Starting the house

Starting out, the pictures tell the story better than most of what I can write.  Lots of lumber, lots of sawing, and lots of assembly.  But in the end..... something that's starting to look like a house.

The mess of supplies and other stuff, aka "Base Camp."  Lovely Harbor Freight solar panels (not the best, but they work).  Used a set of three car batteries for temporary power, which is a bad idea (and I should have realized it had I thought about it) since they only fully discharge a couple of times they have a real hard time holding power.  Golf cart batteries are the way to go if you can't afford the real thing.

The pile of all my building materials.  This took 3 days of back and forth to town to accumulate.  My poor truck, but it made it.  I've got a bunch of 2x4s, 6x6 weather treated lumber, pavers and cinderblocks, as well as the laser level in the case on top.  The laser level is again from Harbor Freight, all I have to say to anyone considering getting one there is don't, it was pretty useless.

A nice rig to make fairly precise cuts on long 2x4s without the proper equipment.  Everything held in place by 500lb toggle clamps from Harbor Freight which actually worked really well, wish I had discovered them years ago, it would have saved so much time.

The beginnings of the foundation.  Leveling all this was a bitch, even if everything is relatively flat.  Fortunately I'm not expecting perfection, and there won't be drywall or plaster to crack.  I've talked to two people who built house foundations like this out here so I'm confident this will work fine.

The cinder block pylons to hold everything up.  Even a landscape that appears to be totally flat has a slope.  And digging is a pain, doing the greenhouse is going to require a better technique than just a pick and a shovel.  Good thing I at least have a wheelbarrow.

Putting down my 6x6 beams for the base of the house.  I held these all together with rebar as was recommended by a few people and it's as steady as a rock.

Starting to put up the walls.  For a first time putting up walls, I have to say that this is actually easier than I thought it would be.  Even in wind.  But definitely leveling is the hardest part, especially for one person.

A different angle, showing the impending rain storm.

Roof truss time.  Actually built these out here with a friend before I even laid the foundation, and they've been sitting under this tarp since.  Should have taken photos of them being built, but there was so much sawdust that I didn't want to bother.  But they came out great, and I think they look lovely.

If there were someone else out here, there might have been an intermediary series of photos of my falling off the ladder or dropping roof trusses, thankfully there were no witnesses.  After I finally figured out a method that worked, these all took me an afternoon to put up.

Another angle.  The trusses are scissor type, and I really like the look.  The center rail underneath the base of all the trusses will be gone in the end, it's only there to make sure that I can align and bolt down the roof beams.

Starting to put on the plywood outside at sunset.  The ends of the house will be mostly windows when this is finished, so I'm looking forward to this view when it's complete.  The plywood will help it last through winter, but I don't expect it to be completely weatherproof.

More roofing at sunset.  Fantastic view from the top of the ladder, even if I'm afraid the wind might blow me to my death.

The empty inside, with all the reinforced  rails for putting up the roof removed.  Pretty wide open with the high roof, should be fun to furnish the space.

And that's the basic structure of my house!  From start to finish ~ 4 weeks, with a fair number of lazy days, and an even larger number of days trying to figure out what I was doing.  But very exciting, and easier than I though, particularly for someone without much carpentry knowledge.  Now that it's May, I'm back and the real fun can begin!  More photos to come soon!

About the San Luis Valley

Wild horses grazing in the San Luis Valley (C) Pieceofnowhere 2012

The San Luis Valley is truly a spectacular vista, and mostly one of the few remaining places in the USA that remains both pristine and sparely populated. But it also has a harsh climate at times, and some other disadvantages as you'll find below. In my opinion, it's a fantastic place to live both because of the beauty and seclusion, but many others will likely find otherwise. If everyone were as crazy as I, there would be a lot more people there.

For those unfamiliar with southern Colorado (particularly the San Luis Valley), I should provide some background. You can get a lot of the basic details by reading the Wikipedia page and a nice little summary written by National Geographic, so I'll only give a list of what I think are the pertinent highlights here.

The San Luis Valley, courtesy of Google Maps

The San Luis Valley is in far south central Colorado and extends partially into New Mexico. It's vast (~8,000 square miles), high (~7-8,000 feet) and fairly dry, although where you're at in the valley determines some of how much moisture you get (more about this later). The only "major" city is Alamosa, and even it's facilities are modest in some regards. The Valley is among the poorest places in the US, and it is approximately half private land, half BLM land. It's also home to the Great Sand Dunes, which rise up to 750 feet from the valley floor.

But here's some of the pertinent information about living off grid there:

Climate - The San Luis Valley is not for the faint of heart. The spectacular vistas belie the often harsh and unforgiving weather for most of the year. Wind is pretty much constant, can be very fierce (I measured gusts up to 40 mph fairly often) and (as far as I can tell) does not come from any particular direction. Tornadoes are very rare, and there's little history of any tornado damage. The summers are mild (generally don't get above the low 90's) but short, and the winters are VERY cold (primarily during the night, during the day, the sun generally warms things at least a bit). Despite the short summer growing seasons, there are a remarkable number of sunny days, Alamosa has 350 on average.

Aquifer image via Wikipedia

Water - The Valley has one of the largest and deepest aquifers in the world (technically two different aquifers, confined and unconfined), but has been the subject of legal fights and overuse in recent years. While wells for home use can still be drilled (as far I as I know, this may have changed with the legal battles ongoing), some towards the edges of the Valley are increasingly deep (200-300+ feet) and as the aquifers shrink, wells on the outer edges of the Valley may go dry without re-drilling. The Valley gets an average of less than 10" of rain a year, and while the Rio Grande runs through the center of the Valley, few have the rights to the water that runs through it. Many small households get water trucked in rather than drilling a well.

