/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>mfw I am just waiting for an EMP to ruin all of my shit

>>15764
Are you implying that you want to be off the grid but wirelessly connected to a tesla run power station? That's still on the grid.

Would crafting a tramway generator get me banned?

>>15777
when power is wireless, there is no grid

Any tips on starting my generator?

Tesla was a cunt.
It's all about solar.

http://zerohouse.net/wordpress/

>mfw it can go for a week without sun

http://zerohouse.net/wordpress/

>>16222
>>16164

... Samefag?

>>16222
awesome as fuark, but over priced. any chance someone would be able to accomplish them by themself? maybe not the anchors, but something with a foundation

>>16441
Not anyone on here, but I'm sure someone else could.

>2011
>not selling power back to the grid
Why not get something for the excess you generate?

>>16441
Shipping containers.

YES!

/diy/ NEEDS TO MAKE AN "UNDER $90K" ZEROHOUSE!

>>16665
It's already been done plenty of times.

Also here's a house I built that was probably under $10k all told. It doesn't have power yet, but I've got panels, I just need to get around to setting them up.

>>16697
wtf. please tell me you have a build blog or something. how much are the panels?

>>16665
YES WE DO. I'd cream. Full detailed instruction, and the creator could sell the blueprints online.

>>16697
That right there is something I wish to know more about.

>>16697
Where is that, the pacific northwest?

>>16785
No build blog. I forget what the panels cost exactly (my parents got them for me) but it was only a couple hundred.

>>16805
The Trinity mountains in northern California.

>>16665
>>16665
>>16665
>>16665
this - this needs to be a sticky. full plans developed collectively.

>>16856
more pics at least?

>>16697
Tell us your secrets.

>>16981
>>16793
There are no secrets. It's pretty straightforward. I can answer more specific questions if you have them.

>>17036
>I can answer more specific questions if you have them.

Great so lets start off with:
What do we have to do to get you to make a step by step comprehensive guide to doing a project like this?

>>17036
Where would you suggest to look for land cheaply to start this project. Although not necessarily build related it's still a requirement.

>>17036
Who inspired you to build something like this?
Where did you get the materials and how much?
What sort of plumbing system do you have?
When did you start and finish it?
How large is it and the land it's on?

>>17061
I don't know that it's really possible to do a step by step instructions. A lot of the design depends on the land you're on and what you want, as well as what materials you have available. I might give it a shot if I thought there was money in it, I guess.

>>17077
Anywhere there's a lot of empty space. The land I got was about a thousand dollars an acre, but you can get way cheaper in total wastelands. If you want one near where you're at, go to a place where, so far as you know, there's nothing of interest. See what land prices are like around there. Unfarmable land like mountain and desert is cheapest. Also check ebay, there's sometimes good deals on lots there.

>>17110
>Who inspired you to build something like this?
It started as just thinking it would be cool to have a place in the mountains, near as I can recall.
>Where did you get the materials and how much?
Mostly Home Depot and Lowes. I got the doors and downstairs windows from a friend of my father that works in demolition. I haven't really been keeping track of what the stuff cost. Several thousand, I'd think. Probably not more than $10k, as I said earlier.
>What sort of plumbing system do you have?
There's a sink that drains through a pvc pipe into a trench outside. There's an outhouse about 100 yards off.
>When did you start and finish it?
I started somewhere between a decade and half a decade ago. It's still not finished. It's pretty much a free time project.
>How large is it and the land it's on?
It's 20x24, so 480 square feet down below and probably something like 670 counting the loft. Land is just shy of three acres.

>>17167
Ohhh sweet, sounds like a nice little getaway, thanks for answering all of my questions! :D

Also what are you planning to do next/add on to your place?

>>17167
Dayum. Where do you live currently?

>>17184
I'm working on finishing the walls (lauan boards with furring strips along the edges, I don't have a good picture) and I'm going to set up my panels soon.

>>17205
My parents' house.

>>16665
If you want a house on the cheap, use rammed earth. It can be done for almost no money, you just need something (usually wood) to build the frames that contain the dirt and some muscle power (or pneumatic rams)...and a lot of free time. You need slightly damp earth with proper ratios of clay, sand, and gravel (and maybe some rebar if you can afford it); basically you dig out the foundation and keep all the dirt from that and depending on wall thickness and how lucky you are, you might have enough material to build the whole house without needing to ship in more. It's how they built a lot of old medieval castles and also the Great Wall of China.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rammed_earth

>>16902
YES this would make this an amazing community to have big projects stickies every so often for /lit/ to work with!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG make this happen

>>17255
Did you look at any other projects for inspiration?

