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 or check out other green homes for more ideas and inspiration like this post on building a cob house.
Images: www.SimonDale.net
Related stories:
Berkeley’s Homeless Build Paleolithic Barbecue Pit
Earthsheltered Home Construction Work Exchange
Wildfire-Proof Prefab Camp Closes Up When You’re Gone
Hard Lessons in Sustainable Living
About Susan Kraemer
This dwelling certainly looks great and kudos on the
ingenuity and perseverance.However a house build like
this one is likely to have unsolvable problems with mold.
i’d like to take a vacation there. what a cool idea to build that home. congrats!!!!
i’d like to take a vacation there. what a cool idea to build that home. congrats!!!!
Iwould love to do something like this but unfortunatly in the US there are zoning laws, building codes, code enforcement etc. This house would be condemned unless built where no one wants to live. It could not get a mortgage so it couldn’t be sold and I know of no place where an electric company would supply it without an occupancy permit. I could move to Wales. hmmm there’s a thought.
Iwould love to do something like this but unfortunatly in the US there are zoning laws, building codes, code enforcement etc. This house would be condemned unless built where no one wants to live. It could not get a mortgage so it couldn’t be sold and I know of no place where an electric company would supply it without an occupancy permit. I could move to Wales. hmmm there’s a thought.
We have to continue with creative and sustainable living.Prolonged dialogue on issues of poverty,housing, and employment will be the center piece of a NEW WORLD.We are living in a wasteful culture.We can recycle more of the materials we dump in the landfills.
We have to continue with creative and sustainable living.Prolonged dialogue on issues of poverty,housing, and employment will be the center piece of a NEW WORLD.We are living in a wasteful culture.We can recycle more of the materials we dump in the landfills.
Actually, it turns out there are people trying this kind of handmade building in America…I’m writing about a couple here in the US, for my next story here.
Lots of stories here Susan… http://facebook.com/naturalhomes
Actually, it turns out there are people trying this kind of handmade building in America…I’m writing about a couple here in the US, for my next story here.
excellent article, and good point about the free land…
excellent article, and good point about the free land…
if you can post some videos made during house building
would be fantastic and would answer to lots of questions!
do we need construction permit for something like this?
if you can post some videos made during house building
would be fantastic and would answer to lots of questions!
do we need construction permit for something like this?
This is kind of scary, think about the musty smells, over time the soil, moisture would rot the structure. I can imagine mold might be a problem as well.
Interesting, but gross at the same time.
This is kind of scary, think about the musty smells, over time the soil, moisture would rot the structure. I can imagine mold might be a problem as well.
Interesting, but gross at the same time.
After spending $100,000.00 to build a copy of a another single bedroom flat finished just last year because in 12 short months they changed the regulations so much this fantastic building technology is just what this country needs. And what is this country? New Zealand of course. Home of Hobbitville!! How ironic!
After spending $100,000.00 to build a copy of a another single bedroom flat finished just last year because in 12 short months they changed the regulations so much this fantastic building technology is just what this country needs. And what is this country? New Zealand of course. Home of Hobbitville!! How ironic!
I want to be one of the toddlers…
I want to be one of the toddlers…
I love this house! It dispels the myth that a lot of people have about sustainable housing. It can be very affordable with some creativity and hard work
I love this house! It dispels the myth that a lot of people have about sustainable housing. It can be very affordable with some creativity and hard work
its so clever, its soo pretty, if someone asked me if i would like to live there… YES !!!
its so clever, its soo pretty, if someone asked me if i would like to live there… YES !!!
Sweet idea. I think I will do a camp someday just like this. I wish I had thought of this before I purchased my house 2 months ago.
Sweet idea. I think I will do a camp someday just like this. I wish I had thought of this before I purchased my house 2 months ago.
It looks like Bilbo Baggins house in Lord of the Rings.
It looks like Bilbo Baggins house in Lord of the Rings.
This is a really cool idea. I have to admit that I have thought of building such a house. I only wish that I would have gone ahead and built one. Instead I let my friends opinion that I was nuts in the head stop me.
