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Tag: hobbit
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Kristie Wolfe builds underground home & sets rural WA hamlet
Inspired by the success of the Hawaii treehouse she built for $11,000, Kristie Wolfe began searching for land to build a “Hobbit”-inspired village. Knowing that there is land to be found for cheap in this country (she bought her Hawaii property for $8000), she began to search the Northwest for sites.
https://faircompanies.com/videos/building-your-own-hawaii-minimal-house-for-a-vacations-cost/“There’s a lot of land everywhere, if you look on craigslist, if you look on zillow, you can find property so it’s not really that there’s not a lot. The issue is with property that’s in my price range- I’m looking for property that’s $10,000 to 20,000- usually there’s a reason why it’s cheap, it’s either an easement problem or you have to drive through a crappy neighborhood… but if you’re wanting to be off-grid, it opens up a whole world of selections, there’s a ton out there.”
Wolfe paid $18,000 for 5 acres on a hillside above Lake Chelan, Washington. Being a couple miles down a dirt road, there was no option to be on the grid so Wolfe put in a solar panel, septic and a water tank (filled by truck for now) and began to dig the first of her underground homes.
At 288 square feet, Wolfe’s “tiny house in the shire” was over the maximum square footage allowed for an un-permitted build so she went to the county for approval. With only hand-sketched plans on graph paper, she was able to get a permit.
The structure went up in a few days “with a lot of help from family and friends” and it was “wrapped and roofed” in a few weeks and then Wolfe finished the interior on her own.
Inspired by the “Hobbit” books, films and cartoon (from 1977), Wolfe wanted to recreate the cozy feel of a hobbit hole. “Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole and that meant comfort.”
Rather than buying expensive custom details, Wolfe got creative. She used the top of an old cable spool – scavenged for free long before the build- as a round door. To create round windows, she hid secondhand ($10) square windows behind repurposed circular mirror frames. For a very unique cordwood floor, she cut scraps of wood (found beside the road and old firewood) into into one-inch-thick pieces glued down with a heavy construction adhesive and grouted by hand (again thanks much help to friends and family).
Wolfe has broken ground on the 2nd and 3rd hillside homes. She doesn’t plan to change much of her design except to make the windows larger. The completed “village” will include an above-ground communal kitchen built to look like a thatched-roof English-style pub.Filming credit: Ivan Nanney- IvanTheIntrepid.com
[Kristie’s “Tiny House in the Shire” rents on Airbnb https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/8794484]
Original story: https://faircompanies.com/videos/kristie-wolfe-builds-underground-home-sets-rural-wa-hamlet/
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Hobbit Homes Are Real, and Here’s How You Can Obtain One of Your Own!
Hobbit Homes Are Real, and Here’s How You Can Obtain One of Your Own!
00residential structural engineer, structural engineering, SustainabilityTags: building a dome home, dome home builders, dome home floor plans
Customized home designs are gaining swift popularity as of recent years, and for good reasons: their flexibility and, most beneficially, their sustainability! People are becoming more aware of climate change than ever before, after all, and its visible effects on the weather throughout the world prompts most to take action however they can. For most people, this means modifying their homes to be more environmentally friendly.
If you’re a Lord of the Rings fan, you’re probably intimately familiar with the concept and design of “hobbit homes.” If you also care about going green, you’ll be happy to know these homes can and do exist in the real world, and can even be commissioned and built for your own living needs! Interested? In this blog article, we’ll go over just what it takes to have your own hobbit home.
How Do Hobbit Homes Work?
If you aren’t familiar with this home design concept, we want to take the time to explain just what a hobbit home is. Building a hobbit home is very similar to building a dome home, particularly in terms of shape. Hobbit homes are typically nestled into hills, identifiable by the door placed into the hillside and the pathway leading up to it. These homes come in all sizes, meaning you can have a hobbit home of your own with as much space as you could possibly need.
What Are the Benefits of a Hobbit Home?
The best and most noteworthy feature of the hobbit home, much like dome home floor plans, is its versatility—both before and after building. Not only can you customize your hobbit home exactly to your liking, but once the construction is done, you have further options! Is your home growing too small? You can simply add onto it by requesting more “modules,” or home sections to be further implemented into the hillside. Modules come with all sorts of functions, from rooms to fully usable garages. Furthermore, you can even put the roof of your home to functional use! The grassy layout of the roof of a typical hobbit home makes a wonderful base for a garden, allowing you to grow flowers, vegetables or anything else you choose!
Even if you don’t want to plant anything on your roof, the grass up top will come in handy in case of rain and other weather events. Because of the vegetation up top, you don’t have to worry nearly as much about water damage to your home. Dome home builders ensure your home will be able to withstand the weather since the grass can easily absorb the rain’s moisture. It will then photosynthesize, giving back to the planet and reducing your need to worry about water conservation and home-owning disasters.
Does the idea of a hobbit home interest you? If so, B.E. Structural can help put you on the path to obtaining one of your own! Be sure to get in touch with us and we’ll help you every step of the way, from blueprints to dome home floor plans to location.
https://www.bestructural.com/hobbit-homes-real-heres-can-obtain-one/
On – 17 Jan, 2017 By
