Built to Last: A House in Sardenia
Yesterday I asked the question: How Long Should a House Last? Most of my colleagues and friends thought houses generally last about 50-100 years. I thought you might find it interesting to see how homes are constructed in Italy. I was fortunate to meet friends of my family on the island of Sardegna who are currently building a new home. They were quite gracious in allowing me to take some pictures of the work-in-progress. I’m not familiar with the way homes are built throughtout the US, but I have seen enough construction over the years to know that most homes are not built like this:
All the homes are built with these terra cotta-like blocks. They have a honeycomb structure in the inside. You can see this in the picture below:
One of the things I wondered about was how plumbing and electrical systems were placed in the walls and floors. In a stick-built home the electrical & plumbing is added before the walls are completed. Well, the Italians put the wall up and then chistle grooves right into the block, then cover the wiring or pipes with a cement grout.
The hot and cold lines run on the floor. Ultimately, these pipes will be covered with a cement product and over that, the tile floor will be installed. I was amazed by the quality of this work.
Homes in Sardegna have beautiful facades. Here in the northwest many of the ornamental rockwork is a resin product.
As you can tell, this is going to be a beautiful home. I suspect this home will last for several generations.
