In fact, it’s leaped into winter, with temperatures in the low 40’s daily, falling into the low 30’s at night.

Now, that doesn’t seem like much, until you factor in that the rest of the year it’s hot and humid, so our blood has thinned to the point that anything below about 60 degrees is considered “long-sleeve weather”.

When it falls into the 40’s, we’re reaching for jackets, I guarantee!

With this newly acquired need for “thicker clothing’ comes the requirement for more heat.  And that means that the local power grid gets hammered. Yep. Blackout’s power failures and frustration. Most of our heat here is generated by… you guessed it… electricity.

Losing your AC is one thing, but freezing to death because your heater doesn’t work is another.

We’re used to losing power during heavy tropical storms and Hurricanes. Katrina? Hello?

But for some reason, we don’t think about our back-up generators during the rest of the year.

It’s like that in other parts of the country as well.

So, I’m going to do a series of short articles on Generators, Electricity in general and SAFETY.

We’re going to talk about the differences between Stand-by generators and Back-up generators.

We’re going to talk about selecting the right generator.

We’re going to talk about WHAT you should power with that generator.

We’re going to explore “Generator Math” – Calculating the proper sized generator for your needs.

We’re going to talk about Electricians!

We’re going to talk about SAFETY.

We’re even going to talk about other type of generators that may really open your eyes!

A little planning can go a long way in insuring that your family is safe and warm.

Stay tuned!

Hardly surprising, right?

But the hardest part about helping a family BUILD their HOME… is teaching them how to PLAN.

Building a home is just a process where several steps lead to a completed home.

“Knit one, pearl two”… Do it enough times and you have a sweater… right?

We’ve talked about this before, but it bears repeating.

It takes time to build a home. They don’t just spring up from the ground on their own.

Yes, I’ve seen those cool animations. Yes, I wish that building actually happened like that. However…

It’s not that easy.

Sure, when using ISBUs – you drop the box and suddenly you have “structure” but it’s still not a home. It’s just the shell (or a significant PART of the shell).

The key to successful building is to take the “building process” and turn it into a series of “sub-assemblies (or ’steps’)”.

After you have your design process completed…

… meaning that you have your plan sets in your hot little hands…

This means planning out everything from digging the trenches for the footings (or the holes for the pilings), to putting the roof on…  and everything inbetween.

In MY case, many of my families build homes “paycheck to paycheck”.

Many of my families build over extended periods of time, completing steps while still saving to be able to afford the next. It’s really important to break things down so that the “home building experience” is one of  “achieving several smaller victories terminating in the completion of an entire home, built by family and friends.”

This just makes sense.

By breaking down a long process into steps, you avoid being overwhelmed and get the satisfaction of finishing each step successfully, leading to the next.

If you invest your time in finding the right architect, consultant or “building network” – THEY are going to help you establish your “building barriers”.

I commonly refer to these guys as your “BAT” – your “Building Advisory Team”.

I EXPECT them to be able to wade into any situation encountered and use their clout to get you where you need to be. They use their BAT… get it?

Look for guys and gals who have “hands on experience”.

Lots of people are entering the “Alternative Home” arena, because frankly, their old building resources have dried up.

Lots of people (and more importantly, FIRMS) are “re-inventing themselves” to take advantage of a growing market, made popular by both the media (GREEN is the word, right?) and the unstable economy that we now live in.

You’re going to find out quickly that MANY of these “ISBU experts” don’t have a single build under their belts.

Some of them don’t have licenses or the appropriate education/accreditation.

Some of them are just “Glorified Contractors gone rogue”.

Sure, they have a folder full of fancy, full color renders and lofty designs, but these projects, in most cases have never been (or sometimes CAN NEVER be) built.

They talk and talk – using all the right buzzwords – but the fact is that YOU are going to be paying for their ISBU education.

Everything that they know about ISBU building is going to be learned on YOUR building site… and it’s coming out of YOUR pocket.

That. by the way, is incredibly generous of you!

If the answer to “How many ISBU homes have you actually BUILT?” is “ZERO”… Keep looking.

Avoid these guys.  Avoid these guys like the plague.

Using anyone who has “never done this before” means that your project is going to be filled with “stalls, mistakes and missteps” and it’s going to be more expensive to complete.

Building using any alternative building practice is fraught with peril for the inexperienced or unwary.

You’re probably not going to be able to do everything that you need to accomplish without help. You’re probably going to need a plumber or an electrician, or a roofer.

Your “BAT” should be responsible for helping you research every step you need to take, to complete your project successfully. The idea is to plan and chart for progress, avoiding mistakes and missteps that will blow your budget or doom your project.

They in turn will help you FIND the right guys – plumbers, electricians, roofers, etc… to complete your project successfully.

These advisors KNOW the building business and the processes involved.

In most cases, they can actually SAVE YOU the cost of their services, using their expertise to track and complete your home build. If fact, if they can’t save you a substantial amount in your building project, you do not need THEM.

It’s important to pick the right team.

Next time, we’re going to talk about HOW you “Plan for Success”…

Stay tuned.

Unemployment is claiming more and more victims of a marketplace that “fails or flees”…

How many jobs have fled to places like Malaysia or Mumbai lately?

And inflation is driving up the cost of everything. We can see it reflected weekly in our journeys into those “hallowed halls”… the grocery store.

They say that we’re in a “Global Recession”…

How did this happen? It brings to mind “Chicken and Egg” questions;

Yeah, yeah… “Politics – Schmolitics”…

But WHAT does this have to do with HOUSING?

As times get harder, many families are starting to consider the construction of a secondary “Fallback” home or shelter. Many people we talk to lately are looking at “Affordable Housing Solutions” being designed and built to be constructed in the “third world”.

“Guys, I saw a set of plans on-line, for a $300 house. Why can’t I do something like that using an ISBU (Shipping Container)?”

“Well, for starters, that ISBU is going to cost you a hundred dollars a foot, plus delivery.” I remind them.

They mean well and in many cases they’re acting out in what is sometimes close to “desperation”.

But they ARE on to something;

Let’s talk about DIY Housing – ala “Fallback” or even “Vacation Home/Fishing Camp/Hunting Lodge”;

This is not about “silver spoons” or even “silver rounds”… be you rich, poor and middle class we all face the same problems.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a Survivalist, a Prepper, or a Family that just wants to escape the suburbs to get away from the city from time to time…

Your new cabin/fallback/shelter has to fit the following criteria in order to fulfill your needs over the long haul;

It has to be SAFE.

It has to be SUSTAINABLE.

It has to be AFFORDABLE.

It has to be Structurally APPROPRIATE to the region’s climate.

It has to be “culturally applicable”.

(Building a home intended for Haiti only works if you are IN HAITI… capish?)

It has to be ENERGY EFFICIENT.

It has be designed to be EASILY CONSTRUCTED.

and last but not least,

Your wife (or significant other) has to want to live in it.

There is nothing worse than building a place in the woods, that is filled with discontent and uproar. You built the place to get away from that, in the first place!

Building shelter in the wilderness isn’t that much different than building “Third World” Housing in many regards.

Generally, it all starts with the same conditions.As humans, we are a “basic” bunch.

This is due in part to the fact that this type of housing in these “brave new worlds” is often fraught with peril due to natural disasters like earthquakes and flooding, fires and tornadoes…

Is it hot? Is it cold? Is it wet? Is it dry?

All these factors need to be carefully considered.

Often, DIY housing is built by people who really don’t have an intimate understanding of WHAT or WHERE they are trying to build.

Your shelter needs to be effective and well thought out, structurally accurate and it MUST be climatically responsible, as well.

I recently talked with a DIY family that is building an ISBU Home in Wyoming.

This is thrifty family that understands what “recycling” means. I have to give them that. Over 70% of their home build was reclaimed or recycled and repurposed materials.

They were happy with their accomplishments… until we started talking about the actual construction of the home.

They were quite proud of the fact that they’d gotten all their insulation for free. (I would be too!) They told me that they were using rigid insulation boards that were 2″ thick. They’d put it into the walls and the ceiling. In fact, they doubled it in the ceiling.

Rigid PolyIso boards will get you an R12-14 (depending on brand and type) in that thickness. It’s good stuff.

BUT – this isn’t enough for the cold winters of Wyoming. IMHO – they needed at least double that thickness in the walls.

It got worse. As it turns out, they didn’t use “rigid insulation material” at all. They used scrap Polystyrene (Styrofoam) that they salvaged from a local furniture company.

Styrofoam has an r value of about 4 per inch, at it’s best.

So, they actually had approximately r8 in their walls. Not good. Now factor in openings like doors and windows… and that wall system was NOT going to stand up to Wyoming Winters… Brrrrr!

Now couple that with a reliance on a woodstove for heat.

That means “open flames”. It’s a “Time Bomb” waiting to happen.

Styrofoam is extremely flammable.

Using Styrofoam as insulation requires that you actually put a firewall between IT and YOU.

At minimum, you’re going to need to cover that styrofoam with 5/8″ drywall. What did THEY use? Recycled wood paneling painted with latex paint. Thickness? A  QUARTER OF AN INCH, tops.

Oh crap.

NOW…

Let’s talk about PolyIso Rigid Insulation Boards… what they THOUGHT they were using.

According to the PolyIso Association:

“PolyIso is a closed-cell, rigid foam board insulation consisting of a foam core sandwiched between two facers. The facers are composed of various organic and inorganic materials, usually paper and fiberglass. It is widely used in both residential and commercial markets for both roof and side wall applications.”

I literally swear by the stuff. If you’re not fortunate enough to be using SPF (Spray Closed Cell Foam Insulation)… then PolyIso is the way to go, as far as I’m concerned.

PolyIso insulation has many attributes including (again, I’m quoting from the PolyIso Association with MY own two cents worth – comments in italics):

Polyiso is the most thermally efficient rigid board insulation available in the marketplace; it has the highest R-value per inch of thickness.

Moisture resistant foam core.

FREE Moisture Barrier!

Compatible with most solvents used in construction adhesives.

NO SCREWS needed to install it! Use GLUE!

Excellent dimensional stability

Superior performance in fire tests – Polyiso meets the strict standard of both FM Class 1 Approvals (FM 4450/4470), UL 1256, and CAN/ULC S126M

Wide range of service temperatures.

Desert or Mountains, PolyIso is your boy…

Long Term R-value (PolyIso insulation is the only roof insulation with third party certification – according to the PolyIso Assn)

It doesn’t rot, settle, degrade or leak. What you install is what you get… forever… UNLIKE Fiberglass batts.

Sounds good right? It’s because PolyIso Insulation IS good.

Polyiso has the highest per inch R-value of any insulation available. Because of its superior R-value, homes and buildings that use PolyIso insulation products have lower heating and cooling costs than similar structures insulated with other materials of the same thickness.

On the other hand;

Polystyrene is a petroleum-based plastic made from the styrene monomer.

A LOT of Styrofoam sheets... and you'll need them...

Most people know it under the trade name “Styrofoam”.

Polystyrene is a light-weight material consisting of about 95% AIR, with  good insulation properties. It’s used for all types of products from throwaway coffee cups to packing materials for you that TV you just bought from Walmart.

But the best you’re going to do with Styrofoam as insulation… is about r4 per inch of thickness(IF you are lucky).

AND, IMHO – it’s not going to give you a decent vapor or moisture barrier.

It’s going to degrade and decay as well, because it’s open cell. It’s porous. Stuff gets in and then… rots.

Despite claims that “Styrofoam takes 65 million years to decay”… I’ve seen it rot.

Manufactures will tell you that animals don’t like to eat the stuff. Okay…

Animals may not eat it, but they will burrow THRU it, to get to things that they CAN eat.

IMHO – Using Styrofoam for wall assemblies gets you inferior walls, even if it is/was cheap. To use it in this manner, you’d need to fir out your walls with 2×8′s and then put several sheets into each cavity, one on top of the other, to get to the r value you needed.

You CAN build a decently performing wall using Styrofoam. You just have to use a LOT of the stuff. I’m talking like… half a foot of thickness, minimum.

In an ISBU home, that eats up a lot of square footage.

And in the ceiling? You’re gonna need a foot of thickness, at least to get the r48 value that I always shoot for.

They have an r8 now. They’d need to stack those Styrofoam sheets three panels deep (6″ total), to reach anything close to r24 with polystyrene. And with doors and windows, they’d get about an r20 wall system at the cost of a LOT of square footage now eaten up by those thicker walls.

And… in the ceiling… they had about an R16-20. Nowhere NEAR the amount of insulation that they’d require. The home was going to become an “energy glutton” as they literally cut down every tree in the forest to keep the wood stove burning, 24/7.

Can you imagine how many sheets of Styrofoam they’d need to build a “decently performing” roof in Wyoming?

They actually built a “metal tent”.

And now… as I type this… they’re tearing all that paneling off so they can pull out that Styrofoam and START OVER…

Look, it doesn’t matter what KIND of home you’re building.

Your home MUST be “appropriately designed and constructed”.

Over the next several weeks, we’re going to look at “Low Cost – High Speed” Shelters and homes that can be constructed by a family that desires a “change in their lifestyle”.

How’s this for “Hardened Living in Style”?

CHC and Owen Geiger, Ph.D. created THIS GEM...

Can you say “inherently Anti-Ballistic”? That “Geiger fellow” is a genius!

And… our CORGANIX Home is ANOTHER example of what you can do IF you put your mind (and your back) into it.

Stay tuned.

As we try to regroup after some recent Tropical  Storm Lee cleanup/mitigation/work…

Here’s what’s in store for you in the next exciting episodes of “I want an ISBU and I want it NOW!”

While we begin building our own ISBU prototype…

Our Corganix Hybrid ISBU-Earthbag Home (developed in cooperation with Dr. Owen Geiger,  Director of the Geiger Research Institute of Sustainable Building ) is getting a serious dose of “College Competition”.

We’re currently talking with four University Architectural Departments who are each going to build THEIR own version of the CORGANIX home, in their region.

Each home will utilize an ISBU CORE and be constructed of Earthbags filled with stabilized road base, scoria and even pumice.

We’ll follow along as we watch how these homes are built, from “California Beachfront to Montana  Mountaintop” and all points in-between.

We’re even talking to a University Group in Hawaii who want to try their hand at Hybrid Building.

This should be a terrific test of Hybrid home performance.

We have enlisted some corporate sponsors to help out with this terrific “Academic Experiment in Alternative Housing”.

The only stipulation is that the finished home MUST be given to a family in need selected through a local process after “the dust has settled”.

Because… say it with me… EVERY family deserves a home.

And we’re personally going to see to it that four more families sleep safely. It’s why we formed the Corten Cavalry in the first place.

We’re also going to talk about “Single ISBU Container Solutions”.

I’m calling this “To BUMP – Or NOT to BUMP”.

We’ll look at ways to actually increase the size of your Single ISBU Container to allow comfortable living without breaking the bank.

And we’re going to look at some on-going projects ranging from “budget builds” to all out “OMG! I didn’t even know you could DO that!”

And, these projects will run the gambit from Design Stages all the way to “Oh Crap! I burned myself with the Plasma Cutter! Well… at least it cauterized the wound…”

Here’s a sneak peek;

YES. You CAN live in a SINGLE ISBU Shipping Container.  All it takes is a little imagination and some creative welding…

Want proof?

Can you say “BUMP!”??

Stay tuned.

I’m the “King of Corten”.

Wait, that’s not it…

I’m “a voice in the wilderness”, “a pariah in the re-purposed palace”, “a monk from the mountains”, “a soothsayer of Steel”, “that #%$@! being chased out of town by an unruly mob with burning brands and pitchforks”…

Look, I ain’t saying that “I’m too cool for school”. In fact, I don’t hang out in the coolest bars, party with movie stars, stand in club lines trying to look cool enough to bluff the doorman, or taint my brain with “bathtub chemistry”.

(Unless you count home-brewed beer!)

I’ve been called a “Rock Star of Radical Architecture.”

