How To Build an Open Source House? 274
An anonymous reader writes "I'm starting a project that I hope that the engineers, makers and general DIYers in the Slashdot crowd can help out with. The full story's on the website, but the short version is as follows: my aim is to make a cheap, recycled, sustainable building, to document the process fully and to release anything that would help others to do the same. I intend to use an old train carriage as the shell, but the ideas should extend to shipping containers, aeroplane fuselages or anything similar. I know I'm not the first to do this, but I can't see anyone else who's provided a detailed step-by-step account of the build, complete with plans and the rest. Before I start, though, I'm trying to draw on as much collective experience as possible, and to head off mistakes before they happen. My question to Slashdot is simple: what do you think I need to know before I begin?"
Experience Required (Score:5, Informative)
If you don't have personal experience, find someone who does to help you. Especially where code is involved.
Get the blessing of whoever signs your permits before you choose a site.
As an engineered structure if you want to use it in your design you might have to have some kind of plan for the tube car. ISO shipping containers can probably sometimes sneak around this because they are designed to spec, but your tube car was designed for something wholly different and if it's not getting grandfathered in then you may well need its blueprints. But this goes back to the previous point; you may not.
Make sure to use a shared water wall so that you need as little plumbing as possible. You probably want an on-demand electric water heater. It's popular to mount such a thing to the wall inside the house as near the kitchen sink as possible, and to run all hot water lines outward from that point.
Insulate, insulate, insulate. And at the same time, ventilate, ventilate, ventilate. In your situation I would want to install HEPA and carbon filters on an intake fan, but I'm a country dweller, all I have to worry about is spray days. Seems like if you need a heater an underfloor unit will be easy.
I have many grandiose plans for shipping containers but first I need someplace road-accessible to site them.
Rebut Global (Score:5, Informative)
We had a french TV show here in Quebec called "Les citadins du rebut global" (loosely translated to "Citizens of the Global Trash"), which is part home building show, part junkyard wars. They have four seasons up to now, each in which they build a house in a different setting and from different found materials. It's quite a good show actually, it won a few TV industry prizes. The website also has a few interesting blurbs of video sprinkled in the "reportages" section.
http://www.citadins.tv/ [citadins.tv]
In one season they have to build a house with only 15000$, in another they renovate an abandoned industrial space, in the third season they build a house supplied only with alternative energy sources.
I dont know if english subs are available for it, but the process of building a house being very graphic by nature I assume you could grasp quite a few concepts just by watching it. They used to sell the show in boxset format, but it might be obtained from "other sources" too. Just sayin'...
This could be useful: (Score:3, Informative)
http://bulk.resource.org/codes.gov/ [resource.org] is, by a fair margin, your best bet for free access to building, fire, and similar codes(run by one Carl Malamud, something of a hero in the "open public access to government documents" business). It might be less useful to someone of the Limey persuasion, which you seem to be; but many US municipal and state codes simply incorporate wholesale various industry-standard codes, many of which are of international reach. Depending on your location, you may still need one or more licenced people to sign off, for it to all be legal, and you might be able to get a copy of any local codes from some local authority.
More generally, If you want this project to be "open source" in a useful sense, you'll likely want to focus on two things: One is obvious: documentation. You want documentation anyway, just to save your sanity; but that is what you will be sharing with others. Second, slightly less obvious but more important, is modularity. An "Open Source" project that beings "Obtain 1 model XYZ-FOO-123 underground train car. Follow the following steps precisely to convert it into a house." That's a build log, which is fine; but it is of rather limited re-usability. Train cars(and probably other things you will end up incorporating during the course of the project) are the sort of item that is cheap to free(depending on the scrap/collectors market at the time) if you get lucky, uneconomically pricey otherwise. Some people will have them, some won't. Those who do have them will pretty much be stuck with the model they have.
What you will want to do, if you wish to make this a useful "OSS" project, is build it out of a bunch of documented modular components that fit in your environment; but could, possibly with some adaptation; be used in all sorts of other contexts. "Design for platform with sliding wall-mounted pivots that can be unfolded as either a sleeping surface or a table" is useful for anybody who has a flat wall and not much space. Various things of that nature will add up to the solution to your specific problem; but will also be generally applicable.
Coming back to code, and general applicability, and legality, you might also wish to explore minimizing your dependence on things like gas lines and mains electricity in your design. These are the most dangerous if a n00b fucks them up, the most likely to be code/legal-requirement encumbered, and the most likely to differ between nations. 12/24 volt electrical systems, for instance, will allow you to tap the experience of the camper/RV enthusiasts, and may well subject you to far fewer regulatory headaches. Trivial integration with solar is fun also.
Re:Know the right people (Score:4, Informative)
Re:There's a reason... (Score:3, Informative)
They weren't in bikini's, but there were babes jet skiing on the Snoqualmie river this past weekend.
