I live in a house like that. We call it a berm house. This house was built by my husband's grandfather and his brothers in the early 70's. First thing I would suggest to you is to make sure you have good drainage along the back and side walls where they are covered in dirt. This house is two story and the downstairs is the main living area. (Kitchen, dining, living and 1 bath) The front door is smack in the center of the wall and when you walk in, the stairs are immediately in front of you (so also centered). In the ceiling at the top of the stairs is a Very Large attic fan. The reason they built the house with the stairs centered is so that in the heat of summer you can flip on the attic fan and it sucks the cool air (the lower story stays cool even in summer) up the stair well into the upper story and helps with cooling costs. Something else they did was at one end of the downstairs they built a room that is completely encased in cement/cement block, it's where the main part of the furnace is located. It is also our tornado shelter and our cellar. The back wall of it is covered in soil and the end wall is half covered in soil, the ceiling is cement, the front wall is cement block with natural stone on the outside of it (and has a thick metal door to the outside) and the fourth wall, the one with the door into the house, is cement block. As you can imagine it stays Much cooler in there than anywhere else in the house. It's Super nice to have the cellar attached to the house. We get a considerable amount of tornado watches/warnings here and we can just walk through a door to our safe room. They positioned the house towards the Northeast so that we never have huge amounts of sunlight flooding through the windows and they also built wide porches all the way across the front of the house on Both levels. These provide shading which also helps cool it in summer. I know you said it would be a while if/before you built your home there, but I thought I'd share this info while you are still in the dreaming/planning stages.
We have a submersible pump in the septic...and it comes on once tank gets full it pumps up hill to our drain field. Not sure why the previous owners put the drain field up hill but it works so we left it, but you need power at the septic for the pump.
Great plans; I’m currently working on plans for my corner lot. My HOA has no rules on gardens so I will have a small lawn over my lateral field and build a permaculture garden with small fruit trees in the remaining sunny area. I hope to convert my 8’ by 12’ shed to a seed starting greenhouse!
You guys should consider long term building an earth sheltered home up there where you are thinking of building the 3 bedroom home. It is by far the most economical home you can build. It’s essentially a three sided basement with a walkout across one side. You simply put trusses on the basement walls and frame the walkout wall. Has minimal expense on exterior finishes and structural framing. You can build that type of home for numbers that you can’t begin to touch with any other home design and on top of that it’s an extremely energy efficient home type as well. Anyway, just a suggestion for you guys. Love your videos and particularly your water feature videos. My background is concrete construction and new home building but I’m partially retired from that now. Been dabbling in various things lately including building water features and I stumbled across your water features late last year and have been waiting for warm weather which has finally arrived. I’m working on several concrete water features based on yours. That was such a creative idea you had to build the squares! Lots of potential there to add to and tweak them. I can’t thank you enough for the ideas and the inspiration!1
I’m glad you like my water fountains. I’d love to see what you come up with. I’ve always been fascinated by that style of home. I’m in Oregon, what does the permitting look like for a home like that?
I would assume that it would be the same or similar to what it is here which is no different than a conventional home. I’m in the greater Cincinnati area. Specifically in northern Kentucky right across the river from Cincinnati. Going with earth sheltered rather than a full underground home means you have a common truss roof system rather than needing a suspended structural slab so that would save you the hassle and expense of getting that designed and stamped by an engineer. I actually live in a fully underground home that my father built in 1982. I can comfortably say that they are hands down the greatest type of home you can build. If built properly you don’t even need a heating system at all and they are so incredibly quiet inside. It can be storming like crazy outside and you wouldn’t know it inside. Plus they just give you such a feeling of safety and security. Earthquake, fire, tornado, severe storm proof among other benefits. I can’t say enough positive things about them. But you can get many of the benefits of them with just an earth shelter design as well and for you guys being a young family the earth shelter gives you the best benefit of all, which is it’s hands down the least expensive new home style you can possibly build for a given size. And they fit nicely onto hillside lots so you’d be golden with your new lot there. I will definitely let you know on the water fountains as I’m building them. I’ve already begun adapting your design. It’s an extremely adaptable concept and I’m thinking right now that there are literally tons of possibilities for it. I’m not sure how well people will respond to them though but I hope they’ll find them unique and interesting!
@@stevewilbur6004 thanks for all the info! I'm gonna look into home designs and see what I can learn about permits. Have you seen my concrete pillars fountain? It looks kinda like a cross if you look at it from the right angle. So far ive had no cracking or breaking. they've held up extremely well. I'm very happy with them.
