Non traditional house design

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
R

rsbennett00

Senior member
Jul 13, 2014
962
0
76
I'm trying to figure out what I want my housing goal to be in the future, to work toward.


My desires:

low utility usage
little to no sunlight
four car garage or more


Obviously I could just go the traditional route and put solar/wind power up and blackout the windows but I want to actually do this right.

My first thought was an underground house built into the side of a hill. That makes me think roots would be a problem long term though. So then I thought to look for a rock location so there's no dirt/roots to deal with but that might be a little impractical.

What about houses that are covered in viny plants? That has to help with utilty usage? But then we're back to plants growing into the house and causing problems. What if the vines were growing on some type of structure around the house but physically separated by like a foot? Then you would have to keep an eye on the entire gap to make sure they didn't invade. What if the house was encapsulated by a structure the vines couldn't pierce, like glass? A glass dome over your house? Perhaps impractical.

Any thoughts?
 
D

drnickriviera

Platinum Member
Jan 30, 2001
2,462
270
136
Build a passivhaus. Watch out for egress requirements for bedrooms. Gotta have a secondary way to get out of the room
 
MrPickins

MrPickins

Diamond Member
May 24, 2003
9,125
792
126
rsbennett00 said:
My first thought was an underground house built into the side of a hill. That makes me think roots would be a problem long term though. So then I thought to look for a rock location so there's no dirt/roots to deal with but that might be a little impractica
Click to expand...

:confused:

Just how tough do you think roots are? Even tree roots shouldn't be a big deal.
 
Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
70,701
13,850
126
www.anyf.ca
It seems the US government is often selling off missile silos and other similar property. Try to see if you can find something like that or other industrial type land. That would be awesome. Then put up lot of wind turbines and solar panels. Depending on how deep this goes heating may not even be a big issue. An old nuke plant would be super cool too, provided it was not involved in a disaster that left radiation contaminate all over. :p

Watch Extreme Homes, plays on HGTV sometimes, there's some pretty interesting homes on that show. Would be awesome to live in something off the wall like that. Saw one where they built it out of cinder block then spray foamed all the outside then painted the foam, it looked like rock, but it was all foam. Super awesome R value I would imagine and rather simple concept too.

For heating I always liked the concept of solar heat collectors using boxes and double pane windows then you have air or liquid go through it. It's rather simple and cheap to make compared to other methods like solar panels or vacuum tube (not the electronic type but actual long tubes) collectors. If I had a bigger property I'd do it. Key is trying to find a non toxic liquid to use though. Water will just freeze at night and burst the pipes unless you keep the pump going but then you're minimizing the efficiency.
 
Number1

Number1

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2006
7,881
549
126
rsbennett00 said:
I'm trying to figure out what I want my housing goal to be in the future, to work toward.


My desires:

low utility usage
little to no sunlight
four car garage or more


Obviously I could just go the traditional route and put solar/wind power up and blackout the windows but I want to actually do this right.

My first thought was an underground house built into the side of a hill. That makes me think roots would be a problem long term though. So then I thought to look for a rock location so there's no dirt/roots to deal with but that might be a little impractical.

What about houses that are covered in viny plants? That has to help with utilty usage? But then we're back to plants growing into the house and causing problems. What if the vines were growing on some type of structure around the house but physically separated by like a foot? Then you would have to keep an eye on the entire gap to make sure they didn't invade. What if the house was encapsulated by a structure the vines couldn't pierce, like glass? A glass dome over your house? Perhaps impractical.

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

What planet are you from?
 
S

smackababy

Lifer
Oct 30, 2008
27,024
79
86
You could buy a traditional home with a large basement, convert the entire upper floor to a garage, and reside in the basement permanently. It will be a very easy transition from your mothers to this new one.
 
Imp

Imp

Lifer
Feb 8, 2000
18,828
184
106
Little to no sun /= low utility usage unless you're in a cooling dominated climate, which is a big chunk of the south US of A and probably where you're at (CA?).

Sun shades are shades (duh) that are designed to block the sun when it's high/strong and let it in when it's low -- essentially shaded in the summer, let in during the winter.

Utility usage can be addressed using insulation, HVAC design, consideration of the sun, on-site generation, etc.

Long story short, your options are wide and far.
 
IHateMyJob2004

IHateMyJob2004

Lifer
Sep 29, 2004
18,656
68
91
Someone at work used to do spray foam installations. The energy efficiency of spray foam is insane. Expensive as hell up front but you break even in 5 years according to what he said.

Don't limit light. Make it a traditional house style or you will never sell it. If you want it dark, put black out curtains on the windows for when you actually want/need it dark.

If you have money to blow (4 garages ...) you could do a first and second floor porch around the entire house where the second floor is a covered porch also. In the summer, the sun is lower and direct light will hit the house and warm it. In the summer, the sun is higher in the sky and the porhces prevent sun from hitting the sides of the house reducing cooling costs.

Make your house perfectly square. That's going to give the best surface area to volume ratio which best limits heating/cooling costs.

So, there you have it. Pretty much my dream house for you. I'd make it 54'x54' square if I had the money. 2916 sqft per floor. Basically 9 18'x18' zones to play with per floor. 18'x18' kitchen in the center. 36'x18' dining room. room for a pantry off the kitchen that is between the kitchen and driveway/garage so you can get food into the house easy. 2 half baths in the first floor.
 
G

Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
22,326
6,480
136
You're going to run up against building code. Glazing area has a code required minimum . Bedrooms are required to have secondary egress. Those are health safety issues that they stand pretty firm on.

Why don't you want windows? Are you a troglodyte, or do you have some medical condition that makes sunlight dangerous?
 
R

rsbennett00

Senior member
Jul 13, 2014
962
0
76
Lots of good info here.

My current house (not my parents, they are dead) is ~2900 sqft with a four car garage and was only ~$80k so I shouldn't need much more than $500k. The missile silos are tempting but generally too far from cities for my taste.

The shipping containers are an interesting idea, perhaps buried.

I'm not worried about selling, it's a dream home, I plan to live there until I die and I hate children so I'll never have any.

Blackout curtains are just never as good as a plain wall.
 
R

rsbennett00

Senior member
Jul 13, 2014
962
0
76
Greenman said:
You're going to run up against building code. Glazing area has a code required minimum . Bedrooms are required to have secondary egress. Those are health safety issues that they stand pretty firm on.

Why don't you want windows? Are you a troglodyte, or do you have some medical condition that makes sunlight dangerous?
Click to expand...

There's lots of underground homes and businesses around here so I'll have to do some research regarding the code.

Sunlight has no benefits, only drawbacks: glare, heat, eye strain, cancer... the list goes on and on. Sunlight is dangerous to all humans.
 
Humpy

Humpy

Diamond Member
Mar 3, 2011
4,464
596
126
Greenman said:
You're going to run up against building code. Glazing area has a code required minimum . Bedrooms are required to have secondary egress. Those are health safety issues that they stand pretty firm on.

Why don't you want windows? Are you a troglodyte, or do you have some medical condition that makes sunlight dangerous?
Click to expand...

The generic International Building Code allows for artificial light and mechanical ventilation instead of windows if one so chooses. There's no practical way around the egress requirements but, fortunately for the super-stoned OP, windowless steel security doors will suffice.

OP, I like the idea of a polished concrete cube with no apparent means of entry or exit. Maybe surround it with water so it seems to float. Access could be through the underground with egress via a hidden roof mounted rocket powered escape pod.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom