Hand-Build an Earth Sheltered House For $5,000
Cash, that most basic element of our economy, can be in abysmally short supply for new young families scraping by on marginal jobs.
Sustainable housebuilding may not be foremost in their minds.
But one young couple in Wales managing on an annual income of just $10,000 went ahead and built their own cheap home anyway, sustainably, mostly out of materials from “a rubbish pile somewhere.”
They had wanted to spend as much time as possible at home while their two children were young. Their nearby woodlands ecological management work would have been impractical if they were paying a mortgage.
So they enlisted some help from family, and sometimes just from people passing by, and from any of their friends who stopped by to visit:
The result was their very low impact homemade house. A hand built unique setting for a charmed life for their two young toddlers. I’ll bet they’ll remember this first home for the rest of their lives.
Four months of hard work and they were all 4 moved in and cozy.
Total expenditure? $5,000. Tools? A chisel, a chainsaw and a hammer. Building expertise? Simon Dale says:
“My experience is only having a go at one similar house 2yrs before and a bit of mucking around in-between. This kind of building is accessible to anyone. My main relevant skills were being able bodied, having self belief and perseverance and a mate or two to give a lift now and again.”
Sustainable design and construction:
- Dug into hillside for low visual impact and shelter
- Stone and mud from diggings used for retaining walls, foundations etc.
- Frame constructed of fallen trees from surrounding woodland
- Reciprocal roof rafters are structurally very easy to do
- Straw bales in floor, walls and roof for super-insulation and easy building
- Plastic sheet and mud/turf roof for low impact and ease
- Lime plaster on walls is breathable and low energy to manufacture compared to cement
- Reclaimed (scrap) wood for floors and fittings
- Other items were reclaimed from “a rubbish pile somewhere”: windows, wiring, plumbing
(Maybe there should be a new LEED rating just for building so inexpensively: Sustainable Financing. This is one mortgage bill that’s not going to be haunting their mum and dad for years.) Inside there’s a wood-burner for heating - waste wood in the old-growth forest is locally plentiful.To get the most of the heat, the flue goes through a big stone/plaster lump to retain and slowly releases the warmth.
There are just a couple of solar panels - just enough for for lighting, music and computing. It’s a simple life. A skylight in the roof lets in enough natural feeling light, and water is fed by gravity downhill from a nearby spring. There’s a compost toilet. Roof water collects in a pond for gardening
Says Simon: “Our house is unusual but the aesthetic appeals to lots of people and perhaps touches something innate in us that evolved in forests.”
Want to try making one too? Simon will show you how.
Images: www.SimonDale.net
Related stories:
Green Homes Made Affordable
Wildfire-Proof Prefab Camp Closes Up When You’re Gone
Hard Lessons in Sustainable Living
Where in heavens name do we find the free property to build on?
Very informative article, will help many in North America survive during the great republican depression and beyond, to a sustainable lifestyle in the new “American Dream” now evolving in the tent cities in the south and among the folks living in cars and vans on the streets. We left self-sufficient farms, gave our land away as worthless, slaved in the factories, and are about to repeat the cycle in reverse! Little land is left, but modern technologies will be exploited to the fullest in our struggle to survive against Mao’s slave workforce and the uber-class rich folk. Thank You for this blueprint to create real value from the land. We need it more than ever now, as even our own kind devour us whole!
Reminds me of Lord of the Rings. I love it. It’s so beautiful and quaint.
Part II of the story would unfortunately be “How to tear down the structure when the building inspectors order you to get rid of it.”
I think this is so fascinating. It is like Hobbitville, a place you could go to forget about all the troubles of the world. I love the concept.
Great house! Great focus! Great article pointing-out “sustainable financing” - this is probably the most honest and simple example I have seen of people doing something like this, and I’ve looked for years. In the US, even green building contractors speculate to say no house can be built for less than $100,000. I know that is not true. Self-built and community built homes can be built for $10,000 at 1000sq ft. using conventional material, which don’t look good anyway.
Bravo! We need more examples like this.
Cool! thumbs up!
Would be interesting to design a similar dwelling that could stand up to our climate here in Canada. Then there is the building codes and inspectors to appease. I would be willing to work on a marketable design if you wish.
We 1970’s “Self-Sufficiency on 5 Acres or Less” folk say, “Carry On”.
This is just about the neatest little hobbit house ever! I’m so impressed. What a resourceful couple.