# Handbuilt Earth Sheltered house for $5,000



## Sylvia (Dec 1, 2004)

One of my facebook friends posted this. It's awesome!

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/12/01/hand-build-an-earth-sheltered-house-for-5000/?ref=nf


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## dranger1108 (Aug 7, 2010)

it's beautiful...


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## Willowdale (Mar 19, 2007)

More photos on the owner/builder's site, here:

http://www.simondale.net/house/index.htm

The type of construction is "roundhouse", which is pretty ancient (iron age, at least). These guys have a beautiful aesthetic and added some lovely touches. They built it on someone else's land (owner offered some funds and use of a backhoe) and so, as agreed, they eventually moved out, but are now building an eco-village on land they own with similar constuction style:

http://www.simondale.net/house/newhaus.htm


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I really like the looks of the interior of the house but I wonder how they know that it is strong enough for a heavy roof?


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## Jeni (Mar 24, 2010)

Love it! My dream is to live in Wales - I am so moving to the eco-village!


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## Willowdale (Mar 19, 2007)

fishhead said:


> I really like the looks of the interior of the house but I wonder how they know that it is strong enough for a heavy roof?


There's a heavy-duty central pole, and all of the rafters load vertically on that pole and on the outside walls. The outside walls also bear the horizontal component of the load. Should be straightforward to calculate those loads based on the weight of the materials used in the roof. Another issue would be whether the rafter poles themselves have the rigidity to bear their loads without breaking. There are plenty of them, and each is bearing some calculable share of the weight of hay bales, rubber liner and sod. The sod layer is thin and the rubber liner should keep the hay bales from absorbing water. Again, that should all be calculable. All their timbers are oak.

I suspect it's actually over-engineered for Wales. But the local authorities do have a history of trying to get these things torn down.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

That was my question. Vertical members are easy to estimate but those rafters have me wondering. There's also the issue of how they will behave over time.

I still really like the look.


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## SteveO (Apr 14, 2009)

like to see you get a permit to do that in the states


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## tarbe (Apr 7, 2007)

/\

Yes, probably not going to happen in MA! But not a problem in Ozark County, MO.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

While I'm certainly not poo-pooing this project, but I built & moved-in to my cabin on a $5,000 budget. Floor area is similar, and it took more like 500 man-hours to construct, as opposed to his 1500-2000 man-hours. From breaking ground until move-in was 4 months, but I took a month off for another project so it could have been completed in closer to 3 months.

The following summer I added-on a bathroom and put on siding, so I suspect that I had closer to $7,000 in it after that. But there is no question that the cabin was livable as a $5,000 home.

My place probably isn't nearly as energy efficient as the earthen home, but since it was small it wasn't expensive to heat.


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## BlackWillowFarm (Mar 24, 2008)

The Hobbit.


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## squeakyzig (Dec 21, 2006)

too many rocks here in Ozark Co.


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## jbowyer01 (Aug 4, 2008)

BlackWillowFarm said:


> The Hobbit.


Thats exactly what I was thinking. I do love it.


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## chewie (Jun 9, 2008)

i love it!! and nevada, very nice! more pix??? please? 

i could SO live in a small place like either the hobbit house or nevada's!


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

chewie said:


> i love it!! and nevada, very nice! more pix??? please?
> 
> i could SO live in a small place like either the hobbit house or nevada's!


The next summer I built on a 5x12 bathroom and put hardboard siding on the house. I was actually surprised at the difference the siding made in energy savings and soundproofing.

You can also see the propane tank hookup area. I bought two 100# tanks that switched automatically to the full tank when one went empty. That made sure that the pilots were always lit and that we didn't run out of propane in the middle of the night.











The plan called for a vertical ladder constructed of 2x4s to get to the second floor. But I live with a woman in her 80s, so that was out of the question. I designed a staircase for easy access to the upstairs. Here is what it looked like during construction.










Here is an image where the house was about 1/2 done. At the left you can see the travel trailer that we lived in during construction. The shed attached to the house is what we called the "water shed", which housed the 40-gallon propane-fired water heater and a 300 gallon cistern that I filled with a garden hose from a neighbor's hydrant. It provided a good source of hot & cold running water.


At this point I had just finished putting OSB sheathing on the house in preparation for constructing the upstairs. The OSB is important to be in place because the house was swaying pretty badly without it.










Here it is with the trusses and ridge beam up, and ready to hang rafters.










I hired a local guy for $10/hour to do the roof. He didn't want to use a harness or roof jacks. He just nailed 2x4s in place to stand on, then dobbed silicone into the nail holes as he took them out. He did a really nice job, and since I was pushing 60 I didn't really want to do it myself.










We got a bunch of free carpet from a local casino recarpeting project (they were going to throw it away). We glued it down wall to wall. It made a huge difference in the comfort of the house.


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## Messianic4 (Jan 18, 2007)

I think this is great. This is something like what my hubby and I have been talking about building on our land. We priced this other that's a bit bigger..at 15,000. But I could go even more simple..like the one in these pics. Great Job!


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## bohemian_girl (Dec 29, 2010)

Wow! These homes are amazing! How does someone learn how to build something like the earth shelter home or the house above? 

Truly beautiful!

Kelli


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## Grizz (May 11, 2002)

All of these sure beat the payments on the McMansions


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## used2bcool13 (Sep 24, 2007)

Nevada, your house is soo cute! I love the carpeting, how much propane do you go through on a monthly basis? I am guessing you have propane stove, hot water and heat?

Thanks for the pictures, I love them.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

used2bcool13 said:


> Nevada, your house is soo cute! I love the carpeting, how much propane do you go through on a monthly basis? I am guessing you have propane stove, hot water and heat?
> 
> Thanks for the pictures, I love them.


I lived in it for a year the way it looked there. In the coldest months we burned about $100/month worth of propane. The surprise was how much less propane we burned after it was sided the next summer.

I used hardboard siding sheets over 15# felt to side it with. I'm not sure if the siding covered seams that let wind in or if it added true insulating value, but our propane consumption went way down after it was sides, consuming maybe 2/3 of the propane before.

It is possible that the siding added insulating value. It was a whole lot quieter inside after it was sided.


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