How feasible is it to build my own castle?

>>1131337
very. you just need a fuckload of time and a strong back.

i've actually already planned and estimated something like this in terms of the construction techniques and tools needed. its pretty cheap per square foot of wall in terms of material cost. the land cost will be the biggest purchase, even if its el cheapo land inna woods.

Watch this series
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secrets_of_the_Castle

>>1131337
With enough money it is entirely feasible. Just save up a few hundred thousands dollars and you will be all set.

>>1131337
As a 4chan basement dweller, better think about water leakage.

It can be done, but you should focus on electricity and plumming. After you bought the land, you should see how much stone you can get from there for the walls.

>>1131337

well, provided you actually go through with the idea there are several points to be made


solid foundation is a must since your building will be few dozens times heavier than almost every other structure of the same size - so a large investment will be needed, unless you are building on a solid rock base

stone masonry is something you need to learn before hand, a collapsing stone wall and and will kill you - related to that are types of rock to be used and thickness of the walls with regards to their height

making it livable - thus incorporation insulation, electrical and plumbing system and ventilation
the actual castles are notorious for being hard to heat up, prone to getting damp and windy, so unless you want hardcore experience, you should go for a hybrid building

>>1131337
Very but you need a lot of money, time, and planning.

Research past construction and then apply modern techniques and technologies to supplant the outdated solutions they came up with to solve specific problems EX: medieval castle walls have notches to hold the shitty old-timey scaffolding, which are unnecessary now.

>>1131406
also brings up good points. I suggest you figure some way to install solar panels without it looking gaudy, or plan for wood gasifiers/generators in an external building since there's no way you're getting grid power to such a thing.

Make sure to document your construction on video as a way to offset some costs with youtube shekels and obtain notoriety.

I await being entertained by your modern-day Neuschwanstein Castle, anon.

>>1131337
Dude in kansas took 3 large oil tanks and put rock around them. Took 3 years and a 5 man crew...

>>1131337

The size of the construction, getting the plan approved (or bribing the local code people), and financing the materials and construction are the biggest obstacles.

>>1131337
Hi Barron,

1. You gotta own the land
2. You gotta be rich to fund the construction
3. You gotta be somewhere that something like this will be ok for the authorities (so away from most first world cities)

But once you have all three, it is no more difficult than building a normal house, money will solve any problem you will run into

Unless you are going to /diy/, in that case, not feasible at all, building a house in current year is never a one man job unless you don't mind nigger tier quality, or spending ungodly amount of time do stuff that normally would be simple for two person.

>>1131337
Why not poor rock and concrete into a mold? It's close enough and a hell of a lot stronger/cheaper. Hell I'm sure if they had concrete back then there would never be a castle made of anything else.

>>1131549
>stronger
no
>cheaper
no
>I'm sure
no

>>1131549
Source: Rome and conglomerate forts in florida

File: bbb.jpg (495KB, 2048x1536px) Image search: [Google]

495KB, 2048x1536px

>>1131348

Agreed. This was pretty entertaining

>>1131552
>no

Concrete is by all comparisons >= stone. You could argue that concrete will fail before stone (internal stresses from rebar rusting) ... but <100yrs concrete is fine.

The issue with stone is the need to source it regionally or else it becomes cost prohibitive to ship.

Also castles and other masonry based buildings had issues with mold/dampness from either poor weather sealing allowing water ingress and a lack of air ventilation.

Flexible ICFs will get you a round shape, strong ass concrete, and a well sealed building.

see: http://www.buildingmycastle.com/

Question is do you want to build it like a castle or build it to look like a castle ?

If you want to build it like a castle, I would say no, just for the amount of stone it would need. If you want it to look like a castle, I would say yes, just use the slipform method to keep the amount of stone you need lower & it will be cheaper to build too.

I was working on gathering stone to build a stone house. Given if my math was correct I'd need a good 80 ton of stone, of that I hand collected around 5 ton of stone so far, by hand mind you. Just getting the stone is back breaking work that takes forever. I bought salvaged stone to use a quoins, but someone stole it before I could pick it up.
I think if I would of planned to build using the slipform method I'd be getting somewhere, but now I'm just stuck with a 5 ton pile of stones that I'll prob never do anything with.

Check out http://www.dupontcastle.com/
I stumbled upon it once, he has built it almost entirely by himself over the past 20 years or so. Architecturally I think it's a godawful design, with the contrasting block and all.

Building a castle is something that I thought of for a long time, including making it a home like >>1131395
>>1131406
>>1131439
talked about,
What I have decided to do at this point is to eventually build a "castle" out in the woods as a cabin. That way I don't need to worry so much about making it "homey". My plan is to have two towers connected by a hall. It will be off the grid, water would be brought in, a camping toilet and solar shower would be used in the bathroom area. A propane RV or marine cooktop would be used in the kitchen. Structurally, I haven't decided on what to use as building materials. Concrete block would probably be the cheapest, but I think it's a little drab. I've toyed with the idea of using granite cobblestone, there seems to be a decent supply of it in my area and it would last much longer than concrete.

