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Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,690 posts, read 57,994,855 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RME40
I wanna live off-grid as well. However, I don't know where to begin and I don't know if its possible in WA State.
You are in a state that has GREAT off grid options / support / legislation, and if you are grid tied.... the utility must pay you RETAIL for power you sell back!
There are plenty of counties that are pretty remote and welcoming new residents for the increase in tax base. Jobs tend to quite scarce. You may need a well....septic system....and solar power. May not be cheap.
I love solar power when I'm not having any issues. Getting set up is expensive. Batteries are expensive. The other electronics tend to last 4-8 years. We have all been waiting for a break through in battery technology since forever.
Neighbors can make or break an off grid living experience. Could get a good Samaritan. Could get a lawless vulture.
I like country living a lot. I need a little more income and jobs are very scarce.
Hopefully, avoiding the fines would take care of health and safety, too.
You were describing building a death trap. Amateurs who know nothing about construction do that all the time. I know of one guy who bootlegged a couple of bedrooms into his garage, but he didn't want to get a permit, so didn't change the outside of the house by adding doors or windows. When the house caught on fire, his teenage daughters were trapped in the bedrooms. When the fire department arrived they could still hear the girls screaming, but by the time they got the chainsaw out and cut through the walls the kids were dead.
The building code requires every habitable space to have emergency egress to the outside. You cannot have an exiting path that goes through another room, because that room might be on fire. If you have a basement wall, it's a great place to put a pantry, furnace room, laundry or bathroom, but not a bedroom or family room. It's why daylight (walk-out) basements are so popular. You can stick the utilities on the back wall and the front walls are safe living space.
Death trap...amateurs...bootlegged...fire...teenage daughters...fire department...girls screaming...kids were dead...building codes...emergency egress...fire...safe living place.
This is either rehearsed or you are one talented writer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell
You were describing building a death trap. Amateurs who know nothing about construction do that all the time. I know of one guy who bootlegged a couple of bedrooms into his garage, but he didn't want to get a permit, so didn't change the outside of the house by adding doors or windows. When the house caught on fire, his teenage daughters were trapped in the bedrooms. When the fire department arrived they could still hear the girls screaming, but by the time they got the chainsaw out and cut through the walls the kids were dead.
The building code requires every habitable space to have emergency egress to the outside. You cannot have an exiting path that goes through another room, because that room might be on fire. If you have a basement wall, it's a great place to put a pantry, furnace room, laundry or bathroom, but not a bedroom or family room. It's why daylight (walk-out) basements are so popular. You can stick the utilities on the back wall and the front walls are safe living space.
There are plenty of counties that are pretty remote and welcoming new residents for the increase in tax base. Jobs tend to quite scarce. You may need a well....septic system....and solar power. May not be cheap.
I love solar power when I'm not having any issues. Getting set up is expensive. Batteries are expensive. The other electronics tend to last 4-8 years. We have all been waiting for a break through in battery technology since forever.
Neighbors can make or break an off grid living experience. Could get a good Samaritan. Could get a lawless vulture.
I like country living a lot. I need a little more income and jobs are very scarce.
My state has serious land use planning and a modified version of the International Building Code. I have a neighbor who recently built an off-grid house that was fully inspected, just because the power company wanted $50,000 to run power to his house. He has a spring-fed cistern, septic and solar, plus a diesel generator that he doesn't use much. It's all to code and approved, which will make it easier for him to sell it when it's time to move to town.
Resale value is something a lot of the hippiedippie off-grid types forget. Sooner or later, you will get old. At that point, either you die or you move closer to medical care and possibly assisted living. Most people become slowly debilitated as they age, and often will be incapable of performing much maintenance before they need living help. When you are 80 years old, you will not be physically capable of herding it into market shape.
^^Good points. Had not considered losing my ability to fix my own place. Family bloodlines indicate that may be 30 years from now. Not everybody worries that far down the road. I tend to think closer to ten years down the road.
Judging by the hobble work of many off grid abodes I have seen, many of them failed to look a couple years down the road. My experience is that some people are far more interested in tomorro6ws entertainment than next years comfort. Unlimited funds for pot and booze. No funds for a septic system.
Discovery has had a series called Homestead Rescue on recently- it features people who went to go live off grid, and then run into problems - you can see video clips of the show here:
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