Building an Off-Grid Homestead ..... start to finish

[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]
Off Grid Tiny Cabin- FINISHED!

The tiny off-grid cabin my husband Dave and I built is finally done! Yip yip! After finishing the shell in about 8 days, Dave let me loose on the interior to finish it all. It was a big job- but a great learning experience. I had helped him on many of our log homes and cabin in the past but I was on my own on this one. Don't let lack of experience prevent you from DOING and TRYING! You'll learn as you go- just do it! I LOVE the way it turned out and will now take a couple days off to enjoy this little gem with my feet up and fire roaring!

That's awesome. Our cabin is 12' by 18' with small loft. We'll add a bump out kitchenette and bathroom with composting toilet since it's so close to the creek. It's Japanese beam mortis and tenon. Chalet style. Very steep roof line given all the snow. There are less then 1500 people in the town. The closet city is more then 80 miles away. Many of the neighbors are game hunters and we all stick together given the winter weather conditions helping one another out. So the neighbors are a good extended support system. The only real emergency we had was with the brown bears.

However, building a habit house/cabin that's already under ground is something we'd like to do as well.


[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]
Kristie Wolfe builds underground home & sets rural WA hamlet

[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]
Earth house - Underground Hygge: A Visit to the Hobbit house in Orondo, WA
We visited the magical, off-the-grid Hobbit Inn in Orondo, WA near Lake Chelan. Here's a brief review and a tour. A post and review is to follow in the near future.

[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]
Dan Price’s underground home, art & philosophy on $5,000/year

When Dan Price returned to his home state of Oregon in 1990 he was determined to avoid mortgages or rent (he and his family had just finished caretaking a mansion with a heating bill of $500/month). He found an unused meadow in Joseph, Oregon, and began renting it from his neighbors for $100/year (in exchange for cleaning downed trees and repairing fences).

His first underground structure was actually built to shelter his home/office, namely his copy machine, essential for publishing his zine “Moonlight Chronicles” which he started in 1992 (it was sponsored by Simple Shoes for a decade).

www.moonlightchronicles.com

In his meadow paradise, Price now also has an underground "hobbit hole" style home, as well as, a composting toilet, a propane-powered shower (using river water), and a pinewood propane sauna. He’s not hooked up to city water (he discovered a spring on the property), but he’s hooked up to the grid and it’s been approved by the county and city.

[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]
Idaho modern oldtimer builds underground & solar $50 houses

Mike Oehler lived for over 30 years in an underground home that he built for $50 (and expanded for $500) on his land in Northern Idaho near the Canadian border. Now in his seventies his arthritis keeps him from hiking up to his home, but he continues to “write and proselytize”

In 1968 like thousands of other San Franciscans hoping to go “back to the land”, Oehler bought property and began to build a homestead. After spending a winter freezing in a small cabin, he designed a home that would use the earth as insulation. With his first attempt he fell into the easy errors of what he calls a “first thought house”: a hole cut into a hillside with south-facing windows.

Gradually he began to innovate with subterranean design, creating better ways for letting light in: among them “the Hollywood Wing”, “the Royer foyer”, gables and most-importantly the “uphill patio” (which also provides space for an earth-sheltered greenhouse). He also created an inexpensive, low-tech approach to basic design with what he calls PSP or Post/shoring/polyethylene

A walk through style tour of our 22x36 setter cabins.

[link to faircompanies.com]
16 year old builds tiny home to guarantee mortgage-free future

Austin Hay is still in high school, but he's building his own house. It's only 130 square feet, but it makes him a homeowner without a mortgage at just 16 years old. Right now, it's parked in his parents' backyard, but he's built it on wheels so he plans to take it to college and then wherever he goes after he graduates.
He's been sleeping in his tiny home for a few months now and he's already decided not to return to big (his parents' home is 1800 square feet). "Living small means less bills, living big means more bills," he explained from the tiny stoop of his new home. "I don't want to pay big bills".

Hay's 130-square-foot home may make him the youngest member of the growing Small House Movement.

Hay expects to spend about $12,000 building his home (the used trailer cost him $2000) and he's paying for it working two summer jobs (at a camp and at a park snack bar). He's cut his costs in half (the home's estimated DIY price is $23,000) though this is a considerable discount from the home's estimated price of $23,000 because Hay has scavenged everything from doors, windows and flooring to the kitchen sink (the hardwood floors were $25 at a salvage yard and so was the stainless steel sink).
For more info & links, original story here: [link to faircompanies.com]

This is one of my favorite videos.


