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== Introduction ==
Often, one of the first questions a new player asks in [[Jenn-Kellon]] chat is 'How do I build a house?'. The answer is quite long and so has been documented here. This guide should provide the information you need to construct a house.

To plan and build a house, you will need:
* A [[Digging|flat]] area of ground.
* A [[mallet]] or an [[Iron Hammer]].
* 20 [[planks]] per wall.
* 1 [[Large Nails]] per wall.


Note: The maximum size of your house is determined by your [[Carpentry]] skill. The formula seems to be:

<center>''(total number of floor tiles) + (total number of wall sections) = carpentry skill required''</center>


So for a 2x2 house you would need:

<center>''(4 floor tiles) + (8 wall sections) = carpentry skill of 12''</center>

A helpful tool to use in planning buildings is [http://www.vxart.de/wurmonline/housecalc.jnlp HouseCalc 2] by [[User:Liphos|Liphos]].

If you are in a [[village]], you may be able to persuade someone with high carpentry skill to plan your house and then hand over the [[writ]].

== Finding a Location ==
When you think you are ready to make your first house, the first thing you are going to need is a suitable place to do so. Bear in mind that you will want some basic resources nearby such as water, trees, and exposed rock for making a mine tunnel. Now that you have wandered around a little, if you believe you have found "The Spot" take a moment to check your local chat for other people. If no one is around, try to check around at least 30 tiles in every direction for existing houses and settlements. If you do find some sign of a settlement it is considered proper etiquette to contact the owner before beginning construction. While the established player does not own anything outside their deeded area, building on someone's doorstep is considered very rude. Normally, an established player will ask you to not build close, and may guide you to a location that is just as nice or better nearby. A good relationship with your neighbours improves everyone's experience in Wurm, and helps avoid misunderstandings.

== Flattening the ground ==
After you find a suitable location you normally need to prepare the area. Before you plan your house the ground needs to be relatively flat. In order to flatten the ground "activate" your [[shovel]] by double clicking on it. Then right click on the ground where you want the house. This should display a menu with a Flatten option. Select flatten and you will do just that. Note that flattening affects the eight tiles around the tile you flatten. If you do not have enough skill to flatten the exact spot you can dig dirt from nearby and drop it on the tiles to bring it closer to level. See also [[digging]].

== Woodcutting == 
For the [[planks]] and [[mallet]] you'll need to get some lumber - this is easy - activate your [[:Category:axes | axe]] and go to the nearest [[:Category:Trees|tree]]. It's a good idea to right click the tree and "examine" it before you decide to chop it down, as only very old trees will provide a good amount of lumber. When you have found a tree that you are happy with simply right click it while your axe is activated and choose "cut down". You will need to do this multiple times before the tree is felled. Once it does fall you will see a felled tree on the ground (or just a log if the weight of the tree was below or exactly 25kg). Next you will need to cut up your felled tree in smaller pieces and thus create logs. Right click on the felled tree while you have your axe activated and select "chop up", now pick up the log and we will go on to planking and creating the mallet.

== Creating planks ==
Planking is just as simple as any other action in Wurm, which is lucky since you will need
alot of planks to build your house, 20 for every wall actually. To make planks you activate 
your saw (starting to see the logic yet?) and right click on your log, choose "create" and then "weapons" and "plank" in the sub-menu of create (plank being in the sub-menu of weapons). This is where you WILL start going wrong, planks can be failed and when you do you will only produce wood scraps, be patient with this because it will happen a lot - it's completely normal. Repeat the
log cutting and plank-making to create the amount of planks you need for the amount of walls you have.

== Creating the mallet == 
If you fail in any of the following steps and create a wood scrap instead of the item, just start over and try again. Equip your [[Carving Knife]], right click the [[Log]] in your [[inventory]] and select Create/Weapons/Shaft. Do this twice. Then right click one of the [[shaft]] in your [[inventory]] and select Create/Miscellaneous/Mallet Head. Equip the [[Mallet Head]] and right-click the shaft, and select Create/Tools/Mallet. If all succeeded, you now have either a mallet or an unfinished mallet. If you have an unfinished one, you can try finishing it (examine it to see what it needs) or create a new one. There's a 20% chance that you'll create a finished one. 

== Iron ==
Next up is [[iron]], this is the hardest part. 

To find iron activate your pickaxe, right click on a tile that says "rock" and choose "prospect" from the "mining" sub-menu. Finding iron is very difficult and you may have to search through hundreds of rock tiles before you manage to find an iron mine - its basically complete luck.

