Pythagorean Theorem

Husband disappeared. Usually he can be found hanging out with the boys watching a movie every night after dinner. But not on this night. I found him hunched over the lap top in our bedroom. "What are you doing?" I asked sweetly, just in case I was interrupting a particularly good episode of Bridget the Midget or something.

He looked up at me and answered. Have you ever had a moment when you could actually feel your eyes glaze over? When he was done explaining it to me, all I could say was, "My head hurts, I don't want to think right now."

I'm not saying that I'm a stupid person, math has never been my strong point. So he had to break it down a little bit for me, and explained that here is the sun, here is the windows, here is the depth that the sun will reach, open it up and here's the people.

He even drew it out for me.

I have been finding this stuff all over the house. He just writes it down as he sees it pop into his head. Walipini, underground chicken coop, free alternative heating sources using pop bottles or cans and geothermal power. He is writes over the boys doodles if he can't find a piece of paper.

Now Bridget the Midget I can understand, or even the pseudo religious aspects of sexual deviants in a Forrester Novel, or the Dawn of the Dead is a commentary on how we live life not to it's fullest but as the walking dead and allowing ourselves to be herded like cattle to the nearest consumer driven establishments all because of something shinny. I can even sew a thumb back on if you give me the opportunity, but this. . .

It's an interesting feeling having ones eyes glaze over slowly.

Housing Info

By popular demand {or the amount of people that come here looking for the info} I will condense the underground and dome home housing info I have looked at.

Living Underground;

• Underground Housing {book}
• Earth Sheltered Technology, Inc
• Performance Building Systems, Inc

Dome homes can also be sunk, just ask your sales rep. for details;

• Info at Dome Kits
• Geodesic Domes
• Spherical Design Engineers
• Spherical Steel Structures
• Spherical Building Services
• Spherical Prefab Structures
• Spherical Geodesic Structures
• Spherical Fiberglass Designs

This is not an endorsement by the blog author, just helpful links for you to get started. What you do with this info is up to you.

If you have any dome or underground home links or have dealt with any of the above and wish to tell us about your experinces, please leave a reply or e-mail me.

Steve at Spherical Structures emailed me, there is a
yahoo group for earth shelters 

I have talked to a rep of Info at Dome Kits. He was very helpful.

The run around

Yesterday I set forth {after the migraine was subdued} to find building codes for my county. Numerous resources have informed me that your local residential building codes can be found at your local library, hence this would be my first stop.



It's a tiny, cram packed {cozy if you will} building. Inside it's my dream house. Books stacked in the aisle because the shelves are overflowing. It dark and woody, a perfect library. The librarian was sitting at the computer with a child and immediately smiled as I walked up. I told her I was looking for the building codes.

"I know we are suppose to have them, but we were never issued them. You'll need to go to the city building." I thanked her and went on to my second stop.



The city building was once tucked into a little shop building on the main street, they went and built something larger and fancier, now the official men no longer have to share an office. Goody for them. I had borrowed my father's cell phone and called my husband before entering the building.

"If you don't hear from me in an hour, I've been arrested."

Once inside I was told I needed to talk to a certain someone, and was called back into his office. First thing he says to me, "The code book is about this thick" he did the international hand sign for big freaking book. "You sure you want it?"

"No, but I need to know what we can do and what we can't do." We talked a bit about what info I was looking for and then he informed me that I should go to the county code enforcement building in downtown. ummm. . . thank you for your time.

Nope, not going to happen. I will not be going to code enforcement unprepared. I know several people that have tried to get green buildings and had to preform strange freak show tricks to get any of them approved. I have seen what is around the county, someone okayed these before they were built. So off to the extension office I went.




I walked in and told the receptionist that I was there looking for an ally. Of course she wanted to know why I needed one. So I told her about how no one wanted me to see the residential home building codes. It's a conspiracy I tell you. Here's where I lucked out. The receptionist's father use to build berm homes. She acknowledged that it was a bad idea to go to code enforcement unprepared and then she called her son, who had graduated from K State in architectural engineering. He said there was no one I could call for an ally. WOE IS ME! The receptionist and I were talking, and I mentioned that I really needed to know the codes before I spent almost $4,000 US on just blueprints! Her jaw dropped, and then she calmly informed me that in the state of Kansas, that they do not require an engineers stamp on residential home blue prints. As long as everything is to scale and detailed, they will look at them and tell us yes, no, and maybe. I calmly informed her that I loved her, and skipped merrily out the door. We have a friend that in his past life, designed homes for a living and is willing to help out where he can. Happy dance with me?

