the small house movement

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auntblabby
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01 Jan 2014, 10:48 pm

^^^
that took some doing. if one has massive moolah one can get lots of nice things in this world.

Moomingirl
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01 Jan 2014, 11:02 pm

^^^ Also awesome but unnecessarily large. I do seem to have an overwhelming urge to go out and look for caves now.

auntblabby
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01 Jan 2014, 11:24 pm

Moomingirl wrote:

^^^ Also awesome but unnecessarily large. I do seem to have an overwhelming urge to go out and look for caves now.

I just had an idea :idea:

why not build a basement [covered over with earth] then deck it out with rock surfaces and colors imitative of an actual cave [including painting of a fake perspective high up on the "ceiling" of bats hanging. then put in the furniture and plumbing and electrical and such, and voila! instant cave dwelling!

Moomingirl
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01 Jan 2014, 11:41 pm

Fantastic. I'll start digging now.

eric76
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01 Jan 2014, 11:45 pm

auntblabby wrote:

Moomingirl wrote:

^^^ Also awesome but unnecessarily large. I do seem to have an overwhelming urge to go out and look for caves now.

I just had an idea :idea:

My nearest neighbor when I was a kid lived in an underground house known as a dugout. Only the roof was above ground.

It was more modern than the old time dugouts. It had concrete walls and the roof was elevated a bit so that they could have a couple of windows to bring in light.

When I was in 7th or 8th grade, the water truck I was driving died and I couldn't get it started again one day when it was well below freezing. I was near that house so I walked over to it and down the steps leading to the front door. Not only was nobody home, but the house was empty -- they had moved to town. I waited there out of the freezing weather until someone came along and I could run out and flag them down to give me a ride home. Even with no heat turned on since they had moved to town, it was quite comfortable in spite of the freezing weather.

eric76
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01 Jan 2014, 11:48 pm

I've seriously considered building a dugout on the farm and moving into it. It would be nice to not have to worry about freezing water pipes on cold nights.

The only problem is that we live too close to the creek. If we get enough rain, the creek comes up to where I would need to build the house. The result would be like a swimming pool wired for electricity.

auntblabby
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01 Jan 2014, 11:49 pm

in a dry climate a place like that would be the place to be.

Moomingirl
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02 Jan 2014, 2:20 am

eric76 wrote:

I love the Little House on the Prairie books, because of the simple life they lead. One of my favourites is when they live in the dugout on Plum Creek. I had no idea people still lived in them. Thanks for describing it so well eric - I shall go to bed dreaming of dugouts now.

eric76
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04 Jan 2014, 5:07 pm

One option would be to build a house above ground with appropriate building materials and techniques (reinforced concrete shell) and then piling several feet of dirt in a berm around the house on three sides and on top.

auntblabby
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04 Jan 2014, 8:49 pm

eric76 wrote:

if one lives in a damper part of the nation [like the south Puget sound area of western Washington], would this work or would one need some advanced engineering to steer around the humidity problem?

eric76
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05 Jan 2014, 9:14 am

auntblabby wrote:

eric76 wrote:

if one lives in a damper part of the nation [like the south Puget sound area of western Washington], would this work or would one need some advanced engineering to steer around the humidity problem?

I think that humidity is going to be a bit of a problem with any earth sheltered house. In many areas, adequate ventilation would be all that is required.

The best thing would probably be to ask around and talk to other people in the area with earth sheltered houses.

eric76
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05 Jan 2014, 9:15 am

Some earth covered homes in Iceland:

[img][640:480]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/Iceland_Keldur_Earth_covered_homes.JPG/800px-Iceland_Keldur_Earth_covered_homes.JPG[/img]

Last edited by eric76 on 05 Jan 2014, 9:29 am, edited 1 time in total.

eric76
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05 Jan 2014, 9:23 am

Some years ago, I read about some town in Australia that is all (or nearly all) built underground.

It didn't take long to find it on the web. The name of the town is Coober Pedy. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coober_Pedy:

Quote:

Coober Pedy is renowned for its below-ground residences, called "dugouts", which are built due to the scorching daytime heat.

...

The harsh summer desert temperatures mean that many residents prefer to live in caves bored into the hillsides ("dugouts"). A standard three-bedroom cave home with lounge, kitchen, and bathroom can be excavated out of the rock in the hillside for a similar price to building a house on the surface. However, dugouts remain at a constant temperature, while surface buildings need air-conditioning, especially during the summer months, when temperatures often exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). The relative humidity rarely gets over 20% on these hot days, and the skies are usually cloud-free. The average maximum temperature is 30-32 degrees Celsius, but it can get quite cool in the winter.

Here's a picture of a church in Coober Pedy:

[img][640:480]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Baptistry_soc_australia.jpg[/img]

Last edited by eric76 on 05 Jan 2014, 9:28 am, edited 1 time in total.

eric76
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05 Jan 2014, 9:26 am

This is taken in an underground home in Cobber Pedy:

[img][640:480]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Coober_Pedy_underground_house.jpg[/img]

ruveyn
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05 Jan 2014, 11:15 am

eric76 wrote:

Some earth covered homes in Iceland:

[img][640:480]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/Iceland_Keldur_Earth_covered_homes.JPG/800px-Iceland_Keldur_Earth_covered_homes.JPG[/img]

Is this Iceland's version of The Shire? Do Icelandish Hobbits live there?

ruveyn

eric76
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05 Jan 2014, 4:14 pm

ruveyn wrote:

eric76 wrote:

Some earth covered homes in Iceland:

[img][640:480]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/Iceland_Keldur_Earth_covered_homes.JPG/800px-Iceland_Keldur_Earth_covered_homes.JPG[/img]

Is this Iceland's version of The Shire? Do Icelandish Hobbits live there?

ruveyn

Did Iceland have Hobbits in 1193 when those were built?

Those are thought to be the oldest buildings in Iceland.

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