Tipi's / wigwams? Yurts / gers? Domes? Earth-constructed dwellings? Caravan? VW hippy love wagon? Something conventional? Or something else?
Oh, cob domes all the way. Half-submerged into the ground with vines on top. <(^_^<) <(^_^)> (>^_^)> That and whosever place you get let into hitching.
What about school buses? I'll vote for VW hippy love wagon,just because you can't go wrong with anything named love wagon lol.. Ummm I guess it depends on the climate you're in and also,what resources are readily available...I hear alot of good things about earth dwellings... Also,are you going to stay put or do you want to move your site often...that would be a factor in what you choose.
plastered straw bale hut, all the way. preferably under a large pine tree , to use the boughs for a roof. will it work? we dont know yet...
The sort of dwelling I am thinking of is something that is static, but can be collapsed down and moved if needs be. You could probably consider an earth home to be moveable if it's purely earth (and not stabalised-earth with cement), with you leaving behind just the walls. Earth homes are maybe what first got me interested in alternative living, as previously I thought that not living in a "proper" house would be somewhat uncomfortable. Some of the benefits of earth homes I think are overstated though - like the insulation properties. That is hardly a hurdle however. wideeyed... check out some of these links: http://www.blueforest.com http://www.treehouse-company.com/ http://www.treehouselife.co.uk/ They are companies building commercial dwellings upon living trees, ewok style! Expensive, but may give you some more ideas and inspiration. I think your concept might work. You would still need a "proper" roof, but it could be considerably thinner / cheaper - perhaps just the simplest of frames and some sheeting - with the pine providing added strength and UV protection for the waterproof covering.
http://www.totse.com/en/ego/self_improvement/howtomakeachea173260.html formerly titled 'How to build your own cheap, big-ass house,' as I remember.
I had thought of shipping containers, but it's not really practical to get them to remote areas where you would struggle with a 4x4 let alone a big transporter. I guess for a strong dwelling though you can't really argue with the price, assuming you can get them that cheap. LOL!
something about round buildings with domed roofs is very appealing. in all it dosn't realy mater to me what there made of, but i do like a large communal area with privete dwellings surounding it in a wagon wheel design
I'm all for round dwellings because they are very efficient and interesting to design/engineer. If you can design one segment which slots into the other (say, 1/16th of a 16 sided dwelling), you often only need to repeat that to complete the basic dome or yurt shape!
Those are absolutely amazing....you're right,very expensive,living in one of those would be like being on vacation every day...they're just so beautiful,of course the settings they're shown in really add to it as well. Not what the average off the grid/self sufficiant/communal living people have in mind,but they do offer some good ideas.
those are some cool links, but i cant help wonder what happens 30 yrs from now as the trees grow . floors canted 30 degrees, stairs pulled apart, etc. i suppose the engineers have it figured out (i hope). ya this project of mine, i want to build a winter hut to do some snowshoeing out of, so hopefully in sept ill be taking a flatdeck of supplies up the logging roads by sugar lake (bc, canada), and try out this idea. for canadian winters, having r60 walls should be the sheeit. i like the idea of just taking some 3/8 ply, and making that thin roof. hopefully i wont have to put a single spike into the tree. but im wondering, will heating up (and freezing) the base of a pine tree in winter ultimately kill it? i dunno.
how about old canvass army tents? you need a truck or car to move one (because they're big), but they come with stovepipe holes, and are pretty durable. not usually a floor in them tho'. but it still cant beat the strawbales for insulation factor. of course you cant beat the tent if you want to move around...
Re: Treehouses "Growing": The manufacturers claim that they can be adjusted each year to allow for growth. I guess this is fine inprinciple, though ultimatly I imagine the rate of growth exceeds the maximum amount of adjustment you can make and thus you need to make rather larger changes to the structure itself. I guess you simply use adult trees though, since ultimatly they don't grow bigger and bigger indefinetly! 30yrs is quite a long time, I think most peoples communal dwellings are fairly inexpensive and have short lifespans - not least because many communes needs and populations are not static. For an initial dwelling, I would be trying to make it fairly inexpensive and basic as it's difficult to know exactly what you need without extensive experience actually living there! Later, you can build a "Mk2" which incorporates your full needs and learned knowledge. Re: Tree / heat worries: I don't think it would be a problem, nature is afterall quite adaptable. If you are still worried about the tree, maybe you could simply wrap insulation around that. Of course, that would eat into the space available in the dwelling to live in - so perhaps some of that foil backed bubble insulation might be a good idea, as it's only 10mm or so thick. It's shiny surface would also radiate a lot of the heat away from it which is probably of more value than the core insulation itself. Re: Army Tents... well, I'm not sure. You said they are the best choice for moving about, but you need a big truck/car to move one - whereas a properly designed traditional Yurt could be moved by just a horse! Indeed, as I will be working with 8x4 plywood sheet - that requires a good sized van anyway - so this also gives you a good sized vehicle to transport a dwelling anyway. My dome concept is designed to be bolted/unbolted as needed - though ideally I would prefer to stay put!
so i got my spot roughly picked out on a topo map. 6k in off a logging road at the end of a valley, theres two 10 000 ft (asl) peaks with an icefield in between. were going to set up somewhere at the base of them. still havent seen it in person yet, but i have a good feeling from the topos. i might not bother hiding under a tree, i may just build a circular wall and knock up a plywood and 2x6 roof instead. im a carpenter, so it all looks pretty do-able. good luck with the geo dome, jules. they're a sight to see when they're up.
Difficult to come to a decision unless you've been to the exact spot. I've done a similar thing in the past by looking at maps and then visiting the site. Often, it hasn't been what I expected, even with the highest resolution maps available (showing individual fences, etc.). By contrast, some of the more interesting sites I have stumbled across more by chance. For sure, trees, mountains, rivers, etc. are all in the same place as the map says, but it's never the same as being there. For instance, last place I looked at had a couple of mounds either side of the river, which made it very sheltered - but these features were not visible on the map. The trees had also moved about a bit because of forrestry operations in the 5-10yrs map since the survey was made for the map. In any event I love going out exploring anyway and it's always nice to be doing it with a purpose!
Greetings all, I just discovered the Yert and checked out some sites on them. I think they're great, I'd love to get a few people together on a large one, perhaps on a piece of land or in a commune, or something. Still forming ideas and looking for a commune to live on...anything but this hell hole called society. Ah well, the search goes on....peace to all.