So now we begin the process of blueprinting the house. As I type, my husband is sitting quietly on the couch, doodling. {Their so sweet when they doodle} And I am looking at the prices of building material. Instead of concrete we would like to go Rastra, it will save us labor cost and we can go full berm with it. Things might be starting to fall into place.

Did I mention I ran around in my NONAIS.org shirt that I got from the Granny Warriors?

One of those days

I have a wicked migraine and have to go to the library and extension office today. I need to do some research on building codes.

I found out that if we were to go completely underground, we are looking at an extra $10,000 US.

I do realize that resale of dome homes are very low, and that banks do not like to finance them. I have found a owner/builder construction loan that will cover all earth shelters, including domes.

Dome domedome dome doooome

Sorry I am late this morning, I have a house full of the sick.

Yesterday I was looking around at the monolithic homes. This is something we had thought of before, but the size of house we need will run us $100,000 USD. We can't do that. I began following links and stumbled upon Dome Kits. A DIY lovers dream. The same sized house done in wood will cost us $27,000 USD. A whole lot better. But still the use of an all wood structures isn't part of our dream. We want a berm house.

I e-mailed Dome Kits. info last night about what we are wanting and if they could help us. I got a response this morning. Monte informed me of some other sites to look at, who have some pictures of the berm/loft/green house domes we are wanting. {Still have to go look at those}

A build-it-yourself dome seems like a wonderful idea, until I found this link to a Domebuilder's blues. I hadn't thought about all the coding and what those square homes coding could mean to a GEODESIC DOME. WOE IS ME!

I really think that these domes would be perfect for our needs/wants. Now because of the Domebuilder's blues, I need to investigate this even more. This will require many phone calls and library trips. I will need to get the correct coding for this county {though according to the county we don't exist. There are about 20 homes in this area that do not exist} I will need to talk to building contractors about coding and how I can comply with a round house.

It's not easy being green.

Have to run back to the bathroom

Your comments on the incinerating toilet were great {as well as just plain funny} The compost potties, well. . . I just can't go along with it. Maybe it's the years of changing diapers, but if I don't have to deal with poop, I will be one happy gal.

As for losing power, with solar we should always have a backup supply, and we will be getting a generator. The thing is, we lose power on the grid now, and really can't flush our toilet when we lose power. Oh we can, once. But after that, the bowl won't fill up because the water pump runs on electricity. So either way. . . it stinks.

We do have another problem, with a traditional toilet we will have to pump the refuse slightly up hill {as you do in all basements} this will require more electricity, and possible back up problems. I am trying to find away around all that. So far the incinerating toilet looks the best. We haven't decided on it quite yet, if there are other options out there, I will gladly investigate them.

My mother has a friend, she claims that country folks don't get sick because "we eat a spoonful of dirt every day". I need to go eat some dirt, for I caught a nasty bug. And on top of that it's raining. So I will be going back to bed. Hope you guys enjoy the rest of the day.

Time for a Bathroom break

When we first bought our homestead, we were told that we could not put in a septic tank. I found this strange, why is a lagoon ok, and a septic not? No one could answer that. After a few years, our neighbor put in a septic system. He just happens to work for the county and informed us, that someone got it wrong, lagoons were not allowed. What? Well there's not much most of us can do about that. The lagoons had been there for awhile. I understand not allowing lagoons as we are close to two rivers {One is actually a flood control river} The county extension office has a program that will pay for most of the costs of re-digging an old lagoon or replacing it with a septic system. We are going the route of a septic tank.

We have already decided on a gray water system for the house, never thinking about the toilet, as it would go to the septic. But as I was looking at the ads in some of those DIY/homesteading/big brother is watching you magazines, I spied an ad for the Incinolet.

The thing reminds me of an airplane toilet {how comforting} but what does it do? It uses electricity to incinerate human waste, turning it into ash. It uses no water, {we have a private well so don't pay for water, but we do pay for the electricity for the pump} no water, means no septic {but I feel that the county will make us do that anyway}

Now to justify the expense, we are going solar, so don't have to pay for the electricity, won't have to pay someone to clean out the septic, and then there are several environmental reasons to get one {or two} Ok, so I can justify the expense of one. I also know that there are several plants that like wood ash, but would they like poop ash? More research needed.

My mother cracks me up!

Here is her response via e-mail {she wasn't able to psot here for some reason} to us going underground.

It is true that you, my daughter, were obsessed with "little House on The Praire". But, I, as your mother, thought it was about cute little dresses, long braids, & simpler times. Mother's have dreams too. But, never did I think that out of all that reading would you become the "Cave Girl".

