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I have been thinking about buying a nice plot of land and building my own house or fixing up a barn.
i need some serious education on the subject.
i have no experience in building at all.
some ideas that appeal to me are tire bale, straw bale, log cabin (using my own trees), maybe packed earth. i am not really obsessed with green, it just turns out that my vision has a lot in common with green philosophy.
actually my main goal would be to be close to nature, and save as much money as possible in the build. i have seen some of these earthships and green communities... when you look at the numbers some of these people have spent fortunes of money just to be in in the green aesthetic. not for me.
i would love to get some rough numbers on how much it costs in labor and cash to build a decent livebable structure. let's say 800- 1500 sf. square footage really appeals to me, not that i would use it all or heat it, but it's nice to have it.
i am also interested in just plopping down an airstream on some nice land and seeing if this would fit the bill. not sure if this would fly in the northern parts though.
are there lax building codes for non living structures? say you just build a very small place for sleeping and cooking, and then a larger place for 'work' where you actually spend most of your indoor time.
i have been reading up on sand point wells, composting toilets, solar cookers.
any and all thoughts very much appreciated.
the first thing i have to do is decide on the region. the northeast is really beuatiful, but the severe cold makes me more than a bit scared.
the next choice would be the mid/south say like eastern tennessee, western va, northern ga. the ideal land would be lots of old hardwood trees with some flat farmland as well.
i am in a position financially where i have enough to live on monthly if i live very modestly so i dont need to be so close to an urban area. but it would be nice to have some access to a small or medium town for supplies and other towny things.
Living in a homemade cabin may sound like an awesome idea, but its probably harder than you think.
Its not easy giving up modern day stuff, and thats probably what you're going to have to do. No TV, no electricity, etc.
This is where building could start to get expensive. Electricity means hiring a licensed contractor, it means inspections, it means lots of things. You can't just DIY when it comes to electrical work.
Building a structure to live and sleep in isn't all that hard. Just about anyone, with enough time and drive can do it. But it sounds like the type of life you are looking for, is going to cost more than what you think.
Thats why all those folks you talked about earlier spend so much money. They want to live in one with nature, but they don't want to give up their modern day appliances to do it.
yes this is a tougher problem than i thought. i have at least ruled out dry climates. don't like them. i looove the northeast, but the cold.
never lived in the south so far. not really interested in the middle of the country. maybe i'm biased but so be it.
west coast is quite expensive, though some places in north cal are actually affordable due to the recession. pleasant problem but adding to the confusion.
i forgot to mention i definitely do want electricity. if it were a pole right at the property i could just use an extension cord to a trailer. i know it gets infinitely more complicated with building and inspectors. but i do want to keep this as simple and cost effective as possible or else what's the point, ill just buy a regular house. which is still in consideration. but... i've thought about regular houses a lot. and most of what is in them i really dont want to pay for. i could easily do indoor finishing work myself, tiles, frame walls, etc. so i came to the conclusion that i'd most like my money to go into land/nature than house.
i guess having public water/sewer right on the property and hooking up to a trailer would be the fastest route. but eventually i'd want to be building a work space.
i have no illusions thinking this will be easy to build myself, that's why i'm trying to keep learning as much as i can. anyone want to recommend books?
so back to where.. i guess it's a circular problem, because where sort of depends on how much i can afford to build with and keep a place nice and cozy in the winter. the passive solar design seems like the best and easiest thing to do so far unless someone else has better suggestions. i'd also be using wood fired ceramic heaters or stoves. maybe a backup propane furnace too.
the main problems in the north are frozen pipes in the winter and extra money/effort to build something well insulated. also i think it is quite cold in trailers when it's super cold outside, so building or living in the winter is a big problem.
the only thing that makes me second guess the south is the humid summer, and maybe bugs.
log cabins seem to me the hardest thing to build as compared with straw bale or tire bale. i am sort of fixated on tire bale at the moment because it seems the simplest way to get walls up.
I have been thinking about buying a nice plot of land and building my own house or fixing up a barn.
