OT: Tiny homes/Home design/Sustainable living

[William]

Originally Posted by merckx

I have lived in one of these for a few days at a time after I have annoyed the Mrs. beyond repair.

Been there, done that!






William

[slowpoke]

Originally Posted by Mzilliox

you know whats weird, we don't pay any attention to which direction our houses face in relation to sun and wind. i find that odd. for a smart species, we sure try and work against nature often. you'd think we'd learn its just easier to conform to natural laws and pay attention.:beer

People do, but many people don't have that luxury. And unfortunately the way towns are laid out, someone needs to live in the less desirable house.

Coming from places that snow, ideally you'd want your driveway to be facing south so that you'd get melt. And Feng Shui, aside from its esoteric spiritualism, does have some good points on house directions and location.

[froze]

Originally Posted by slowpoke

People do, but many people don't have that luxury. And unfortunately the way towns are laid out, someone needs to live in the less desirable house.

Coming from places that snow, ideally you'd want your driveway to be facing south so that you'd get melt. And Feng Shui, aside from its esoteric spiritualism, does have some good points on house directions and location.

What's really weird is not so much direction a house faces but rather why after all these years we still haven't built houses partially underground in masses to use the earth as insulation and save huge amounts of energy.

Here are some ideas that have already been built, but these are far and few between: https://www.google.com/search?q=unde...h=442&dpr=2.19

[William]

Originally Posted by froze

What's really weird is not so much direction a house faces but rather why after all these years we still haven't built houses partially underground in masses to use the earth as insulation and save huge amounts of energy.

Here are some ideas that have already been built, but these are far and few between: https://www.google.com/search?q=unde...h=442&dpr=2.19

Here are two I've seen in the recent past that are related...

Dan Price’s underground home, art & philosophy on $5,000/year
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdLAM-wChxY

Kristie Wolfe builds underground home & sets rural WA hamlet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix11VQ8f7uY

When I was a kid we had a neighbor and good friend build one back in the 70's. They make a lot of sense as long as you properly prevent moisture issues.







William

[slowpoke]

froze, it depends where you are and if it's necessary. Since labor is about 25-50% of construction costs, builders will try to cut down out that.

Out here in the California, most houses don't have basements because the climate doesn't require it. And most newer houses here are just built on slab. It's totally different from the Midwest where you have to worry about the frost line.

But I agree--digging into the earth is nice to maintain a more consistent temperature.

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by froze

What's really weird is not so much direction a house faces but rather why after all these years we still haven't built houses partially underground in masses to use the earth as insulation and save huge amounts of energy.

Here are some ideas that have already been built, but these are far and few between: https://www.google.com/search?q=unde...h=442&dpr=2.19

i think it's largely a water management issue. most people who have full depth basements have some sort of water issue, or need pumps to keep them dry. going any deeper would result in more severe water ingress concerns. it would be a hard sell to own a home that would flood if you lose power to your sump pump system.

another issue is waste management. if you have a municipal sewer system, or even a septic system, once you get the living spaces below the level of the sanitary system, now you have to pump waste out of the house, as opposed to gravity flow.

otherwise - yes, it's a great idea to take advantage of the relatively stable temperature of the earth.

[William]

There is really two ways to do it, either A.) build into a hillside, or B.) build the earth up around the home.

Both ways generally negate the need for sump pumps and still allow gravity flow. I've been in a couple UG homes and they where built either one or the other.






William

[cnighbor1]

Has container spans from corner to corner
Has and architect I would put one container up in the air say 15' on four steel columns
Than pour a large concrete slab below it Than add shed roofs on one two three or fours sides
enclose of the sides and you would have at least 1200 square feet on the first floor add a circular stairway up to container Maybe add a raised roof on top on the container and have a roof deck

[merlinmurph]

Originally Posted by William

There is really two ways to do it, either A.) build into a hillside, or B.) build the earth up around the home.

Both ways generally negate the need for sump pumps and still allow gravity flow. I've been in a couple UG homes and they where built either one or the other.

William

I took some cooking classes at a couple's home that was underground, or actually built into a hill. In the kitchen, you didn't even realize it was underground. Her business is called Culinary Underground.

[William]

Originally Posted by cnighbor1

Has container spans from corner to corner
Has and architect I would put one container up in the air say 15' on four steel columns
Than pour a large concrete slab below it Than add shed roofs on one two three or fours sides
enclose of the sides and you would have at least 1200 square feet on the first floor add a circular stairway up to container Maybe add a raised roof on top on the container and have a roof deck

Getting creative with containers...

Shipping container family home: building blocks in Redwoods
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D4WHT2F0JA






William

[William]

We've seen a house in a greenhouse...

An interesting use of space that creates an inside-out-while-inside feel.

Farmhouse in a hangar: NJ modern home creates a world within
When architect Adam Kalkin placed a huge airplane hangar over his 1880s New Jersey farmhouse, he hoped to gain space for his family while preserving the original clapboard cottage: “it’s kind of a ship in a bottle type of thing”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyHYjEoeD2w







William

[William]

Cyclist gets creative with three dimensional space in his small apartment. Some interesting cycling related visual and mechanical touches...

DIY-crafted Seattle micro apartment: 8 spaces stacked in 182 sq ft
Ten years ago Steve Sauer was looking for a place to keep some stuff. When he found a subterranean storage unit in the basement of a century-old Seattle coop, he quickly realized it had potential as a living quarters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJkBlqLJLWA








William

[William]

If you like the idea of re-using salvaged wood and architectural features you can't really buy new anymore to build your small home, then this is your guy. kind of a crazy genius...

Brad “Darby” Kittel came to Texas living on a converted school bus. He had planned to write the Great American Novel, but he ended up buying up boarded-up homes and fixing them up using materials he salvaged from other old houses, barns and buildings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWGa7qyGO8M


.

William

[William]

Whoops, meant to post that one here...


It's not a tiny house though it is only 18' wide it seems much larger. I like the somewhat minimalist approach and the use of space and light in this home.

Seattle architect builds simple home inspired by own bio

Architect George Suyama wonders if his early years in a Japanese American internment camp led to his love for simplicity. “My theory is that we had nothing there so I became obsessed with little things. I was at a camp in Idaho called Minidoka and it was a tarpaper barracks. They were long shed buildings, I don’t know how many families lived in them, you had one window and a stove area and there were curtains that separated one family from another. Maybe because there was nothing there that I wanted to make everything as simple as I could.“

For five years, he and his wife lived in a tiny 500-square-foot fishing shack in West Seattle. When they bought the narrow lot next door, they wanted to recapture that simplicity.

Determined not to remove a single tree, Suyama designed a home 18-feet-wide. To reduce the visual noise of the home the walls, roof, ceiling, floor are all one color (matching the surrounding trees). The only exception is a white box that runs nearly the length of the home which houses the service elements- kitchen, bathroom, stairs and bedroom- and a loft.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTN6jzEHICQ

Some photos in this post...
http://forums.thepaceline.net/showpo...9&postcount=21


William

[ORMojo]

Another article on container homes, with a slide show of examples.

https://nyti.ms/2yhofzn

I like the way these two containers are oriented to each other and the natural landscape.