Congrats on the new home. Should anyone need to use a design to modify into an off grid dwelling I have been looking at the loft type of idea using barn plans and making a few adjustments. I can close the walls and do the plumbing myself, but strengthening the roof for solar panels and setting a platform for collecting rain water would need a little modification to the base plans. http://www.stablewise.com/barn_plans/index.htm has a bunch of designs for barn plans of various sizes that an igenious person can modify fairly easily and economically to use as a permanent dwelling.
Luc --- In biofuel@yahoogroups.com, murdoch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Mon, 10 May 2004 01:09:49 +0900, you wrote: > > >>I have exciting news to share. Today we closed on our off > >>grid home in 5 acres of woods. PV, Wind, Rain Water filled Cistern, > >>Veggie Oil powered VW Rabbit generator, wood heat, etc. Paradise! I > >>will be sharing photo's and construction articles as we expand and > >>improve our little slice of heaven. Expansion of the rain > >>harvester/cistern, and solar water heater with wood backup is the > >>first order of business. > >> > >>Steve Spence > >>http://www.green-trust.org > > > >Congratulations Steve! What you've wanted for so long. > > > >Best wishes > > > >Keith > > That sounds like a serious score. Enough acreage to stretch his wings > in a number of ways, and more progressive technologies than I imagine > usually come with almost any house, even one lived in by open- minded > sustainably-minded progressive people. > > When I bought my place (which in a number of ways does not meet the > level of score that he made) I found that it was somewhat hard to find > such a place, and to get realtors even to make me aware of them. > > Even something as simple as getting home insurance with good credit > can be difficult for a home that is not cut from the usual cloth. I > live in a fire-prone area where everyone is allegedly concerned to > mitigate risk, and the risk affects all of us, and yet even though I > went well out of my way to buy one of the most fire-resistant homes in > the State, the insurance companies just on general principle were of a > mind to reject what was different or unknown to them. It is a myth, > in my view, that the capitalistic process works perfectly in this > sense to encourage construction of items less likely to result in an > insurance payout. > > Anyway, back to the point, for folks who know in their hearts that > they want to make their home purchase consistent, if possible, with > some of their sustainability efforts, I encourage them to insist on > their goals. They may meet a lot of resistance that may cause them to > doubt themselves. > > Forewarned is fore-armed, so I am passing on (i.e.: warning) that many > many people in the real estate business and others, up to and > including folks who have some mind and awareness and enthusiasm for > sustainability issues, will discourage you from buying a ready-made > home along the lines of what you've decided you want (and there is > plenty of variance amongst sustainably-minded people as to what they > want.... everything from materials to shape to features is up for > debate). > > You can build your own, which I did not do, but I have the feeling > that in a large percentage of cases, this turns out to be a longer > haul (both financially and emotionally) than the owners allow > themselves to be aware of when they first get into it. This is not to > discourage such an impulse... (in fact with a sustainable technology > type home, I think it may sometimes be the only way, and I think this > particular decision is *very* individual-situation dependent) but to > lay out some of what I encountered. > > All in all I'm extremely pleased that I insisted on things to be my > way, and not the way I was told it was normally done, and it looks to > me like we could be hearing a lot from Steve, along the same lines. Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