We have had friends who have done that. We tried to learn from them, and eventually we bought our own land and are in the process now of building our own farm.
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some ideas that appeal to me are tire bale, straw bale, log cabin (using my own trees), maybe packed earth.
I have helped folks to make each.
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... i am not really obsessed with green, it just turns out that my vision has a lot in common with green philosophy.
Same here.
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... actually my main goal would be to be close to nature, and save as much money as possible in the build. i have seen some of these earthships and green communities... when you look at the numbers some of these people have spent fortunes of money just to be in in the green aesthetic. not for me.
i would love to get some rough numbers on how much it costs in labor and cash to build a decent livebable structure. let's say 800- 1500 sf. square footage really appeals to me, not that i would use it all or heat it, but it's nice to have it.
i am also interested in just plopping down an airstream on some nice land and seeing if this would fit the bill. not sure if this would fly in the northern parts though.
are there lax building codes for non living structures? say you just build a very small place for sleeping and cooking, and then a larger place for 'work' where you actually spend most of your indoor time.
That depends a great deal on the location.
Quote:
... i have been reading up on sand point wells, composting toilets, solar cookers.
any and all thoughts very much appreciated.
the first thing i have to do is decide on the region. the northeast is really beuatiful, but the severe cold makes me more than a bit scared.
Maine has a very negative reputation.
Last winter was the coldest that we have had in the 4 years since we moved to Maine. We burned through 3 1/2 cords of wood.
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... i am in a position financially where i have enough to live on monthly if i live very modestly so i dont need to be so close to an urban area. but it would be nice to have some access to a small or medium town for supplies and other towny things.
Rural is cheaper, we found a location where we are rural and yet 20 minutes from a city.
... This is where building could start to get expensive. Electricity means hiring a licensed contractor, it means inspections, it means lots of things. You can't just DIY when it comes to electrical work.
In an urban environment you are correct.
Where we settled the exact opposite is true.
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Building a structure to live and sleep in isn't all that hard. Just about anyone, with enough time and drive can do it. But it sounds like the type of life you are looking for, is going to cost more than what you think.
Thats why all those folks you talked about earlier spend so much money. They want to live in one with nature, but they don't want to give up their modern day appliances to do it.
We are working on a compromise between these two ideals.
In a dense forest, with a house that has large windows on three sides, so you always have a 120degree view of forest around you. Our goats, sheep, hogs and chickens live under the forest canopy.
If you're going to the Northeast and cheap is your concern park yourself somewhere near Northeastern Pennsylvania and you can use a hand fired coal stove for heat. No electricity required and with a proper setup you can get it to naturally circulate. Actrually be quite comfortable with it, 2000 sq. ft is walk in the park and cost for fuel for a house that size would start out at less than $1K per year and that's heating it comfortably.
Locally coal is considerably cheaper than wood at market value and certainly much easier to use.
I know what you're thinking, Coal? Well yes, anthracite coal used for home heating is different animal than soft coal used for electricity. Much cleaner and very little work. That's why you always hear about European cities being cloaked in a black smog at the turn of the century but never heard of the same issues in Eastern US cities, it's because they were using anthracite. It's "smokeless" I posted topic here if you're interested:
yes this is a tougher problem than i thought. i have at least ruled out dry climates. don't like them. i looove the northeast, but the cold.
I grew up farming. I hate droughts.
Dry areas are subject to droughts. Droughts mean that nothing grows, and you deal with fires. Bah.
Give me wet.
As for cold / hot; I prefer cold.
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... i forgot to mention i definitely do want electricity. if it were a pole right at the property i could just use an extension cord to a trailer.
Lots of folks are off-grid and still have electricity.
We are on-grid, though we have neighbors who are off-grid.
We have discussed going off-grid many times, and we may in the future. But for now, electricity is cheap, and the expense of setting up a system to generate power is really high.
But what I am saying is don't get into the mind set that off-gird means no electricity.
That is pretty good, let me guess.... 1000 sq. foot, 6 inch walls and insulated very well. Am I right?
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thanks
