The $50 Underground House Book
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- čas přidán 28. 08. 2024
- The Fifty Dollar and Up Underground House Book by Mike Oehler amzn.to/46cDPgU
Author Mike Oehler built his first underground house in 1971 for $50. He published an article on it in '72 and began the first of several winters hitchhiking around to American universities lecturing on underground housing and the back-to-the-land movement, sponsored by architecture departments and student environmental groups. In 1975, with the internship help of architecture student Chris Royer, he tripled the size of his home for $500 including wall-to-wall carpeting. It would increase to $2,000 when the $500 wood burning stove and solar electrical system were later added.
In 1978 he published "The $50 & Up Underground House Book" (illustrated by Royer) to instant acclaim including more than 45 enthusiastic print reviews. One was in the Dutch magazine, De Twaalf Ambachten, which led to a Dutch TV crew flying in to shoot a national program of his work (he was building internationally also for clients through his company Hobbit Housing). In 1982 the magazine sponsored Oehler for a lecture/workshop tour of the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, England and Scotland.
All during this period Oehler was inventing and building the highly successful earth-sheltered solar greenhouses which require no heat, plus two more small underground houses, a small root cellar and an underground sauna - all dug and built with hand tools by Oehler and volunteers on his 40 acre homestead. His international projects built for clients were all dug and constructed with machinery and power tools.
In 1992 Oehler brought out a three volume video set on underground design and building. In 1997 the BBC shot the first of two episodes about him, and in 2001 HGTV, the American Home and Garden Television Network did a segment on him, which still is occasionally shown periodically.
The Fifty Dollar and Up Underground House Book amzn.to/46cDPgU
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How to Build a Low-Cost House of Stone Paperback - January 1, 1978
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Robb MoffettRobb's Homemade Life / mrhulot101
I used to love the thought of stuff like this when I was younger. These days, though, I'm concentrating more and more on keeping myself out of the ground. lol
I'm with you John it's good to be above ground and not room temperature
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Ooooohhh...an underground house would make a good storage place for snacks 😋
we never had a snake in the underground storage my dad built
I remember when they interviewed this guy for the "Mother Earth News". I didn't read his book until years later when it was added to the library in town. Great book, with lots of good illustrations. People like me were eating this kind of info up during that "back to the land" movement days. Great memories!
Hey Mr. B I guess we are from the same generation just this morning I looked through my old Whole Earth catalog and last Whole Earth catalog to see if Mike was in either of the catalogs because I remember reading about him somewhere and you're right it must have been the mother earth news which was a fantastic little magazine it was like the CZcams for our generation they had some wonderful do it yourself articles
@@RobbsHomemadeLife Yes, it was all about solar builds, methane generators, small buildings, raising livestock, etc. They had something for everyone. They still publish one by the same name these days, but it's just a shell of it's former self. I still have a big stack of the older ones saved away. They're fantastic.
I used to get excited whenever another issue came out that's how good it was
Another interesting book. I think a combination of above ground and below ground (full basement) is a good solution too. My parents built our house (still standing after 60+ years) with a 'type of Pan-Abode construction' with mainly full windows in the front and a full size basement that Dad added is still a favorite house in my town. People bug me all the time to sell it to them since it is not occupied.
Dad changed a lot of the original plans by substituting drywall on the inner walls to rooms instead of having it all stained wood. There are those lovely beams in each room that support and show off the wooden ceilings. He added a full basement on the side of a slope so that from the front you'd never know there was a basement, but the back view shows it all. There is a large 'man cave' in that basement too (with sink and toilet) where Dad kept a lot of his treasures.
Mom decorated the upstairs and Dad got his large cave downstairs, with a hidden wine cellar, that doubles as a safe room. We are in a safe area, but figured he wanted to keep his wine in the right temperature and safe. I have to remind my adult kids that is where the breaker box is too since I can see them looking for one after I'm gone since it is hidden in there too. Still a lot of unique things that people gave him are in there (taxidermy small owl, famous sketches and paintings of him made by a well-known artists Dad knew from the US, and other personalized things given to him. There were a few articles of Dad in publications too.
My biggest regret is that I do not have him around now that I am finally mature enough to ask him the right questions about anything. The more I learn about construction and life skills, the more I realize just how clever he really was... especially in a time without computers or access to easy information. If we ever get another Earthquake/Tsunami/disaster warning again, that is where I'll be, the safest underground room in town.
That sounds like a very interesting house you should do a video. South Florida is the worst place to have underground houses we can hit the water table two feet down. Although I do remember a neighbor once had a house with a basement it was one of the most unusual houses in Dade county.
Hi Robb! Years ago we guttered the front of an underground house. It was a very interesting house and it was an older couple that lived in it. I was so surprised by being able to walk on the roof that was just like a regular lawn.
The house was so cool and comfortable even though it was hot outside and they didn’t have air conditioning.
There was another house that is built into the side of a mountain. I could see it from the road, but never seen it close up.