How to build a 14x14 solar cabin
This is a general overview of how I built my 14x14 solar cabin for under $2000.

For complete step-by-step directions, videos, and more project plans including how to install solar power, drill your own well, build a composting toilet and more please visit my website: [link to www.simplesolarhomesteading.com]


Photos: [link to www.simplesolarhomesteading.com]

composting toilets: [link to www.ebay.com:80]

solar/electric: [link to www.solar-electric.com]

supplies: [link to www.simplesolarhomesteading.com]

plans: [link to www.simplesolarhomesteading.com]


Building on a site? Can install a grey water system to recycle water for a garden.
Builder's Greywater Guide: Installation of Greywater Systems in New Construction & Remodeling; A Supplement to the Book "Create an Oasis With Greywater"
[link to www.amazon.com]

Roof can have rain gutters that let water drain into a water catchment tank.

[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]

Converting an ISO Shipping Container into a Livable and Safe Home

The recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile killed thousands of people and have left hundreds of thousands homeless. Today, poverty has left up to 3.5 million Americans in need of temporary housing.

Haiti, Chile and the US, have 100,000s of empty ISO shipping containers sitting dormant. My idea is to use local labor to convert one of these shipping containers into a safe, low-cost, eco-friendly home for temporary housing to those in need.

ISO shipping containers are rugged, weatherproof, and plentiful.

Local artisans and craftspeople will design and convert one of these shipping containers into a livable and safe home. Because building materials are unavailable to the poor, the design and build will focus on using scrap and recycled materials. Also, all build techniques will be done in a manner that is easily replicable by individuals with little or no construction skills. The final product will be instructional videos for NGOs to build these homes locally, with local labor.

Tumbleweed Tiny House Company

I happen to like the Wlden design as solar panels can be placed on the roof or porch roof and the battery located in a hidden bench on the porch.
[link to www.tumbleweedhouses.com]

The Walden - 117 sq. ft.
The Walden features the largest kitchen of the teeny houses on wheels. The great room has vaulted ceilings which are accented by the pine interior finishing. Stainless steel counters show off the kitchen, and the bathroom has a full shower. The sleeping loft is upstairs and accessible by a ladder built into the cabinets.

Living Room
The living room has an open ceiling and a stainless steel fireplace. The open ceiling above makes the space feel very roomy, and this floor plan has lots of wall space.

Kitchen
This is the largest kitchen of all our houses on wheels. It comes with a sink, 2 burner stove top, refrigerator, and ample shelving. Below the sink, there is a small water heater. There is enough space that you can choose between a small toaster oven, microwave, washer/dryer, or dishwasher if you choose. (Washer/dryer is more practical)

Bedroom
The bedroom is in the loft. It is large enough to fit a queen size bed, but that said, this house is a little small for 2 people. Because of the open loft, you can fit a conventional mattress above. At its peak, the loft height is 3'-8'. Or a library murphy bed could be designed for the space and attached onto one wall.

Bathroom
The bathroom has both a toilet and a separate shower. The shower water is heated from the small water heater under the kitchen sink, and can last about 5 minutes. It doesn't come with a hand sink, but it is possible to install a hand sink above the toilet as is common in Japan. The toilet is a low flush RV toilet designed to conserve water. You can easily substitute a composting toilet. Personal note: Or this could be made into a larger wet bathroom made out of cedar and where the gray water can be recycled to a vertical garden attached to theoutside walls which would be made out of cedar as well.

Efficient and Warm
The Walden features a stainless steel fireplace which keeps this house warm in temperatures -35 F. Because of its small size, its 16R insulation is sufficient to keep this house warm in the harshest of climates of the continental US and Southern Canada. Heading north of Southern Canada? You can easily install a larger heater, or second heater. All four walls, the floor and the roof are insulated using polystyrene foam board which can withstand the rigors of road travel.

Can I add air conditioning?
Yes, a small ceiling a/c unit can be added to keep the house cool in any climate within the US.

Trailer
This house is built on an 7' x 18' utility trailer. See spec sheet. To learn more about utility trailers, read this... Here is a list of stores that sell the trailer needed to build the Walden.

Do I have to build it on a trailer?
Because of its tiny size, it doesn’t meet the minimum size standards required for houses on a foundation. That said, it can be built as a shed (without a kitchen) on a foundation.

