Thank you all. Now work begins...

[sherab]

Hey folks!
I have been reading this forum for a while and have been envious of all the DIYers in here. Finally, I have my own land. 10 acres just outside Ithaca NY (Newfield) and I couldn't be happier. Lightly wooded, gently sloping land, there's a creek, it abuts a pond and I discovered an old pasture fence on it. I feel like I got it for a steal. I'm happy with with it.

Thing is, it's just me by myself.  I left my federal government programming job last year to travel  through Europe and Africa and realized that I enjoy THAT more than anything (http://earthkora.com). I have made the transition to finally getting paid for my travel writing, it's not much but at least I'm not slinging bytes anymore... at least not on someone else's schedule.

From reading these forums I have realized that I can probably live in a shed, they make 10x16s at Lowe's that I could fit in easily although for their asking price I could probably build one WAY cheaper.

I can get by on a make-do electrical situation since I no longer watch TV and if I have to see a movie I can use my MacBook to watch a DVD.

I can haul water, what I need anyway.

These forums have showed me that this is all much easier than I ever expected as a former city apartment dweller and for that I say thanks to you all for being such a wonderful community and sharing your knowledge. So in a long winded, roundabout way I reckon that is the point of this post.

Is anyone here in mid NY like me?
Just curious..
Julian

[glenn-k]

Hi Julian -

I checked out a few of your pictures - cool.  I liked the roman bath.  I would like to make something like it on a small scale here at the underground complex.

Glad you are finding something that is of use to you here.  If you have any skills at all or would like to aquire them I think it would be best for you to build your own place.  John's plans are great and dirt cheap.  You could probably do something with the   Little House Plans.  

I linked the whole page of plans but I built my garage from the Little House Plans and they are really inexpensive and easy.

[desdawg]

Hey Julian, three words: Go for it! Sure, you will make a few mistakes or see something you would do different next time. But you will have so much satisfaction from creating something for yourself that it will all be worth the effort. The hardest part is getting started.

[mark_chenail]

GLENN:   I remember seeing a program on either DISCOVERY or perhaps the HISTORY channel where a small group of men built a small scale roman bathhouse.
It wasnt much bigger than a two car garage.  The show was fascinating because they went into great detail as to the actual roman mechanics of a bathhouse
..water supply, heat etc.  You might try to find the program.  There might have been a website, but it was pretty much all you needed to know about building roman baths.

EDITED:  Memory is going.  It was an episode of NOVA on PBS.  Heres the link to the website.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostempires/roman/builds.html

[glenn-k]

Thanks, Mark.  I think we watched that on the net a few nights ago. We watched it somewhere -Sassy says it was her computer - my mind is gone.   I have been kicking Ideas around on a way to do this in a corner of the great room - just a mini roman bath and hypocaust to heat it and keep the big room in the underground complex warm.

[jraabe]

Thanks for the link Mark:

It is interesting that the NOVA team kind of stumbles their way into these projects. They do find a way to get close to what they are after but they are missing much of the subtlety I expect. They usually have to cheat and use some modern materials like silicone caulking.

On the arch for the Roman bath they have erected an elaborate wooden form work to get the arch shape. I doubt that was needed in Roman times. In Iran in the late 1960's I worked with stone masons who were building self supporting brick arches that were very shallow, only a couple inches of height in a meter span. They didn't use no stinking forms... they just slapped them in place and everything locked together. (I still don't know how they did it!)

[glenn-k]

One thing that got me about the silicone builders was that it looked like  they were standing under the forms as they ripped them out from under the arch and saying - "Will it hold?"

The rushing it for someones time schedule rather than doing it right is quite typical of modern construction.  Not always good or safe but I see it quite often.  I refuse to stand steel on concrete that has only cured one day.  Other than the shortcuts and a few dumb things you see when the mensa'a get to doing construction, it was a pretty cool deal.

[sherab]

Hi Julian -

I checked out a few of your pictures - cool.  I liked the roman bath.  I would like to make something like it on a small scale here at the underground complex.

I am DYING to see this if you pull it off. Those pictures were taken in .... get ready ...... Bath England!  

The advice here has been invaluable and I can 't wait to get the house plans ordered.
Julian

[glenn-k]

It won't be real big but I would like to incorporate it into the great room.  Seems there would be nothing better to store heat in than a nice big hot tub using the principals of the Romans.  I burn wood so fuel is not a problem.  I would like to incorporate some rocket stove technology to get the most and cleanest heat out of the wood.

Maybe something big enough for 6 or 8 people.  Heated deck around it - pretty good mass insulated from the earth to prevent heat loss into the ground.  I'm thinking on it.

Glad you enjoy the forum.  We're ready to help when you're ready to go.