I’m full on into my post-season slump. We finished the final roof on October 23rd and moved onto building the mass heater right away. We finished that and had a fire last Thursday, just in time as we had our first snowfall on Friday. The building season is officially at a close and both my body and my mind have decided to take a long overdue break. I just can’t seem to muster any energy for the endless tasks that lie ahead; stuff I’ve been putting off because I’ve been too busy with outdoor work.
While I recuperate, I’ll leave you with some pictures of the building. Hopefully my faculties will be back to full strength some time this week and I’ll have the mental aptitude to write a blog detailing some of the work. At the very least I will get some pictures of the mass heater up in the next few days. It works like a dream by the way. I’m pretty impressed.
O.O That just seems like an unbelievably large undertaking for two people. Good for you; you’re making it happen. 🙂
Congrats, that’s awesome!
The inside shots remind me of some fine old Forts and Palisades in the Middle East. Way cool and I loved them too!
cheers and good luck
Awesome Work for sure..
In all my 51 yrs I have never met anyone who has built a home by hand from the ground (or underground) up! I shake my head at the amount of hours, energy, creativity and determination you have to pull this together!
I’m so blessed to see you stay committed and feel the word “amazing” is an understatement for what you’ve accomplished in such a short time….I’m so proud to call you my dear friend! Wow, you’re something else! 🙂 ..
Thanks Roxanne! Love that I can always count on your support and encouragement, no matter how ‘radical’ the plan! 😉
I am simply in love with your house! I was wondering if you are still under you original 5000$ target?
My fiancee and I have been planning on building an earthen house for a while and are thinking of trying bags as opposed to the tires. I was originally drawn to an Earthship design but after following your blog I am not so sure.
Gorgeous!
Smile
Axel
Thank you for your kind words. 🙂 We’re currently under $4,000. That’s with the last minute decision to put on roofs (instead of doming) and the stove pipe that we used for the mass heater, as well as stove pipe for the kitchen stoves. We’ll be adding a greenhouse and two large storage alcoves next year but it shouldn’t be a problem to stay within the original budget. (Incidentally, that’s less than it cost for parts and service for our well. Can’t wait to be harvesting all of our water!) Have you considered using earthbag architecture and an earthship design?
WOW, you guys really give a whole new meaning to frugal building. Personally I really like how your roofs turned out and I am excited to see more pictures. It is definitely humorous that buying a service now a days is almost always more expensive then doing it yourself. And yet when I tell people that I work for myself and build my own furniture they look at me weirdly.
We have indeed been discussing the design aspect a lot and yes, I think we will likely end up doing a combination of both. My understanding so far from what I have read is that earthbag architecture is considerably less labour intensive. I mean most earthship projects that I have researched had large teams of volunteers do the tire pounding, while earthbag builds seem possible without the volunteer help.
Anyway, kudos to the both of you for how much you have done.
Smile
Axel
I simply love what you’ve been able to accomplish. My husband and I dream of doing something similar, but it doesn’t seem like it will happen with the restrictive building codes in our area. Your home is lovely, I can;t wait to see it complete. Keep the updates coming!
It looks great! You have done a great job on a building that will last forever!