>>1131337
The foundation is the most expensive, time consuming, and dangerous thing. Don't skimp on the foundation.

I would do this but basically using a mountain as foundation and material

>>1131561

Standard reinforced concrete has less than a century of lifetime.

Some of the super concretes with lots of pozzolans and stainless steel reinforcement might last longer (we don't really know for certain).

>>1131688
>Standard reinforced concrete has less than a century of lifetime.

AYO HOL UP

thats a meme perpetuated by retards who can't read engineering reports.

50 years is the life of large infrastructure pieces that are subject to chloride intrusion and large dynamic/cyclic loads.

using standard reinforced concrete for a single family structure will easily achieve 100+ years of life, particularly the newer stuff thats being jacketed in polystyrene and sealed with what is essentially rhino liner.

>>1131702
>100+ years

prove it faggot

They only thing stopping you is zoning codes.

>>1131702

Polystyrene and PU are not exactly century lasting vapour barriers, water will get to the steel.

>>1131752
You don't know much about zoning codes, castles, or how things like that get done.

>>1131771

It really depends on the construction.

I live in a house that my grandfather built in the 50's that occasionally floods due to some "improvements" made to the roads in the area and due to some shitty additions made onto it I have had to remove two original walls.

The steel inside, even below the normal flood line looked like it was just put in the day before.

There are zero cracks in the original walls and foundations but the stuff my dad put on look like the grand canyon in some areas and a spider web in the others. The house was increased to 130% the original floorspace and the only thing that has no issues is the original stuff.

Of course a lot of it is most probably people who don't know what they are doing but every modern concrete structure I have been in, built by various contractors and entities have some noticeable issues where the shit from grandpappies era are all fine.

It took a 20 ton excavator with a hammer to demolish the foundation of his brothers house and it was just a big beach cottage. A JCB 4CX backhoe was struggling.

>>1131777
I wonder how much of this is because of capitalism and how much is just construction workers getting more stupid

>>1131752
Aside from money and physics, zoning codes are literally the only other thing stopping you, as it is the LAW, you nigger faggot.

File: i_am_the_law.jpg (98KB, 1920x1080px) Image search: [Google]

98KB, 1920x1080px

>>1131818
(You)

>>1131777
As concrete cures, it gets harder. The older the concrete, the harder it gets. It never stops curing. My great grandad put in a concrete driveway in his first house after he came back from the WWI (so just shy of 100 years ago). Did a shit job of it. No rebar and on in improper bed. Within a few years, it looked like a pane of glass someone hit with a hammer. When we went to pull it out a few years ago the few large pieces that were left were un-fucking-breakable.

>>1131779
>getting more stupid
I'd take stupid over drunk. The last place I lived in the attic was full of steel Budweiser cans. The place before that it was bottles of unknown maker (they were brown so it was still probably beer). My current place is beer container free. Maybe all the Zonolite scared them off, so they had their lunch on the ground.

>>1131477
More info on this please?

I'm suprised no one in this thread has mentioned Bishop's Castle in Colorado. One guy built it over 60 years, but it's fucking massive:

http://www.bishopcastle.org/

>>1133207
>Young Jim Bishop in 1959 at the ripe old age of 15 paid four hundred and fifty dollars for a two and a half acre parcel of land enclosed on three sides by the majestic San Isabel National Forest in southern Colorado
>450 dollars for two and a half acre

Shit man, how much would that be nowadays?
I live in Europe, land here quickly runs up to the hundred-thousands if not millions of euros.

File: Kore.jpg (163KB, 900x1350px) Image search: [Google]

163KB, 900x1350px

>>1131561

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_concrete

“Recent scientific breakthroughs examining Roman concrete are gathering media and industry attention. Because of its unusual durability, longevity and lessened environmental footprint, corporations and municipalities are starting to explore the use of Roman-style concrete in North America, substituting the volcanic ash with coal fly ash that has similar properties. Proponents claim that concrete made with fly ash can cost up to 60% less because it requires less aggregate, and that it has a smaller environmental footprint due to its lower cooking temperature and much longer lifespan. Usable examples of Roman concrete exposed to harsh marine environments have been found to be 2000 years old with little or no wear.”

File: carbon fiber rebar.jpg (84KB, 800x628px) Image search: [Google]

84KB, 800x628px

>>1131702

Don't forget the carbon fiber rebar, that eliminates the problem of rusting steel rebar busting up concrete.

File: snow_hill_tower_by_past1978-d395ezn.jpg (292KB, 774x1032px) Image search: [Google]

292KB, 774x1032px

I have a similar question.

Would building a tower using modern tech be a ridiculous waste of time/money? I have always wanted to live on a tower on top of a hill.

>>1131406

>unless you want hardcore experience,

there's no way people on this board would actually want this... is it?

File: 1449614567967.jpg (93KB, 300x430px) Image search: [Google]

93KB, 300x430px

>>1133720
Is it really a waste of money if it's your dream?
What kind of tower do you have in mind anyway? Medieval style like the pic or do you just want to live in something tall and narrow?
With wood and metal you could build a decent tower relatively cheap but I doubt that's what you were looking for.

