Where do I start to build a small, affordable, low-maintenance house?
Hello I am 20 years old and live in NORTHERN British Columbia. I used to rent a small cabin a bike everywhere all year round, I now have and live in my truck because I am saving money to build an environmentally friendly house for me and my dog.
I have researched tiny houses and such, but as a vegan working student with a dog and who like to garden, I find they are: A) a little cramed B) too much maintenance. I then started looking at Earthships which had great ideas but seemed off. Btw, I love your guys's article on that.
Anyways now I'm here, your website is very helpful and I will definitely using alot of your ideas :) I've already been telling everyone in my fam of construction workers to check out your website. (They all think I'm crazy and don't believe that you can feesably make an 'eco home' in our part of the world) anyways I am hoping you guys could give some pointers on where to start.
The home will have to be 100% off grid due to location. Hopefully I'll be able to have a well. I currently own some solar panels and have access to a variety of machines for digging and clearing land, and I know if I can create a reasonable plan I can get friends and family on board to help.
I know this is alot of information, I just want to paint a picture. Anyways I am not a builder and much of the information I read can be a little overwhelming to sift through, but I am really passionate about showing people that living an eco life is possible in this area and you don't have to be rich or have some sort of alternative job that affords you all the time in the world. If a 20 year old woman studying linguistics can do it, so can everyone else. Haha, thanks for reading this far if you have and please please please if you could point my in the right direction I'd be so greatful!
What we can do is give you a list of things to consider and things you will need to decide on. This is at least a starting place, feel free to ask follow up questions about any of it, here goes!
A ‘Tiny House’ is typically on wheels, but in our opinion, immoveable homes are better. If you are looking for a mobile tiny house, here are a few links to check out:
If you are looking for a stationary house, you need a piece of land to build on. I’m not sure, but do you have that land already? Great if so, but before purchasing a building lot I would check with the local municipality if they have a minimum home size requirement, and if that is a size you are comfortable with. Here are some pages to help.
Choosing between a slab on grade and basement – slabs are cheaper, more ‘eco-friendly, healthier and more durable. You can buy a prefab slab kit, or you can have one designed by an engineer and build it yourself (with your army of helpers) Keep in mind, depending on site conditions an soft costs such as engineering and permitting, one isn’t always cheaper than the other between prefab and hand made, so price them out.
To stay on budget when building a home, you need to carefully plan the steps ahead, see below.
We will have more news in the near future about innovative prefab kit homes that are LEED Certified and Passive House ‘ready’, in that they are of a quality that can meet those requirements. That’s a good thing for living off grid because it keeps your heating costs down, which In your case I imagine is likely firewood? Some solar heating options are linked below.
That is really just a start, you still need to choose a wall assembly, here are a few pages of material types that are available.
This is probably waaaayyy more info that you were expecting, and some you may have read before but I just wanted to make sure you found a few of our more obscure and interesting off grid articles. You can find all that stuff and more in the Ecohome Building Guide Pages, but also pop in any keyword like 'off grid' in the search box at the top of every page and you will find even more. Good luck!
Thank you for the detailed response! I will definitely be reading these articles. I do already have some land :)