/diy/ - Do It Yourself

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theres no way living like this is comfortable or truly as low cost as she quotes

she has like 5 kids and no dads

she is fucking guys with jobs who support her

sure is /diy/ in here (sike)

crazy bitch with crazy eyes

I saw her posted earlier this week. I'm in the market for a workshop and have been looking at these work sheds. 14' x 20'

>>115155

Only one is actually her child - the other kids are guests of the people recording.

shit's pretty cool

Just an empty plot of land can cost over $100,000 in many places. This kind of ultra-cheap house is only cheap if you already own the land.

>>115195 Just an empty plot of land can cost over $100,000 in many places.

Not places that are so lacking in building codes as to allow such shenanigans.

>>115218
For real, I know a dude who bought 3 acres for $7k. Out in rural Kentucky though lol. Even had a shitty cabin on it.

"when i lay here i can see the moon rise and the sun rise"
And the nigger who is going to break that window and rape you and you daughter. That house doesn't look safe at all, and is full of shit which niggers would like to rob.

>>115155

This.

The house is shit, the quality of living is sub-standard to say the least, the workmanship is mediocre at best and her justifications for all that are pure crap.

She is a cat lady who is penniless and is scavenging stuff to build a crap shed.

When her daughter grows up and gets fat, her "bed" will fall down on her mother's bed and someone will get in bad shape.

There's a lot of threads about this sorta thing but I seriously doubt the people fetishizing this ultra minimalist living space really understands what would be involved.

If you're 100% comfortable with camping your entire life in a tent out in the woods then you'll probably be totally comfortable in a miniscule living space.

There's tons of shit you need to take into consideration like security mentioned above. Also I don't know about anyone else but after a week I think I'd like to be able to stand up, stretch, and walk a couple dozen feet and still be dry and warm if only once.

There's no doubt that many people will benefit from downsizing their living accommodations. Good for the pocket book and good for the environment. Less space to heat, area to light up, less room for junk to accumulate. But when people talk about downsizing they're talking about empty nesters moving into a one bedroom or more well off people not going to McMansion route.

I'm sorry for posting a comment before watching the video but oh my god, that shed is fucking garbage.

This is like MTV's Cribs, Shanty Town edition. Except there's people that exist that are actually into it.

I had the idea once to build my own place outside town. By the time you get water and sewer figured out, you're better off just rehabbing some place in the city. Here, I got quotes for $10-20k for a well and $5-10k for a septic, all so I could build my own shack.

Plus, the whole "there are no building codes!!! :))" stuff is false too, unless you're literally in unabomber territory literally 6 hours outside any small city. Even then, you need a legit, permitted septic system so you don't poison everyone's groundwater.

I am interested in building a zero energy home using natural building. So, cob, or rammed earth, or something along those lines, possibly partially earth sheltered and completely self contained for utilities, though tied in to the grid for electricity. Thoughts on diy feasibility?

>>115293
WTF are you talking about? Her house may be made from pure shit, but it is just fine. Not all of us need to spend 24/7 inside.

Entire families live in apartments smaller than that in places like Japan.

>>115433
Really, if it weren't so messy and didn't look tacked together it would be pretty sweet. Storage containers are sturdy as fuuuuuck and can make great houses, she just needs to organize that shit. Check that junk pile, and bitch is living on a camping stove. The hell is that all about. I would just by a portable induction hob.

>>115293
Its actually a step up from living in a truck. I'd be able to look forward to living in something like this. I'd just have it dropped next to my workshop and install the>>115440
bathroom/kitchen in the shop.

>>115440
>storage containers are sturdy
No they aren't. They twist, sway, and bend to a stupid degree on the road. All of their rigidity is in 4-8 vertical points, and 2-4 horizontal points for stacking and lifting.

>>115528
AKA what they are purposefully built to do. They don't just come apart. It's like you're retarded or something. Skyscrapers sway back and forth, I don't suppose you think they're flimsy too do you? Sturdy and rigid are not the same thing.

>>115293
I moved from a ~2500ft^2 home to a trailer... but it's only enough room for one person IMO. My neighbours are a couple with a dog in a trailer, I donno how they do it.

>>115532
The characteristics of an intermodal container don't strike me as "sturdy as fuuuuuck". I'm just as aware of the structural peculiarities of skyscrapers as you are; does that make us both retarded?

>>115549
Yes, because we all know that saying about arguing on the internet.

>>115440
Living in pretty much ANY type of storage container designed for transport is a VERY bad idea. You would be better off building a lean-to against it and just using it for storage.

>>115130
i give this chick props. i dont see why everyone is saying its such a shithole and that shes a dumb poor chick. i'd be more than happy to have land like that and a small shack house. in my opinion it beats living in a somewhat decent house with asshole neighbors and ugly ass dirt lawns. this chick has a different way of thinking.. and i dig it.