(Okay, so it was a drunk housing rep at a trade show, but he said it! People heard him and everything!)

I design and build homes that some call “unorthodox”…

But, I say they’re “near-sighted”. I call them affordable, sustainable, energy efficient homes and I help families build them in some of the most obscure places one can possibly imagine.

I’m not kidding. I’m talking about almost all the continents (NO Builds on Antarctica yet!) and enough countries to fill up your passport pages a few times. And I quite often build then out of materials that most people would toss in a dumpster.

In fact, I’ve even USED the dumpster as building material a few times.

In MY world, you’ll see everything from cast off steel boxes to bags filled with dirt.

Sometimes we even combine the two, to built impenetrable family fortresses!

You know that my personal heroes aren’t guys like Batman (although I do admire  his gadget belt and his “smack in the back of the head – dark side” kind of of justice…);

My HEROES are  guys like Malcolm Wells (may he rest in peace), Owen Geiger , Michael Janzen, Laren Corie, and a few other “nomadic nobles” who seek “peace thru sustainable housing”… in spite of it’s apparent “political incorrectness”.

I’ve figured out a long time ago that the experts in “frontier  housing ” don’t live in glass skyscrapers harbored in big cities…

… they live in “the wilds” using their hands and hearts instead of pencils or CAD Pucks.

BTW: I’m not an “overnight success” unless “overnight” takes over thirty freakin’ years.

Nor am I a “building virgin” looking to “reinvent myself in troubled times”… I have literally hundreds of builds under my belt.

At least that’s what I tell my wife that bulge is…

I collect Harleys and old guitars, I’d probably have longer hair if I had hair at all (high humidity = shaved head) and I definitely prefer denim and cotton  to silk and polyester.

I collect wristwatches but I COVET tools. You can tell a lot about a man by his tools.

I write another blog, “The Life and Times of a Renaissance Ronin“, that preaches the gospel of using ISBUs (repurposed shipping containers) to build some of the most comfortable and sustainable housing on the planet.

My newest book – “Introductions to Container Homes and Buildings” is a journey…

… into “Alternative Building Practices, using recycled and repurposed materials”. Yes, I’m talking about Shipping Container Housing.

My intent is to show you the things you don’t normally see; the tips that contractors and architects have been using since building began… to help you save money, build stronger, and build safer.

In fact, the recent conversations we’ve been having about pilings and slabs on my other blog led me to this. Okay, it was “kicking and screaming” but still, here  am…

We talk about HOW to connect our homes to the ground. But, we don’t talk enough about WHY we should do it. Bear with me here, I’m going someplace…

Recently, a guy in Washington D.C. asked me WHY we should change.-

“After all, we’ve been doing it like this for over two hundred years, and it works just fine.”

He’s a well-known politician, with a big seat. I’m not talking about the size of his butt.  “Big Seat” as in he’s on a BIG committee.

I almost want to tear what’s left of my hair out.

• The Economy is in ruins – despite the white-washing by the media.
• Unemployment – (the real rate – you know – the one that factors in stuff like “lost jobs” – corporate realignments and restructures,  “left jobs”- jobs that will never return, people no longer in the workforce, people who work part time but WANT to work full time) is like… 16% conservatively. Even the experts admit it.
• Fuel prices are rising.
• Hyper Inflation is headed right at us and will hit us with both barrels.
• Education is suffering at levels that actually make me afraid of what and how my children will be taught.
• There are still large bodies of people with NO health care at all. Don’t even get me started on this.

And still, the guys and gals in Washington D.C. – breathing all that lobbyist fueled Olympian air (no doubt) still don’t get it.

At least, it doesn’t “feel” like they get it.

The country is paralyzed from the top to the bottom, from Washington DC to your own Town Hall.

And the affliction is easy to define:

“You cannot spend what you do not earn.”

Hello? It’s a lesson nobody ever taught Congress, apparently.

And look, don’t bail yet. This isn’t a “political rant. I’m getting tired of BOTH sides of the aisle. I’m heading this into a talk about sustainable housing, so just hang on.

Like any project, you just have to lay a solid foundation. Okay?

While we rot from top to bottom, we’re rotting from the inside out toward the edges? Yep. I said it.

Trying to figure out what I’m talking about?

I’m talking about waste production, misuse of materials, inefficient power systems, you name it.

At LEAST 45 percent of the world’s pollution comes from the way we build and maintain our buildings.

Anyone with a pulse can see that there has to be a  “common sense” based solution, one aimed at improving the way we do things.

And it all starts at HOME.

Why?

Because there are more homes built than any other kind of structure on the planet.

IMHO: You have to begin your home planning with the idea that you’re going to look from the beginning to the end of a structure’s life.

You need to design a home that will cradle you and provide room and comfort for all the “little cradles” to come. That means that you need comfortable housing that use less energy, require less maintenance, built from affordable materials that are recycled, re-used or re-purposed to suit your NEED.

And you need to consider how your home’s materials will be re-used when YOUR home no longer serves it’s purpose.

“Radical Architecture”, huh?

The idea is to close the loop on waste production. I want you to think about ways to insure that everything you use will cycle all the way thru, until ultimately, it’s just “gone”.

Zero Waste.

Take what you need and then use it ALL.

In nature, things live, die and then… fade away to become the building blocks for things to follow.

WE NEED TO DO THAT.

So I ask you this;

“Why can we NOT simply redefine the way we do things?”

“Why can’t changing HOW we do things change our way of life for the  better?”

Because the guys in those big chairs perched high on Mount Olympus haven’t figured out a way to profit from it, that’s why.

People will scream that it “just isn’t fair.”

I know they will. I’m one of them.

This IS about fairness. If you attended Civics Class in High School, you know that the forefathers thought that we may have been “designed” equal, but we certainly weren’t “born” that way.

It’s time to remind people that being “born with privilege” IS a privilege.

It’s time to level the playing field.

ALL families deserve to have a home.

I’ve said it before, in fact so many times I should be wearing it as a freakin’ tattoo.

But what does this actually translate into?

Here’s what I think has to happen;

Keep in mind what I’ve already said about affordable and sustainable building (Zero Waste, Proper Planning, et all). We have to establish SOME kind of baseline.

All projects need a starting point.  So, how about this;

(And… also keep in mind that I’m going to talk about “ground Zero MAINSTREAM Baselines”. If you’re lucky enough to have already surpassed this, God Bless You!)

We need to develop plans to allow families to buy lots to provide MAINSTREAM housing.

(I reiterate MAINSTREAM because politicians and bureaucrats are seemingly slow to evolve. In later posts, I’ll talk about my REAL love… Alternative Housing Construction Practices. People out there are doing some things that would just amaze you…)

But I digress…

Look, folks; In Middle-America, when things get hard… the Cavalry probably isn’t coming. IF they do show up, it’ll be to get in your way, or to tax your progress.   Mark my words. If we are to rebuild this Republic, we need it do it one community at at time.

By ourselves. Otherwise… you get FEMA.

I’ve seen how FEMA works.

No Thank You.

So, how do we do this?

Owning your own home is good for the community. It increased local revenues by adding to the tax base. It provides families that will help sustain local economies and it’ll create jobs.

I fully realize that land is getting more and more expensive. after all, they aren’t making any more of it.

So let’s start with Golden Rule #1;

Get what you actually “need” and not necessarily what you “want”.

NEED and WANT are two different animals and they rarely live together in the same pen.

Housing costs should be kept affordable. In my book, that means $150,000 or less. Shopped a home loan recently? A $150k mortgage will cost you about $900 a month.

(Assuming the following:  You have “decent” credit, you put down 10%, you use today’s average rate of about 4.8% – corrected, your property tax will run approx. 1.25% and your PMI will run .5%.)

The lots will be narrow and deep.

That way, land will “go farther” and support more families. New Orleans is a good example of this, as are several other places. Most of us live in cities that have “Row House Districts”. Baltimore, Philly, San Francisco, you name it.

Consider raising houses off the ground for these reasons;

(A) to allow you to actually park and store possessions UNDER them, thus reducing your footprint requirement, and…

(B) Site preparation is MUCH cheaper when you use pilings as your foundation.

