I'm really looking for an inexpensive, low-impact, low maintenance style of housing for myself (and my girl). I'm looking into purchasing a few acres of land mainly in Vermont or Maine. I figure it will be under $70,000 for the yurt or cabin, setup, plumbing, solar, rain catchers, etc. But, after the initial investment its easy going. No more bills for electricity and water. I will be growing 90% of my own food. Plus, I plan on having a few dairy cattle, chickens, whatnot for the bulk of my proteins. All unspoiled and all processed by me. I think there's a huge tax break too, because its not considered a permanent dwelling. And, if I have any farm animal, I can list myself as a working farm. Fantastic Site YurtInfo.org :: Yurt FAQ's It shouldn't take me too much longer to save up for this, I'm about half way there and I'm getting down to which state I want to go to. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPbYYrIK_is&feature=related]yurt tour - YouTube[/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiZtakOMTMc]Yurts II - YouTube[/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71Uqu9_I-qM]Tour of a Yurt - YouTube[/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXSQWQP4tmw&feature=related]How to thrive off he grid with no electricity, water, car, internet, TV or solid house #183 - YouTube[/ame]
I searched and didn't find any threads on off-grid-living or alternative style housing. I would like this to be a continuous thread, so please add any information you can to the subject, be it: Straw Bale Homes, Sand Bag Homes, great places to live, good land deals, information on techniques to better a living situation. Any help is appreciated.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJsDOD0dTQI&feature=related]How to have a home with no house payments and no utility bills! - YouTube[/ame]
All of these video are totally awesome. I want to live off grid as soon as I have the funds to do so. I would want my house to be build in a passive solar design similar to this.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b09XTZdOv8M]Shipping Container House Transformation - YouTube[/ame]
Not exactly "off the grid", but its nice what you can do with some creativity. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJFkQIOzxn8&feature=related]shipping containers- new house design at CTV - YouTube[/ame]
Yep. While looking into yurts my wife and I found these: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9jdIm7grCY"]Earth ships - sustainable living[/ame] We're beginning construction on the 'phoenix' style earthship in the spring. I'm calling it a reTirement home because I hate the copyrighted earthship word... just sounds too looney for me.
Granted I'm in the beginning phases -- blueprints and county approval, but here's been my process thus far. Learn about the soil, wells and the water in that area. Buy smart & put yourself right on top of the water. (granted this may be a 'landlocked issue', especially in Az) Learn about electricity. Start from the basics and don't stop. Learn about power consumption, and your own specifically. Learn about septic tanks. Make friends who will be willing to help you construct for 21-90 days. This doesn't really apply to yurts or shipping container housing. Absolutely learn about farming before attempting to do this. I made sure to actually test myself through apprenticeship and I have to say I've learned a lot. Who knows if all my plants and animals would've died if I didn't do this, but I really can't afford to let that happen. This whole process has been fun, enjoyable, and rewarding. Do it! Honestly, I think the biggest step to take on sustainable living and finding out what will suit your lifestyle the best, is to discover the information for yourself. Taking accountability for how this ends up really made me focus and decide it was something I had a desire to do. I urge self discovery, because my own discoveries helped me find out: that I wanted something I could upgrade as my family gets larger, and I didn't want that to be buying another yurt or partitioning it, and quite frankly, I am looking forward to living in something I worked hard to build. Good luck!
Cool thread. I want to build a house in a few years. I'm not sure where I'll settle but something like a yurt or other low impact building that I can build myself (strawbale house?) on a tight budget will be the key. I love reading into different aspects, one of my favourite sites is tinyhouseblog - some of the older articles are absolutely amazing.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEddbCYzai8&feature=fvwrel]Building Our Earth(Cob) Oven (P23) First Bread - YouTube[/ame] I used to live in Taos, NM and probably 15 minutes away from the earthships. I even got to help build some. Fun as hell.
Take a look at $50 and up underground homes book. The author had built and lived in many underground homes and the idea is interesting. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVAF-JjuYc4]$50 underground house eco building - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCa_Ug-v3Fg]Rain water collection for off grid cabin - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZZ2uaXGFtg&feature=related]NEED TO KNOW Living large A look inside the tiny house movement PBS - YouTube[/ame]