Way to go,, I can only envy you.
This is a really cool idea. I have to admit that I have thought of building such a house. I only wish that I would have gone ahead and built one. Instead I let my friends opinion that I was nuts in the head stop me.
Way to go,, I can only envy you.
This is sooooo neat. Where can we build more?
This is sooooo neat. Where can we build more?
That’s awesome. Spreading the joy the hobbit living to all the apartment dwellers.
That’s awesome. Spreading the joy the hobbit living to all the apartment dwellers.
That is an interesting article, it would be great to be able to live off the land.
That is an interesting article, it would be great to be able to live off the land.
wow! I never thought building your own home could be that cheap. Although, I would have to say that permitting that would be horrible where I live!
wow! I never thought building your own home could be that cheap. Although, I would have to say that permitting that would be horrible where I live!
This is a superb idea, in tune with ideas from many other brilliant people, some being proponents for sustainability, professors at universities.
SOURCES OF INFO on rammed earth building techniques:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rammed_earth
See the book: Earth-Sheltered Houses (by Rob Roy, 2006), a practical guide for those who want to build at moderate cost.
EARTH BAG CONSTRUCTION: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Green-Homes/2005-12-01/Earthbag-Construction.aspx
See the book: Earthbag Building, by Kaki Hunter (2004).
This is a superb idea, in tune with ideas from many other brilliant people, some being proponents for sustainability, professors at universities.
SOURCES OF INFO on rammed earth building techniques:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rammed_earth
See the book: Earth-Sheltered Houses (by Rob Roy, 2006), a practical guide for those who want to build at moderate cost.
EARTH BAG CONSTRUCTION: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Green-Homes/2005-12-01/Earthbag-Construction.aspx
See the book: Earthbag Building, by Kaki Hunter (2004).
Where can I find out about doing a dyo course in earth covered housing? I read an article in a magazine that mentioned that these courses were available in New Zealand.
Where can I find out about doing a dyo course in earth covered housing? I read an article in a magazine that mentioned that these courses were available in New Zealand.
Now this is what the country needs. Wonderful flowing design.
Now this is what the country needs. Wonderful flowing design.
Matisse painted the nude when a sculpture he was working on shattered.
Matisse painted the nude when a sculpture he was working on shattered.
It *is* pretty cool, but it scares me just looking at it (contractor). I don’t know how they do things in Wales, but this would never pass plan-check in California…even in the ‘out-back’, you need a county building permit here.
It *is* pretty cool, but it scares me just looking at it (contractor). I don’t know how they do things in Wales, but this would never pass plan-check in California…even in the ‘out-back’, you need a county building permit here.
It’s too bad that you cannot do this in most parts of America. You would not pass building codes and they would not let you do this. That is for certain. I’m a builder and I know how hard it is dealing with different bureaucracies, for zoning and building. It’s really too bad the strong arm of the government has too have such a tight noose around our neck.
It’s too bad that you cannot do this in most parts of America. You would not pass building codes and they would not let you do this. That is for certain. I’m a builder and I know how hard it is dealing with different bureaucracies, for zoning and building. It’s really too bad the strong arm of the government has too have such a tight noose around our neck.
The young man’s genius. In a “Simple Simon” sort of way.
Who cares about building inspectors! As long as the structure is on your own land, that land is not within city/town limits, it doesn’t have poured concrete over the building code limitations, it isn’t grid-tied to any public utilities, and you are not building it to sell on the real-estate market as a house of any sorts, there is absolutely “NOTHING” the local bi-law enforcement agents can say or do!
The codes were put in place for a very good reason. To provide proper protection to the occupants/owners of their investments for a set period of time(as well as many other significant reasons).
I applaud these people & all others wishing to “finally” take matters into their own hands and do what has now become “absolutely” necessary to survive the, not coming, but now “here & present dangers” of what we have all done to our global home.
If any government agencies attempted to remove me from a shelter I had hand-built for the benefit of my own family, on my own land, well…. It would not be very nice of them. Would it now?
Bravo Simon