How I built my house for £4,000

[sandbender]

Article in todays Independent, features a man who built an eco home on a very tight budget

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s.../how-i-built-my-house-for-1634000-784278.html

 

[Seoras]

Now that would be one heck of a tutorial.

Anyone on this forum done anything similar or are involved in similar type of work?

I worked with a group of Americans in Chile for a period in 1995 on a Raleigh International expedition who had a straw bail house and it was warm to say the least.

George

 

[SteveW]

This is in a similar vein, and yes, I would love to live there……Bilbo Baggins me !


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


http://www.thatroundhouse.info/ and this.

 

[Draven]

I love the bag-end style one

The title reminded me of a story dad told me about when he was younger (20s I think?) and he and a few friends built a house in the shape of a geodesic dome out of cardboard cut outs stapled together and covered in fibreglass resin . . .

 

[sandbender]

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

http://www.thatroundhouse.info/

Great links Steve, and Draven, check out these geodesic domes...

http://www.monkeyc.org/dome/

 

[sandbender]

Now that would be one heck of a tutorial.

Anyone on this forum done anything similar or are involved in similar type of work?

Mabye soon

I'll put together a tutorial if it all comes together

 

[Toddy]

I've been eyeing up the Simon Dale house for a while , I keep sending the links to friends, now I know I'm not alone in the interest

Sandbender, UK or Europe ?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[sandbender]

UK or Europe ?

Same thing isn't it?

Definitely mainland Europe though...

 

[Snufkin]

I really like the hobbit hole. Wouldn't it be nice to live in a village like that?

 

[Greg]

It would be great to be able to live morgage free and low impact eco friendly at the same time, it completely infuriates me to hear about my local council turning down planning permission for these brilliant homes, yet they allow the building of loads of massive new homes all over the county! Its just WRONG!!!

 

[Nomad_Of_Soul]

Thats a stunning house he built, I wonder if he had any problems with planning permission or had to stick to any local anal regulations, one thing is for sure, it would never happen pembrokeshire. Great links though, thanks for posting

It would be great to be able to live morgage free and low impact eco friendly at the same time, it completely infuriates me to hear about my local council turning down planning permission for these brilliant homes, yet they allow the building of loads of massive new homes all over the county! Its just WRONG!!!

Couldn't agree with you more Greg.

Another interesting link:
That round house on the bbc

 

[CLEM]

Wow!!! Even I could afford a place to live like that!

 

[Tengu]

Yes, it would be great if everyone had their own hovel to live in, really improve the enviroment for those who have proper houses.

 

[Greg]

Yes, it would be great if everyone had their own hovel to live in, really improve the enviroment for those who have proper houses.

So Tengu why the need for a statement like that!
These building are hardly hovels! Unlike alot of normal houses you can find!

 

[Snufkin]

Of course you could build it for £4000 but around here you'd still have to find the £100000 for the land with planning permission.

 

[Tengu]

That was badly said, you are right.

But we dont want any old body setting up house in the countryside, nor doing away with our admittedly annoying planning laws which ensue we enjoy a high (but unaffordable, thats the side effect of it being decent) standard of housing.

We dont want to go back on that.

properly legislated and designed, these houses are a very good idea.

We should have a few experimental streets of them, see how durable they are in the long run.

But that would be expensive, since demand would outstrip supply.

 

[spamel]

Oh I dunno, I stayed in a house in the Falkland Islands made from wriggly tin and heated with a peat fire! It was permanently cold, but straw bale walls would have made a massive difference. I would quite happily live in one, maybe it would have to be a bit more of a simple life but there is nothing stopping you from putting in a gas supply or getting a bore hole sunk if you are lucky to be in a good area for one. A lot nicer and simpler than brick, and I'll bet less prone to damage from the elements so long as you keep up on general maintenance and sort any niggles before they become big problems.

 

[mr dazzler]

and it should be easy to add extensinos or change things without major hasle. I can see the sense in SOME planning regulation BUT it seems to me its too OTT and controlling and its more for the benefit of the insurance and morgage industrieis (and of course the jobsworth local government industry). Folk did live in "hovel's" for manygenrations and damp cold and draughty they undoubtedly were. They were low impact dwelling's made from locally sourced sustainable materials (until at least the industrial revolution with mas produced brick/tile/slate/ etc and the canal's and trains to move it all around from place to place) Unless you were a rich and powerful show off/church official etc and could afford to import fancy pink limestone or granite or something, you simply had to makeuse of what humble material's was there which led to inventive use and devlopemnet of traditional vernacular method's, wattle and daub, cob, clap boarded frame's, free stone, flint etc etc. I mean the house next door is almost 500 years old, they dug clay out the ground to make the daub render, and the hole they left survives to tis day-as a duck pond Some of the rafters and stud's are cleft chestnut and oak, the wattle infill is hazel coppice pole's, clay sand dung and horsehair for the render, local reed thatch etc. We now have modern wall to wall nsulation/ central heating/double glazing etc etc in houses the construction industry includes all the latst stuff (eg low-E glass as compulsory now) in new builds but its just like assembling a plastic kit 1st fix 2nd fix, airfix (for all the plastic they put in house's nowadays )but are people really any healthier because of it??