Re:habitat for humanity: No (Score:2, Informative)
Secondly, Habitat work sites are horribly managed: they're dangerous. You have way too many people running around who don't have a clue and it's too easy to hurt someone or get hurt. I as doing my job hammering and someone decided to stand behind me and help and I almost took out his face with the framing hammer. And because there's so many people, you end up BS'ing with other folks - there's just not enough to do. The best build I was ever one was this church that needed an extra hand. It was just a dozen folks including the homeowner, we worked really hard and you felt like you were doing something. Unfortunately, with this economy, they don't need the extra help and I refuse to work on other teams with more than a dozen people; which means, I don't volunteer anymore.
No biggie. They have so many people wanting to volunteer that it's hard to get a spot as it is.
I built 4 houses - materials costs not the issue (Score:5, Informative)
I have built 4 small houses/cabins, a couple barns and other structures. Your main expenses will be for utility hookups.
I have a ranch, so my experience is somewhat different since I don't have to pay much heed to local permits and regulations. I just make sure I build above code so everything works well.
Building costs are not much for a simple structure. Your major costs are going to be a septic system or sewer hookup, water and electric hookup. I can build (and have built) a small cabin with bedroom, bathroom, closet, living room, kitchen and porch for under $5000 in materials. But a small septic system, a well and electric hookup will cost over $10,000 in my area, and that's if I build the septic system myself. Just sewer hookup in a city can cost anywhere from $5000 to $20,000 or more. Electric hookup can be between $500 and $3000. Not sure about water hookup, but a well ain't cheap.
So first concentrate on the utilities. That will let you know if you can afford it.
Cheap housing is vital. (Score:3, Informative)
When many, many people spend an enormous percentage of their energies in paying down mortgages and similar, there is little time left over to work on the self.
This is a huge problem, and if the housing/energy problem can be effectively solved, then you are on your way to freedom. And there ARE solutions.
Buy cheap property and build on it. There are going to be massive regulations on house building; the government has a vested interest in preventing people from growing strong, so you'll have a million and one obstacles thrown in your way. I don't know what to suggest there except perhaps keep your head down and stay off the radar, or wade in and do the paper work. It depends on your personal strengths and personality type.
As for train cars. . . Why not an old school bus? Train cars are hard to move, but you can DRIVE an old bus to a location and it provides a similar kind of of weather-proof shell to work with.
Another idea is that a simple shelter of two by fours with a tarp on raised shipping pallets, along with a propane heater can get you through the winter if need be, and provide general shelter while you build your other projects.
I know one guy who did this, and ran 150 meters of power cable from his neighbor across the property and just paid him whatever the extra cost was on the meter. Eventually you can put up solar panels to service your basic needs.
There are lots and lots of ways to do this and hundreds of web sites which have info to help you out.
The main tricks, though, are getting property where you can drill a water well. If you can get some land near farmers, then you can learn how to feed yourself also. Not a bad idea considering the way the world is turning. Though, England is kinda screwed for weather. No matter what climate change does, England is pretty much fsked, so perhaps moving somewhere warmer is a good idea. . ?
Anyway, good luck and have fun! (And
-FL
Re:That depends (Score:3, Informative)
In colder climates, you have to take greater care to prevent your water supply from freezing.
In the colder parts of the US, for example, the water supply will enter somewhere in the middle of a heated basement. Basements are typical in such areas because you need a deep foundation to protect against frost heaving, and it doesn't cost much more to remove the dirt from the middle of the house footprint. Since the supply pipe is >8' underground, and then enters a heated space, it's protected from freezing.
In warmer parts of the US, houses are typically built on a small (approx 2-4') crawl space or on a slab-on-grade. This is because their foundations are usually much shallower, since there's no frost heaving problem. In such houses, the water supply enters in a similar manner as your house.
Re:F/OSS CAD (Score:2, Informative)
It would be most beneficial if there were a viable F/OSS CAD package you could use to document your efforts, but there is not. The best you can probably do is to use a proprietary package, and export the drawings to an open format. It is difficult or impossible to produce even rudimentary 2D mechanical drawings with any efficiency using F/OSS software. The biggest F/OSS hole there is, IMO.
Not open source, but at least free (as in beer) is DoubleCAD XT which is comparable and compatible to AutoCAD LT. I'm surprised it's not used more in industry where the powers to be rarely give out Autodesk licences. http://www.doublecad.com/Products/DoubleCADXTv2/tabid/1100/Default.aspx [doublecad.com]
Why people don't live in airtight metal boxes (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Use a shipping container (Score:3, Informative)
Water has this amazing property, in that it can become a vapor - say, maybe, in the sunny outdoors - and work its way into the darnedest places - say, maybe, a dark cool space between insulation and drywall - where it condenses or simply is absorbed out of the air, and provides paper (food) and moisture (water). So... cool, dark, moist, and a food source = mold & mildew growth.
This is why your house has moisture barriers to prevent moisture from building up where it shouldn't.
Find some back issues of Mother Earth News (Score:3, Informative)
Find some back issues of Mother Earth News - they've been running articles on folks doing all sorts of low-cost houses for decades. They have books / plans available, info on insulation / solar heat and power / etc.
Lots of good stuff.
Look no further .. OS-HOUSE (Score:2, Informative)
My friend's blog about building a green house (Score:2, Informative)