House width: 8' Porch: 7 ½' x 3'
House length: 19' Main Room: 6 ½' x 6 ½'
Trailer Size: 7' x 18' Kitchen: 6' x 4'
Road Height: 13' 5" Bathroom: 6' x 3'
Dry Weight: 5400 lbs Ceiling height: 6' 6"
all measurements are approximate Loft height: 3' 6"

Fencl House Plans
[link to www.tumbleweedhouses.com]

Here are some other ideas at reasonable prices. [link to www.nextag.com]

Two years ago, Debra and her family lived in a nearly 2000 square foot home on an acre and a half of land. Then her husband lost his job and they began to work 4 jobs between them to pay the mortgage, until one day they remembered they had a choice.

Before having their son, Debra and her husband Gary had spent 9 years living in very tiny homes in South America. Living small hadn't felt like a sacrifice, but a way to stay focused on what is important. They decided they wanted to get back to that.

They stopped working so hard, sold or gave away all of their extra stuff and began looking for the perfect tiny home.

Debra had always liked the Mississippi shotgun style homes, and one day, while browsing craigslist, they noticed an ad for a local Arkansas company custom building tiny homes for a price that could mean an end to house payments.
Six weeks and $15,000 later they had their own fully paid-off dwelling. Today, Debra, her husband and 13-year-old son live in a 320-square foot home that is not a sacrifice, but exactly what they need.


Home designed and built by Slabtown Customs: [link to slabtowncustoms.com]
Debra & Gary's home business: [link to www.etsy.com]

[link to www.youtube.com]

Laurie Halse Anderson recounts the conception and building of her writing cottage. The cottage is off-grid and was built to be easy on the environment as well as warm and quiet. It was designed and built for her by her husband, who is a carpenter, and several of his friends.

[link to faircompanies.com]
Off-grid float cabin: retirement tiny dream home in BC wilderness


Margy and Wayne Lutz were camping in Coastal British Columbia when they discovered their dream home: the float cabins of Powell Lake. They're not houseboats, but "float cabins", that is, they're permanently anchored to shore.

Float cabins were first built on Powell Lake as inexpensive and portable homes for loggers and fishermen. Since then they've become regulated and the 200 float cabin owners here these days lease their water lots from the BC government for $500 per year.

The Lutz's bought their retirement home in 2001 for 35,000 Canadian dollars (about $25,000 USD, at the time), what they considered worth the risk if their experiment in off-grid living didn't workout.

A few years later they retired early from their school district jobs in Los Angeles, anxious to start living their dream, and moved into their small (420 square feet, plus a 200-square-foot sleeping loft) floating home. At the time it didn't have indoor plumbing so they hiked 4 flights of stairs up the granite cliff to an outhouse (they've since installed a composting toilet indoors).

Today, the Lutzs live completely off-the-grid. There's no water heater (they boil it on the wood stove as a luxury) and no plumbing. They hand-pump water from the lake (for washing dishes, they remove most food first and use only biodegradable soap and the water is returned to the lake).

There's no trash pickup. They compost nearly everything. For their energy uses, the Lutzs rely on solar, wind, and thermoelectric power. For heat, they rely on a wood stove (fueled mostly with driftwood) that has been rigged with an experimental thermoelectric system generating a trickle charge to their batteries.

Their buoyant home doesn't make gardening easy, but Margy has found a way to provide much of the summertime produce. In addition to a hillside potato garden, she created a floating vegetable garden.

Tiny houses are built on a 7' x 14' double axel flatbed trailer. Almost all trailers are 8’6" wide when you include the wheels; and as it turns out, this is the widest possible width for road travel without a permit. The bed of the trailer would be 14'; long, and when you add the hitch, it would probably measure 17' long. [link to tinyhouseblog.com]

Toilets are composting or flush
Everyone Poops. Tiny House Toilet Options.
[link to clotheslinetinyhomes.com]
1. RV low-flush toilets
2. Incinerating Toilets
3. High-Tech Composting Toilets
4. Low-Tech Composting Toilets
5. A Litterbox.
6. Toilet with sink on top
[link to sinkpositive.com]

How-To plumb a Tiny House
[link to tinyrevolution.us]

In addition to that the home is fully plumbed so you can hook it up to a sewer or add tanks to make it more like an RV. The toilet installed is a SunMar composting toilet and the refrigerator is great because it can either run off of the electric or propane.