Some nigga be comin along rollin' you in your concrete tube down the fucking hill nigga.

You best be boltin that bitchass down hard mothafucka u no what I sayin'?

It'd be cheaper to just get a bunch of shipping containers and stack them, say three or four high, and make a condominium complex out of them. Hipsters would pay a fucking FORTUNE to live in a metal box that was all tricked out according to their urban fantasy lives.

>>115637
With what she has done to it, and where she has it, it isn't such a bad idea. However, as they come, a shipping container is not a safe place to live in.

wow what a beautiful landscape she lives in!
i was really hoping she would talk about the land though. did she buy it or did she just find a large empty field and somehow get the container there.

I was really into the concept of containers as living places for the totally destitute, in 3rd world countries, etc.

In her case, (and others as I have seen), wouldn't it make way more sense to just gut and refurbish a singlewide? I see half decent ones going for a couple grand. Panel it up, make it nice, cover it with trees and shrubs and rose bushes and clotheslines, I don't know. Not to be a killjoy, but this is getting out of hand.

Also, would totally fuck her.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2039719/Simon-Dale-How-I-built-hobbit-house-Wales-just-3-000
.html

This looks awesome, just not sure of the legality of it in most countries. And you'd have to work like a slave to make it :p
Not sure how long it would last either :-S

>>115549
Being able to be stacked eight high and hold 30 tons on top of it? Yep, sounds like it'll just blow apart in the wind to me.

>>115549

arguing with a truck driver is like arguing with a wall. these bastards actually call the people they're driving to for directions.

>>115195
you can get land for low prices in alaska...

>>115672
Yes refurbishing a single wide would be a million times easier than making a house out of a metal box.

I'm fairly into the whole shipping container home thing but the way she's pulling it off doesn't really seems all that cool. She needs to walk outside to get to her bedrooms and bathrooms for one and the path between the two structures isn't even covered. That would be a deal breaker for me.

arrrrgggggg. here in mexico we have 2 or 3 families living in 200 sqft, or less. yes, you can live in very small places, but is not healthy or comfortable. Its ok if you live alone or/and are poor as shit.

>>115717
Oh but tards here think it would be the greatest thing on the planet to do though! How lucky those families and poor people must be. If they don't like it they must not appreciate what they have!

>>115722
I live in 240sqft...
:P

Of course you assholes wouldn't appreciate something like a shipping container home in the middle of nowhere, you wouldn't be able to get on the internet and argue with other assholes about shipping container homes.

There are people living in trailers in the middle of the desert and they're surviving off of odd jobs and what cash they can scrounge up and no one tells them otherwise because they're surviving. That's what this woman is doing. And her metal box house is a hell of a lot nicer than some of the shitholes you people are probably sitting in right now.

Yes her security sucks, there's many windows to break and people can obviously sneak up to the house, but the box she's in is very fucking rigid and could hold a lot more weight than a lumber framed home. The most unsafe part of getting a fresh off the boat shipping container would be rat poop and maybe some jagged metal pieces. Other than that all I see is a bunch of people not admiring her DIY enthusiasm and know-how and shutting down what she's done.

For some people this is all they have and they make the best of it, and there will be many more of them in the future when people can't afford to live in their bank owned homes any longer.

Before you ask, I a little mad.

I live in a converted cargo van I turned into an RV. I'd absolutely love to have a shipping container to play with.

>>115735
Vandweller may I ask a few vandwelling questions?
Do you have a semi-permanent spot to park?
How do you deal with insurance? Or don't you?
Got a toilet in there? What about showers?

It has always been one of my dreams to live in a home like this.

I work here. it's called container city in east London.

heres another. its weird i just started working here after all the discussion of the subject on this board.

Why are all you faggots alleric to bricks? Its easy as shit to build a small house without using a fucking shipping container or a sewer pipe.

>>115858
>unusual living spaces thread
>hurr durr use bricks
Good one, anon!

>>115863
>paneled in a shipping container with shitty plywood and cut a window in the side
>most /diy/ woman alive

I'll contribute, if only because they're not fucking containers

1/5

Interior.

2/5

Roger Dean house.

3/5

Dean house interior

4/5

Dean house bathroom.

5/5

First of all, I really enjoyed this video. I thought the shipping container was brilliant. I was less excited about the shed, but to each his own.

>If you're 100% comfortable with camping your entire life in a tent out in the woods then you'll probably be totally comfortable in a miniscule living space.
You should look at new condominium apartments worldwide. There are plenty of city dwellers with very few square feet for many hundreds of thousands of dollars out there.

>>115847
I work in a purpose-built container office too, which two-desk rooms connected together. I'm not quite sure how the central hallway works, but overall it's a sturdy building, and if we ever have to relocate the entire office on another continent, we're prepared for that eventuality too.

>>115870
I'd rather have a hobbit-hole, honestly.