Now, I think you are doing well & the underground house is a great idea. I just think, maybe, I should have had you reading Dr. Welby books. Then again, you may have decieded to become the gardener that mowes the hospital lawns. There is nothing like an imagination.

Living in the basement while the house is being build is not an everyday occurrence, but, does happen. We had thought about it ourselves. But, it did not stem from my cave fantasy. More my escape fantasy.

"I the conqueror of the world, when I was 8, would have to escape the enemy by hidding in my vast underground fortress"

Laura Engells? Your father & I did feed into that hunger for her books. I just was living under my fantasy of lollipops & cute braids.

I take full responsiblilty for the outcome of my children. But, I had no idea the depths of their thinking. If only I could have gottten into those tiny brains & seen the forcast of their lives. Never mind. With 4 children it would have been like sneaking into the livingroom before Christmas & opening the presents then closing them back up before Christmas. (which I did). It ruins the fun of knowing the future.

Laura Engells? Not what I though was under my Christmas tree. But, I love what has come from the mind of the child I gave all those books to.

Maybe, I should of had her read Nancy Drew. I could use a good dective now & then, oh, that's right she would have been the ubscure woman doing, uh, I don't know.

Parents, you have been warned! ~grin~

oh and mom, I did read Nancy Drew.

Did you miss the apples?

Between the heart attacks and sick child, I did manage to process more apples this weekend. Everyone is doing well now, thank you for your well wishes.

3 deep dish apple pies

chocolate chip, apple and walnut cookie dough

apple strudel

I also wanted to clarify about living underground. Someone mentioned that the idea might terrify her. She described living in a basement or a dirt cave, with no way except one way out. This might be a common thought among my readers, because it is when I tell people face to face. {You guys are so quiet, I forget other's that are not homesteaders read this} Once the house in finished, it will look nothing like a basement. It will look like a normal house. It will not be dark or dank or have worms crawling about. {though that would make my boys very happy} Our plans do include natural lighting. {here is were I wish for a scanner} Those of you that have the $50 and up underground House book, please turn to page 56. The peaked roof house is similar to what we have in mind {though we are going with a more sloping roof} For those of you that do not have the book, let's see if I can describe it.

The front entrance is accessible from ground level, but you do have to walk down earth stairs or a slope to get to it. On either side of the house will be a sunken earth patio. There will be big glass doors that allow us to exit the house on either side. What we don't have is a back entrance.

The house will be done in concrete, because our water table is so low. We have looked into other, more green products. But none of the fit our needs. We are going with cork flooring instead of dirt because of the county codes here {My husband really wanted the dirt, I don't} Once the interior is finished, you will not be able to see the concrete.

I guess you need to check back in the spring when we get started to really understand.

Why are we going underground?

It's been a very long weekend. My Father-in-law and his stepfather had heart attacks this weekend. Father-in-law on Friday, his stepfather on Saturday. My two-year-old is sick, and when he is, he tends to wake up frequently in a panic. Top that with a migraine and you have my weekend.

I was asked about why we are going to build an underground home. I know I have talked about it before, but in short posts. and I am lazy about searching through everything to find it.

One of the first reasons that we decided on going underground is because of childhood fantasies. I, and my obsession with the Laura Ingalls Wilder series, and the house in the hill. My husband spent time between Denver Colorado {living in a car} and Rock, Kansas {a little no where town}. Rock, Kansas is home to a few underground missile silos. A couple bought one and turned it into a home. That started his fascination with the underground home.

Another reason isn't so whimsical. Underground homes tend to stay in the temperature range of 70F {21c} to 75F {23c}, almost eliminating the need for artificial heating or cooling. That worked wonders on selling us to the idea. We do have two wood burning stoves to help lift any winter chill, and have discussed building a home hearth not just for warmth, but because I adore cooking in them. The only out of pocket expense will be for the wood as we have few trees on our land. {The ones we do have are for wind breaks and an orchard, and are still to young for even those duties} But even the price of wood is considerably cheaper than propane {we don't get natural gas out here} or electricity. We do plan on using propane still as a way to heat up our hot water tank and gas range. {Propane is cheaper than electricity, here} Another "heater" we have looked into is a pellet stove, or corn furnace. These things are great. A friend of ours bought one last year. She bought her corn at the local co-op and spent a little over $3.00 US to heat her house last year.

Reason number three, the weather. Even though the valley I live in has not been torn up by a tornado in ten years, there is still that great threat. We do get hail and straight line winds, as well as microbursts. These things do great damage to homes. Going underground will eliminate this type of home damage, as well as keep us safe if a tornado decides to show up in the middle of the night.

