Going Off Grid in East Tennessee; The Story and Chat Thread (Johnson City: fireplace, American)

[bongo]

Originally Posted by younglisa7

The floor we put in is a full sheet vinyl flooring called Armstrong Fusion. I'm sorry but I don't remember the color. We love the floor...much warmer than tile and much cleaner than carpet. It is very low maintenance which is what we like best

Thanks so much- I found it & we are going to use it for the upstairs of our cottage. Appreciate all your help.

[colelkhunter]

Lisa,

First off thanks for this information. My wife and I are starting down the road that you have travelled. We are starting a self sustaining farm on property that we purchased last spring. We are also in tennessee, clarksburg to be exact. couple of questions. Did you have someone draw prints for the house or "design build". Also being as you built it off grid (as we will be doing) did you have to have any inspections done on the electrical or plumbing? What about homeowners insurance? thanks for any help.

[ylisa7]

Originally Posted by colelkhunter

Lisa,

First off thanks for this information. My wife and I are starting down the road that you have travelled. We are starting a self sustaining farm on property that we purchased last spring. We are also in tennessee, clarksburg to be exact. couple of questions. Did you have someone draw prints for the house or "design build". Also being as you built it off grid (as we will be doing) did you have to have any inspections done on the electrical or plumbing? What about homeowners insurance? thanks for any help.

Congratulations on your land and good luck to you and your wife.

Mike and I designed the house ourselves. There wasn't a lot of choices since the bedrooms had to be in the back.

As for inspections you will have to see what is required in your county. There are no building inspections in my county. The only thing we had to have inspected was the electric that we brought in to the barn from the electric company. The electric company does not have to inspect when we are not hooked to the electric company. If they don't supply you with or buy back your power there is nothing for them to inspect.

Good luck with insurance. Again, each place will be different. You will have to call around and ask.

If you have any more questions just ask

[foxywench]

i started reading this thread yesterday and must say i had to tear myself off my computer at 1am and come back this morning.

wonderfull story, thank you for posting all the details here.
your house is stunning and honestly almost MY dream home, ive always wanted to build an earth bermed home with a living roof too. right now money isnt going to allow that so im currently looking for a few acres with a mobile of fixer cottage on it in eastern tn.

absolutly STUNNING.

are you planning on adding more gardens or brinigng in livestock at any point or is it just oging to be your little house on a very big hill?!

again absolutly stunning, i love the colors and the layout, and your pug is just adorable lol.

so...when do i move in :P

[ylisa7]

Hello foxywench and thank you for writing in. I am glad you enjoyed our story.

A berm home with a living roof would be cool. Mike and I had never seen a berm home before we built ours. I think for anyone thinking about doing a unique home, they should try to visit with others who have done it and ask lots of questions. We can learn so much from each other.

At some point we will most likely add more animals and bigger gardens. For now we sometimes have to work out of state and we can't always be there to take care of any animals...except for Niki. She goes everywhere with us

Good luck in your land search. If you can find a piece with a mobile on it you will be ahead of the game b/c it will already have septic/sewer, electric, and water/well on it.

[foxywench]

heres a question for you...

if you could do anything different about the home construction/berming itself, what would it be?

ive been thinking about doing poured concrete for all walls with a passive solar design...

id love to do a solar set up eventually no matter what home ends up being, but it all confuses me and seems to be very expensive to set up, big props to mike for being able to figure it all out.

im hoping to make my way to tn by this time next year.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by younglisa7

Hello foxywench and thank you for writing in. I am glad you enjoyed our story.

A berm home with a living roof would be cool. Mike and I had never seen a berm home before we built ours. I think for anyone thinking about doing a unique home, they should try to visit with others who have done it and ask lots of questions. We can learn so much from each other.

At some point we will most likely add more animals and bigger gardens. For now we sometimes have to work out of state and we can't always be there to take care of any animals...except for Niki. She goes everywhere with us

Good luck in your land search. If you can find a piece with a mobile on it you will be ahead of the game b/c it will already have septic/sewer, electric, and water/well on it.

Are you doing another FL flip?

[Maxed]

Wow, I spent the last three days reading this thread. I joined just so I could say that if you write a book I'd certainly purchase it. My wife has just now started reading it and I'm not going to spoil it for her. What you and Mike have done is simply amazing. My wife is my best friend and we do everything together. We enjoy being alone and away from it all. My best to you both!

[woodworkingmenace]

Thats good news Lisa... Ive been bored with my own blogg and looked forward to you resuming your blogg here...

My Son is going to read your blogg here, because he is interested in solar panels... Maybe not being off the grid, but, selling energy back to the Electric Company interests him... So, I mentioned your adventures and emailed him the URL... He will get a good 'heads up' with your experience.

Sounds like you didnt head South this year, so, it will be good seeing your weekly adventures... (yea, we are greedy hogs about this, but, it gives us 'old men' something to look forward to ROTFLOL

I wish you all well...

Jesse

[Ifindem103]

WOW this is great! I'm only up to page 101 but you and mike are doing a fantastic job on the house. Your story is riveting and inspiring. I'm waiting to go to closing on a place in middle TN. I'm absorbing as much info as I can from you and all your friends. Thanks can't wait to get back to reading tommorow. Just as a side note my wife and I are also from LI, moving to TN and we're soulmates! Small World......