I've yet to see a decent PDF or video on how to make one posted, though. The whole thing about the container/pip homes is that they're fucking easy to deal with. Cut, weld, stick it on some blocks, etc--done. Hobbit holes are a bit more work that that and I doubt even 50% of the people browsing here have any construction experience.

single mom, builds a fucking house, stargazes with her children every night, happily lives with the necessities, her kids play outside and read books.

really gotta hand it to her, she did what she had to do and she did it up well being just one person. The people bitching itt would give up after a day or two and just hire some people.

also
>I WANT SOME MEEELOOOONNN
:3c

>>115889
You can build these types of houses out of the most simple materials using traditional primitive techniques. Practically any purpose-built structure would be better than a container for actual quality of life.

Ah, the one disappointment is once you cut into a shipping container, you can no longer use it for shipping without getting it recertified. I'm pretty sure that's more expensive than it's worth.

So once you've cut it, you can probably move it on a flatbed truck, but overseas will be out of the picture.

>>115890
She got land to put the container on...how?
She got the container for free...how?
She supposedly did all this work herself...I dont see any tools around honey.
She's so industrious...she cant even tidy up outside the fucking house.
She's got everything she needs in such a small space...look at her stack of plastic storage bins outside.

>>115549

Are you OTR? Local, Regional? Which company do you drive for?

>>115899
>She got land to put the container on...how?
probably bought it for cheap?
>She got the container for free...how?
knew a guy, maybe it was broken or outdated? Who fucking knows?
>She supposedly did all this work herself...I dont see any tools around honey.
why would you leave that shit lying around with kids around?
>She's so industrious...she cant even tidy up outside the fucking house.
having shrubs and trees and a garden is "untidy"?
>She's got everything she needs in such a small space...look at her stack of plastic storage bins outside.
she keeps shit for future use. She'll probably use those later on in the future when she builds another addition to the house. You find a bunch of bins made of plastic, why wouldn't you grab them?

you're purposefully being an asshole, what is the matter with you?

eating?
school?
section 8?
plumbing problems?

>>115903
>you're purposefully being an asshole, what is the matter with you?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspergers

There was a hotel in my area built from stacked shipping containers.

Stacked about 100 of them, cut off inside walls to make rooms, stuck a facade on it and with the inside decorated, looks like any other building. Saw the various stages of it being built as I drove to work each day.

With two 4TB hard drives, she could keep all her photos and videos and books etc and get rid of a lot of those storage containers. You don't need a lot of physical stuff nowadays to be part of the wider world.

Plus, she lives in the middle of nature. It looks so calm and restful there. I felt better just having her tour us around her place.

>>115903
This isnt admirable or an achievement in any way. Some poor immigrant bitch living in a box on a garbage strewn plot with all her possessions outside in plastic bins isnt some aspirational goal to live up to. Its fucking pathetic.

>>115916
To each his own. YMMV. You don't have to like what I like. Etc.

Essentially, if you want a huge mansion with fence, butler, maids, and staff within easy driving of downtown wherever, then go for it. Just don't assume everyone else shares your dream.

The moon and the sun both rise on the same side.

So you'd rather live in a glorified dumpster than spend a little time crafting a worthwhile living space? Godspeed.

>>115925
It seems bizarre to me that the idea of a "worthwhile" place to live has become a house built with shit materials, four times as large as you actually need that burdens you with a thirty year mortgage for which you and your spouse have to work 80 hours a week to pay it off and to fill it with shit you don't want or need because society would look down on your big ol' house if it were empty. While this happens your youth leaves, your children grow up and you hardly know them. But so long as it's "worthwhile."
That may not be your definition, but I"m just saying that's how so many people live it's sad and we would be better off with more people thinking along the same lines as this woman. To (roughly) quote the Dalai Lama, "people will spend all their time and health in pursuit of money, so that they can spend it in such a way to make up for their lost time and health."

>>115923
She said watch the moon go up and the moon go down.

>>115899
>>115903
Alternative answers to some valid questions.

She got land to put the container on...how?
>Probably squatting in SoCal somewhere waiting for adverse posession...
She got the container for free...how?
>She didn't, also how did she get it there? This lady is the ultimate hipster troll.
She supposedly did all this work herself...I dont see any tools around honey.
>She also watches the sun and the moon rise from the same south facing windows...
She's so industrious...she cant even tidy up outside the fucking house.
>Because she's a lazy ass rich bitch who spent a lot of money to look poor but really doesn't know how to truly look after herself.
She's got everything she needs in such a small space...look at her stack of plastic storage bins outside.
>Yeah ok.

So where's her car? Where does she get gas? Groceries? School for kid? Mmmhmm

Pic related.

want to see some real talent, check this shit out. http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/

sure is awfully /k/ in here tonight

>>116590
I love you man. no homo.. I try to get that point across everyone I know.. and I tell my mom this too and they all look at me like I don't know what I'm talking about and that I'm crazy

Wait how is this even permit able in the first place? I mean CPS would been on her ass and taken the child away from her because of not having stable land to live in.

Now let's look on how she got the property that she is living on? Something like that will 20k per acre because of the available landscape.

Why was she penniless in the first place? How did she even get a container like that for free? Also the utilities and the transportation involved. I suspect a dam hippie in this

>>116658
I mean, really if people embraced natural building methods with passive solar design it would be durable, customizable, and eliminate a lifetime of utility bills not to mention a huge mortgage. Without that burden people could either work less and pursue their passions more, or put their money towards what they actually want.
Not to mention that if people embraced a more self sufficient, sustainable lifestyle it would effectively insulate the entire economy from catastrophe. If people lived in homes they could afford, became energy and possibly food independent it would provide an incredibly amount of stability. People just don't want to live that way though, because it's not 'normal' and just what would the neighbors say.
I would rather be free than 'normal.'

>>116670
You can not live this "free" and "spirited" lifestyle when you have a child with you.

>>116672
What do you mean? I can't pick up and leave my kid behind, but why would I want to do that? The sad part about our modern society is that many parents don't even know their children because they have to work so long to provide a certain lifestyle for their family. Without the burden of a mortgage, food, and utilities I don't need to work nearly so much away from home and can spend time developing a relationship with my family. However, considering the average, and I stress average, home in the United States spends $5,545 a year on heating alone.....that money alone would be enough to hire a sitter just about whenever to have a night out with the Mrs.
This also assumes that someone living like this wants children. If not, hell, you could go on a vacation wherever, whenever with the amount of money you'd save.
Now, 'free' in the sense I meant was from the stress of work, bills, and pressure to consume. Freedom from concern for old age, my need for long term savings is as equally reduced because I don't need to necessarily save for the expense of utilities in the future as the price of energy keeps increasing. I have a more flexible budget and can save enough easily that I don't have to fear becoming a burden to my family or the government in my old age.

I want to know how this chick gets water out there, and deals with the sewage setup. Both of those issues are what stops people from doing that kind of shit.

Also, living in the dark as soon as the sun goes down like some little house on the prairie shit kind of sucks too.

>She got the container for free...how?
>She didn't, also how did she get it there? This lady is the ultimate hipster troll.

Dunno how she got it up there, but there are a number of relatively easy ways to obtain a shipping container for very cheap or free:

-If you have some good contacts in the shipping industry you can often obtain a barely used container in like new condition for very cheap
-You'd be shocked at the amount of perfectly good containers that are sent to scrap yards. Asking around at scrap yards will often turn up at least a few, and often the yard will be willing to give you absurdly cheap prices on them.
-When a shipping company goes out of business they often fail to sell off 100% of their containers. Usually the remainder are just loaded up onto a truck, sent a couple hour's drive outside of town and simply dumped there. These caches are relatively rare but more common than many people think, and a guy who knows the local backroads well and drives them often might very well be able to point you to one. You can take as many as you want for free, and they are often in excellent condition, even if they've been there for a while (you'd be amazed at how well shipping containers stand up to exposure and the elements).
-Most shipping yards that handle client's cargo have somewhat decent security, but most storage yards that only handle empty containers aren't protected by more than a fence, a padlocked gate and many "trespassers will be fined" signs. It's not particularly difficult to break into one and make off with a container. And that's assuming the employees remembered to lock the padlock in the first place - you'd be amazed at the number of yards who don't bother.

>>116694
There are a number of possibilities. A composting toilet or an incinerator toilet could solve that problem. A cistern and rainwater collection depending on where you live can provide all of your water, especially if used in combination with a waterless toilet since that is the largest use of water in the home.

>>116619

>She got the container for free...how?
>She didn't, also how did she get it there? This lady is the ultimate hipster troll.

Dunno how she got it up there, but there are actually a number of relatively easy ways to obtain a shipping container in good condition for very cheap or free:

-If you have some good contacts in the shipping industry you can often obtain a barely used container in like new condition for very cheap
-You'd be shocked at the amount of perfectly good containers that are sent to scrap yards. Asking around at scrap yards will often turn up at least a few, and often the yard will be willing to give you absurdly cheap prices on them.
-When a shipping company goes out of business they often fail to sell off 100% of their containers. Usually the remainder are just loaded up onto a truck, sent a couple hour's drive outside of town and simply dumped there. These caches are relatively rare but more common than many people think, and a guy who knows the local backroads well and drives them often might very well be able to point you to one. You can take as many as you want for free, and they are often in excellent condition, even if they've been there for a while (you'd be amazed at how well shipping containers stand up to exposure and the elements).
-Most shipping yards that handle client's cargo have somewhat decent security, but most storage yards that only handle empty containers aren't protected by more than a fence, a padlocked gate and many "trespassers will be fined" signs. It's not particularly difficult to break into one and make off with a container. And that's assuming the employees remembered to lock the padlock in the first place - you'd be amazed at the number of yards who don't bother.