If you mean the one you put in front of your dads shop I think it was, then yes I saw that one. That one looks great as well. Very contemporary looking I felt. Have you had any cracking in any of the square ones you’ve built? And no problem on the info. Feel free to reach out anytime you like with any questions you may have about that stuff. I’m happy to answer anything I can or be of any help that I can.
Excited to find your channel and I'm interested in the water features and homesteading so no matter what you put out I'm Excited to be along for the journey as a new subscriber 😊😊
Exciting, you've got the energy and the dream. Sounds like a good plan, you might if you haven't already, look into permaculture especially when you work on your hillside for edible plants/trees.
@@travisjantzer If you are permaculturing, why worry about Septic first? I would use Geoff Lawton's composting toilet to turn 2 into hardwood tree fertilizer and I would catch the Urine in IBC totes (which you can pump easily with a COTS sump) and mix it with your compost for the Urea. This way you can accelerate other projects forward and find a best solution for sewage handling at a later time.
It was still running but had to fill it in unfortunately kind of a liability for future renters. Tough moving on. I’m gonna do a lot more on this property though so looking forward to it.
1. What state is this? I have been through the north west and the brief shot of a valley you showed us reminds me of the north west. 2. I don't and can't support amazon as it is destroying many business and it seems no one cares.
Oregon :) I support small business as much as I can. I buy local a lot. Amazon affiliate links are just an easy way to make a little side money to supplement my channel earnings. I understand if you don’t support Amazon
I live in a house like that. We call it a berm house. This house was built by my husband's grandfather and his brothers in the early 70's. First thing I would suggest to you is to make sure you have good drainage along the back and side walls where they are covered in dirt. This house is two story and the downstairs is the main living area. (Kitchen, dining, living and 1 bath) The front door is smack in the center of the wall and when you walk in, the stairs are immediately in front of you (so also centered). In the ceiling at the top of the stairs is a Very Large attic fan. The reason they built the house with the stairs centered is so that in the heat of summer you can flip on the attic fan and it sucks the cool air (the lower story stays cool even in summer) up the stair well into the upper story and helps with cooling costs. Something else they did was at one end of the downstairs they built a room that is completely encased in cement/cement block, it's where the main part of the furnace is located. It is also our tornado shelter and our cellar. The back wall of it is covered in soil and the end wall is half covered in soil, the ceiling is cement, the front wall is cement block with natural stone on the outside of it (and has a thick metal door to the outside) and the fourth wall, the one with the door into the house, is cement block. As you can imagine it stays Much cooler in there than anywhere else in the house. It's Super nice to have the cellar attached to the house. We get a considerable amount of tornado watches/warnings here and we can just walk through a door to our safe room. They positioned the house towards the Northeast so that we never have huge amounts of sunlight flooding through the windows and they also built wide porches all the way across the front of the house on Both levels. These provide shading which also helps cool it in summer. I know you said it would be a while if/before you built your home there, but I thought I'd share this info while you are still in the dreaming/planning stages.
Thanks for all the info! We have a lot to consider, and I'm doing a ton of research.
Ooo! If the logs are hardwood you could start a mushroom raft / garden. Lions mane, oyster, reishi, turkey tail, etc.
That would be cool!
Coming across your channel has been an absolute delight to me. You remind me so much of my father. Great job
We have a submersible pump in the septic...and it comes on once tank gets full it pumps up hill to our drain field. Not sure why the previous owners put the drain field up hill but it works so we left it, but you need power at the septic for the pump.
This is very fun and motivating. Wish you guys the best.
Great plans; I’m currently working on plans for my corner lot. My HOA has no rules on gardens so I will have a small lawn over my lateral field and build a permaculture garden with small fruit trees in the remaining sunny area. I hope to convert my 8’ by 12’ shed to a seed starting greenhouse!
You guys should consider long term building an earth sheltered home up there where you are thinking of building the 3 bedroom home. It is by far the most economical home you can build. It’s essentially a three sided basement with a walkout across one side. You simply put trusses on the basement walls and frame the walkout wall. Has minimal expense on exterior finishes and structural framing. You can build that type of home for numbers that you can’t begin to touch with any other home design and on top of that it’s an extremely energy efficient home type as well. Anyway, just a suggestion for you guys. Love your videos and particularly your water feature videos. My background is concrete construction and new home building but I’m partially retired from that now. Been dabbling in various things lately including building water features and I stumbled across your water features late last year and have been waiting for warm weather which has finally arrived. I’m working on several concrete water features based on yours. That was such a creative idea you had to build the squares! Lots of potential there to add to and tweak them. I can’t thank you enough for the ideas and the inspiration!1
I’m glad you like my water fountains. I’d love to see what you come up with.
