>When I asked Craig Rosebraugh if the Scotts should worry about being burned
>out again, I assumed he would say no, they had done their part. There are,
>after all, tens of thousands of suburban mansions being slapped up each
>month. Many of them in areas that could be construed as environmentally
>sensitive.

Interesting to note how resilient the Scotts are to all this. The issue
related here about the tens of thousands of suburban mansions 'being slapped
up each month' is revelant to the Pacific Northwest. Wood homes are like
'stick and mache-paper' forms of construction. The average longevity of a
wooden house is about 60 years. So does it make ecological common sense to
log one hectare of old growth to supply several houses every century? 

Probably not. In South and Central America most houses are constructed from
concrete, adobe and a variety of other materials. The main reasons why wood
is not used in housing are:

1.      wood is subject to termite damage and in less than twenty years a
house will fall down in the tropics; other pests of houses include mildews,
rots, clostridium, etc., some of which are extremely toxic to the people
living in the houses;

2.      wood is subject to fire, and in a warm and dry climate, a house fire
at night often results in the death of the inhabitants, whereas adobe and
concrete do not 'combust';

3.      wood homes are not very sound proof, the are not tornado proof, and
they are easily subject to 'bore-hole' theives;

4.      as a result of the above, the insurance on a house each year can
easily be $1,000.00 to $3,000.00, and amortized this amount represents about
the cost of the frame house to start with; so in fact the house that costs
$150,000.00 will over a 50 year period be paid for twice. This means that
the house will cost an average of about $300 thousand dollars, or about
$6,000.00 per year, excluding taxes, repairs and maintenance costs. 

5.      When you factor in the average annual other costs in item 4 you
easily can come up with a figure of about $5,000.00 per year (taxes,
maintenance, repairs, lawn care, landscaping, etc.).

6.      Adding 4 & 5 together we can easily see that the annual cost of
owning a small wooden house in a suburb to be at least $11,000.00 per year
after the home is paid for.

7.      Combining mortgage payments over 40 years with item , we can easily
see that the annual cost of owning a home like this will be in the range of
about $20-25 thousand per year. Initially the items in 6 will be negligible,
but later these costs will escalate. When we add heating, cooling costs
which are about $100 per month, we can see that the average annual cost of
owning a house in the suburbs is going to range in the $20 to $30 thousand s. 

That means for the person who works 1,600 hours per year, that he or she
will have to make between $12.50 to $18.75 per hour to keep a roof over
their head. When you add the cost of owning a SUV, food, clothing and
entertainment, then the hourly after tax income will have to be about $4.50
per hour more assuming that it costs $600 per month to eat, drive, and wear
nice clothes. Well that adds another $7,200.00 per annum just for basics.
Working people need to spend more on transportation than do people who are
not working - it is assumed so the $600 figure is really low for most people. 

So now in realistic terms then it will cost approximately $27 - $37 per year
just to own a new home in the suburbs. The hourly after tax income per hour
will have to be between $16.88 to $23 per hour, 10 months per year and for
forty years, that is a lot of hours of one's waking life doing the
consumption thing!

So bombard me!

1600 hours X 40 years = 64,000 hours [ 10 months]

Time off:

Weekends and evenings = 104 days X16 hours waking + evenings = 1664 hours +
[4 hours X 365 days] 1460 hours = 3124 hours.

Minus [travel to work]

1 hour per day = 365 hours

1 hour per day shopping, cleaning, repairing and working on house = 365 hours

= 730 hours time related to the house

Grand total free time to enjoy life = 2394 hours per year.


So the cost of a house in the suburbs is about 730 + 1600 hours per year for
forty years: 

Start now! at the age of twenty-five. Why wait!?

Workaholism is a disease of the mind and it is spreading: consume consume
consume. There is no time to enjoy, only work. Look at Benjamin Franklin!

john foster, forester





%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%