# Going Off Grid In East Tennessee



## nu2solar (Apr 20, 2008)

My husband and I think things are going to get really bad so this is what we are doing to prepare.

We bought 40 acres in east TN and we are building an off grid, berm, solar and wind generated house. I am posting our progress on another site but I thought some of you might be interested in the process. My husband is designing our off grid system and we are building the house. This is the link to the forum where I am posting the process. I hope you enjoy.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/tennessee/359683-going-off-grid-east-tennessee.html

Lisa


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## LindyLu (Oct 17, 2005)

Welcome to my neck of the woods. I hope you find this area as wonderful as I have. I was pretty sure I recognized your new cuvert & by gum, I was right. I am very interested in solar power and a self sustaining homestead. Howdy neighbor.


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## pitbulls20 (Nov 15, 2007)

Lisa your property looks beautiful ! Good luck to ya. Lots of work ahead.


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## pitbulls20 (Nov 15, 2007)

Lisa your property looks beautiful ! Good luck to ya. Lots of work ahead.


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## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

Beautiful property! I'm envious! Please post photos of your progress, I'd love to see it stage by stage.


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## turtlehead (Jul 22, 2005)

Oh, beautiful!
And I thought the "hole in the ground" was exciting.

I have family in E TN and W NC. I love that part of the country.


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

Wow!!!


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## sgl42 (Jan 20, 2004)

love the tree lined road to your gate, and the view from your future home site.

--sgl


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## CJ (May 10, 2002)

The place is beautiful, I can't wait to see the house!

I read your comment on the city data forum,

"Thanks. Our property is in Johnson County TN. The house will be 30x38 with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. Mike and I have been traveling in a motorhome for 3 years so this house will be a "mansion"."

And from someone else who just spent 3.5 years in an RV and recently bought a 1900 square foot house... it's TOO SMALL! :bouncy:


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## nu2solar (Apr 20, 2008)

Thanks for all your support and encouragement. I will be posting chapter 3 and more pictures tomorrow night on the City-Data/forum. I hope you will keep following the story and enjoy it as much as Mike and I.

turtlehead- I am so glad you liked our hole in the groung also LOL.

LindyLu- What a small world. Aren't you glad that culvert is gone? We aren't new to the area just to this property. We used to own the Roller Skating Rink. Do you know us?

Lisa


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## LindyLu (Oct 17, 2005)

Lisa, I think we have met. I do know the roller rink if it's the one on the way to Boone. Yes, this area is really beautiful and I love it. Been here 9 years myself. Orginally a Hoosier from Indiana but I love the mountains and the peace here. Relative safety too. If your interested there is a really super group of people in a yahoo group. Joy is the list owner & I am sure you & your husband would be welcomed. Go to [email protected] Too bad I didn't know about you as we had our quarterly meeting here last week. Next meeting isn't until Sept. but we keep the e-mails pretty active and these folks have been a great source of advice and help to me. MMM If you were/are in Mt. City Rotary then you probably know lots of people I do. I don't belong myself but my son used to. 
Linda


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## BlueberryChick (May 12, 2008)

What a beautiful place! Off-grid, berm... I'm a little jealous. :goodjob: I'll be looking forward to updates.

BlueberryChick


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## nu2solar (Apr 20, 2008)

For anyone who is interested I have posted more pictures at:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/tennessee/359683-going-off-grid-east-tennessee.html

Enjoy,
Lisa


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## nu2solar (Apr 20, 2008)

I just wanted to let you know I posted chapter 5.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/tennessee/359683-going-off-grid-east-tennessee-5.html

Lisa


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## nu2solar (Apr 20, 2008)

For anyone interested I posted chapter 6 last night.

Lisa


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## Jaclynne (May 14, 2002)

Your view is stunning! Thanks for sharing the journey with us.

Halo


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## nu2solar (Apr 20, 2008)

Hi everyone I just posted Chapter 10 which is all about our solar and wind set up. You can see all the ppictures at
http://www.city-data.com/forum/tennessee/359683-going-off-grid-east-tennessee.html

Just go to cahpter 10

Lisa


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## Kmac15 (May 19, 2007)

This is my first look, wonderful.

My DH is from East Tenn. so I am sure he will love to read along as well.


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## nu2solar (Apr 20, 2008)

Hi everyone.

My weekly Off Grid story has been revived in case anyone is interested.

I just wanted to let you now that after 6 months of being away I am back and posting every Monday in our Off Grid story.

This is today's link:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/13598963-post1789.html

Have a wonderful night!!!


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## Riverrat (Oct 14, 2008)

Just found this thread, very nice looking place you have there, beauitful view. We arre having the same problem in the ditch beside our driveway, we just went with garden cloth and nice flat rocks. Will have to follow this blog...thanks.


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

My goodness - you certainly were busy once you got home. It's beautiful, love your view from your home.

Angie


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## chuckie (Feb 4, 2010)

Welcome, I read thru you're whole thread. Great job! How are things going up there? Did you guys get you're wind turbine's back up or just go straight solar? I saw someone in Hallet Oklahoma doing the same thing as you on construction of they're underground house.


