Why people thought steel houses were a good idea

Lustron fan sites abound, including the Lustron Locator, which lets you find the possible location of Lustron homes near you: www.lustronlocator.com/ Thanks for watching!

I always wondered why in Fallout 4, the houses where made like this, they literally looked just like this. The researchers really did their work.

Oh man. Those cuts from Phil standing in different spots in the house to the same perspective in the ad images are so good! It helps show how difficult these homes were to modify.

You can clearly see the influence these houses had on the homes featured in the fallout game series. Particularly Fallout 4.

I was a little disappointed thee wasn’t more info on perks or downsides for the resident/consumer. Were they warmer in the summer and cooler in the winter than a normal home, etc.

I feel that this could have been a better video... Maybe if they would have focused on the actual house more, from living perspectives, maintenance, a few more technical details, drawbacks and advantages... The subject seems very interesting and thats why it could have made for a better video!

I have a couple of customers with steel homes. Their biggest complaint is that, they have no cell reception. The house actually acts as a massive Faraday cage.

Steel is still very popular for framing, siding, roofing since it is durable, uniform and recyclable. They are actually making a come back due to rising timber and concrete prices. Lustron's mistake was trying to make everything in the house in steel including fixtures.

If they did a story on a 2022 start-up making modern, pre-fab, micro homes for $100k each ($8,500 in 1950 money) and the company sold 2,500 of them in 2 years it would be called a massive success.

I never knew this was a thing; steel homes… I am more curious about the acoustics and thermals.

I live in a Lustron Newport---the last model Lustron manufactured. It's only a 2 bed/1 bath and 713 square feet, but it is truly amazing! There really isn't any wasted space. It didn't come with the built-in furniture features of the earlier models. I had a carpenter installing flooring in my house and he was stunned to see that there was less than 3/8" movement on the 70-year-old home from one end to the other (which is unheard of in wood homes). The Newport model also came with a different heating system (a gas furnace). Unfortunately, only 24 Lustron Newports were every manufactured. I have no idea how many remain. I know it is less than 20. The house is very low maintenance and nearly indestructible. It has easily handled tennis ball sized hail! Thanks for the video!

I have worked on one of these homes before as an electrician. Makes you wish every house came with a manual like the Lustron homes.

This looks like the house from Fallout 4! Since "steel house" is exactly the sorta whacky retro-futuristic thing the Fallout series goes for, I can see why they used this style of building as inspiration!

"Why people thought steel houses were a good idea" So why did people think they were a good idea? What was the benefit of a steel house? What was it like to live in one, and what were the differences from a regular home?

Steel houses in the U.S. may be forgotten and failed, However it’s still amazingly interesting how much different infrastructure veers from all around the globe and how houses and buildings all have a unique feeling too them depending on the place.

I lived in a Lustron home in Parma, Ohio for about twenty years. My son was confused when he went into other homes and tried putting magnets on the walls! It had its problems. The casters on the sliding doors wore out so opening cupboards and closets became a chore. It was certainly a curiosity.

I’m playing Fallout 4 right now (again). I gotta take back some criticisms I made previously. I mean, the lighting is still horrible, but they nailed the vibe of these metal houses perfectly. Thanks for the history lesson!

The fact that you are sitting in a Lustron home in 2022 means they didn't "fail". They just didn't achieve the goals they thought they would. I bet with the right modifications, something like this would fly today, especially given the movement toward tiny, do it yourself homes that some have embraced. The fact that they were able to take the home apart and put it back together using the manual says a lot.

@vox if you're ever in the UK it might be worth doing a companion piece on Britain's post-WW2 pre-fabricated houses. More than a million 'Prefabs' were built to replace housing stock lost in bombings, and while they were only intended to that 10 years, many of them are still standing.

As someone who's been through the nightmare of toxic mold illness and trying to find a home that doesn't rot from the slightest water damage like most paper homes today, these steel houses look heavenly.