>>1133825
Tall, round and narrow. I would want it to be liveable though. A room or two per floor.

Just order a bunch of old containers and make stone veneer outside. Containers are OK because here in Brazil we use them even to build prisons.

File: BC02-h.jpg (289KB, 1214x683px) Image search: [Google]

289KB, 1214x683px

>>1131337
do you have money and land?
pic releted build by a milionair for his son - Castle Marcus

File: 131401-dom-senec-zeleznice-talapka-clanok.jpg (45KB, 470x352px) Image search: [Google]

45KB, 470x352px

>>1131337
or you can be like this asshole wo build it illegal

>>1133335
google for an inflation calculator. The first one i found says it's about 3700 current year dollars

>>1133864
i want basically the same. Never going to be able to afford it though.

>>1131344
>you just need a fuckload of time and a strong back.
and a lot of rock.

>>1131779

I would say a bit of both.

Some of the old cement block construction methods are really inefficient, I believe to prolong the job to make more $$$.

I mean to the point of cupboards having their own slab above the floor slab and the door frames being erected before the blocks and as the blocks went up they rammed a 6inch nail into the frame every other block, the frames were also made of green or purple heart so it's easier to break down a filled block and rebar wall than it is to remove a door frame, trust me, I tried MANY times.

>>1133977
this is called, "the american dream" gubermint literally could not give away land fast enough. now it's all owned or public land so merican dream is ded.

File: Photo0074.jpg (195KB, 640x480px) Image search: [Google]

195KB, 640x480px

Well where I live there are houses made of dry stone, so no mortar at all just stones piled one over the other. Just to make a house like this you need tons of stones, the walls have to be very thick to stand up, and you need a good mason to build it.
I expect building a castle would cost millions of euros considering not only sourcing all the material but the community around it that you need to house and feed.

File: Photo0070.jpg (148KB, 640x480px) Image search: [Google]

148KB, 640x480px

>>1134791
This house is signed 1923 and it's a masterwork the walls are perfectly straight and square

File: Photo0069.jpg (186KB, 640x480px) Image search: [Google]

186KB, 640x480px

>>1134792
Also there was a barn. I lived there three weeks last winter

>>1134779
thats not true at all. there is still plenty of cheap land to be had in the US.

>>1131579

I cant... Does this castle guy seriously think this looks good?

>>1134846
This. I went through his entire website and it only started looking decent like last year. That being said the pattern of cinder block he chose looks awful

That much stone per square foot of weight is going to require you build foundation almost directly onto bedrock or rock ledge if you don't want to risk it sinking or tilting, unless all the stonework is a facade in which case whats the point.

Also you have to make sure you know your foundations frostline. Frozen earth can heave anything right out of the ground no matter how heavy.

File: Castle_Tower_2a_by_Shoofly_Stock.jpg (422KB, 1000x2000px) Image search: [Google]

422KB, 1000x2000px

>>1133720
Funnily enough I had the same idea back a few years ago. I went as far as getting a quote from a contractor that specialized in that sort of thing.

You can save a lot of money in labor and materials if you have the length of the tower as nothing but a stair case and have the living area at a wider buttressed top.

You absolutely cannot undertake a stone tower without a professional, so you are looking at 250-500K for a very modest tower (maybe 50 feet). If you have usable materials on site (field stone mostly) it can save money and transport. You need to build something as dense stacked as a tower on solid rock foundation to be secure.

These days I am more interested in a simple stone cottage where I can do most of the work myself, but if I ever came into an excess of money I might go back over my tower plans.

My dad did some work on this place when I was little. Shit was cash, in the basement it has a pistol range, movie theater, dungeon, and a vault with a big bank door. There were hidden doors behind bookcases and all that stuff. My dad knew the guy, he built it over the course of like 15-20 years and sold it for like $10 million or something like that.

>>1135051

How about I remember to post the link?

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/13085754

>>1133925
what would make building a castle illegal?

>>1131356
>few hundred thousand

Try a few million to a few hundred million

>>1133720
Do it, anon. Build a wizard tower.

>>1135058
>trusting sub-humans to build your castle
>building somewhere where 90% of the project cost is graft
You're doing it wrong.

>>1135029
How feasible would that lil' room that comes off the top of that tower be? I feel like it'd collapse

File: Brasserie-en-zo-07-06-2014-035.jpg (3MB, 3264x2176px) Image search: [Google]

3MB, 3264x2176px

>>1135459
Adding protruding turrets and the like has been done quite often in old castles and towers.

Pic related, not exactly like the other anon's tower but the concept is the same.

File: Hobbit-House-colins-barn-2.jpg (192KB, 1024x768px) Image search: [Google]

192KB, 1024x768px

>>1131337
Yes,

http://www.messynessychic.com/2017/02/22/oh-just-an-abandoned-hobbit-castle-built-for-sheep/

File: 930325bc991cb3e7733ae8aabb621bf8.jpg (738KB, 896x768px) Image search: [Google]

738KB, 896x768px

You could just 3D print a castle, like this guy did.

>>1136441
That looks gay

>>1136477
I agree

If someone on /diy/ wants a Castle we want it to be amazing.