Basement house question

[ultraviperman]

Hey I have another question. I  was thinking of doing a basement house. I was thinking of having a foundation poured with insulated concrete forms and then simply putting a roof on the basement and there's my very cheap easy to heat house! What do you guys think. I was thinking about 10k to pour a 16x20 foundation(the basement would be basically finished because of the icf's) and then having it wired up/plumbing which would cost another ~6k. Then maybe like 6k to put a roof on the basement. I'm thinking this would be very easy to heat and extremely cheap to build and maintain. Any thoughts? Am I missing anything?

[Amanda_931]

Or, especially in the underground parts you could just insulate outside of the concrete, not use insulated concrete forms.

Or you could take a look at Mike Oehler's book $50 and Up Underground House.  Glenn here has built his house more or less with those instructions.  

In fact you should take a look at Mike Oehler's book.  Unless you really want a dark hole in the ground.

http://www.undergroundhousing.com/

One of the people around here has fallen in love with a buried dome--terradome, maybe.  He swears that his building costs aren't going to be much over $12k with one.  Nice looking, although it hits a handful of my "let's not!" buttons--e.g., yes, there are windows in each room (good), but they're all on one side (possible glare problems, and besides it makes things look kind of two-dimensional).

http://www.terra-dome.com/

I'm not a big fan of concrete.  The world uses enough of it that it ends up a significant CO₂ source.

[ultraviperman]

I don't need any building plans!  It's not complicated. Just put a basement and put a roof on it! lol. I'm just wondering about the functionality of my plan.
That underground house by ohler is basically a tarp and creates an extremely unhealthy environment! lol. Thats why it's 50 bucks! and a terradome is way too complicated, but thanks for the link.

I'd just make sure the concrete basement is poured about a foot above the earth so I could have some windows on each side. It's basically a freestanding basement apartment that I want to build. I'm thinking I'll save a lot of money on heating, Is this assumption correct?

You'd insulate outside the concrete? Wouldn't the insulation get soaking wet and loose its insulating value?

As for c02 with concrete....give me a break honey!..I'm not a tree hugger, although I do care about the environment. FYI- a wood stove is a MAJOR pollutant souce! I mean...MAJOR. Thats why I don't want to use one and there are a lot worse pollutants than co2! Did you know areas around the north pole used to be a rainforest a couple million years ago before the first ice age?  Concrete...not exactly a major problem...lol

[Erin]

I'd just make sure the concrete basement is poured about a foot above the earth

Hmmmm....:-?

This sounds a lot like Amanda's "dark hole in the ground".  

Our house has a basement with the standard 18" high windows and there is no way I could stand to live in the basement with that little daylight or lack of view.
(btw, to be up to code (not to mention fire-safe!) you need to have egress windows that are bigger than that)

[ultraviperman]

"(btw, to be up to code (not to mention fire-safe!) you need to have egress windows that are bigger than that) "

There are no codes in the country for buildings below 600ft, but fire safety is actually a strength of a structure made of concrete. I can always make the windows a little bigger. 18 inches.
Amanda's hole in the ground? Everyone has different priorities. I've lived in a basement apartment before and it was fine.

[glenn-k]

You got it ultraviperman - Oehler's structure is an unhealthy hole in the ground -- a lot less desirable than a Styrofoam and concrete coffin.

http://www.countryplans.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1107141843

Now being serious - you could use some of Oehler's ideas to get light into your basement house.  I hope you make it work.  I think it would be great.  You would have to excavate around it a bit for waterproofing the foam blocks and French drains preferably downhill to daylight so you don't drown but other than that sounds like a great project.  Please keep us posted on your progress.

BTW do you have a Dodge Viper?   I have a copy of a viper race video.

[glenn-k]

If you just like poisonous snakes nevermind but if you have a Viper you are going to love this.  It is my buddy back east who I buy my truck performance parts from.  Enjoy.  

[Erin]

but fire safety is actually a strength of a structure made of concrete.

You're building everything out of concrete?  Cabinetry, interior framing, furniture, etc??  
Just because it won't burn down around your ears doesn't mean you shouldn't keep fire safety/escape in mind.

[glenn-k]

The Styrofoam around the concrete makes poisonous gasses when it burns so would have to be plastered or sheetrocked.  

For safety a minimum would be a safe way out the back or other end of the basement, although there are multiple exits around all sides of a properly built $50 Underground House.

[MountainDon]

It is my buddy back east who I buy my truck performance parts from.  Enjoy.  

That Dodge can sure haul a**!  One of my 4-wheeling buddies has one with some goodies under the hood. Camper in the box. It's used as a jeep on trailer hauler. He can pass anything on uphill mountain highway grades. Love it!

