have no luck with indiamart/tradeindia as they are very unresponsive or quote exorbitant rates for shipping.
Suggestions and advice most welcome.

 

[rdst_1]

Insulation choice would depend on what kind of materials you are building with. Also when you say cold, how cold does it get. We don't feel the need for any insulation till 0 degree (outside temp) if wearing appropriate clothing inside house.

 

[vadapav]

Also sources from where I can get the required materials. Also where can I get wire mesh for fencing use? I have no luck with indiamart/tradeindia as they are very unresponsive or quote exorbitant rates for shipping.

You need to find the relevant market for those things in your city. Indiamart, etc are still a joke as the pricing is all over the place, and the sellers don't use the platform properly (displaying inaccurate pricing, no customer service, etc).

In any Tier 1 and Tier 2 city in India, you should easily be able to find a local market where such things are being sold in 15-20 shops, all right next to each other. Visiting there will give you a better idea of what you should actually buy, and help you price the materials properly.

 

[iPwnz]

You need to find the relevant market for those things in your city. Indiamart, etc are still a joke as the pricing is all over the place, and the sellers don't use the platform properly (displaying inaccurate pricing, no customer service, etc).

Exactly! That's the problem with these sites.

In any Tier 1 and Tier 2 city in India, you should easily be able to find a local market where such things are being sold in 15-20 shops, all right next to each other. Visiting there will give you a better idea of what you should actually buy, and help you price the materials properly.

I live in a tier 3 city town. I can procure it from Guwahati/Assam/Kolkata if there's any transport facilities. So the question about the sources.

 

[rdst_1]

Exactly! That's the problem with these sites.

I live in a tier 3 city town. I can procure it from Guwahati/Assam/Kolkata if there's any transport facilities. So the question about the sources.

Indiamart works perfectly if you know how to use it. It is not for making transactions like a normal e-commerce site. It is just a much better Justdial. You need to search for what you need and try to find sellers close to where you live, if transport is expensive. I've bought stuff worth 50k and more (single transaction) , just by finding the seller on Indiamart and transferring them the money and I've bought from people all over India. Just 6 months ago bought Rubber Mats worth 50k from a seller I found on Indiamart. This was something that got shipped all the way from Kerela to Himachal and still worked out 5k cheaper than the local sellers. A few years back, I knew nothing about how effective our Transport systems are where one can get stuff shipped all over India for quite cheap by sharing space on trucks. But yeah, most of that is offline.
So think of Indiamart as 'Yellow Pages' for businesses. But it's still such a great option and opens up a lot of options. For example, I bought 'Chain-link' fence for my farm worth 80k at 48/kg. Now, if I hadn't visited Indiamart and also gone with the options I found in Tier-1 and 2 cities close to me, the best price I got was 65/kg. But thanks to Indiamart, I found a factory which manufactured the fences themselves and hence offered a better rate and also it was much closer to my village than those cities as well.

 

[iPwnz]

Indiamart works perfectly if you know how to use it. It is not for making transactions like a normal e-commerce site. It is just a much better Justdial. You need to search for what you need and try to find sellers close to where you live, if transport is expensive. I've bought stuff worth 50k and more (single transaction) , just by finding the seller on Indiamart and transferring them the money and I've bought from people all over India. Just 6 months ago bought Rubber Mats worth 50k from a seller I found on Indiamart. This was something that got shipped all the way from Kerela to Himachal and still worked out 5k cheaper than the local sellers. A few years back, I knew nothing about how effective our Transport systems are where one can get stuff shipped all over India for quite cheap by sharing space on trucks. But yeah, most of that is offline.
So think of Indiamart as 'Yellow Pages' for businesses. But it's still such a great option and opens up a lot of options. For example, I bought 'Chain-link' fence for my farm worth 80k at 48/kg. Now, if I hadn't visited Indiamart and also gone with the options I found in Tier-1 and 2 cities close to me, the best price I got was 65/kg. But thanks to Indiamart, I found a factory which manufactured the fences themselves and hence offered a better rate and also it was much closer to my village than those cities as well.

How did you negotiate the transportation and costs?

 

[rdst_1]

How did you negotiate the transportation and costs?

There is no negotiation on the transport usually. They just ask for a quote from the transport people of your choice and let you know. For that you should know which transport companies operate in your area. For example, there are 2-3 options I have for stuff that I want to buy from North India. From down south, I have dealt with VRL and Safexpress, both of which even had tracking options available. For smaller stuff, I just use regular couriers through Shiprocket. This is in case the sellers are unwilling to ship stuff themselves.

