As I mentioned earlier, my partner and I are in the process of making a rural house 15 miles outside of Abilene, TX. The land we have been given is 4 acres of the crappiest sand and bull nettles you have ever seen, complete with tons of junk and 3 dead school buses. But, it is free, it is rural, it has water and electricity to it, and it is in the process of becoming home! An absolute miracle for us as we have no $$ for land. As we can in the next 2 years, we will get "off the grid" with solar and wind power for electricity and to get the water out of our well easily and for free.
These first pictures are not the true start of this project, but we had no camera and no forum to post info, and so we did not document the foundation of this home. The foundation is extensive - 20 concrete and rebar piers with a "Sonotube" of garbage aluminum siding. We will be building a huge covered wooden deck as soon as we get out there full-time, and then we will document the foundation work at the end. Backwards, and I am sorry, but we will be detailing everything as extensively as possible for anyone else who wants some pointers in building their own house as cheaply, though safely and decently, as possible. That all being said, we are the proud owners of a 16 x 24 foot platform that will be the bottom floor of this 2 story, 2 bedroom "Freedom Lodge." It is being called thus because it gives us freedom from rent, mortgage and close neighbors.
Today, we started at the crack of dawn due to the 103 degree heat. We dug a trench and installed metal 1/2" x 1/2" screen along the whole bottom of the platform. This will keep rodents from making a home under ours, and we will worry about closing it in from insects later. I also did some maintenance on our outhouse and path to it, and I have decided that I may be the only Outhouse Maintenance Engineer in existence at this point. Correct me if I am wrong! I also gave myself a sore wrist clearing another path in the woods with a machete for relocation of our outhouse. I did such a good job making a private and cool place for the outhouse from fallen branches, that we have decided to fill in our hole and put a table and chairs in the area for a cool and quiet retreat. I think we will call it the "Crapper Cafe." Yes, I like to name things! More to come next week as we finalize our passive solar design and start to raise the walls with some help...
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