Talk:Sears Modern Homes

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 4 September 2019 and 28 December 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Dbuckmil. Peer reviewers: Belmore1.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 08:50, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Highlights for Did You Know?
Sears Catalog Homeswere ready-to-assemble houses which were sold by mail order by Sears Roebuck and Company. Families could open a catalog, select and visualize their new home, dream, save, and then purchase it. Sears offered mortgage financing, assembly instructions, and guarantees. Shipped via railroad boxcars, many were assembled by the new homeowners and a few friends, relatives, and neighbors, in a fashion similar to traditional barn raisings. Over 100,000 of 447 different models to suit tastes and budgets were sold from 1908-1940.


 * I'd go with either a shortened version of boxcar, or a shortened version of 100k. Something like:


 * ...that Sears Catalog Homes were shipped via railroad boxcars and assembled in a fashion similar to traditional barn raisings?
 * ...that from 1908 to 1940, over 100,000 of the 447 different models for Sears Catalog Homes were sold in the United States?
 * BRIAN 0918   17:55, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)

This page says "Over 70,000 of these were sold in North America between 1908 and 1940" but Sears, Roebuck and Company says "In 1908, the company began ... and by the time the program ended in 1940, over 100,000 had been sold". Should this inconsistency be rectified? AdamFunk (talk) 13:31, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Yes, Adam, that count should be rectified. The actual numbers appear to be about 60,000-65,000. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.53.215.159 (talk) 10:20, 10 March 2015 (UTC)

Renaming
I'm thinking this article should be moved, unless "Sears Catalog Homes" was the actual name of the division, in which case that should be clarified in the lead section. If not, the article should definitely be moved to a singular (eg "home"), possibly lowercasing Catalog and Home, and replacing "home" with "house".... Maybe it would be easiest to simply move the article to "Sears Modern Homes", which, according to the article, is what they were sold as (although you might still replace Homes with home/house, and Sears with Sears, Roebuck) --  BRIAN  0918   17:55, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Also, the lead section needs to be shortened. Maybe its contents can be implemented in the proper places later in the article. -- BRIAN  0918   18:30, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)

OK:

1. I will work on the lead. 2. I think that shortened to singular Sears Catalog Home best fits current terminology and WP naming conventions. 3. the second blurb above for DUI is better than the first. Method of shipping and erecting isn't as significant as how many and when. 4. The Roebuck part of the name works fine explained in the article, the shorter Sears is the naming convention used in other WP articles, and by the subject itself in modern times.

Vaoverland 20:15, Mar 1, 2005 (UTC)


 * Sounds good. I'll submit the 2nd one to DYK. --  BRIAN  0918   20:20, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Inflation adjusted prices
The figures are from the calculator at: http://www.westegg.com/inflation/ which is largely based on the Consumer Price Index. There are other ways of measuring inflation however and maybe this is not the best for houses? It's better than nothing for now at least. I rounded to the nearest 100. Espermike 07:32, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Asphalt burns.
Asphalt had the added incentive of being fireproof. Asphalt, being a petroleum product, burns quite well

Thanks, I deleted the sentence in question. Vaoverland 00:40, Mar 6, 2005 (UTC)

Photo?
It would be great if someone could take a picture of a still standing SCH for this article... --Jfruh (talk) 19:47, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

I'm in the process of finding some photos or, if need be, taking some myself.Studiofox 00:04, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

I just added one, located in Diaz Creek along route 47.Wikited (talk) 01:31, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

GA Re-Review and In-line citations
Members of the WikiProject Good articles are in the process of doing a re-review of current Good Article listings to ensure compliance with the standards of the Good Article Criteria. (Discussion of the changes and re-review can be found here). A significant change to the GA criteria is the mandatory use of some sort of in-line citation (In accordance to WP:CITE) to be used in order for an article to pass the verification and reference criteria. Currently this article does not include in-line citations. It is recommended that the article's editors take a look at the inclusion of in-line citations as well as how the article stacks up against the rest of the Good Article criteria. GA reviewers will give you at least a week's time from the date of this notice to work on the in-line citations before doing a full re-review and deciding if the article still merits being considered a Good Article or would need to be de-listed. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us on the Good Article project talk page or you may contact me personally. On behalf of the Good Articles Project, I want to thank you for all the time and effort that you have put into working on this article and improving the overall quality of the Wikipedia project. --- The Bethling (Talk) 22:50, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

Good article review
This article is currently at Good Article Review. Teemu08 00:37, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Blueprints
Does anyone know where original blueprints for these homes can be found? Is there an archive somewhere on the Internet that could be included in the external links section? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.204.204.89 (talk) 14:43, 22 September 2012 (UTC)

Sears house blueprints are very rare and none are available online, unforunately. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.53.215.159 (talk) 10:22, 10 March 2015 (UTC)

Ann Arbor Kit Homes
Wikipedia editors deleted the Wiki page that documented the number of kit homes in Ann Arbor. If you undo the edit again, I'll simply remove the number and placehold it with a note indicating why there's no number.Kithousefans (talk) 21:16, 15 October 2013 (UTC)

Date range?
"Any homes built before 1908, or after 1942, cannot be a Sears Catalog home."

This kind of categorical assertion strikes me as odd. What if the kit was purchased in 1942 or before, but not built until after that year? The construction date would be the date of completion, rather than the date the materials were purchased, wouldn't it? It seems safer to say it's not likely to be a Sears Catalog home after 1942, rather than the absolute claim here.

Chrisahavel (talk) 18:17, 1 June 2019 (UTC)

Requested move 28 December 2019

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion. 

The result of the move request was: moved as requested per the discussion below. Dekimasu よ! 15:55, 6 January 2020 (UTC)

Sears Catalog Home → Sears Modern Homes – "Sears Modern Homes" was the brand name that Sears Roebuck used for their homes sold through mail order catalog as well as through retail stores and Modern Homes salespersons. The name more accurately reflects the extent of homes that were sold as they were not limited to just the homes sold through the mail order catalog. Kithousefans (talk) 05:45, 28 December 2019 (UTC) —Relisting. qedk (t 桜 c) 17:16, 4 January 2020 (UTC)


 * Support - given that not all these houses were sold via catalog, "Sears Modern Homes" seems like the more accurate title. Korny O&#39;Near (talk) 04:59, 6 January 2020 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

External links to add
Starting this discussion on behalf of. I'm summarizing his case below.

He has tried to add two external links to the Sears Modern Homes wikipedia page, and the Kit House articles. Sears House Seeker and Kit House Hunters

These are not commercial sites, are ad free, and only serve to add to the understanding of the subject. They are similar to external links that are already there. He requests that they be reviewed to see if they can stand. TimTempleton (talk) (cont)  01:32, 26 June 2020 (UTC)

External link
Suggesting the addition of the following article on the history of Sears houses under External Links. (I am an editor with the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, which published the article in its magazine, Econ Focus.)


 * “The House Is in the Mail: 'Kit homes' from Sears and others were an affordable housing option” Econ Focus, Second/Third Quarter 2019

7/19/2020 update: My new user name is EditorMax of RichmondFR. — Preceding unsigned comment added by EditorMax of RichmondFR (talk • contribs) 02:03, 20 July 2020 (UTC)

RichmondFedEditor (talk) 21:34, 10 July 2020 (UTC)


 * Yes check.svg Done --Bsherr (talk) 19:06, 5 August 2020 (UTC)