Soil image via Wikipedia

Soil - The short of it is that the soils vary depending where you are in the Valley. There's a great report by the Dept. of Agriculture. Bureau of Soils (made in 1912!) that can give you more than enough detail on the specifics. Generally, the soil towards the center of the Valley has more loam and slightly better drainage, and much of the soil is sandy. The soil towards the edges of the Valley is very rocky in some places, and caliche is common in many places. Expect to do at least a little soil improvement, and most of the soil is slightly alkali (there are a few dry alkali lakes in the valley) but again, it varies from place to place. Most of the places that are convenient for large scale agriculture are already being cultivated, looking at google maps, you can be fairly sure that the blank spots on the map of the San Luis Valley have some reason (water, soil, drainage, etc.) that prevents them from being cultivated on a large farm. This is not to write them off as un-farmable or un-gardenable, just that it may take more effort to do so. For a really in depth view of the soil in any particular area go to the List of Soil Surveys by State by the USDA probably far more information on every county in the USA than you'll ever use or need.

Land in the San Luis Valley looking towards the Great Sand
Dunes in the east.  Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Buying land - There is plenty of cheap land in the San Luis Valley, much of it for very good prices. It's not uncommon for land to be sold on an "owner finance" arrangement (where the buyer makes the payments directly to the land owner, and ownership is transferred once payments are complete), and land is available in many places in the valley on this arrangement. Locations and prices vary wildly though, so it's a good idea to do research and shop around before settling on any particular plot. Much land does not come with full water rights (the water rights on nearly every plot in the valley is worth far more than the land itself), although most allow for a residential well. The valley encompasses 6 different counties, so building codes do vary, but most (as far as I can tell) are fairly friendly to alternative building methods. Access also varies widely, with some lots being directly off a major paved highway, while many (if not most) are down a labyrinthine series of dirt roads. The roads are usually well up-kept (some are plowed) and access usually does not require a 4-wheel-drive (the valley is primarily flat with few geographical features), but again varies. Keep in mind when looking for land that the valley is 8,000 square miles, so it's fairly easy to buy land that's a 2-3 hour journey to the nearest major city (considering Alamosa and Taos as major cities in this case).

If all this sounds like it's a bit harsh to live in the San Luis Valley, it's because it is a bit. But at the same time, very rewarding, and once set-up, very easy to maintain and enjoy. Besides, if everyone likes this sort of place, it quickly becomes a place where all the reasons to be there in the first place begin to disappear. Wild it may be, but it's fantastically wild.

An Introduction

Just your typical dreary rainy morning in the San Luis Valley, no Photoshop here, this is what it looked like. (C) Pieceofnowhere 2012

This blog is meant to be a chronicle and (hopefully) a guide to others looking for self-sufficiency, fulfillment and innovative living. The purpose of this blog is a focus on DIY, self-made structures, tools and techniques, as well as a coherent documentation of my ongoing structural, gardening and other experiments. I've scoured the web for useful information about the projects I want to pursue, and while I've found a lot of the information I've been looking for, much of it has been difficult to discover and a good deal of it is technical in nature. I want to both use and share what I've found to lower the barriers to entry for others hoping to take the same steps.

I'm the sort of fellow who's never been satisfied by sitting still. For as long as I can remember, I've been fascinated by how things are made, how they function, and how to make them better. This led to an interest in archaeology and architecture, accompanied with a myriad of other fields.

Now that I'm an adult, this interest has taken a form beyond idle contemplation. It seems to me (as it has always seemed) that there is an inherently happier, more efficient and healthier way of living than the working life that many pursue. A career never interested me very strongly, since I've always been drawn by a number of varying interests and always assumed that the point of working a job you disliked was to be able to retire and enjoy yourself. With this in mind, I decided that my primary goal was to retire, and I'd figure out what I wanted to do after that.

I'm now in my early 30's, and finally putting the finishing touches on my retirement. I have a large plot of land in the San Luis Valley of Southern Colorado, and I've been working on an off-grid house. In the end, the house and property will be completely self-sufficient, with no outside power or water, a greenhouse and a workshop.

I've done this all with very limited resources, limited by nearly any standard. Technically, my income puts me well below the poverty line, but I'm fairly judicious in how I spend my money, and have never been particularly hard up. I bought my land without any great financial strain, and my monthly payments (in the $250 range) are easily manageable in nearly any circumstance. I designed and built my basic house frame with both beauty and expense in mind, and in building it entirely by myself, I spent ~ $3500 building it so far, using all new materials (I'd love to have used salvaged materials, but I simply didn't have the time to spend on the initial structure).

Even the contemplation of true independence and off-grid living can be daunting. Most don't have any idea of where to start their journey or where it will take them. There are specifics available on the web about parts of independent living, but few sites that offer a comprehensive picture of what it requires and what it costs. This is my attempt at changing that at least a bit. My goal is to be able to show ANYONE how to do this if they want to, regardless of income, savings, education, class or beliefs. If I am capable of this, so is anyone, and perhaps this blog will give some the bravery they need to make the leap and pursue their dreams as I am doing.

So please, come read, contribute and share in my experiment and my joy.