The Prototype Plan

Two of the problems associated with a project such as this suggest an obvious solution. We need a place to live while we build our home, as it is beyond our means to pay both rent and a mortgage on land at the same time for long. We'd also like to accumulate some experience with this style of building. It seems obvious, then, to build a smaller 'prototype' house - a tiny house that echoes the techniques used in the larger one.

We have been inspired by the 'Honey House', featured heavily as an example and cover graphic of 'Earthbag Building' by Kaki Hunter and Donald Kiffmeyer, a book we find extremely helpful. The Honey House is a medium-sized dome with a loft upper story. Given that this is intended to be a temporary home (with potential to convert to granny-flat, guesthouse or workshop at a later date) we aren't particularly concerned by small size. We have found plans of several small designs we think are possibilities:

Kyle and I both like the double-domed version - it offers no experience in roofing, and little in passive solar design, but it is an earthbag building with all the electrical and plumbing challenges we will face, plus the lofts have excellent storage potential for such a small space!

There was considerable discussion about the benefits of doing this temporary home thoroughly, as opposed to doing it small and quick. As we had decided that the purpose wasn't just temporary accommodation, but also to practice as many of the techniques used in the bigger house as possible, it makes a good deal of sense to make it truly a home rather than just a rough prototype. The time and expense in, say, ensuring it has proper plumbing will not be wasted. We are also familiar with the tendency of build projects to run over time, hence we must be prepared for our time in this temporary home to be extended unexpectedly. There will need to be compromises, however we think if we keep that purpose in mind we can achieve it at relatively low cost/time investment.

Pigs?

So... I suppose I'd better explain why we want pigs...

 





Piglets: They are absolutely adorable.

 



Pigs are intelligent, affectionate creatures with lots of personality.

 

Yep.

Posted by Kyle, not Jenny. 

 



 

So... What are you wanting to do?

Build a house. No really - it can't be that hard!

We originally hatched upon the idea by looking at pictures of Tiny Homes, and then as we were exploring projects done by others we happened upon earthbag building, and the world of the eco-self-build opened up. At that stage it seemed that affordable, self-built, eco-friendly, larger-than-tiny homes were possible!

Kyle has some experience in the construction industry, and Jenny dabbled in several architecture/engineering-related areas of study in her misspent youth. Both of us currently work in education about an hour from the central NSW coast in Australia.

Jenny's parents recently documented how they built their own camper van, then drove it from Malaysia to Scotland and back over the course of 3 years. Whilst we weren't particularly involved with their journey, this project (and several others close to us) have left us both with a sense of what is possible with a little expertise in googling, moderate common sense, and a lot of grit. We think they'd be rather pleased by this. Thus, we don't feel that our enthusiasm for this project is naive or unrealistic, and we are quite comfortable that it is possible for us to do albeit a not inconsiderable challenge.

At the time of starting this blog, the current plan sits along the lines of acquiring around 20 acres within a 1hour commute from our respective workplaces and building an earth-bearmed passive-solar earthbag house, probably with split levels of some sort, with a related aquaponics greenhouse, massive veggie garden, and space for pigs. There are many reasons why those various aspects have been decided upon at this point. Rather than explain them here we assume that over the next several years they will be discussed to death, explored further, changed several times, and possibly experimented with, all of which we intend to document here. Partly this is for our own benefit in keeping track of it all, and partly because the single most helpful thing we've found so far is when other self-builders have thoroughly recorded their own journey, and we figure we owe something back having benefited from their experience.

All of this, we recognise, will put us at the mercy of the Australian tendency to over-regulate. We anticipate jumping through many bureaucratic hoops along the way.