Yet another reason would be that we will be the most popular people in the area with the children. They will come for miles just to slide down the only hill in these parts, during the snow.

Living underground will give us more space to work with. The sheep can graze our roof top, and the steps of the sunken patio will allow me to garden closer to the house. The risk of a fire destroying our house will be less, and in turn will reduce our insurance costs. The only down side is that our property tax will go up.

And we are actually mole people.

I do hope that answers your questions about why. If not, or you want me to expand on an explanation, please ask.

Blimey!

Today be Talk like a Pirate day. Many o' me buckos will be talkin' like this throughout t' day.

Last night my husband and I sat around discussing and working out some of the details to our new home. We are looking at 5 bedrooms, 2 baths, a very large kitchen, an open living room with fireplace, and a library/office. 2,400sf, plenty of room for the 6 of us. Add on's include a mud room that will also double as a canning room and a dirt root cellar with earth coolers. Everything will be underground, so we will have a sunken patio {yard}, that we can later convert into a greenhouse if we choose to. The whole "complex" will be water cooled {If that's even needed as the average temp is between 70f-75f in an underground home all year round, so we are not dead set on getting a water cooling system.} My mother has two wood burning stoves that she is giving to us. My parents-in-law are keeping their eyes out for barn shutters and other things that we can use for the home at the small town auctions they go to. We figured up the price if we had someone else do build it for us and place all new doors, nothing green into the house, and then we figured up what it would cost if we did most of the labor, went green and recycled, we will save 75% of the costs! Of course this is just preliminary, but still. . .

We also find a company up north that sells turbines and solar panels that we are going to visit. Maybe they are slightly cheaper {at least we will save on the cost of shipping it in}. Can you tell I am excited about this? Our current home is a 1984 trailer {mobile home} that is falling apart. It's one of those buyer beware stories. Many lies and truth's with held when we bought this place. It is 1,200 sq feet, so we will be doubling our space. The house we lived in, while playing the suburbanite, was 1,000 sq feet, and that was only if you included the front porch! 2,400 sq feet will be roomy for us indeed. Excavation of the site will begin after the rains next spring.

We also named the kitten that we are keeping, Tomato Paste. We discovered that he will stalk, kill and devoir tomatoes whenever he catches a whiff of them. He stole one off my husband's plate the other night, growling and hissing the whole time.

Phelan, your pirate name is
Bertha the Gold

What is YOUR pirate name?

A Hobbit with a sponsor blogathon entery #24

Why do I get visions of hobbit holes when you talk about underground houses?

My home is built into a hill, so the back half is halfway underground. We have never had to use the heater or fan in that area, as it stays almost the same temp all the time. It's just the other half of the house that gets cold. The downside is, no natural light comes into that back area. ~one4worldpeace

Because that's what it is, only larger and with taller entry ways.

We thought of that problem and have looked into various ways of solving this. We are going with skylights in the roof, through the sod, as well as strips on the side. To hide, as well as protect our widows, we will be planting low flowers around it and then adding a decorative, but sturdy wrought iron fence. It will look as though the small hill has gated gardens. The upstairs loft will have a bay window.

Another aspect to the house that I neglected to mention. We will have a sunken patio. The sunken house has a sunken yard! Yes it does. We will have a small green house as well. The entire south side of our house will be open. Hope I am explaining this correctly. {I wish my scanner worked} Imagine a bowl shaped hole, place a two story house in the hole and push it up against the north wall, leaving an open are in the hole on the south side. Now cover the top of the house with dirt, but do not fill the hole. Makes sense {Oh I hope it does}

as for flooding {what I beat you to the question?} We will be installing french drains.

15 points for that question one4worldpeace!

You can ask any question that pops into your mind on any of my posts. I am answering them in the order they show up in my e-mail.

You can still Sponsor Me! All sponsors will be eligible for a wonderful photography book! It's about the farmers!

Invasion of the mole people blogathon entry #17

Could you explain more about the underground shelter? I knew you wanted to do this, but I am not sure exactly what the plan is.

-Rubyreader

{ alrescate asked something similar early this week}

I know some will ask, here is the book my husband told me to buy him. {Yes, told. And when I saw it I cried "I don't want to live in a fifty dollar house!"}

What will happen is that we will dig a 2,000 square foot basement, with a 1,300 square foot wrap around loft. Then put sod over the roof, and all you will see is a door set into a 4 foot tall hill. {Imagine sinking a house, and there you go} The link above might help more. My husband is napping, and this is more his project. I will try to update this entry more when he wakes up.

5 points for the both of you!

We now have $341USD for Farm Aid! Not too late to Sponsor Me!

Feel free to keep asking your questions.