Eco Cottage Schematic

[John Raabe]

I ran across this old chestnut of a starter house I did a preliminary design for in 1982. It was when I was teaching a design you own house class called the Shelter Class.

Guess I've been doing these little projects longer than I would like to admit.

Download the three page PDF here http://countryplans.com/Downloads/ecocottage.PDF

[DavidLeBlanc]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing it John.

I can see how it evolved into the house you've built for yourself!

[dgd10]

I am just starting.  Any info on compost privy?  Any info on propane refrigerator?

Thanks

[Amanda_931]

Lots of information available.

Composting toilets in particular run all over the place.  From Jenkins' Humanure Book--can read the whole book on-line, run a search, through Mouldering Toilets--e.g. Sunny John--to the store-boughten Clivus Mulstrum.  Kiko Denzer's got quite a bit of information about his version on-line.

I may get around to pulling this stuff out and putting it up here one of these days.

The decision on what to use depends a lot  on what you need, how much work you can tolerate, what your attitude is towards night soil, whether you need to go NSF or not to satisfy codes.  I do know people who will not, not, not use an outhouse, mouldering toilet, etc.  They want flush.

And whether you need a septic tank in order to get electricity, for instance.

There are some not-totally outrageous chest refrigerators out there that run on very very little electricity--one solar panel would work except in our January clouds, IIRC.  While the propane concept is wonderful, and you might be able to score an old any-fuel-will-do version, consider what is likely to happen to the cost of propane in 10-15 years.



  

[Khalif Williams]

Funny, John.  this little house is about exactly the plan I've been looking for for most of a year.  We're breaking ground in spring on a starter cabin (16x20) based on your solar saltbox, but I'm considering this little eco-cottage as well.  Our plan has the roof rafters runing the long dimension instead of the short one, like the eco-cottage.

Any chance this eco-cottage ever got worked up into actual plans?
Also, what do you think the 16x24 basic plan would cost these days?

Thanks a lot,

K. Williams

[jraabe]

It is unlikely I will produce working drawings for the Eco Cottage. There are things I would do differently after 23 years.

Here is a general information piece on cost estimation for the simple cottage homes such as the 16x20 - http://www.countryplans.com/costs.html

[Khalif WIlliams]

Excellent info on costs, John.  Thanks for pointing that out.   Is $15/ sq. ft. still an accurate estimate even though plywood is so expensive these days?

Thanks!

K. Williams

[jraabe]

I doubt that $15/sf is realistic even for the simple house these days. Probably better to start from the finished cost end and decide what you want to do yourself and subtract that out.