New from North Dakota:)

[bekahe]

Hello all!  I came across this site while looking for small homes my husband and I could build ourselves with limited outside help and simply built.  We live in western North Dakota, where it is very cold in the winter.  Any one here from the brutal Northern Plains?  And if so, did it change the simplicity of your small homes/cabins?  We hope to use alternative energy, especially as the land we are planning to purchase will take a big chunk of money to bring electric to the property.  Also, in the land of few trees is a wood burning stove a valid option?   

Seeking and finding great inspiration on here:)  Bekah

[glenn kangiser]

Hi Bekah.  We have some from some pretty cold places.  Maine, Canada, Alaska, and I'm currently from brutal California....

John's plans are a good start for about anyplace I think and you can adjust them to fit your needs.  Lots of help here once you get started.

[bekahe]

Thanks:)  It's hard to retrain your way of thinking from the standard plumbing, electricity, basement, etc!  I think the hardest part will be what we decide for plumbing!  I get the composting toilet, etc.  And the no electricity part.  Just not the how to keep water from freezing part!   We also have four young daughters so are trying to think of the smallest house we can handle without being too small.  Thankfully, we have all girls that currently share a room:)   

We are currently framing out are basement in a hurry to try and sell the house we live in and buy the new land and start again.  We live in an area where oil is plenty and work is in abundance so hoping it all goes quickly! 

[glenn kangiser]

I just noticed the wood burning stove question, Bekah.

We only burn wood, and have relatively few trees but still enough to keep us going.  When I say relatively few, I am comparing to the pine forest that starts a few miles away. 

Looks like you might need a lot of wood and a well insulated house.  I see you have 4 to 8 foot freezing levels in your soil and over half of your days are shown to be cloudy.

http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/habitat/climate/figlist.htm  list of all tables of info

http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/habitat/climate/temp.htm#table3


http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/habitat/climate/sunshine.htm#table10


Looks like a wind generator would be your best bet for power along with some solar panels.  Solar panels don't do much on cloudy days or covered with snow.  Batteries need to be kept charged and be kept from freezing.  http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/habitat/climate/wind.htm#table12

Small is also rather relative.  Do you consider 20x30 to be small?

[bekahe]

Thanks for the helpful information!  We are definitely in the wind, might as well make it work for us:)  We live near the Badlands, beautiful and barren land.  We are about 50 miles from Williston on the table you linked.
20x30 actually sounds plenty large!  Ideally we would initially build something as small as we could happily live in and make it something easy to add onto in the future.  How do people with their houses on the posts run water into the house,  or is that an option for the extreme cold?  Still reading the links, thank you:)

[glenn kangiser]

My pleasure, Bekah. 

I went through the Badlands  on a trip with my parents when I was a kid.  I liked it.

We have a Bergey wind generator - the XL1000 and like it.  It has been up for 7 years with no problems.  It has a great regulator system built in along with a regulator for some solar panes so it can start out as a small hybrid system with little addded trouble.  You can add on to it later as the need arises.  Better several small wind generators than one great big one so some will work if there are problems with others.  Many of the small off brand wind generators are little more than toys when compared to the Bergey.

http://www.bergey.com/

How about cheap coal - is there such an animal there?  that might be an alternative that could work with what wood you can get.  We have a 1920 Round Oak stove that was also made in coal models as well as an Everett wood stove that will take coal.  Wood is plentiful here though.

We are built underground here and the earth shelters us well, but you are in much more of a deep freeze.  Bruce (Lodestar - this forum) has an underground house covered with organic mulch for insulation and he stays snug in Northern Minnesota I think it is.

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=1164.0

Mine was built from Mike Oehlers book - The $50 and up underground house - from www.undergroundhousing.com

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

For Johns plans it sounds like you could use his Big Enchilada Plans and expand as you needed, insulating very well.

http://www.jshow.com/y2k/listings/43.html

The freeze level brings in special considerations when getting water into the house.  If on a well, likely you would need something like a pitless adapter for the pump then bring it in deep underground below the frost level as well as protecting it when bringing it through unheated areas.

[bekahe]

Thank you for the wealth of information!  I've been reading various things for a little while but so nice to have it all tied together.
I do think people burn with coal around here.  I will have to check into a wood/coal stove.  Really, it seems crazy in North Dakota to not have a back up plan for when the severe winter weather knocks the electricity out!

I love your underground house!  Have a lot more pages to look through though:)  My husband is busy framing our basement and keeps calling me to help him:)  And the weather in Northern Minnesota is very similar to here so will have to check that one out as well.  There are actually a few underground houses around here, none as cool as yours or the Minnesota one!  Might have to add that book to the read pile.

And adding on like that plan is exactly what I foresee in our future!  We've remodeled 4 small houses now, 2 completely gutted, and are thankful for the experience that gave us.  However, we are in debt with the current one, and will stay that way for quite awhile!  Thankfully, our economy is doing really well living right in the middle of the Bakken oil, so would like to take the opportunity to sell our house and downsize our life!  People think we are crazy after working on our current house day and night for the last 2 years.  But it feels like an answer to our prayers and a way to get out to what we really want, to live off the land and be debt free and off the grid, and all the things you hope to do but don't always get the opportunity to do!  I've been loving the info I am finding on this site!!

[glenn kangiser]

Glad I could be of a little use.  I've read a bit about the oil up there.  A good place to be.

I like to throw all of the options out there for you to consider.  We have a bit of everything on this site and lots of novice to unofficial professional members willing to share experiences.

I do not like to be in the position of having to depend on the system for heating fuel or anything else if I can help it so wood is our heat of choice.  Lots of BTU's for very low cost.

[bekahe]

I appreciate it:)  I've found some great info so far and am excited to read more.  Kids are in bed and alas, framing work calls my name downstairs:)