The Official Underground House Thread.

[tracysaboe]

I'm going to build myself (or maybe contract it to somebody else) an Underground house in New Hampshire -- with passive solor heating so I don't need to pay for it. Solar panals for the electricity (I've got to have my video games.)

Besides the Underground House book by Rob Roy, really how many other reasources are out there.

Please post everything underground house related here.

Tracy

[aries]

Libertarian emergency bomb shelter.

I like it.

[Recumbent ReCycler]

I'm going to build myself (or maybe contract it to somebody else) an Underground house in New Hampshire -- with passive solor heating so I don't need to pay for it. Solar panals for the electricity (I've got to have my video games.)

Besides the Underground House book by Rob Roy, really how many other reasources are out there.

Please post everything underground house related here.

Tracy

I've had that same dream for years now.  I tried to get a construction loan a couple years ago, but the bank wouldn't give me one.  They said that an underground home was "too unconventional", and if I were to foreclose, they might have a hard time reselling it.  A well designed earth sheltered home only uses about 10% of the energy as a conventional home.  If you go to my blog, then click on my profile, then click on my wish list, there is a list of books on earth sheltered home design.  From what I've read, the cost of building earth sheltered homes has gotten pretty close to the cost of conventional homes.

[Lex]

The biggest problem I think to building an underground house in NH is hitting a ledge when you start to dig or even water! With a ledge i suppose you could blast but that'd get pretty dang expensive, not sure what solution would be for hitting water... you could bury a boat underground as a shell for you house :-D

Actually, that's one neat thing about an underground house. You can get all sorts of big "things" (greyhound bus, school bus, yacht, etc) at the junk yard and just bury them and you'd have a good start for a house, just connect them all together, insulate and you're done :-)

[AlanM]

Another possibility is to build into the side of a hill. You could either leave the south wall exposed for light, air, and solar gain, or fill around it, extending the hillside.

[Recumbent ReCycler]

Lex, In theory, you are probably right, although I would want at least a certain amount of structural integrity before burying something.  You could always cover a bus in rebar and spray-on concrete, then it would probably be ok.  In one of my military manuals, I remember reading about various types of improvised bomb shelters, and one idea that was recommended was to bury a shipping container so that only the doors are exposed.  I'm hoping to buy a 20' shipping container to use as a shed.  Then when I move, I can have a truck pick it up and drop it where I'm moving to.  Once I have my own land, I can bury the shipping container, and even run underground wires to the house for power.  They would make great underground sheds and workshops.  I would probably coat them in spray on bed liner before burying them though, to prevent rust and leaks.  One great thing about underground homes is that you only need to insulate the parts that are within a few feet of the surface.  You could always dig a shallow hole to build in, then bring in a bunch of clean fill to cover it up.

[Lex]

Another possibility is to build into the side of a hill. You could either leave the south wall exposed for light, air, and solar gain, or fill around it, extending the hillside.

That's kindof what I'm doing, although not to the degree that the house will be underground. My goal is so that the basement will be underground (that one's obvious) then have the second floor buried half way (the back side facing the hill would be in the hill but the front side would be sticking out) and the third floor will be completely out of the ground.

The reason I decided to do this is because our property is facing north and if we put too much of the house in the hill we will not get any sun from the south. I'm hoping to get enough solar heat into the house through the third floor to make it worthwhile.

[Lex]

Right now i'm in the clearing and road building stage. We've got almost  a quarter mile of road to put in from the main road to the planned house site.

[fourthgeek]

How does one keep an underground house from...flooding? I get the impression that it might be hard to find every single possible hole...especially if you're using a rusty old bus!

[Lex]

How does one keep an underground house from...flooding? I get the impression that it might be hard to find every single possible hole...especially if you're using a rusty old bus!

There are several ways:

1. Best prevention of flooding is to not have water near your house in the first place! This is done through french drains and other drainage systems around the perimeter of the foundation. Make sure to use gravel or other easily drainable materials when backfilling the foundation, this way water will not collect near the house and flow right down through the gravel and hopefuly into your drainage pipes and out away from the house.

2. There is no such thing as a water proof house (otherwise it would be a boat :-) but you can still make it as water resistent as possible. There are many products out there for wrapping your foundation, some are designed to resist water from entering the home and others are designed to help the water escape away from the house.

3. DON'T BUILD IN A FLOOD ZONE, STUPID!  <-- my favorite piece of advice, if only the folks in NO would heed it

4. Find out how high the water table is but more importantly look at the history of the areas water table, it can fluctuate significantly and if you build your house below one of the highest water table levels then be prepared that if the water table goes that high up again you are screwed.

That's all i can think of for now.

[fourthgeek]

Does NH count as a flood zone?

[Lex]

Does NH count as a flood zone?

There are some areas in NH that are considered flood zones but i think that's true for just about anywhere.

[Marcy]

Map of NH flood zones:  http://www.rpc-nh.org/PDFs/docs/openspace/mapIV-3a.pdf

Note: it didn't come near my house  <whew!>

[Marcy]

Tracy, I'm sure you have ideas on how you want your house to look, but I thought I would offer you this:  http://www.calearth.org/EcoDome.htm

Nader Khalali is an architect whose practical (cheap!) building method I would use, if I ever had to build from scratch.  (We own our own place now, so I'm not into building).  I think his current versions are built above ground, but there's nothing says you can't use his techniques and excavate, so that much of the house is below ground.

[tracysaboe]

I'm going to build myself (or maybe contract it to somebody else) an Underground house in New Hampshire -- with passive solor heating so I don't need to pay for it. Solar panals for the electricity (I've got to have my video games.)

Besides the Underground House book by Rob Roy, really how many other reasources are out there.

Please post everything underground house related here.

Tracy

I've had that same dream for years now.  I tried to get a construction loan a couple years ago, but the bank wouldn't give me one.  They said that an underground home was "too unconventional", and if I were to foreclose, they might have a hard time reselling it.  A well designed earth sheltered home only uses about 10% of the energy as a conventional home.  If you go to my blog, then click on my profile, then click on my wish list, there is a list of books on earth sheltered home design.  From what I've read, the cost of building earth sheltered homes has gotten pretty close to the cost of conventional homes.

Many times they can be cheeper. Especially if you know what you're doing and can do parts of it yourself. The Complete underground house book said they build their's for about $15,000. Of course that book was written 10 years ago -- but he built it in Maine. And it's twice the quare footage of my current home.  Plus I probably wouldn't build it all myself. I just don't have the physique. But from what I've read, contractures can build a decent sized underground home for about $40,000.  If I can purchase an Acre of land somewhere (I know if you buy large plotts of it, you can get it for about $300-500/acre but I wouldn't want that much.) I would think I could have it for about the same price as a regular house. $40,000 for the construction. $10,000 for the solar electric system (or in a few years -- probably a lot less.)  and boom, I'm done.  I don't know that I'd want to grow my own food, or have my own water, but if it could be done with-out too much more hassle, I could think about it.

Thanks, for the Blog link.

Another possibility is to build into the side of a hill. You could either leave the south wall exposed for light, air, and solar gain, or fill around it, extending the hillside.

That's actually the plan. Build into a house so that the south side is exposed. If you've got enough thermal mass, and enough windows, you'll maintain about 70 degrees in your home even durring the cold of winter.  What you really need to be carefully of is having too many Windows so it doesn't overheat -- but even that's fixable. Just put external blinds over parts of them, to reflect the sun-light.

Tracy