>>115130
mai waifu

>>116590
By 'worthwhile living space' I mean a dwelling that is functional, integrated, built-to-purpose, comfortable and aesthetic. A container is none of those things. Its sole advantage is that it's a ready-made box. Its just plain lazy and the most unambitious and uninspired self-made home that it's possible to have. Reach a little higher and have a bit of pride in your home.

>>115130

OP the photo you posted is a "concept" for a hotel which is active during the summer (since 2005) in Ottensheim, Austria. You would book a room over the internet and just go there. the only thing that's inside is a bed, light and some plugs to charge your phone, camera etc. You would have to use the public toilets in the park and in restaurants and the public showers in a fitness center nearby. At the end you would leave the money you thought your stay was worth.
here's the web: http://www.dasparkhotel.net/
so that's not a real living space in my eyes. It it thought to be temporary and dependent on other buildings around it.

Throwing out a few more 'unusual living spaces'
Still hating on the containers though.


1/7

2/7

3/7

4/7

5/7

6/7

7/7

>>116845
>How I would feel living there.

What do you mean you can't just pack your house into the back of a van and move elsewhere?

The trick is to call it a sculpture.

Then building codes can't touch you. Hahahahahaha!

>>116879
>>116877
Except a lot of places have strict codes for public sculpture, in case it falls over and crushes a kid or something.

>>116897
[citation needed]

>have a little pride in your home

>I hate tiny houses

>you can't like what I don't like

Apparently, a home you can be proud of is an open-air balst furnace thatroasts the air above you so it never rains or snows on your living space, which is an out-door living room kept at a permanent 70 degrees either by the blast furnace, or the blast furnace and a 120.000kw air-cooler both.

Can't beat that for "pride".

this one is pretty nice http://www.beautifullife.info/urban-design/living-in-a-shell-nautilus-house/
lol if you find the video for it, it's hilarious it's like a 90s music video.

>>116904
Ask at your local city hall. Depends on the place but there are minimum anchoring requirements, material assessments, mandatory inspections from safety officials, committee decisions about appropriate placement, environmental impact statements, investigating whether items will impose burden of repair or security on the community, rules that installation must be carried out by city-approved contractors, and other issues. It's probably easier to meet building codes for a self-built house than it is to install a non-comissioned sculpture in a public place.

>>116915
This is pretty much true for any free-standing structure you want to put up (even commissioned ones). It is always good to check with the city officials first (I think it is the city engineers, but if you ask at the hall they will know, and likely also what weird hours they will keep). You can wind up with a lot of trouble if you don't and you were required to. Some places also have weird rules about running plumbing and electricity to places.

>>116911
I have no idea what this is supposed to mean, or what it refers to in my post about having pride in your home. I was talking about building a structure designed for living in, as opposed to living in a structure designed for transporting goods. I didnt say anything about hating tiny houses (if you notice the pictures I posted)
I really have no idea where that becomes an issue about building temperature regulation.

fuck the government with their building codes and fucking permits i cant wait till the state collapses then we will all be free.

Why is there all this hate about the whole shipping container home thing?

Whats not safe about living in them?

Ya, the girl in the video has junk laying around her place, and a bedroom and bathroom are unattached to her house, but why all the hate?

I have worked, lived, shit and showered in modified shipping containers while deployed, and while they are different than your traditional stick built or rammed earth house, they still provide for basic needs and are not that bad IMO.

Yes, it takes work to finish one out to livable standards, but you are taking something that has been used for another purpose and left to rot and turning it around into something that has a different purpose and using it for a while...what is so bad about that?

>>116972
>they still provide for basic needs and are not that bad
Sure a container is better than living in a ditch if you have no creativity, know-how or desire to make. I just would have thought that /diy/ would want a little more out of a self-built home than just fulfilling basic needs and not being 'that bad'.

>>116972
Most shipping containers are not made to house anything living for any length of time. When doing your modifications, from beginning to end, make sure you have someone there to bail your ass out. You can easily wind up with a slow accidental death out of it.

>>116982
It's a cheap, watertight structure of about the right size. It's WAY more work and money to build a freestanding structure out of wood.

>>116986
What, if you're fucking retarded and manage to lock yourself in?

>>116982
> I just would have thought that /diy/ would want a little more out of a self-built
> home than just fulfilling basic needs and not being 'that bad'.

There are different levels of "do it yourself" and building a conventional house
requires quite a bit of training and experience, (not to mention money) more then
your run-of-the-mill do it yourselfer will likely have.

A shipping container home on the other hand, CAN be done by the Average Joe.

