@tokyo 14 Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 How much snow stacks up generally in Sapporo, Tubby? Compared to somewhere like Yuzawa. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 From what I saw, Yuzawa gets much bigger snow banks, but I wasn't exactly in the burbs in Sapporo....they do a good job of clearing the city centre. That said, the central embankment of some major roads did have head high snow banks. I'll be better placed to comment this time next year Link to post Share on other sites
Popular Post Go Native 70 Posted February 19, 2013 Popular Post Share Posted February 19, 2013 It is interesting the differences in house designs according to the area. Are house will have to have a steeper roof than if we were building one here in Kofu as it snows a lot more in Kobuchisawa and it doesn't melt very quickly either because much colder. (On heavy snow days can be as much as 75cm in one go according to the local ward office). The foundations also have to be dug much deeper because of the cold. Houses in Japan are well designed and thought out from what I can see of it all. And compared to many other countries are very resilient against all sorts of natural disasters! Very interesting, as when I was up in Sapporo I was surprised to see so many flat roofed houses. I thought it would be much better to have a steep pitched roof so the snow could fall off. Saves you hauling yourself up onto your roof and clearing the snow every 5 bloody minutes. Is there any reason why they favour flat roofs up there? Is that normal for snow country in Japan or only peculiar to Hokkaido/Sapporo? Plenty of flat roofs in Kutchan. It's generally so you can build closer to your boundary. If you have a roof that sheds the snow you need room for it to shed and not encroach on your neighbours land (which of course is a big no no). A flat roof does mean you have to get up now and again to clear it but roofs that shed the snow have their own issues. The pile of snow needs to be cleared regularly or else it will reach the base of the roof preventing more snow to slide off which can cause damage. A big issue in Hokkaido as well is even on sloped roofs it can remain cold and cloudy enough that the snow doesn't shed for weeks on end. Then you get a mild or sunny day and bang, huge amounts come off which can be quite dangerous and damaging. Flat roofs make a lot of sense. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
SnowJapan Admin SnowJapan#Andrew 6 Posted February 20, 2013 SnowJapan Admin Share Posted February 20, 2013 We're planning a building for here in Minamiuonuma and going through the process. Looks like there's two options for the sprinkling water thing. The first is digging a well and have that sprinkle around the front of the house or wherever and also have it circulate up to the roof and melt snow up there. That water is natually warm and they have to dig down 70+ (what I was told) metres. Costs around 1.5-2 million yen but running costs are pretty low. If you do that you won't have much snow building up on the roof/falling off the sides and also don't need as much free space either side for that consideration. The other is to have some kind of big tank that you fill up with water (basically normal water supply) and it pumps up to the roof. It circulates and is reused and so you're not constantly using new water. That water is heated up (?) but can freeze up and be problematic in that way. Obviously cheaper than getting the well thing done, but not as convenient or reliable. As for the whole of the ground floor concrete or not, garage or otherwise. The only rule on this seems to be that the houses must be able to withstand certain strong quakes, not whether the ground floor is made of wood or concrete. Those rules have become much stricter since Chuetsu especially for 3 floor buildings. Seems that concrete is more expensive and won't shake as much. Wood will shake more, but is actually more resistant. There were cases in Kawaguchi town during the Chuetsu jishin when the houses with the first floor concrete 'moved' as one, and took some huge damage. The ones that did not have the ground floor all concrete survived better, apparently. This is all what I have heard talking to various people round here, or should I say what I have understood anyway. There's a name for the ground floor concrete way of building houses here in Niigata: 高床住宅 http://www.town.yuzawa.niigata.jp/upload/1/chiikiseibi_tokurei_kijun_kaisetsu.pdf http://www.pref.niigata.lg.jp/jutaku/1223229711334.html Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Interesting about the concrete vs wood issue. Not sure which I would prefer. Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Was Kawaguchi the town that got shook with 震度７? Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 That's the one! Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Shindo 7. That must be shit scary. To say the least. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 Just a bit! Going to drive through Kawaguchi today, will check out the houses there. Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted February 25, 2013 Author Share Posted February 25, 2013 Went to see a few more places this last weekend and in talks with 2 companies we like the feel of. It's whole lot of fun planning a house. The biggest frustration remains that total costs are still somewhat vague. Got general ideas but that's what they are - general ideas. Need to crank up the seriousness and details of the discussions I think. Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 We decided this weekend on the house builder we are going with SxL. And we are going for a Japanese modern style all custom built to are specifications. Now lots of planning now such as wall colours internal fittings etc etc etc. And wr have the land ceremony good luck thing to do soon as well . Link to post Share on other sites
