I have been thinking a lot about what my next house should look like as well as where it should be, etc…
My main requirements are lots of space, I can’t actually see (nor hear) a neighbor, high speed / broadband (preferably 4Mbs+), natural gas (but also have wood burning capability), “on the grid” (but also have some solar/wind/other capability), municipal water (but have a well or two), and extremely efficient for heating and cooling.
I happened to stumble upon Deltec Homes which seem to have a cool thing going. They are round homes. This allegedly reduces the surface area exposed to the elements by 15% which is a decent savings i think. Plus it is entirely prefab which means you hopefully reduce the number of hacks to get it working right when building. I like the idea of a round house with really energy efficient Windows all around it. Get some passive solar going. Anyone aware of any houses like this personally? Do you live in one? DIY Network is going to have a shows that talks about these houses (Assembly Required) on December 4th and I am trying to find someone who has the channel to record it for me, if that fails I will see if I can get the episode from DIY.
These houses are made of 8 ft prefab sections which help reduce the exposure to winds and the round shape helps the pressure from winds on one side get distributed to the back side of the house. They are supposed to do very well, for instance, in hurricanes. We don’t have many hurricanes here in South Eastern Michigan but we do have tornadoes and just the idea that a wind from any direction only gets an 8 ft wide section to play with appeals to me.
I visualize a round 2 level house with each level ~2000 square feet and a basement of the same size. I wouldn’t mind a dual level basement or even a triple level basement with a single level home (sort of an observation area and sublight collection area). However I doubt that would get past the various inspectors and such. Another alternative would be to try and build into the side of a hill and only have say a half moon exposed.
When I mention round homes to people they start thinking about the geodesic domes like this. Those don’t do anything for me. I like the round home much better. I have seen the dome homes since I was a kid in Northern Michigan. I thought they were cool until I went into one and then I didn’t like it. Seemed like a lot of wasted space because we as humans tend to most use sqare feet, not cubic feet.
With the way fossil fuel costs are going, I don’t visualize myself in a normal home 10 years from now trying to scrape my paychecks together to pay for the heating bills which exceed the cost of the mortgage payments. I would also love to produce a majority of my own electricity. I would love to see utility bills all below $100 for a month but still have the availability of the services so if I need them for high use periods (visitors, etc) I have it available.
Anyway, those are my random thoughts that I have been thinking about this weekend.
My wife and I are seriously considering a Deltec home. We’ve purchased the catalog/DVD and are planning a flight to Asheville, NC this June for one of their seminars. We’ve purchased 46 acres on Cow Creek in southeast Texas and plan to build a 2300 square foot two story Deltec on piers( like a beach house) to avoid any flooding the creek may provide in intense weather. We plan to pour a slab for the ground level and use it for parking if it’s possible. We really like the open floor concept of the Deltec and the use of plenty of insulated windows to commune with nature through. Basements are not common in this area due to the high water table. We’re planning on building a rustic style home with a cedar exterior and lots of wood inside. We were seriously considering a log home, but everyone’s building them around here and inside there’s actually more wood than we want. Best Wishes! Jeff Wood