PICS
I can't get enough of this song right now! Give it a listen.
The end of summer is almost here - it went so fast. Doesn't it always? I'd be lying if I denied looking forward to autumn though. That season has a special place in my heart. The cool, crisp air and rich colors of the changing leaves..
Plus I have an excuse to do more cooking of soups and pies.I haven't been on here a lot lately. Maybe it's because I've been spending a lot of time planning for a huge event in my life: creating a home. No, I'm not going to buy a conventional house and spend the rest of my life paying for it. I'd rather travel so I can meet people like you
. There's another way - this way works with nature, not against it. This way allows you personal freedom so you aren't tied to a mortgage. Build your own! It's completely realistic to build your own natural, safe home in an affordable way. Check out this amazing site and blog on Earthbag building
I've found so many amazing blogs of people who have built their own earthbag homes, or are in the process.
A few years ago I posted a blog on here mentioning I wanted to build a cob house. Cob is great, but earthbag is much faster to build, uses the same materials, and looks the same when plastered. So far we have cleared a site on our 12 acre wooded property, laid a driveway, and excavated a huge pit for the 5000 gallon rain cistern we bought. We want to start building right away, but it can be really expensive at first since we are paying as we go and don't have a loan. Wish us luck as we continue to save and build the home of our dreams! I'll keep you updated with photos. I'll post photos of our cleared lot soon.
Here are some photos of earthbag homes others have created.
SEP 17, 2011 01:07 PM
SEP 17, 2011 01:10 PM
SEP 17, 2011 01:16 PM
hey you , huggles .,
Thanx for the update
good luck with the construction of your home
SEP 17, 2011 01:24 PM
you need to take pictures to the house
SEP 17, 2011 01:30 PM
SEP 17, 2011 01:31 PM
I think the house idea is great
SEP 17, 2011 01:52 PM
SEP 17, 2011 03:15 PM
SEP 17, 2011 05:24 PM
Construction loans are hard even if you're doing something conventional. Going it alone will take longer, but if you have a way to stay dry for the duration it'll be better in the long run—you won't be stressed out by construction loan deadlines, and you'll be one of those rare people these days with some equity in your house. BTW, I don't know if passive solar is an option for you, but those walls are going to have some bitchen' thermal mass!
SEP 17, 2011 06:21 PM
SEP 17, 2011 06:54 PM
SEP 17, 2011 07:56 PM
Build it as you go.
Nice! Can always add to it later.
Hope everyone is doing well. 
SEP 17, 2011 08:02 PM
It's pretty hard to get by with no septic system unless they'll let you have an outhouse. In Cochise County they wouldn't let us do an outhouse, but we finally got one approved based on a sealed concrete design. Unfortunately, we still had to have a small septic system for the sink—they wouldn't let us treat kitchen sink water as grey water because of the possibility of meat waste going down the drain (they don't care if you're vegan).
It'll save you a lot of hassle if you can just put in the septic, but depending on your location it might not be cheap. We got by with a $4000 system for a three bedroom house with an outbuilding (we wound up not building the house, but our neighbor was happy that we put the septic in—she's using it now). But that was in Arizona on soil that perked really fast.
In Vermont, on a rocky slope, we looked into getting a Presby system, which will work pretty much anywhere if the health department approves it, which they do in Vermont. Then we wound up buying a different property that had town sewer, and that problem (thankfully) went away.
It's an adventure...
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