For other negotiations, you do it old fashioned way - over the phone. In fact all the deal details and negotiations happen off-site. I just use Indiamart to see which sellers have what I need and then I just call them. After that it's Whatsapp.

 

[iPwnz]

Update: Many of them are either unreachable or they don't speak English. The ones I managed to talk to said transport is inconvenient. The sad thing about living in the far east.

Does anyone here live in Guwahati/Kolkata? If you are available and can help me I can pay some money for your service. The work is to get some small housing materials from your local wholesaler and ship them to me by trucks or buses whichever comes. Buses are a regular but I can't say for the trucks since they are usually contracted.
Please reach out. We've finalized a temporary location and will only start the work by end of this week or early next week courtesy of some programmes which I need to join. >_>

 

[iPwnz]

Bumping this.

How do I keep a pre-heated enclosed area (50'x70') warm when there's powecut? By insulation and without using any other heat source. The room needs to be WARM and not COOL.
Would something like this help? This is like an aluminum foil. I want to tape the entire wall. I thought of using a polyhouse plastic but the price seems very high so not feasible. If anyone has any ideas please feel free to pitch in.

 

[kiran6680]

Bumping this.

How do I keep a pre-heated enclosed area (50'x70') warm when there's powecut? By insulation and without using any other heat source. The room needs to be WARM and not COOL.
Would something like this help? This is like an aluminum foil. I want to tape the entire wall. I thought of using a polyhouse plastic but the price seems very high so not feasible. If anyone has any ideas please feel free to pitch in.
View attachment 132980

Even though it will contribute to insulation, aluminium will be very cold to touch. Suppose at some time, room is not well heated, temperature is 10 deg C in the room. Somebody touching this will feel it very cold. But, if they touch a wood or cloth surface at the same 10 deg temperature, they would not feel that cold.

So between human touch and aluminium, you need some other insulator too.

 

[iPwnz]

Even though it will contribute to insulation, aluminium will be very cold to touch.

Ya I thought of that. Won't pre-heating help with anything?

So between human touch and aluminium, you need some other insulator too.

Any other not-so-expensive ideas? Honda petrol generators of 6-7L capacity cost 1.3L and up. I don't have the means for that. Should I just go the jugaad ways of firewood and charcoal?
I can also use gas heater but it seems very dangerous in case of leakage. Not to forget the fact that gas cylinders cost 1200rs here.

 

[kiran6680]

I can also use gas heater but it seems very dangerous in case of leakage. Not to forget the fact that gas cylinders cost 1200rs here.

See, I can only dream of a farmhouse, maybe decades later. But still, you are worried about diesel and gas ? Go solar, man !

 

[lockhrt999]

What happened to glasswool? Isn't that supposed to be a defacto standard for providing home insulation in India?

And, won't an oil radiator space heater be good option to heat the house?

 

[iPwnz]

See, I can only dream of a farmhouse, maybe decades later. But still, you are worried about diesel and gas ? Go solar, man !

When I said farmhouse I don't mean the ones built for a po$h stay. You can use wood for the frames and bamboo thatched for the wall coated with cowdung and mud/soil and build one in a simple way. You don't need so much money for that. Fuel costs should always be a concern if you want to resort to using firewood. 120rs/liter for petrol and 1300rs for gas cylinder refill is no joke. And correct me if I'm wrong but India is not known for producing quality solar panels. We still import a shit ton of cheap solar crap from China. How good it is or how long it last will be on your luck. If you want to know good quality solar panels/generators try Jackery. So of course I'm worried about fuel cost.

What happened to glasswool? Isn't that supposed to be a defacto standard for providing home insulation in India?

And, won't an oil radiator space heater be good option to heat the house?

I honestly don't have a clue and there are many types of insulation materials on the internet so asking here for suggestions.

 

[lockhrt999]

And correct me if I'm wrong but India is not known for producing quality solar panels. We still import a shit ton of cheap solar crap from China. How good it is or how long it last will be on your luck. If you want to know good quality solar panels/generators try Jackery. So of course I'm worried about fuel cost.

These days, chinese solar panels are hard to come by. Govt has put restrictions to promote poor local Adani people to make it in India.

Anyway, solar technology has matured. There's not much difference between crappiest and most expensive panels these days.

I honestly don't have a clue and there are many types of insulation materials on the internet so asking here for suggestions.

I'm not claiming to be an expert but glasswool is very common thing used in almost every insulation in every sector. It's in every automobile. You'll find tons of vendors on Indiamart. It starts from 10-20 rs sq/ft

 

[rdst_1]

Lots of different types of insulation material is available in India. I used Nitrile Rubber for a small experimental grow room I built. You will have to do some research as to which material will suit your use case and also have availability in your area.