>>17746
Nope.

>>17167
What about all the building permits and structural plans etc. As I understand it's pretty much illegal or completely unsuitable to qualify as a house at the moment?

>>17913
Yeah, I don't think it legally counts as a house. But I don't really care.

>>18094
But you still had to get a building permit, or you can be ordered to demolish it together with a fine

>>18113
Not many people are going to care about a house in the woods in the middle of nowhere. And I think there's a law that says if it's there for a certain number of years you can keep it.

bump

Night of the living bump

>>18254
Yep, established domicile (squatters' rights).

>>15764
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0YmZhK6JIs
check this out guys
edison vs tesla

>>19302
>>18254

bahahahaha please stop posting

squatters' rights refer to OWNERSHIP OF PROPERTY i.e. if people have the right to OWN the LAND. if you live on a piece of land for ten years and maintain it hassle-free, it's pretty sure the original owners don't give a shit and can't lay claim to it. this is why those laws exist.

building and safety codes refer to HABITABILITY of STRUCTURES. if your house is unsafely constructed for ten years, that doesn't somehow prove that it's safe. it proves that it's a ticking time bomb. just because a code violation goes on for a long time doesn't make it okay. think of all the abandoned and condemned buildings that have been there for decades. if they were condemned in the 70s, does that mean they're okay to live in now? no, it doesn't, because that makes no goddamn sense.

>>18254
It's called Adverse Possession and it varies from state to state. Generally it's used in farming land disputes. Look it up in your state's statutes. But it's usually for 10+ years, closer to 15.

>legalfag here

Team tesla til death

>>19344
You're an idiot, don't talk about what you don't know.

>>19354
Is right, it's not squatter's rights.

>>19366

can you establish any precedent for what you're saying? are there any examples of code violations in buildings being disregarded because they were illegally constructed and nobody noticed it for a while? because this just ~isn't logical~, and to say something so contrary to common sense requires some clarification in the form of external references.

verifiability is the difference between actual information and meaningless "i heard on the internet once" gossip.

>>16222
>Drinking rainwater
Wouldn't the sulfur be a problem?

>2011
>helping redefine the grid

Sup, bitches?

>>19397
Common sense dictates that residences, generally don't get checked for code violations. Generally that is, now if you have a pissed off neighbor or something is another story entirely.

And many states also have grandfather clauses, that will allow for something that was built before the code to remain standing. And it's practically impossible to prove that it was built after the code was introduced.

>>19397

Point 1: The justice system is an artificial construct by man. It has no requirement to be logical or follow common sense.

Point 2: Building codes are not federal laws. They are state, county, and city specific. This doesn't apply outside of the US, I don't know the laws out there.

Point 3: A large percentage of the places in the US that one might be interested in in 'getting off the grid' don't have building codes.

Point 4: In many places, it's possible to get an exemption from code. Usually bite you in insurance (if required by law), and makes it damn near impossible to sell later, but legal.

It's that third point that's a major issue. I've got land in the Appalachians. I know that a nearbying county grants exemptions from code. I haven't checked yet cause I'm not ready to build, but I'm hoping mine does too.

But even if you build somewhere requiring codes, you can just build illegally. As long as you can't be seen by the street, and you don't hire anyone to do the work for you, you are unlikely to get caught.

>>19401
I'm not that guy, but wouldn't this work?
>18173

>>19458
Derp

>>18173

>>19434
grandfather clauses usually apply to things like "spacing of electrical outlets" and "roofing reinforcement". on the other hand, "the whole structure being erected without any sort of permit or authorization or licensed architect or licensed contractor involved" is an entirely different matter.

as for the 'impossibility to prove' part, the burden is not on THEM to prove that you're not up to code. and it's pretty easy for them to look up the parcel of land in question and see that you never filed any sort of permit or documents whatsoever.

building code enforcement guys are pretty much the spergiest and least flexible people in the world, and they are not going to take kindly to anyone, let alone someone doing something highly unorthodox and (from their point of view) highly unsafe. YOU might know that it's perfectly fine, but without any kind of permit or inspection or quality control, THEY have no way of knowing that. for all they know, you're some incompetent hack building a house out of cardboard and asbestos.

>>19455
i'm not going to say that building illegally will definitely get your house torn down by the city, because it's pretty easy to evade detection, but it's still a stupid risk to take that at any given moment you could have your house condemned and your life pissed all over.

like >>19455 said, there are a lot of places without building codes, and there are a lot of places that grant exemptions. so with that in mind, there's no need to put yourself in a cat-and-mouse game when it would be marginally more effort to just do it legitimately and spare yourself a potential shitstorm later down the road because you wanted to STICK IT TO THE MAN

>>19480
As it is a criminal matter, the burden of proof is entirely on them. And what I'm saying is it is near impossible for them to actually prove that something wasn't constructed before the law was codified.