[glenn-k]

As Gus says. It'll git 'er done.

Stock parts need to be replaced with heavy duty aftermarket parts to make them run like this and to even take the abuse of being loaded heavy and running the mountains.  I'm getting started - changed my torque converter and valve body so I can take mine higher than the current 300 HP as I go to work on the concrete basement on the bigger house project.  Sometimes you need good tools to haul your tools.

The truck in the above video is a daily driver putting out 785HP and 1500+ foot lbs torque.

[bartholomew]

That Ram does haul but it's probably not great for off-roading....the accelerator seems a wee bit too twitchy for the trail.

[MountainDon]

Serious off-roading (rock crawling) doesn't need mega horsepower. Low end torque carries the day.  A 4 cyl. works well when geared right. Low gears help a whole bunch. IMHO. the best combination is an automatic transmission and a well modulated duo of brake and accelerator pedal.  My  Cherokee has a Klune-V underdrive; 2.7:1 ratio. Multiple that by the x-fer case 2.7:1 low and you move real slow! And then  there is my old diesel Land Cruiser; it's a low speed torque wonder, tho' it can't get out of it's own way on the highway.  

Mega HP, or big feet on the loud pedal = broken parts off road.  

But I'd sure love that Dodge for my daily driver....  

[glenn-k]

Yeah, I think he's mostly into eating unsuspecting cars.  

My problem is that going to work on the basement job,  I have to go over this



Good info on it here -

http://www.pashnit.com/roads/cal/Hwy49Dragon.htm  

What they call the Little Dragon we call Hell's Canyon locally.  15 miles crooked-- 29 total not great,  total takes about 45 minutes.  The alternate pouring the coal to her and slowing down an 11000lb truck w/appx 300hp ate my stock torque converter and burned the fluid in a month.  Now that the trans is better I can up the horsepower a bit and make reasonable time going to work there (or launching into orbit).   This basement and house will be a multi year project as the owner is paying as he goes.

[MountainDon]

That's the kind of road that's a joy to drive on a motorcycle or a sports car. Makes me yearn for my old Triumph TR-4. But it looses some of it's appeal day in and day out in a heavy hauler.  Beautiful scenery though. What a smooth new looking piece of roadwork as well.  

On the other hand, Glenn, be happy this is not what you're having to negotiate every day.  Rodovia Da Morte, stremnaya - Bolivia... "Highway of Death!"    
[/img]
or this...
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Links to more...
http://javimoya.com/blog/pics/200607/bolivia.htm
http://ueba.com.br/forum/index.php?showtopic=23586

[glenn-k]

Hwy 49 has greatly improved over the years since the horse and buggy.

I've seen a couple of pix of the Bolivia Hwy.  It looks like fun.

[jraabe]

Woooah Nellie:

Those are some tricky hiways. Maybe this is why they call you MountainDon?  8-)

[MountainDon]

Here's MountainDon himself.  8-) Yep, we're going to drive up this. You can see it's been done before, but the real trick is to do it nice and slow and not slip/spin a wheel. This is in SE Utah. Ask me if you want to know where.  
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The Cherokee does make it look easy...   On trails like this I spend a lot of time walking it before driving it; nothing worse than finding out too late that the other side ain't there.  
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Same trail, different spot, different, older CJ5. The CJ had a higher "pucker factor"  
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For more follow this
https://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q75/djmillerbucket/Hotel%20Rock/

[Sassy]

Whew, MtnDon - you wouldn't catch me riding with you!    BTW, I used to think I was really brave - wanted to sky dive-never did; rode all the scariest rides at amusement parks, loved the high dive at the pool... but after getting into some pretty rough weather flying with Glenn (he thought it was fun   ) I found out I wasn't quite as brave as I thought...

BTW, he took his mom 4 wheeling one time & had her in tears! I think she was wedged in between Glenn & his brother, so couldn't escape out the window  

[MountainDon]

My Mom would have never gone with me 4-wheeling either. She was nervous on a highway without a guardrail; even then she was nervous. My wife will scrunch her eyes shut and go all white knuckled on the grab bar. I've had the occasional passenger get out and walk.  :-/
I must admit being a passenger is more nerve racking than being the driver. Being on the low slide makes me more nervous than being on the high side of the vehicle; but just a little. That's just a silly mind thing. I've never rolled a vehicle completely over.   Laid the CJ5 on it's side nice and gentle once.   :-?  It could have been worse in a different place. I actually find it relaxing except for the odd moment or two here and there.

In really bad places we take turns "spotting" each other, guiding with hand and finger commands.