>>116988
Pretty much. I've had to pull way too many people out of storage containers because of that. I'd have let natural selection take care of itself, but then I'd have to have to pick up their slack or look for more workers.

There was an article in the local paper last week about a man who died from a fire in his shipping container house. He made his own heater and it caught the place aflame. Article went on and on about how containers are not meant for people to live in them.

I thought of /diy/

Shipping containers aren't nearly as practical for 'the average joe' as they might seem. In a lot of areas you'll need to raft them or build piers or the whole thing could sink if it rains. You'll need to insulate them heavily, cut multiple vents/cable access/windows, you'll need ways of dealing with condensation, you'll need to be sure all your wiring is perfect or you'll electrify the whole thing.

There are so many cheap, sustainable, traditional and/or unconventional means of construction out there. Just look at cob houses, straw bale houses and permaculture ideas.If you put the time and effort in to research and experiment with things, and get a few like-minded buddies to swap labor, you could end up with something amazing. Why limit yourself?

>>117006
This x1000000
While I appreciate the thought process of breaking convention with a container home that recycles materials, and they are fairly ideal to be modified into quick emergency shelter, there are many other options for housing.
Cob is such a great thing it really is some kind of conspiracy that people have switched to modern building methods to prop up the home construction industry. That shit is ultra insulating, fire proof, rot proof, and earthquake resistant. Oh and it's basically free. If you live in the right place it IS free. So long as you have friends or family who can come help you, you can literally sculpt a dream house for a fraction of a conventional home.

>>116829
My personal preference is for natural building methods, but at this point a container can be all those things you mentioned as many companies are offering them as modular homes. I really don't see the problem. Say what you want about them, but they are better than the McMansions that fucked up our economy and enslave people with a mortgage.
I still feel natural building is the best way for people to beat that system.Cob and adobe can both be formed to look just like a 'normal' home, they're not necessarily made to look like huts. Except they don't saddle you with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and utility bills and are literally healthier to live in. But I'm not telling you anything new.

They use old shipping containers as prison cells in New Zealand.
Google it if you are interested.

I'm not >>116658,
but..
>>116590
>>117037
No homo, but I love both you guys....

>>116843
ceiling is brilliant
>>116846
just gorgeous.

>>116698

>walk out with one

Yeah sure, i'll put that in my pockets

>>115899
the containers from China are all free, if you know a guy who works at the docks he might fix you up with one. The sad fact is, there is nothing China imports anywhere near the amount it exports and shipping empty containers is apparently even more costly than just having a new one built in China, so they end up being dumped

>>116986
what if it melts on you?

Living in a shipping container that youve hooked up with walls, floors, electricity and water and then buried in a ditch is a good as a wooden house. In fact you can connect multiple shipping containers too.

Go Live in Earth ships! They're made of recycled materials, & have built-in filtration system to recycle the water you're using. Each one is built unique to better suit the climate of it's location.

>>117001
Yes, stock , they are not. Tell me what fire you're going to bust through the walls to escape? It's why you make doors and windows. /diy/ is cool and all, but building your own heater might not have been a good idea. Even the lady in the video used a camping stove.

>>117110
Earthships are pretty cool, I like the idea of using the recycled tires and cans. They are very labor intensive though, perhaps even more so than most other sorts of natural or recycled building methods.
With something like cob or adobe, they can be mixed in bulk with a mixer or in small amounts by foot, but an earthship requires each individual pound up to 300 pounds of dirt in evenly. And it has to be done absolutely evenly or it jeopardizes the strength, and then set absolutely level.
It just seems like there are much simpler, less time consuming construction methods. As far as their aesthetic and function I absolutely love it. Passive solar, completely self contained. Hell, the Phoenix model can be built with enough growing space that all of the family's food can be grown indoors. Pretty awesome if you ask me.

>>115245
Exactly what I was thinking. It's just begging for some lonely meth addict to stumble across the place and have himself a party at her expense.

It looks like she's in a reasonably isolated location though, so perhaps she's not as at risk as it appears.

>>117110

So much trypophobia.

Buy cheap land in the armpit of some east bumfuck area

Build raggety ass log cabin

Assume identity of mountain main

Wear animals on head

>>116849
The house has a vagina above the door?

>>117162
When you build one, you can put a dick above the door if you'd like.

>>117162
CAN NOT UNSEE!!!

WHY THE FUCK DID YOU POST THAT?!!!

All right, now you guys got me interested in cob.
Does anyone here have experience using it?

How much time and money does it take compared to "normal" building methods?
(Since I know there's a lot of factors involved, I'll say for the sake of argument that someone wants to build an exact replica of >>116848)

Also, what are the other advantages/disadvantages of cob or adobe over "normal" methods?

