I watched one vlog here. A year of living in a modular house in a Ukrainian village. Two people, 60 acres, a bunch of mistakes and a few numbers. I pulled out the bare essence from there so that you don't have illusions if you suddenly feel like living closer to the ground.
People on the Internet love to read about construction technologies. They write from smartphones that we should build as our grandfathers taught us, from bricks to the ages. A delusion. The essence of a modular house comes down to a simple deal: they bring you a ready-made box, but you pay all the money at once. There are no lifelong installments and an eternal construction site.
But before that box arrives, you'll go through bureaucratic purgatory. Cutting off the gas from an old house and reconnecting the electricity takes months. Demolishing the ruins takes at least a week, and that's if you hire people and don't swing a sledgehammer yourself.
Now about what becomes clear only after the first winter.
Foundation and livestock. Concrete columns are a bad idea. You need to get more expensive metal geo-screws, and cover the ground under the house with crushed stone. Otherwise, moles will hang out there, mice will settle in their holes, which will then find their way up the wall into your bedroom. They covered the crushed stone – the mice disappeared.
Panoramic windows. Everyone wants them after seeing so many pictures. In practice, the huge windows would have to be reduced by half now. In summer, they let in too much sun, in winter — zero benefit, they are constantly half-closed. Common sense says: windows in a small house should be narrow, but on each wall. We leave the transparent doors, the rest — cut.
Electricity in the era of blackouts. The wiring must be done in three circuits at once. This is not a whim, this is survival. The first is critical (refrigerator, Internet, light). It goes to the charging station. The second is medium (water pump, sockets). To the generator. The third is heavyweights (heated floor, boiler). Only from the network. This must be done at the design stage. No one will redo the panel when you are already living.
Equipment. Don't buy an empty house. Self-assembly of a kitchen from IKEA cost the heroes of the video 700 bucks and a week of assembly with sawing. A factory kitchen from the house manufacturer would cost 500 dollars and zero time spent. The same with drainage. Two days in the cold with pipes minus 6500 UAH from pocket.
Water and frost. You need to put a filter on the water right away. Then fine silt appears in the water, and it is difficult to break into the finished system. But these are trifles compared to frozen pipes. We left home in February, left the heating at +10. The pipe on the street froze, because in the summer we were too lazy to throw a heating cable on it. Now we have to wait for the heat and dig up the site.
Numbers. Heating — underfloor heating and a convector. In the summer, utilities cost up to UAH 1,000. In the coldest months of winter — UAH 3,500. Fiber optic — UAH 249. Septic tanks have not been pumped out in a year. By the way, if you have a septic tank — forget about the bath. Only a shower. Otherwise, you will work exclusively to pay the sewer workers.
Yard. Without gravel and concrete, you will be kneading mud. We ordered 5 tons of gravel for 6,000 UAH — it stupidly went underground in four months. We need at least 10-15 tons more. We poured concrete into the yard, and the main thrill turned out to be not aesthetics. We just finally don't have to look under our feet.
Share
Subscribe to UkrMedia on Telegram.
⚡ Readers' Pulse
A ready-made modular box or a capital brick “for the ages” – what would you bet your money on?
1 person has already voted. Join the discussion.
🏠 For a modular home 🧱 Only a solid foundation 🧐 I have a different plan
☝️ First choose your position
✏️ Write a comment
📊 Mind map
🏠 For a modular house 0% 🧱 Only a reliable foundation 100% 🧐 I have a different plan 0%
Comments
First, new ones ↕ Bearded Pike 🧱 Only a reliable foundation 05/17/2026 15:25 I think a reasonable reconstruction of the old house would be much cheaper and more practical. However, women who have seen enough of Instagram have already formed their own picture of the “ideal” apartment, and the decision has already been made + Reply