(C) to help deal with natural disasters like flooding.

A home set on 8′ pilings made of 2′ diameter concrete and steel will take quite a bashing before it fails.

It’s for this last reason that you should also include some kind of exit point to the roof. I lived thru Hurricane Katrina as did many others. I  cannot tell you how many times I watched the media coverage display people standing on their roofs waiting for rescue.

The less fortunate were trapped inside their attics with no way out… and they drowned.

Consider also that this “escape hatch” could also be used a vent to exhaust hot air from your house to help aid cooling.

(And kindly resist the urge to comment with “hot air” jokes… I get enough of them from my wife. Okay?)

Now let’s factor in “Sustainability”.

An insulated house is a happy house.

A super insulated house is um… well, it’s like the difference between kissing your sister or the Prom Queen.

The kiss is still the same… basically… but one is just more pleasurable than the other.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go kiss your sister… you’ll figure it out. 

A super-insulated house will require less heat and air conditioning to maintain the temperature within it. That means that you’ll spend a little more in the beginning, but for the rest of your life, you’ll spend MUCH less.

You don’t just have to go along with the rest of the sheep. You can use Geothermal energy to create heat, Solar Power to warm water, and Photovoltaic panels (PVs) to produce electricity for your home.

There are PV systems available off the shelf that will lower your homes electricity costs by 75% without you having to be, or employ a rocket scientist to figure it all out. (Yes, you will still need an electrician…)

Don’t believe me? Go to Green-Trust.org. Steve Spence is about as bright as it gets in the PV arena. In fact, I’ve enlisted (strong-armed, arm-twisted, insert your own adjective here) him to assist in the design of the PV system for my own home.

Go a little further with this PV stuff and you’ll produce enough power for your family, plus some extra for the families along the way. After all, you’re probably all gonna be connected to the grid.

But, is it possible to build a “light and airy” row-house that is comfortable and achieves the goals we’ve talked about for $150K?

Yes. Absolutely.

And by using ISBUs, we can build homes that most people just don’t believe possible, for even less.

And we can do it up North, Down South and even… gasp… in the West.

Stay tuned as we explore some of the “way and means” of  how ISBUs can accommodate these goals.

(Did ya get it? Did ya see what  I did there? I started out talking about this big “hot shot committee politician”  and then I close the post with “Ways and Means?”)

Sometimes I just crack myself up!

Today, we’re going back to the beginning;

We’re going to talk about “The Basics of Boxes”.

As the world slowly turns, some families have nowhere to sleep.

In places like Japan and Christchurch, Peru and Haiti… families are still trying to figure out what comes next, after natural disasters couple with man-made ones to create obstacles seemingly fit for the shoulders of the Titans.

These are the times when the “next steps” are taken. These are perfect times to discuss WHAT could work, and more importantly… what probably won’t work.

We can’t just keep doing things the same old ways. It just doesn’t work any longer. I’m not sure that it ever really did.

And it’s not “just me.”

These same discussions are happening across dining rooms tables all across America, as families start thinking about what comes next.

• Our economy is really causing problems.
• Unemployment is still a cancer that infects many, many families.
• Outsourcing and “right-sizing” at the corporate level allows companies like General Electric to make billions in profits, pay no taxes and move jobs offshore, never to return.

(I’m not singling out GE, there are MANY companies in America that are doing this. GE is just a good example.)

Housing isn’t just a discussion any longer, it’s an issue that brings many families to tears.

I have a beloved “adopted” daughter who’s been trying to sell her house for longer than I care to remember. I’m not talking about a  McMansion. I’m talking about what is essentially a charming little “starter home”. The market has slumped so severely that in order for her to “stay in the market” she and her husband have been counseled to take about a $30,000 hit, just to get it sold. I’m not talking about deducting money from expected profit. I’m talking about deducting almost $30 grand from the existing mortgage price. We’re talking about digging a huge hole.

This is just madness.

How can someone who is forced to go thru that ever get back into the housing market? They’re going to lose their shirts. Families all over America are “underwater”, as well. Their houses aren’t worth the mortgages any longer. We agonize over it regularly.