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## chuckie (Feb 4, 2010)

Someone needs to go fetch her and make her post some in here,lol.


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## nu2solar (Apr 20, 2008)

Hi everyone. Thanks for writing in. We are slowly getting back on track and figuring out what needs to be done this summer. Today I am getting the majority of my garden stuff. I can't wait to start my garden.




Riverrat said:


> Just found this thread, very nice looking place you have there, beautiful view. We arre having the same problem in the ditch beside our driveway, we just went with garden cloth and nice flat rocks. Will have to follow this blog...thanks.


I wish we could stack the rocks all the way up but we don't have any kind of slope on the banks. It's straight up. I wish they made some kind of grass cloth, lol.



AngieM2 said:


> My goodness - you certainly were busy once you got home. It's beautiful, love your view from your home.
> 
> Angie


Thank you. My DH and I have 2 speeds. Move like crazy or melt down, lol.



chuckie said:


> Welcome, I read thru you're whole thread. Great job! How are things going up there? Did you guys get you're wind turbine's back up or just go straight solar? I saw someone in Hallet Oklahoma doing the same thing as you on construction of they're underground house.


We actually gave up on the wind turbines for our area. We have the 12 solar panels and I think that is enough for us...so far. I would like to eventually switch over to a solar water pump and maybe a solar refrigerator somewhere down the road.

We put both of our wind turbines up for sale. We sold the smaller one a few days ago.


Have a great weekend everyone.


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## Texasdirtdigger (Jan 17, 2010)

Your place is KILLING my DH.

He is absolutly FROTHING at the mouth, and I think he wants to come live with ya'll. LOL!!
It really IS incredible.. we know you are proud. Congrats!!

As for us, we are still searching..


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## Riverrat (Oct 14, 2008)

I asked a friend who does landscaping about your ditch and he said to get the rolled sod, lay it in place and tack it down, keep watering it everyday for at least a month, this will let it "set" and start to grow roots. he said that "most times this will work well", might be worth a try. Good luck.
Brian


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## nu2solar (Apr 20, 2008)

Texasdirtdigger said:


> Your place is KILLING my DH.
> 
> He is absolutly FROTHING at the mouth, and I think he wants to come live with ya'll. LOL!!
> It really IS incredible.. we know you are proud. Congrats!!
> ...


Thank you. Good luck with your search.



Riverrat said:


> I asked a friend who does landscaping about your ditch and he said to get the rolled sod, lay it in place and tack it down, keep watering it everyday for at least a month, this will let it "set" and start to grow roots. he said that "most times this will work well", might be worth a try. Good luck.
> Brian


Thanks. That's a lot of sod and a lot of water. I have no idea how we would get that much water down the drive. Thank you for the suggestion. They are always appreciated.


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## chuckie (Feb 4, 2010)

Thanks for the response Nu2solar. I also agree with you and the hubby on the future, just to many things pointing that way. Did you guys end up leaving the solar panels on the container? Also, did you guys figure out a way to treat the fresh water tank to keep things from growing, without dumping and cleaning? Just a few things I'm curious about, thanks and be safe.


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## nu2solar (Apr 20, 2008)

chuckie said:


> Thanks for the response Nu2solar. I also agree with you and the hubby on the future, just to many things pointing that way. Did you guys end up leaving the solar panels on the container? Also, did you guys figure out a way to treat the fresh water tank to keep things from growing, without dumping and cleaning? Just a few things I'm curious about, thanks and be safe.



The solar panels are still on the containers and that seems to be the final resting place, lol. It was actually our original plan before we moved the panels 2 more times, lol.

No changes in the water tank yet. We will be working on some upgrades this year.


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## nu2solar (Apr 20, 2008)

I just wanted to let you know that my DH and I are back home in TN. We have a lot of projects planed for the summer. I just posted a new story tonight.
http://www.city-data.com/forum/18377875-post2148.html




And this is the original link.
http://www.city-data.com/forum/tennessee/359683-going-off-grid-east-tennessee.html


Have a great night.


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## Riverrat (Oct 14, 2008)

As usual beautiful pictures, and a great looking patio cover. Very nice.


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## Sweetsong (Dec 4, 2010)

Your pictures made me homesick, but I'm not from TN or anything. Used to live on a farm with a lane and trees, etc.


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

In keeping with HT tradition among the tight knit group of guys who really _are_ off grid (among whom I most certainly am _not_)........

SUUUUUUUUUURRRRRE you are...........


Seriously, though. Kudos to your foresight and effort.


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## nu2solar (Apr 20, 2008)

Riverrat said:


> As usual beautiful pictures, and a great looking patio cover. Very nice.


Thank you.




Sweetsong said:


> Your pictures made me homesick, but I'm not from TN or anything. Used to live on a farm with a lane and trees, etc.


I love farms.




Forerunner said:


> In keeping with HT tradition among the tight knit group of guys who really _are_ off grid (among whom I most certainly am _not_)........
> 
> SUUUUUUUUUURRRRRE you are...........
> 
> ...


LOL..who says you have to be uncomfortable to be off grid? We are actually working on using less outside influence..like the propane


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## Texasdirtdigger (Jan 17, 2010)

Thanks for the update... We do love your view!!


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