== Introduction ==
One of the first questions asked in the kingdom chat is "How can I build a house?". The answer is quite long, so a this guide has been set up to help new players, which is here. This guide should provide the information you need to construct a your first house. If you are new then , before you decide to build you may want to make sure you have properly planned your location and other things, in order to avoid unneeded frustration. See [[House Planning Guide]].
To construct your house, you will need:
* A [[Digging|flat]] area of ground.
* A [[mallet]] or an [[Iron Hammer|iron hammer]] (Higher Quality higher quality = faster build)
* 20 [[planks]] for each wall you build.
* 1 [[Large Nails|large nail]] for each wall you build.
This house would now be classed as "considered finished" and would be secure, but it does not have a '''floor''' and '''roof'''. To make these (from wood as it is easiest) you will need:
* The mallet or hammer you made the walls with.
* 4 [[small nails]] for the roof and floor.
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.
For towns, however, it is considered to be rude to build with 50 to 100 tiles of the town if you do not have the permission of said town. Doing so can cause conflict and even hostility from a large group of players. It is always best to seek permission, and if declined, do not worry, there are more places to settle.
== 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 completely 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 '''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 . Activate your [[:Category:axes | axehatchet]] 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 or overaged 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 hatchet 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 24kg). Next you will need to chop up your felled tree in smaller pieces and thus create logs. Right -click on the felled tree while you have your axe hatchet activated and select "'''chop up", now '''. Now pick up the log and we will go on to planking planks and creating the mallet.
== Creating planks ==
Planking Creating planks is just as simple as any other action in Wurm, which is lucky since you will need a lot of planks to build your house, : 20 for every each 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). Planks You can be failed when you try to create themfail at creating planks at any carpentry level, 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 ==
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]] s 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 an unfinished one.
== Iron ==
Next up is [[iron lump|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. Iron is the most commonly occurring ore in Wurm, but it can be a challenge to find. You may have to search through a lot of rock tiles before you manage to find an iron mine - but [[prospecting]] can help narrow down your search.
'''If you are unlucky with finding an [[Iron Vein|iron vein]]''' you can also [[Foraging|rummage]] many rock tiles and collect the [[iron rock]]s which weigh 3kg and give 0.2kg of iron when melted. This is not much but may be enough to make the nails needed for building the house. This method is very useful for those without a public mine to use, or those who do not want to start a mine. You can easily get enough iron for your entire house, but it will be low quality nails.
This way can also be a lot faster if you only need a low amount of iron and have many rock tiles around but no premade mine or luck with [[prospecting]] any iron.
[[Prospecting]] for iron. When you prospect a rock tile it show all ore veins within a 7x7 area, you . 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 approximately 60 times, all further tiles inside the cave take around 50. After your you are two tiles in , you can start mining at different angles (up, forward, or down). Only the last action will decide which angle the mined tile will be, so once you receive the message 'the wall will break soon' start mining up, mining down or mining forward. There are many methods of building a cave, one of the most thorough method is to make your main shaft about 10 tiles long, then mine side shafts every other tile going in both directions.
When you have found your precious [[iron vein]], it's time to start mining it to get to the ore. The "'''mine" ''' option is also found in the "mining" '''mine''' 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 hatchet "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 campfire, it's time to get smelting! Right -click on your camp-fire campfire and "open" it, drag the ore from your inventory to the camp-fires campfire's inventory. Next there's waiting - lots of it. <em>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!</em> 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 . Once it reaches "''glowing hot" '', you are very close to get your [[Iron Lumpiron lump]]. When the ore has smelted , it is replaced by a 1kg [[Iron Lumpiron lump]] in the camp-fire, you campfire. You will need at least 2kg for the next step.
== Iron Anvil ==
The [[Small Anvilsmall anvil]] is a crucial tool in Wurm and this is what you will create now. Get your 2x1two 1.0kg [[iron lump]] lumps from the camp-fire, campfire (they have to be glowing hot for this to work) and activate . 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]]iron lump, again choose create and pick iron small anvil. If you are lucky you will pull this off at the first try, so just repeat until you have your anvil.
== Nails ==
Nails! This is what you need to keep your house together, large iron nails. Pick up a [[Iron Lump]] iron lump of at least 0.3kg and activate it, right -click on your anvil and create, tools, large 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. You'll also need 2 [[small nails]] for the floor and one [[small nails]] for the roof.
== 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; selecting ''Plan building'' on a planned tile will remove it from the plan. When you're satisfied with your building shape, right click on it and select ''Finalize building''.
(to be able to plan more than 1 house, you either have to wait for server reset, or finish the first floor walls of the current plan)
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.
The majority of the work is now over. You now need to add a roof and a floor to your house. Right-click the ground with your mallet activated and click "plan floor," then right-click the ground again and click "plan roof." Then right-click each plan with your mallet activated and plan a type of floor and roof. A [[Wooden plank floor]] is probably easiest along with a [[Wood shingle roof]]. You'll need 3 [[small nails]] and about 15 [[planks|planks]] (some of which will need to be carved into [[wood shingle]]s to complete both the floor and the roof.
=== Inner walls ===