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Affordable Housing from Scratch
May 7th, 2009
The property is raw. There is nothing there but trees and moss. The land is very dry and there is no obvious water source. There is no power. The terrain is extremely rough with loose sandstone boulders, and undulating ridges. There are no clearings and there is no access road.
In order to comply with my local government a few key things need to be in place. Is it easy to become overwhelmed with the bureacracy if this is something that you have never done before. There are a couple of important things that ecclipse others in terms of legalities.
Firstly, goverment officials will insist that there needs to be a human-waste management system that is approved by the ministry of health. In rural areas not connected to the sewer, this means a septic tank. There are endless ways to set up a wastewater management system, depending on the terrain, materials available and the needs of your household.
Secondly, there needs to be a potable water-supply. (Oh, that silly government! requiring you to have drinking water on your property!) In the case of my place. I would probably need to get in a professional dowser to find a promising drilling spot and drill as deep as 300 feet to reach the possible groundwater. Living near water has always been a human trend that is starting to make extreme sense.
To get power to the site, Several power poles are going to need to be added from the main road. Small-scale alternative energy is a bit prohibitive on the site that I am building on. There is no sustained sunshine, very little wind, and no creek or stream. The only way to have self-sustaining abundant power would be to set up something such as a geo-thermal system.
So far, Just having site amenities may put me in the position of later living in a tent. So, I am going to be using recycled housing. This means an old-unwanted mobile home or similar set-up. And I am finding there are many many opportunites to recycle housing and this is a very viable option. Check this website out for example, nickelbros.com. These houses are being saved from demolishment. A bit out of my price range but regardless, less than a quarter of my budget will be spent on the actual shelter.
Not including time spent researching or having insomnia. I have a timeframe of one month to make this happen. You laugh! (So do I sometimes, but I am very determined.) This will include time spent on site clearing and removing trees, having a septic system installed. Developing a water storage system and source. Arranging to have power to the site as well as filing permits, and finally, finding a starter building and having it located there.
It looks as though I will be able to use a mix of natural building methods and conventional methods to achieve my recycled housing project. Stay-tuned!