I’ve always been fascinated by that style of home. I’m in Oregon, what does the permitting look like for a home like that?
I would assume that it would be the same or similar to what it is here which is no different than a conventional home. I’m in the greater Cincinnati area. Specifically in northern Kentucky right across the river from Cincinnati. Going with earth sheltered rather than a full underground home means you have a common truss roof system rather than needing a suspended structural slab so that would save you the hassle and expense of getting that designed and stamped by an engineer. I actually live in a fully underground home that my father built in 1982. I can comfortably say that they are hands down the greatest type of home you can build. If built properly you don’t even need a heating system at all and they are so incredibly quiet inside. It can be storming like crazy outside and you wouldn’t know it inside. Plus they just give you such a feeling of safety and security. Earthquake, fire, tornado, severe storm proof among other benefits. I can’t say enough positive things about them. But you can get many of the benefits of them with just an earth shelter design as well and for you guys being a young family the earth shelter gives you the best benefit of all, which is it’s hands down the least expensive new home style you can possibly build for a given size. And they fit nicely onto hillside lots so you’d be golden with your new lot there. I will definitely let you know on the water fountains as I’m building them. I’ve already begun adapting your design. It’s an extremely adaptable concept and I’m thinking right now that there are literally tons of possibilities for it. I’m not sure how well people will respond to them though but I hope they’ll find them unique and interesting!
I’m curious but how have your fountains held up? Have you had any cracking in them or any issues develop?
@@stevewilbur6004 thanks for all the info! I'm gonna look into home designs and see what I can learn about permits. Have you seen my concrete pillars fountain? It looks kinda like a cross if you look at it from the right angle. So far ive had no cracking or breaking. they've held up extremely well. I'm very happy with them.
If you mean the one you put in front of your dads shop I think it was, then yes I saw that one. That one looks great as well. Very contemporary looking I felt. Have you had any cracking in any of the square ones you’ve built? And no problem on the info. Feel free to reach out anytime you like with any questions you may have about that stuff. I’m happy to answer anything I can or be of any help that I can.
Excited to find your channel and I'm interested in the water features and homesteading so no matter what you put out I'm Excited to be along for the journey as a new subscriber 😊😊
Welcome aboard! Thanks for watching!
Love your vision!
Exciting, you've got the energy and the dream. Sounds like a good plan, you might if you haven't already, look into permaculture especially when you work on your hillside for edible plants/trees.
Permaculture is the plan! I want to work with rain water and the slope to create a great little enviroment.
@@travisjantzer If you are permaculturing, why worry about Septic first? I would use Geoff Lawton's composting toilet to turn 2 into hardwood tree fertilizer and I would catch the Urine in IBC totes (which you can pump easily with a COTS sump) and mix it with your compost for the Urea.
This way you can accelerate other projects forward and find a best solution for sewage handling at a later time.
I really enjoy youd videos man. Hope y’all have a great week.
Thanks! You too!
Composting toilet will save you a ton of money and hassle 😉
I love your plans! I’m rooting for you !
Thanks!
1:50 burn 🤣
I know right? WhAt HoUse?
1:50 lol I was thinking the same
lol “what house?”
Maybe you can link the previous video as UA-cam seemed to forget I am subbed to you!
I will! Good to know
Or you could click the channel name?
You make it sound idyllic!
Thanks! I try :)
So whats gonna happen with that long garden stream u built at ur other property m8 u gonna leave it or do u have to fill it in ?
It was still running but had to fill it in unfortunately kind of a liability for future renters. Tough moving on. I’m gonna do a lot more on this property though so looking forward to it.
1. What state is this? I have been through the north west and the brief shot of a valley you showed us reminds me of the north west.
2. I don't and can't support amazon as it is destroying many business and it seems no one cares.
Oregon :)
I support small business as much as I can. I buy local a lot.
Amazon affiliate links are just an easy way to make a little side money to supplement my channel earnings. I understand if you don’t support Amazon
a trampoline on the side of a hill, what could go wrong :D
just building character. haha
Travis, I reached out to you through email, please get back to me when you have an opportunity!
You are such hard workers! Thanks for sharing this journey. She says, what house? 🤣🤣
Haha I got roasted by my toddler