 

[Nomad_Of_Soul]

Currently i live in a street that has a single row of houses (about 10) and is surrounded by woodland, it's in the middle of nowhere and very peaceful but the hovels are typical red brick stacks that stick out like sore thumbs from the surrounding environment. Most people in the street treat their houses as hovels, rubbish on the street, all over the garden and god knows what state their hovels look like inside. These people couldn't give a fig about the environment, global warming, energy efficiency, the future and all that boring rubbish. Someone once said to me "why should i care about the planet? What's it ever done for me?" that unbelievably dumb quote was from a 26yo girl and sadly i have to share this planet with her and many, many like her.

The previous occupiers of my house lived like animals. Dirty nappies in the garden, enough toys to fill a toy shop, half burned rubbish and all sorts off rotting food. The carpets stank of urine and when the windows were shut the bedrooms had the same smell as a well soiled rabbit hutch and judging by the thick black damp around the windows I don't think the windows were ever opened. To put it bluntly, it's a **** hole and there's 10's of 1000's similar houses throughout the UK lived in by people who just don't give a flying fig.
The authorities deem this as normal, pro eco friendly and benefits society.

When someone/anyone who chooses to build and live in a 'eco-house' and proves that it's possible to live in a 'mud and straw hut' that blends in, sustains natural resources and has a minimal impact without using vast amounts of electric, gas and other high costs of running a 'normal' house then i am 100% behind them.
Besides, what does the future hold for all of us (or grand kids) when oil as reserved for governmental use only, when the total planet population is way over the 15 billion mark, when there's no more available land to build more brick houses, mass unemployment and all sorts of other doom and gloom (unless there's some massive catastrophe or the mother of all wars there's no possible way the western world can continue this way of life beyond the next 100 years) and when energy efficiency has become law?
I'm blabbing on now, gonna be more e efficient by stop typing.

Cut it short = LESS BRICK\PREFAB HOUSES MORE ECO EYECANDY HOUSES LIKE THESE

 

[Nomad_Of_Soul]

Currently i live in a street that has a single row of houses (about 10) and is surrounded by woodland, it's in the middle of nowhere and very peaceful but the hovels are typical red brick stacks that stick out like sore thumbs from the surrounding environment. Most people in the street treat their houses as hovels, rubbish on the street, all over the garden and god knows what state their hovels look like inside. These people couldn't give a fig about the environment, global warming, energy efficiency, the future and all that boring rubbish. Someone once said to me "why should i care about the planet? What's it ever done for me?" that unbelievably dumb quote was from a 26yo girl and sadly i have to share the same planet as her and many, many like her.

The previous occupiers of my house lived like animals. Dirty nappies in the garden, enough toys to fill a toy shop, half burned rubbish and all sorts off rotting food. The carpets stank of urine and when the windows were shut the bedrooms had the same smell as a well soiled rabbit hutch and judging by the thick black damp around the windows I don't think the windows were ever opened. To put it bluntly, it's a **** hole and there's 10's of 1000's similar houses throughout the UK lived in by people who just don't give a flying fig.
The authorities deem this as normal, pro eco friendly and benefits society.

When someone/anyone who chooses to build and live in a 'eco-house' and proves that it's possible to live in a 'mud and straw hut' that blends in, sustains natural resources and has a minimal impact without using vast amounts of electric, gas and other high costs of running a 'normal' house then i am 100% behind them.
Besides, what does the future hold for all of us (or grand kids) when oil as reserved for governmental use only, when the total planet population is way over the 15 billion mark, when there's no more available land to build more brick houses, mass unemployment and all sorts of other doom and gloom (unless there's some massive catastrophe or the mother of all wars there's no possible way the western world can continue this way of life beyond the next 100 years) and when energy efficiency has become law?
I'm blabbing on now, gonna be more e efficient by stop typing.

Cut it short = LESS BRICK\PREFAB HOUSES MORE ECO EYECANDY HOUSES LIKE THESE