And grandfather clauses generally apply to all laws.

The more you know.

relavent:

http://software.intel.com/en-us/videos/channel/general/wireless-resonant-energy-link-wrel-demo/11275
89936001

Silly question, but could picturing such a place as being "merely a shed" just fan off any kind of nosy legal matter?

>>19455
What state are you in
possibly West Virginia perhaps?

>>19540
"criminal offense", my ass!
http://courts.michigan.gov/scao/selfhelp/intro/civil/traffic.htm
>Some of the more common traffic civil infraction cases are speeding, careless driving, defective equipment, failure to wear a safety belt, failure to yield the right of way, and disobeying a traffic control device. Some of the more common nontraffic civil infraction violations are disobeying state land-use rules (such as in state forests or campgrounds); failure to carry or display a concealed-weapons permit while carrying the concealed weapon; and violations of city, village, or township ordinances regulating the disposal of refuse and yard waste, building codes and permits, and excessive noise.

>>19455
Do you plan on setting up permanent residence in your abode?
Moreover, will it have a mailbox?

>>19581
sheds and garages and permanent structures are subject to most of the same regulations and codes as other buildings. now, there's something to be said for this approach, as a stand-alone garage doesn't need anywhere NEAR the amount of bullshit as a house to meet codes - but keep in mind that if you start building something the inspectors will come by to make sure you're doing it the way you're supposed to be, and to make sure your work matches the blueprints you submitted to the city office. it's pretty easy to weenie your way around this, though - just build the garage according to plan, and once you've finished it, turn it into whatever the fuck you want

>>19601

The land is in North Alabama actually. I inherited 10 acres of undeveloped land in mountains. I'm lucky in regards to neighbors in that the land is surrounded by other 10 acre chunks owned by relatives. You'd have to travel through almost 20 acres of forest to reach a road from the edge of my property.

But right now I live in Florida.


>>19627

Once I built, that's going to be my permanent home. No mail box though. I'll get a PO box or something. No mail box, No Street Address, No Power Lines, No Cable/Phone lines. Just me and the woods. Sigh. Wish I was ready to start building right now...

>>19624
In Michigan maybe, however in most other states, those are considered criminal acts. They are a violation of a law, hence the term criminal.

Don't be pissy because you live in some bumfuck state.

http://public.findlaw.com/library/legal-system/civil-vs-criminal-cases.html

http://www.rbs2.com/cc.htm

First link, is by far more reputable, however they're basically the same.

>>19667
I'm pretty sure a P.O. box requires a regular address, when applied for.

>>19683

Maybe. But FedEx and UPS both rent mail boxes as well.

Or I could just lie and claim I live with a cousin or something. Advantage of it being family land is that I've got lots of family in the area that can lend a hand here or there.

>>19672
lol i'm not going to prove you wrong 50 times just so you can pop up and say OLOLOLO BUT WHAT ABOUT PUERTO RICO or something equally asinine.

the reason the criminal-civil distinction is important is because although you may have your own personal definition of what 'criminal' means, the actual law disagrees with you, and i guess no amount of proof is going to convince you of this.

i don't feel like arguing anymore. if you want to live in a fantasy world where nobody has to follow the laws if they're clever enough, that's fine, but in the real world there are generally pretty negative consequences for this.

>>19753
>if you want to live in a fantasy world where nobody has to follow the laws if they're clever enough

History holds this to be fairly true.

The issue is that most think they are more clever than they actually are.

>>19766
>think they are more clever than they actually are.

"Even though the entire purpose of the building code enforcement department is to find and stop people exactly like me doing exactly the same thing I plan to do, I am going to evade detection by building a house out in the open and when the building inspector asks me for my permit I'll tell him the laws don't apply to me since the house was built in 1904 even though I'm still shingling the roof"

ps. i am not seriously advocating either side of the argument at this point, i am just making humor

Great job ruining the thread you Niggers

Goddamn this thread went to shit when I left.

>>18113
Building permits aren't required there. Even if they were, it wouldn't really matter. To give a feeling of the legal environment: A lot of people grow up there. The police's response to this was to put up a flyer on the community message board saying to be discreet and put up fences. They're not going to come giving me shit because my house isn't up to code.

>>15764
post link for that fucking book, OP