[[Prospecting]] for Iron.  When you prospect a rock tile it show all ore veins within a 7x7 area, you can use this to approximate the location of the ever elusive Iron Vein.  Once you get the message there is iron nearby you can start to tunnel for it.  The first rock tile will break after mining it approx 60 times, all further tiles inside the cave take around 50.  After your two tiles in you can start mining at different angles, well up or down anyway.  Once you receive the message 'the wall will break soon' start mining up, mining down or mining(will go level) and your cave will go up, down or level.  There are many methods of building a cave, one of the most thorough methods is to make your main shaft about 10 tiles long, then mine side shafts every other tile going in both directions.

Well, when you have found your precious iron vein, it's time to start mining it to get to the ore. The "mine" options is also found in the "mining" sub-menu. Each mining action will deliver 20kg ore. You'll want to get to the iron inside the rock of these ores so you will have to smelt them. You do this by getting yourself another of those fancy logs and with your axe "create" a [[kindling]] from it. Once you have this little nifty piece of wood you select your steel and flint, right click on the kindling and create a [[campfire]] with it (its under the container sub-menu). Now that you have your camp-fire its time to get smelting! Right click on your camp-fire and "open" it, drag the ore from your inventory to the camp-fires inventory. Next there's waiting - lots of it. MAKE SURE TO FEED THE FIRE WITH WOOD, OTHERWISE THE FLAMES WILL GO OUT AND YOU WILL HAVE TO START THE SMELTING PROCESS OVER FROM SCRATCH! I suggest you mine more ore while you do this but of course if you want to idle you can do that too. Right click on the ore and examine it to check how hot it is, once it reaches "glowing hot" you are very close to get your [[Iron Lump]]. When the ore has smelted it is replaced by a 1kg [[Iron Lump]] in the camp-fire, you will need at least 2kg for the next step.

== Iron Anvil ==
The [[Small Anvil]] is a crucial tool in Wurm and this is what you will create now. Get your 2 1.0kg [[Iron Lump]] from the camp-fire, (they have to be glowing hot for this to work) and activate one of them, right click on the other and choose combine. Activate the mallet you made earlier and right click on the 2kg [[Iron Lump]], again choose create and pick iron anvil. If you are extremely lucky you will pull this off at the first try, if you don't put your [[iron scrap]]s in the fire and let them smelt again so they can become [[Iron Lump]] once more (this take a long time though, so rather mine you some more ore and smelt it up). Repeat until you have your anvil.

Note: To reheat scraps they need to be below glowing hot (anything except glowing) before putting them back into the fire, the best time is when they cool down to searing hot (the one below glowing).

== Nails == 
Nails! This is what you need to keep your house together, large iron nails. Pick up a [[Iron Lump]] of at least 0.3kg and activate it, right click on your anvil and create, tools, large iron nails. When you succeed with this you will get a handful of [[Large Nails]], you'll need one of these handfuls per wall of your house.

== Planning the house ==
For every tile your house will occupy, you'll need 1 carpentry skill. Also, for every wall you'll have you'll need 1 carpentry skill. So if you want to build a 1x1 house (the smallest house possible), you'll need 5 carpentry (4 walls, and 1 tile). To plan the house, go to your flattened piece of land, activate your mallet and right-click a tile, and select 'Plan building'. You can plan
additional (adjacent) tiles in the same way. When you're satisfied with your building shape, right click on it and select 'Finalize building'. 

== Building the house ==
Finally we can start to actually build the house. Activate your mallet and make sure you have at least one handful of large nails and a plank in your inventory, right click on a side of your house and select build, pick door, wall or window after your choice (remember that you need a door to be able to enter the house though) repeat this on all the walls. Next you will have to pick up
more planks and continue to build, 19 more times on every wall to be exact since they all need 20 planks total.

When this is done so is your house, w00t!

== Repairing your house ==
Your house walls may become damaged in time by decay, or can be damaged by someone trying to break into your house. To see the damage on one of your walls, right click the wall and select examine. This will display [[quality]] and [[damage]] of the wall. <br> <br>

To repair your house walls, activate a [[plank]], right-click your house wall, and select '''repair'''. Success rate depends on your [[repairing]] skill. Failure results in losing the plank. 

== Improving your house ==
The higher the [[quality]] of your walls, the slower they [[decay]], and the harder it is to break them for an attacker. To see the quality of one of your walls, right click the wall and select examine. This will display [[quality]] and [[damage]] of the wall. <strong>Tip:</strong> <br> <br>

To improve your house walls, activate a [[Plank]], right-click your house wall, and select '''Improve'''. Success and amount of improvement depends on your [[carpentry]] skill.<br>


== Managing your Writ/Securing your Home ==

A [[Writ of Ownership|Writ]] will appear in your [[inventory]] the moment you click 'Finalize Building' (They cannot be dropped, even if you die, but can be traded). Writs are used to control who has access to your home/building, lock and unlock doors, and rename the building.  Add other players to your friends list, and they will appear on your Writ management screen. To allow access, simply select them as guests. :)

Writs also act as keys for any [[Door Lock|Door]]s on your home/building.

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