>>118116
The cost and time vary widely, almost entirely based on how many people you have to help you, are they friends or hired. Also is the ground around you already full of clay. If you have to bring in all of the clay, sand, and straw the cost of the cob to build a house that size would be a couple hundred bucks or less. If you have good soil and only need straw, it could be practically pocket change.
The big, big, BIG factor is labor. If you were to build a house like that on your own, it would take you probably a year and a half if you went at it full time with no other distractions. If you have maybe a couple brothers or good friends you could cut that down to a couple months. The cost of labor to hire a team could run you upwards of 40-50 grand.
Also, I would recommend investing in a mixer, that alone will cut down on the most time consuming individual step. Mixing a batch for one person's use can take 20 minutes, for an expert. So for me it took like 30.....per batch.....using hundreds of batches. If you could have one guy just mixing the cob and portioning it out, that time could be reduced to about three minutes per batch.
So, if you had a mixer, a bunch of friends, and lived in the right area you could build yourself a completely custom, passive solar cob house with all modern amenities for 20 to 40 grand depending on if you can split cost of materials with a friend, if you know an electrician, etc. I sincerely wish you the best of luck.

>>115130
I forgot to add: I only know about cob, and really the only disadvantages are that you have to keep it dry while building and make sure you have what they call a good hat and pair of boots, ie a good roof and foundation. Otherwise it should be completely fine with water, and it is already naturally rot, fire, and earthquake resistant.

>>117103
>the containers from China are all free
The scrap value of a 40' container is about $2000, there's no way anyones giving them away.

>>118270
>>118276
All right, thanks a lot.

I'm also wondering how hard it is to modify.
As in, if you want to add a doorway or fix your wiring or piping or something, is it harder to do than on drywall?

I think the pic for this thread is awesome.
If your just one person, single what ever,
I think its interesting.
For me I'm single, male, 20 yrs old, and I'm either working a 16 hour shift, helping out at my church, with friends, or sitting in bed reading.
Why not? I mean seriously? I would!!!!!
All I would want this and/or need this for is to relax and sleep in!!! Do my school work on line anyway? So...... find a friend of family member who has a bit of land, and do this?
Think I might try it.
Just hook up industrial electrical extention cords when I need power for my computer, and a light... or 2.
(and the heated blanket for the winter)
Plus I've seriously been looking into finding a shipping container and making that my home...

Part of this is what I was speaking about to a friend a few months ago about how the american dream is disappearing.
Due to job losses, school costs, and rising land costs/land taxes.
Its the best time to buy a house, but no one can afford it.

>>115305
dude, you can install your own septic tank

>>119307
FUCK YOU HIPPY

I guess i am a hippy then.
And that septic tank would be your moms mouth...Gets my jiz, why not the other too...
fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap.................................................................................................
...................................................bitch

>>119285
Nooooo, you can just scrap off the plaster coat, break off the pieces of the cob to get whatever you need to get at, then re-cob it, let it dry and cure again, and then plaster over it again. Super easy. If you get tired of the shape of stuff, you can just change it, add a shelf, make a bench, whatever. It is so easy.

>>115863
There are ways to make a house unusual other than the material it's made of.
>>118270
This sounds good, as do compressed Earth bricks. I also like the idea of concrete domes, but I'm not really sure if I'd want a dome house.

>>119376
im sorry, i didnt mean to offend
if you are actually looking into making a house out of these materials, i would recommend looking into shipping containers
there are special binding hardware available that is made to hold multiple containers together securely, the only thing that would be an issue is weather proofing the joining sides
there are people who have actually made some pretty nice houses out of containers and they are fairly cheap to buy
as for power, if you want to be totally off grid, the cheapest place to snag solar panels is from harbor freight using the monthly coupons

prices for purchasing used shipping containers: starting from $500 and reaching the maximum of $2,900, depending on the degree to which the containers have been reconditioned.
prices for purchasing new storage container: prices vary between $2,300 and 3,300
check this! --> http://8747house.blogspot.com/

>>120231
Well, I'm pro natural building and would favor minimal use of concrete because cement manufacturing accounts for 10% of CO2 emissions. If that's not your bag, that's your deal though so go for it. Well made cob is just as good though, and cheaper.

>>115649
best comment in the whole thread btw

question: who in this thread is looking at alternative housing because of cost, who is looking at it for eco-reasons and who's just being a fucking hipster who thinks normal houses aren't cool enough?

>>120527
Price first and foremost. Where I live, the absolute cheapest house on the market is about $150,000, and thats for a shitty old multi-unit house probably built in the 60's. Building grants are available from the government, so using eco-friendly materials feeds into reducing the cost, and things like cob and straw-bales are literally dirt-cheap. With a bit of luck, a small plot of agri-zoned land can be got for about $60,000. Using various zoning loop-holes we have here, you can build several small structures of a restricted size on your agricultural land without re-zoning or housing permits. So a tiny house and maybe a storage shed and a little workshop could realistically be built for less than or equivalent to the cheapest commercial-build house.
The artistic look of a hand-built house and the ability to design-to-purpose from scratch are personal bonuses to a project like this.

