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.

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 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!

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 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.

The story of the Lustron home is one that has always intrigued me. Unfortunately, this video didn’t even do much to answer it’s own question in the title, nor get into much else that could’ve made it a very interesting exploration of this unique housing approach.

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.

I'm surprised that you never mention how the house handled weather, temperatures and how people felt inside them. No lightnings or electrocuting issues? And was it resource effective? I don't know how much steel there was at time. Its a rather intriguing design! I would definitely put everything on magnets :D

In the late 1940s my family lived on Stanford Avenue in North Dallas. We kids were excited to see a strange new house being assembled on the next street over, Amherst. I can remember the hoopla about it being fireproof and maintenance free. Almost all of the post-WWII houses in that neighborhood have been replaced by larger and quite expensive houses, but I recently drove through the old neighborhood, and there was the Lustron yellow house, looking exactly as it had in 1949. Edit: Just checked Dallas property tax site, that tiny house is now valued at $592,000. It is sitting on some very desirable ground.

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.

Oddly enough, I would not mind living in one of these. There's something about that retro look that I love. Mid-century houses have a distinct feel about them.

Our family lived in a "steel house" in a Chicago suburb that had originally been built for the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago. Unlike the Lustron houses, this one did not have steel interior walls, just sheetrock. There was a srainless steel fireplace surround and several steel enameled lighting fixtures. My father always said it was built like a fortress.

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!

I’ve seen tons of these across my home state of Indiana and always noticed they were different and quirky but never understood why. This video gives me a whole new appreciation for homes that I never knew were so special!