RobBright 35 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 Remember to get as many plug sockets installed as you can. And fit some of them with internet connections as well. Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 Remember to get as many plug sockets installed as you can. And fit some of them with internet connections as well. Oh yes we will definitely make sure to get enough installed, especially when you see the lack of sockets in a typical house here. We use laptops with wifi, so no real need for many connections just one internet connector downstairs and one up will be more than enough. Lots of things now to do!!!! Link to post Share on other sites
Go Native 70 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 And be specific where light switches are to be placed. I've come across so many Japanese homes with light switches in stupid places. Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted February 25, 2013 Author Share Posted February 25, 2013 Sockets, definitely. Though actually with this company we seem to be leaning towards, their show houses seem to have a lot of them. About internet connection. Not clear on that. Why would I need more than one "wan/lan" thing that my wifi base thing connects to? Link to post Share on other sites
RobBright 35 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 Well it depends on many computers or devices you have that you want wired. Wireless is fine for surfing the web, but I prefer wired for gaming. Moreover, sometimes people move their router boxes around the house, and having more than one socket gives you the choice to move it. Link to post Share on other sites
ProbablyaCrazyPerson 2 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 I don't use one wired connection now. What kind of distance is wifi good for anyway, I have no idea. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 Our cable company told us if we have a split level house then it's best to have one on each level, but we don't.....just a regular apartment....so 1 was fine Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 Sounds like they want easy cash. My wifi is strong 3 floors down outside the building. Link to post Share on other sites
onehunga 26 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 Sockets, definitely. Though actually with this company we seem to be leaning towards, their show houses seem to have a lot of them. About internet connection. Not clear on that. Why would I need more than one "wan/lan" thing that my wifi base thing connects to? Depends on how you use your laptops and the speed of your connection. In our apartment the connection is very quick, using wireless would actually slow the connection down, and as the three lpatops here never actually move far wired is best. Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted February 25, 2013 Author Share Posted February 25, 2013 OK sort of understand. But. Right now in my house the set up is: one phone socked that goes into a hikari cable 'box'. From that I have a cable going to my Time Capsule which acts as my wifi hub. If I had more 'internet connections', where would they go and how would my above set up be affected? Silly question maybe but I'm really very ???? about stuff like that. Link to post Share on other sites
onehunga 26 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 What can, and is often done in a new house (in NZ at least) is to wire a LAN port into every room, the cable them goes back to a cupboard somewhere. In this cupboard is a router, attached to the router is the ADSL/cable modem that provides the outside connection. Often the router is a wifi hub as well. This enables connections in every room via "wire", for PCs and laptops that don't move about much, and wifi thoughout the house for laptops, tablets, phones etc. A wired in PC can be used as a media centre, and as high spec PCs generally cost less than high spec laptops there may be a time when a PC is purchased rather than a laptop. Although Internet enabled devices like fridges etc are still a way off in the future it makes sense to future proof your house now. Adding in extra cable for Internet or a sound system costs a lot less when building than later on. Link to post Share on other sites
surfarthur 22 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 Most new tvs are Internet capable these day, so I would definitely recommend a lan socket near your TV. Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 I got the AU 1000mb high speed wifi and it will work upstairs or even outside at least to the end of my driveway as my phone picks it up outside when I go out. Don't know how far away it will actually pick up though, maybe 50mtrs? My printer uses wifi so no cables to the comp, my TV is wifi, as is my computer and phone, so have no need to hard wire anything. Hard wire offers the max 1000mb were as wifi runs at about 500mb, which is way fast enough anyway. Unless I have something super excessively big to download I have no need to hardwire my comp, takes the portability out of having a lappy. So I will have one internet connection upstairs and one downstairs max fitted to our new house, just in case I actually want to use a cable sometime. Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted February 25, 2013 Author Share Posted February 25, 2013 OK thanks. So. If I ask for LAN connections in 4 rooms, the wires from each of those within the walls would go back to the 4 LAN sockets on the Time Capsule? (The Time Capsule is connected to the OCN hikari cable box) Correct? Link to post Share on other sites
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