Very interesting Robbie and thanks for sharing.
Have a blessed day!
Hey willows , that sounds pretty cool, thanks for commenting.
Thanks 👍
thanks for watching!
Would be fun to vacation in one of these, but I really need sunlit windows in my home to be happy. Interesting to ponder, thanks for sharing.
Hey Richard I agree I don't like dark houses either however Mike did make a point to put windows in every room at least two different places so there was cross ventilation and light coming from different directions
Love your laugh Robb.
Minnie it is always so good to hear from you thanks again
Too cool Robb. Love it.
When you were talking about smoke getting into the house, it made me think of
the dimensions necessary to deal with smoke in a domed outdoor brick or mud oven.
The right ratio of door to dome height causes circulation that forces smoke up and out.
Dimensionally forced ventilation, in my opinion, would be as critical as proper drainage.
You know what wet still air can foster. FUNK . Bacterial and fungal FUNK.
With air and water worked out, I think this is perfect for tornado country. Insurance companies would make out in the long run if they helped people build like that. It costs billion’s every year to replace the stick houses that get blown away.
Did you ever see the fellow growing oranges in underground greenhouses with skylights?
He dug below the frost line and can affordably keep the temperature up to orange growing levels in the Dakotas in winter! It’s amazing.
Zoning regulations are really holding important progress. I’m not against regulations,if they make sense.
Hey chops I saw a guy in California that was growing plants underground but it wasn't with skylights I'll have to check out the guy you're talking about that's very interesting. So many people are interested in tornado proof dwellings I never think about it because I live here in South Florida we almost never get them but they are so common every place else in the USA my idea for tornado shelter was two buy a really cheap junk car that was small and then cover it with plastic and then a bunch of sandbags mixed with cement to make an igloo and have a little opening to access the side door but I think the underground shelters are the best I just hate digging with the shovel.
@@RobbsHomemadeLife
That’s a super idea for a tornado shelter! Anchor it to the pavement and hold on.
Coastal dwelling is a whole different thing.
How about an inverted airfoil ,as or on the roof ,to force it downward in the wind and big pontoons to float?
A piling to anchor to with sail and rudder if things get really out of hand.
@@chopsddy3 the more I think about it the more I wanna give up planning and worrying and just move next door to a Waffle House
@@RobbsHomemadeLife
It’s always there. You could sit there and write a novel about sitting in a
Waffle House writing a novel. 😁👍
I do the best I can and depend more on praying than prepping.
If you spend too much time preparing for “the end” you’ll either cause it or miss it.
All that premeditation misses the moment.
What I’m preparing for doesn’t have much to do with the current narratives.
Hey Robb! ……..Roooooooooobbbbbbb!. You still there?
I just found something I would like to share . Something too cool to forget ,but I did.
Check out a guy named Mose Allison. “ I Don’t Worry About a Thing”.
Very interesting ❤
thanks for watching!
I love such DIY books, I immediately looked it up and you can find this book online for free as a pdf 🙂
Hey that's good to know thanks for the information
Here supporting, Sir! =)
Thanks Mr Maple!
@@RobbsHomemadeLife My pleasure! =)
Hey Robb, have you checked out "Your Cabin in the Woods", by Conrad Meinecke? It is a classic on the subject.
Hey Dean it sounds like a wonderful book I looked it up on Amazon amzn.to/3zH2BcF there was a guy I would see in a special on PBS on public television from time to time and he was living out in the woods all by himself for decades in a cabin he built using an axe a drill bit a saw and a hammer and a sharpening stone it was very appealing sort of like Robinson Crusoe it might be the same guy
@@RobbsHomemadeLife The guy on the PBS video was named Richard Proenneke, and the title was Alone in the Wilderness! I have it on DVD, and your right, it was very appealing. It took place in Alaska, though, I think he may have left out the really chilly parts.
😊😊😊🎉😊🎉😊😊
I don't think I appreciate the difficulty of living in the cold having lived in Florida my whole life although I have been in the cold on ships but I never had to live in it permanently like so many people. I remember listening to this lady on national public radio years ago and she lived in Missoula Mt and she said the cows would freeze standing up. Winter is Mother Nature telling you that she wants to kill you
Hello Robb. I will be looking for that book. Do you remember Last Whole Earth Catalog? Thanks for the recommendation 😊👋🐿️
Hey Oscar I still have a copy of the Last Whole Earth Catalog and the plain whole earth catalog they were wonderful books and remind me of how things used to be before the Internet I think I will do a review on them
The hotter it gets, we may all be underground. Lol
There's no building code on "Nobody Needs To Know" property.
🧐Didn't he get interviewed by Kirsten Dirksen with a tour of the houses?
You're absolutely right I forgot about that I think he passed away soon after. Kirsten has some of the best videos on CZcams I love her channel.
Finally affordable housing... lol
Hey Paul I bet they have a lot of interesting alternative architecture where you are at