It's easy enough to have a cell phone and satillite connection for computer

Other tiny houses have solar panels and generators for electricity.

Rain water can be collected off the roof and stored or water put in water tank at any gas station.

Shower in Paradise in this Tiny House on Wheels
Now that shower that you’re wondering about in the link below - is a beach mural covered in plexiglass.
[link to www.tinyhousetalk.com]
[link to tinyhousetalk.com]

[link to www.youtube.com]
Build a House for $4000

Published on May 18, 2013
[link to www.TheRawFoodWorld.com] Our friends Lula and Talbott [link to www.youtube.com] built a home with their own hands for about $4000. They have electricity, hot water and internet with the most incredible views you'll ever see! check it out!

[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]
CONTAINER HOME INSTALL: Sit Back and Enjoy

Building A 512sqft Off Grid Tiny House For Under $15,000






A look into how we have our solar set up and a break down of how much everything does cost and how much we paid.

Instagram-www.instagram.com/nostringsattachedlivingoffgrid
twitter- @NSAlivinoffgrid



Our SunMar compact composting toilet. How it works and would it work for you.


Do it yourself- Rocket Stove

Tiny Cabin With Old World Charm

SurvivorDude: How To Build A Log Cabin

The Shepherds Hut Retreat
[link to www.theshepherdshutretreat.co.uk (secure)]

Situated along a pond about three hours outside of London is The Shepherds Hut Retreat, a collection of four tiny huts offering an escape from the city with picturesque views of the water and woods. The South Somerset property is located near Dorset and Devon, approximately 30 minutes away from the World Heritage Jurassic Coast.

Set between the trees are four luxury shepherds huts, each with its own private decking and fire pit, offering an incredible glamping experience.

Each hut has french doors, a main floor bed with storage underneath, an electric fireplace, a kitchen with under counter refrigerator and cooktop/oven, and a private bathroom.

The huts have unique decor, ranging from old English and Scandinavian design to shabby chic. The curved roof and french doors provide a spacious feel with plenty of natural light.

"Pop-Up" Cabin Designed to be Built in a Single Day - Ep 1

We built a lightweight DIY cabin that is designed to fit together in a single day. This makes it a great low-cost option for those wanting to build their very own cabin, especially in remote areas where it is difficult to haul in heavy materials. We used a snowmobile to transport our cabin materials to the build site, where we assembled them. Our building materials consisted of: barn boards, 2"x4" lumber, cedar strapping, tarp, vapor barrier plastic, and screws. We built the cabin upon 3 small cedar logs, which came from a nearby fallen tree.

The Pop-Up Cabin Plans (PDF file) can be purchased at Teespring:
teespring.com/en-GB/pop-up-cabin-plan...

How deep to drill a well in a place like Tennessee? What if the water is muddy? Anyone ever tried to before? How'd it work out?

Nothing worse than all these old dumbasses thinking their shit's new.

This part of glp is very very sad because this shit's too late, rich people and money'd people will not be the solution they will be prey.

Are these your videos OP?

Depends on what part of TN. Some areas have a sulfur layer you have to get below.

Ok, sulfur yikes. I'm looking everywhere in the southeast for land. I like the idea of a 100g or so tank hauled on a trailer then just refill it. Temporarily.

No. We built/refurbished a small 10' by 12' cabin next to Yosemite. And the one we're working on now is a 12' by 18'. looks more like this style.

[link to a0.muscache.com (secure)]

[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]
Pop-Up Cabin- Building the Bunks!- Ep 2

In this episode, we build a set of bunks for our tiny "Pop-Up Cabin" from deadwood cedar that I collected. I also install a security system, talk about my grandfather, and discuss my future plans over a cup of coffee.

The Pop-Up Cabin Plans (PDF file) can be purchased at Teespring:
teespring.com/en-GB/pop-up-cabin-plan...
The comprehensive plans include 18 pages of step-by-step instructions, exact measurements, and clear diagrams, which show exactly how the cabin was assembled from the ground up.
We strengthened the design by giving the cabin a proper base and roof, which means no gaps under the walls and no more ugly tarp. :)
Special thanks to my brother who worked countless hours to professionally put these plans together, even staying up till the wee hours of the morning with me to make sure that every detail was perfect. Part of the money raised from these plans will go toward compensating him for his excellent work, and the rest will go toward supporting this channel.

Watch the Pop-Up Cabin series here:
[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]