Inflation is driving solutions even harder, but it’s building canyons that must be crossed at the same time.

I get a LOT of email. So much in fact that I spend a few hours a day trying to sort it all out.

Most of those contacts are in search of cost effective, affordable solutions that are possible for families – I’m talking about DIY (Do It Yourself) and families helping families.

Doing it yourself means that you’ll save a LOT of money.

Contractors work for profit. They have families too – families probably not much different than yours. But YOU need to focus on what you can, and more importantly CANNOT accomplish with your own hands.

This means that you really need to carefully define “your needs” and then balance it against “your wants”.

That refinement will help drive your design process.

I’m not talking about what I call “glory-boarding”…

…you know. stuff like the rendered Corten Coolness you usually see in places like Treehugger.

Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE Treehugger. I get a lot of inspiration from that site and some of that coolness finds itself “reverse engineered” into my builds.

But… I’m talking about designing real world, real use, real “paid for using real paychecks” spaces by real people – not just the “1 percenters”… the elite.

I can’t afford several hundred dollars a square foot to build my family’s home and if you’re reading THIS blog… you probably can’t either.

And that’s an area where it PAYS off to have someone helping you who has been there before.

No! Stop it! I know what you’re thinking, and you’re wrong. I’m not saying it has to be ME at all…

What I’m saying is that choosing the right design professional is really fundamentally important.

And it’s important to realize that the input from that PRO will more than pay his/her fees, if you’ve chosen them properly. They will know tips and tricks that will save time, money and labor. They’ll understand “spaces” and how they related to each other.

And you’ll get a better home out of the deal.

For the SAME money. For the SAME Money. For the SAME Money. Capish?

Further, if that PRO can’t guarantee you that their input will actually save you their fees in return, it’s time to find another PRO. Seriously.

It is QUITE possible to work with a design Professional and not break your budget. Again, I’m serious.

That said:

Let’s think about HOW you build your ISBU Home:

As you all know, I’m a big advocate of building and integrating using smaller 20′ High Cubes.

This allows you to build “modules” that can be coupled together to form “housing solutions” in a manner that is easily manipulated, transported and then set onto prepared foundations, by just a few guys and gals.

You can couple these smaller “modules” – containing entire Kitchen/Bath cores, for example – with larger ISBUs, like 40′ High Cubes.

This gives you a ton of versatility and a lot of leeway, especially when you’re dealing with building a home in a hard to reach area… like a cleared space out in the countryside, down a long graded county dirt road or even into a hillside.

Here on the blog, over the next few weeks, I want to REALLY EXPLORE Small House Design.

In fact, we’re going to look at other types of housing as well – the “Little Housers” (including those rascal “Tiny Houser’s”) , Boats and Marine watercraft and other types of “contained structures”, incorporating the best of all these worlds into one or more Corten Steel Boxes.

Think about HOW you store your possessions.

How do you manipulate your foodstuffs?

How much time to do actually spend in dedicated parts of your home?

We’ll take into consideration things like gabled roofs, reclaimed spaces and the agility required to actually use them. Some of us aren’t getting any younger…

We’ll talk about options like retractable spaces – pop-outs, lowered platforms and even recessed platforms as well…

Remember that in dealing with small spaces;

Multi-purpose planning is the rule of the day.

We’ll talk about incorporating outside deck spaces into “defined inside spaces” to create larger rooms without actually building them.

Along the way, I want you to think about what YOUR family needs… and then I want you to get off your bottoms and actually post comments.

Yes, I’m talking to YOU.

We’ll take all that input and develop a prototype – a basic module – that can be used as a starting point that will cross many geographic boundaries and cultural borders.

It’s time to slay dragons, starting with that “overwhelming” feeling some families get confronted with – like when they consider concepts like  “sweat equity”.

I want you guys and gals to realize just how easy it is to think small, if you start out with the right ingredients.

Innovation and “forward thinking” aren’t impossible. They just take good planning and solid execution.

There are solutions out there, just waiting to find their way onto your dining room table. We’re gonna go find them.

Stay Tuned.