Seeking your advice on building a low cost house that is off grid and sustainable. Solar, passive heating, cellar etc.

I rented a house in the country on 15 acres that was built by an old man. It was very well designed for thermal regulation of the house.

It had a stream and he built a 3 acre pond South of the house. The shore of the pond ended about 25 feet from the house. He build walls for the edges of the pond from the same flatrock that he built half the house with.

In the winter, the Sun angle would drop in the sky and the sunlight would bounce up and hit the house, effectively doubling the radiation heating on the house.

In the summer, the sun angle would be overhead, so no solar bounce from the pond would happen.

The house had large windows on the Southern exposure to collect that sunlight into the house and there was a massive amount of rock to retain the heat. (The walls were flat rock along the front and the windows looked like the windows you see on the old British sailing ships. This also made the house strikingly beautiful). One day I came home and there was a group of artists in front making paintings of the house.)

Inside the windows on the ground floor was the big Wood stove, surrounded by a massive rock hearth.

Lived there 3 years and heated with the wood stove only. They got a real winter there. This was on the West part of NJ in farm country. Nothing but 640 acre farms surrounding this place. He had enough trees to easily heat the house with the trees that needed to be removed anyway (elm trees dying and just general overgrowth).

Part of the rental deal was I had to raise a couple cattle so the property would be taxed as farm land otherwise the NJ taxes would have made the place impossibly expensive to own.

The house also had a huge tree on the Western end that would shade the house in summer when it had leaves, and in the winter, it would drop all the leaves and the Sun would once again hit the house in the evenings.

There was a huge purple martin house on a tall pole by the lake. The martins would eat the bugs from the lake and were fun while I would do a little fishing in the pond. He had stocked it with bass and bluegills. The martins would cartwheel right in front of me only a couple feet away, catching insects. Such beautiful birds.

I raised a dozen or so ducks in the pond, thinking they might chase away the noisy Canadian Geese, but they didn't chase anything. They did however lay their eggs on my front porch most of the time, so I always had more fresh eggs than I could eat.

In the winter when the pond would freeze over, I had to catch the ducks and keep them in a wire pen to protect them from the foxes and coyotes. Otherwise, they could stay away from the foxes when the pond was free of ice.

The amount of wildlife that visited that pond was amazing. So many different kinds of beautiful wild ducks. Tiny little Harlequin ducks, and larger, very ornate wood ducks.

Large hawks would dive into the pond to catch fish, which they would carry to the nearest telephone pole and pick apart up there.

And Blue Herons would wade around the pond and stand still, waiting for a fish to come by. They would catch and swallow some very large bass in one gulp.

A herd of deer would hide from the hunters on the property in the fall, and they would come by twice a day to drink water from the pond and eat the corn that the ducks left for them. The fawns were so nice to watch in the spring, standing on their back hooves and reaching up to eat leaves from the trees.

The cicadas would hatch out in the fall and I tossed a few in the pond to watch the bass hit them. The bass loved those fat cicadas. Then I tossed one to the ducks and they went crazy for the cicadas. The one thing that got them out of the pond. They would organize cicada hunts and pick them off the trees and the 100 year old locust fenceposts.

The driveway was gravel and about 500 feet long, so I did have to buy a big snowblower to clear the driveway snow.

Wonderful place. Like living in Eden.

I was gonna get a deep cycle battery for my solar panels, I'm in cold climate, till someone said another kind will last longer..

Which battery is better for a small conversion. Nothing big.

Use 40 ft storage containers sunk into the ground.

LOL

Keep it fucking simple stupid...

SMALL...house around 600 square feet...if you need more then give up already...

use fox blocks and put a 6 foot crawl space under it..

Over hang and covered deck...

Gravity feed water not tanks that need pumps..

Bio Gas...seriously...

you going to run around and do all that labor and for what...

wood heat and lots of windows on the south side..one on the other...face the house properly...and insulation is everything.

worry about livestock...small or large...a garden and greenhouse above all...

I run solar and it has its draw backs...oil lamps...wood heat is a must...

My wood stove is also a cook stove...with a water jacket on it for hot water...

If you get to complicated you will fail and spend your life as a slave to your complicated gear..

Good luck

Yep I live in a Class A RV. All the comforts of a House and I am mobile when needed.

Been in our 5th wheel for 4 years, now

We just got a 5 year contract to run a small remote 35 site campground with a lake and river
It’s busy 4 months of the year and empty 8 months

They pay us $20, 000 for the 4 months and get to live year round for free

We only require 600 watts of solar with 8 -6 volt batteries, a 3000 watt inverter and 3000 watt generator

We have 2 100 lb and 2 60 lb propane tanks

Nothing beats being able to move in a hurry

This video is from the last campground we ran last year



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Have you planned, built or considered a home on a small plot? Do you know anyone who did? Any architects, builders, trades or keen gardeners who can give us some advice, links to books, plans or fantastic resources?

We are seeking advice and ideas for a sustainable low cost and low cost to run home. We aim to grow a food forest and we want to keep the ongoing costs as low as possible (power, gas, water).

We are just beginning the planning stage. We have 2 acres split by a creek. The creek has been dammed in the property above and we have a small dam which we will rebuild. We will install a 90,000 litre underground tank and we hope to fill it from the dam each year.

We will run the property from solar with 30KWH batteries. We are interested in buying a biogas kit to run hot water, heating, fridge and cooking stoves should we require it.

We will begin our build in 12 months.

Thanks heaps everyone!

I am on my 2nd offgrid place in 23 years. Here's my advice:
Don't use trojan batteries, they are garbage. I used to do solar for a living and 100% of the trojan battery banks failed prematurely.
Don't use lithium batteries, they don't work below freezing, expensive, dangerous.
Use L-16 size fla batteries, they last at least 10 years and have a lot of amp hours. US Battery or Surrette are good brands.
Don't buy harbor freight junk. Buy mono crystalline panels, they are more efficient and last longer than poly.
Face one side of your roof south (or north if yer in the southern hemisphere). That way you have a good sunlit place to mount stationary panels. Have at least 1 rotatable top of pole array so you can catch first light and last light. This will give you about 40% more power from your panels.
Every dollar you spend on energy efficient appliances will pay for itself in savings on your PV system.
Use DC power for your lights, water pump, if your inverter goes bad you will have lights and water. All of my lighting is DC and water pump, radio gear, security system, etc.
Good luck, looks like you have most of the bases covered in the other replies. Oh ya also, whatever you figure it will take in time and money, DOUBLE IT! I'm not kidding.