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.”
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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
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Earthsheltered Home Construction Work Exchange
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Hard Lessons in Sustainable Living
Aesthetically awesome, but how did it get past the building regs - oh, I see…
I’d be a little concerned about sleeping in it for long periods:-
1. Wet soil will weigh a ton, and seems to be supported by timber of unknown structural qualities.
2. The sheet of perspex wont do much to stop the earth bank if it decides to collapse.
But full marks for the visual impact.
Well I am trying to build a house for free. I love your house plan and am very inspired by it. Many thanks
See http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=47046386275 for my site
Here in North America the govt would come take your babies from you for living in an “unfit” home and push your work over with a bulldozer.
Bet the mice like this house too. Sure is pretty though. I do wish we had the choice to try innovative builds like this.
it looks so fake like nothing iv ever seen.
its so pritty and i would so live there!
About 30 years ago there was a book titled (I think) “The $20 Underground House Book” detailing how a young single Idaho man of very modest means constructed an earth-sheltered house using logs, salvaged materials, and even a bucket full of bent nails that he bought at a flea market and straightened. He used plastic sheeting on roof, walls and floor, covering the floor plastic with discarded carpet. He prospered, perhaps from sale of the book, and next authored one on how to build a more expensive UG house that a woman might actually want to move into. I think that one was a $100 house.
Well, you know how women are. Seemed like no time at all before she made him build a respectable UG house: $500!!
Wow I friggin LOVE it. His very own Hobbit dwelling. That is sooo cool.
Not only are the motivations admirable, but the building itself. Its aesthetically pleasing.
An impressive work, beautiful to behold.
Unfortunately there appear to be too many structural deficiencies to list. I’m afraid moisture will destroy it in short order. Plastic sheeting is totally inadequate to protect it. It will be wet, maybe flooded then moldy, soon the inadequate wood joints and foundation will rot and it will collapse. Luckily it will be uninhabitable long before then. Improve the structural design and drainage; with layers and levels of moisture protection. You won’t waste so much effort. Perhaps think of building an upside down boat or pool. Never forget both the roof and drainage must have long term dependability.
This home is so AWESOME. It actually brings a feeling of tranquility to look at it. Maybe its from my childhood memory’s of staying in a log cabin in New Hampshire.
A couple of people have made comments indicating that they don’t think this house will last very long. I can’t find a date on their website ( http://www.simondale.net/house/gallery.htm ), but I think it was at least two years ago that I first saw pictures of this house, so it’s been around for a little while, at least, and evidently is still standing. There is quite a bit of information on their website.
The book that was mentioned above is The $50 and Up Underground House Book, by Mike Oehler, and he has a website, also. I have the book, and hope to use it someday.