Going Off Grid in East Tennessee; The Story and Chat Thread (credit, home)

[Beretta]

Jon - your music is amazing. How nice of you to reach out to connect with Lisa. Y'alls county is BEAUTIFUL!!

[TN Tin Man]

Originally Posted by younglisa7

Tinman

I don't know the answer to your question. Mike and I don't follow any rules. We designed everything ourselves and we have never seen another home like ours will be.

So- what is the difference between Earth Home and Envelope Earth Home?

Keep watching our pictures and you will see what we end up with

Lisa

Envelope Earth Home..... To make it simple. It is a box within a box, the outer box is the walls that hold the roof and side walls. The inner box is the home sitting up on piers, generally theirs 3-4 feet of dead space around the inner box, Facing south and having the front of the building as the green house and the solar collector with heat absorbing terracotta tiles and brick, and a working green house. The collection of warm air now threw natural convection flows around the inner home. By using baffles you can regulate cooling and heating. I saw this concept back in the early 80's at Eco Village Mother Earth and was very impressed with the natural air flow...... Cannot wait for the next series of photo's...... Be safe......

[kenstan]

We are in the process of buying 26 ac. just outside Sneedville.We have almost the same problem with our creek just no bridge at all . You can cross it with a pickup but not a car. We found a builder thats builds log homes in the area for $75 a sq ft turn key I think we will go that way. What did the corvert cost you,I am getting a price today for one installed. I still live in Fla for now but hope to be able to move next spring.I cant wait to get out of here.

[fallfanatic]

I am truely enjoying your story and pictures. How beautiful your land is, thank you so very much for sharing with us!!!!!!

[J&Em]

I'm enjoying watching all the off grid stories. Good luck. We'll be living the excitement vicariously through your adventures.

We've never had so much up close and personal time with cows before. Now that we a bunch every day near our home we have seen that they are very inquisitive once they stop being afraid. I guess yours are especially so. Hope they didn't do too much damage!!

Emma

[ylisa7]

jonfoxmusic-
Welcome to the neighborhood. We go through Laurel Bloomery every 6 weeks or so on our way to Bristil(exit 7)-good shopping. Have you biked or hiked the Creeper Trail? It sounds like you might enjoy it. It starts in Damascus(I think). There is also a Johnson County Hiking Club. Check the Tomahawk(local paper) for details. Our new place is between Mountain City and Boone.

Kenstan-
Congratulations on your new place. Have you ever had raw land before? What does your property have. Do you have electric, any easements, septic, or well? These things are usually not included in Turn Key deals. $75.00 sq. ft. sounds pretty cheap. I just want you to make sure you know what you are getting into in case this is new to you.

Our culvert was pretty big, 24ft x 14ft x 8ft, and it cost us $4700.00. That was just for the culvert and delivery. The county installed it and they also got the required permits from the EPA. TN is pretty strict when you mess with their creeks.

You can also make a bridge using I-Beams and wood. That would be less expensive. You also have the cost of building up the road depending on the property. Is yours a shared bridge? And if it is, have you met and talked to the neighbors?

Send some pictures if you can. Good luck.

Lisa

[ylisa7]

Hi everyone. It is time for chapter 4. The week of June 16.

On Monday the workers showed up to waterproof the house. Because we are building a berm house it is extemely important for us to stay dry. Our poured concrete walls are 10 inches thick and 10 feet tall. This is the process for waterproofing. First they spray on a rubber coating to seal and waterproof the walls and then that is covered with insulation board to protect the house when it is backfilled. They also put cloth, add a layer of gravel, then drainage pipe, more gravel and cover it all in cloth around the perimeter of the house to drain out the front of the house. There is also a clean out that runs up the center of the wall in the back of the house in case there are any problems.



Mike's new tractor was also delivered today.

On tuesday Mike and I worked on cleaning up and adding more gravel on our right-of-way with his new tractor. The trucks that have been coming in and out have been making big ruts so we had to fix them.

The concrete crew was there getting ready to pour the concrete slab. First they did a quick grade inside the home, covered the ground with a vapor barrier, filled it all with 4 inches of gravel, and finally they poured 4 inches of concrete.



This is how busy it was that day



On top of all this the well drillers also showed up. We are drilling a well at the top of the hill by the house. We have a good spring but it is farther down the drive and we will eventually put a pond there. The well ended up being 300 feet.



Tuesday ended up being a very long and busy day with a lot of people around. We had to stay late with the concrete crew so they could put the finishing touches on the slab. We had to fence everything off once again to keep the cows out.

On Wednesday we found out that our metal roof would be delivered. We bought the metal roofing at the farm supply about 3 miles from our property which made it convenient. The only problem was the delivery didn't get in until 4:30. So the owner, David, of the farm supply drove to our place with the delivery man following. Turns out the man driving the delivery truck couldn't make the turn from the county road onto our right-of-way because his trailer was too long. So David came up to get Mike and I to help. We all go back down to the right-of-way with Mike on his tractor and David and I in his truck. I'm sorry to say I didn't have my camera for this fiasco. Anyway the driver pulled into the corner as far as he could while Mike used the bucket of the tractor and put it underneath the trailer and David hooked a chain from his truck to the back of the trailer. Mike lifted while David pulled and they got the trailer cleared of the corner so the driver could now drive in. At that point I got into the truck with the delivery man and Mike and David followed behind. As we got through our gate and almost to the barn the driver says to me "do you see the roofing"? What are you talking about? He says I think we lost it. You've got to be kidding. So we get out of the truck and sure enough our metal roof is sitting in the road. Mike and David are there waiting. Great, now the 4 of us Mike who recently had a hernia operation, David who has a bad back, me who is a little strong but not that strong, and the delivery guy, have to get this metal which is 17 feet long back onto the truck. And you can't bend this stuff. After getting blocks and boards from the barn we finally have enough leverage to get the roofing back on the trailer. We start up again and get about 200 feet and we get stuck because his trailer is just too much for his truck. Oh this is turning out to be a bad day. It is now about 7:00pm and Mike has finally had it and he tells the driver to pull over on the grass and drop the load there. We stake and rope off the roofing so the cows don't damage it and we call it a day. That was our roofing fiasco and it is still on the side of the road as I type this.

On Thursday our grader shows with the bulldozer to backfill the house.



Friday was a nice and peaceful day. We had some gravel delivered so we could make a small parking lot behind the house and a path to our building. I also put seed and curlex all around the house to keep everything clean while we build the house.



Well that wraps up chapter 4. I hope you enjoyed and I will add the "next week" in a couple of days.

Lisa

[TN Tin Man]

The "View" jaw dropping !!! What direction is the front of the home? Did they have pre-made forms or did they have to make the forms for the wall ?
Just beautiful!!! That view.....

[ylisa7]

Tinman,

Thank you for the compliment. They had their own form boards(we lucked out finding this concrete company). There are pictures of the form boards in chapter 3 page 3 of this thread. Check it out.

The house faces southwest and I will have more complete pictures in a couple of days.

Lisa

[SPLIT]

YL: Great pics, story, keep a good journal . Still think you will make a author or cable TV program.. Good time of year for ground shaping.
. Your future POND .. Do you need any permits, inspections, applications, etc. Length of time approval..? Our housing Dev may have taking our Builder / owner one year for sign off . ??
.. Last year Road extension right next to our hilltop ranch. Lots still unused, utilities in.
.....