I have been lurking for awhile & finally have gotten to the planning stage of my underground house,,, It will be buried (built) 8 miles from the Canadian Border about 10 miles north of Bottineau N.D. into a hill overlooking a 20 acre lake that is completly unmolested. this property has been in my family since the land grant days & my StepFather always planned to build A PSP underground house on it but Life kept happening & it never got started... Now it falls to me.... I can remember reading Mikes Books back in the early 80s thinking he was just an Old Hippie, never realizing that I was raised by one & in alot of ways turned into one...My Background is in Concrete ... IE Reinforcing Steel Engineering on Large Buildings, Bridges.. So I have a slight grasp of engineering concepts... But no experience with underground PSP construction... I would first like to ask a few ???
1.) being I am building the house almost in the arctic would combining the PSP with FPSF ( Frost Protected Shallow Foundations ) principals be a thought?
2.) When building the Back patio area.such as the one Glenn has on his Mansion.. should a french drain be incorporated to redirect the runoff to the front
of the structure?
3.) Floors.... I have noticed that some of Mikes new PSP designs use a joist & sheathed flooring system. what are the benefits if any over using Cobb, Adobe, or Concrete...
That should be enuff for now will have more as I work on the concept... no design or plans as I think it will be more exciting to just wing it..
Thanks In advance.
Will figure out how to post a pic of property later..
W* to the forum Jackalope Hunter. This sounds way cool. I thnk I would read John Haits PAHS info a bit also and combine them.
1. Check for postings here by Bruce - Lodestar. He did PAHS Passive Annual Heat Storage.--in northern Minn. They use an extra large EPDM unbrella if I recall correctly -- They do well.
http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?action=profile;u=765;sa=showPosts I think this will find him.
2. The uphill patio can drain to the side exit if you make it that way but a good French drain would work, and in fact I would recommend them anywhere you may have questions about possible moisture.
3. Wood could get you off of the dirt. We like the 4 coat linseed oil over cob the best - adding cement to the mud for soil cement works but makes a pretty soft floor - cob is much more durable.
Pix tutorial in the Forum news section. Short direction - put pix in Photobucket then paste IMG tag here in your reply - the pix will show here.
:) Thanks Glenn.. will check that out.... I wonder if I can just translocate your place to my hill... might save me alot of work.....I hope my cave turns out half as good as yours..
I plan on using all timbers from my property as 3/4 of my property is covered in Poplar & some other misc wood... will use a chainsaw sawmill to creat the timbers & shoring for the PSP... was thinkingof building the walls similiar to Log cabin walls take 6" round trees & flat saw two sides stack on top of eachother between the foam insulation & the shoring with a EPDM liner lining the hole... I figure I can clear about an acre of trees this way & use them ... this will give me pasture land for my Inspector ( Mr Lhama & Mr Alpaca)
I will post a google earth pic shortly
Sounds great -- long day for me but will be watching and help whatever I can.
8' post spacing requires 2: thick boards for side boards - the backfill will bow 1"boards on anything over about 4'.
Mine doesn't seem to budge easily - stuck in the ground but any home below ground will be cool.