Does anyone know how to do this? I got a source for the building materials for fairly cheap, they're used with minor damage but I think with some elbow grease and maybe welding I can get it in livable shape. Also the zoning laws in my area is wacky they won't let you live in an area that isn't zoned for residential but I'm thinking of buidling it on someones land without them knowing and moving it on a flat bed if they threaten to get the law involved. I figure I can do this at least until I can save up for the $5000 for the 20 acres just outside the city.

I plan to put solar panels on it and dig my own well and septic to save money btw so just incase you were going to try to troll me, there you go.

>>120562
Where the fuck can you buy 20 acres for 5 thousand dollars?

>I want to go to there

>>120562
>$5000 for 20 acres
wat. where I live 20 acres regularly sells for about $130,000

>>120563
http://www.kansasfreeland.com/

>>120562
Does anyone know how to do this? I got a cheap source for the building yo, for fairly cheap, they're used with minor damage, but I think with some elbow grease, maybe extra caring I can get it in livable shape. Also the zoning laws in my area is wacky they won't let you live in an area that isn't zoned for residential, but I'm thinking of buidling it on someones land without them knowing and keeping it elemental, moving it on a flat bed if they threaten to get the law involved. I figure I can do this at least until I can save up for the $5000 yo.

for the 20 acres just outside the city.

I plan to put solar panels on it and dig my own well and septic to save money btw so just incase you were going to try to troll me, there you go.

>>120562
>>120594
This is my plan too. Except I plan to live in a yurt. They're cozy as fuck. There's a piece of property that's literally a 5 minute walk from where I love that's over 100 acres of nothing but old forest and horse trails. It use to be farm land back in the colonial days so there's tons of rock walls still standing. I looked up the info for it and the guy bought it for only $10,000. There's no houses on the property so I'm pretty sure all he uses it for is hunting. I'm thinking of cold calling the guy to see if he'd sell but I'm afraid of what he'd say, pluss I don't have the money right now.

>>120527
>implying you need to be a hipster to like weird things

>>120620
I live on a yurt too,sail it round the Med.

i just wanted to add one thing to this discussion.

I have literally lived in a van down by the river.

Shit was cash, yo.

pmub

No, JME mantzel on youtube is the most DIY man alive, sorry.

wheres all the army fags at? so many soldiers live out of these stacked containers up multi level or in grids, we call it legoland. The actual unit name is called CHU :"containerized housing unit" you're actually lucky if you get to live in one of these while deployed and not bunked up in a tent.

captcha: xtentsin large

>>120563
West Virginia

>>116670
solar design is such a load of bunk, you been laying on your ethan allen couch too long watching Bill Nye vs that other limousine liberal on GreenTV. Geothermal is where the true advantages lie, you see most of us in America (not California) have this little thing called winter or put another way times where there is very little sunlight during day and the day is terrifically short. so keep your nose in your boyfriends butthole and keep singing the praises of solar design as you sip your starbucks on your way to some OWS march retard

>>120659
Thanks for dragging this back up anon.....
pic related

>>122709
no you're wrong my parents just bought me two solar panels from harbor freight with monthly coupons and I can power the thermostat for my heating system without relying on that river polluting coal

>>122728

Where the hell are my kids supposed to get the minerals in their drinking water now, asshole?

>>122709

boo hoo, continue to waste money while I collect energy and power my house, also solar energy will long outlive geothermal, the center of the earth will eventually cool and the sun will still be around, its happened before just look at mars

>>122826

yeah earth is going to turn into mars in the next 20-30 years.

>>122826

>>122844

youre not much of a big picture guy are you?

>>122864
The Earth won't cool for another few billion years, not to mention that ground source heat pump don't use geothermal energy.

>>123457

How will you get geothermal energy out in space? Solar technology is not a waste

>>123456

>>122709
I'm sorry, do you live in some part of the country where the sun is magically 100% blocked out most of the year? Do you live in some hellish, barren wasteland? See, because I live in the upper South, get plenty of sunlight, AND incorporate geothermal into my passive solar home. You see, I'm not so stupid as to believe that there is literally only one way that works or that one way works best for everything, for everyone, in every situation.
But hey, way to be a smug retard who doesn't want to listen to anyone's opinion but his own. You're a winner.

>>122709
I might also inquire as to whether you believe solar air and water heaters or solar collectors are 'bunk' as well. Some proof would be nice, unfortunately it doesn't take more than a youtube trip to prove you wrong. That's too bad, because you brought up a good point with geothermal. Keeping a more stable air temp will keep you cooler in the summer and make for less energy needed to heat up the air in the winter. Why couldn't you have just pointed out it's advantages instead of coming in with your tin foil hat and raging case of faggotry?