/diy/ - Do It Yourself

people often get this idea. its such a supercool idea to build your house right next to a tree. yup so super awesome. even better if you compact and cover the ground around the base of the tree. especially mature trees. that way you can have the full forest experience when the tree tops itself and lands in your living room. Or when there's a forest fire and you havn't cleared around your house so there's no buffer. you that would be awesome.

>>597111
You know what else would be awesome? Building right next to a river or maybe on a fault line! Oh wait...

>>597118
yes but rich fucks with shore front properties can afford the blinding insurance premiums.

water ways are cheap transport but only the niggest nigs build their house right on the water front instead of above the flood plain.

fault lines are resource rich so obviously poorfags are going to flock there to plunder riches by the millions.

Well going back to topic now..
Anyone have any unique room ideas or house shapes?

I like the top left one..

>>597137
this must be terrible in summer

A-frames seem like the easiest thing to build but i dont want to personally live in one.

>>597147
it's a waste of space

This guy built his entire house for less than $5000.
>>597148
I agree i was just posting it because its an easy build. Plus if it snows alot were you live thats the kind of house you would want.

This guy made a decent house out of a school bus.

Tree houses are cool. But very impractical for the lazy.

>>597156
I always wonder how long a large-scale tree house can stay up there - surely after a few years the trees supporting one will have grown so much they'll have fucked up all the anchor points.

Jamius' pad, to bad he sold it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQu_FaTKkiE

Insane levels of awesome or
awesome levels of insane
you decide

>>597202
Well he has a trampoline room with a slide in it to go to his bedroom. I would say insane levels of awesome! That is the diy mentality make anything you want it to be.

>>597202
Just wow.

>>597187

Trees don't grow that way. Carve your initials into a small tree 4 feet off the ground, come back in 50 years and they will still be 4 feet off the ground.

Allowances must be made for the increase in girth of course.

>>597202
cool video

Fallingwater.

Not literally - the house itself has moisture and structural problems. But the concept of integrating the house into the environment. Not only does it have lots of windows and balconies so the residents can see and feel the forest and stream from inside, but the house is shaped around the contours of the land and uses local stone that matches that of the stream.

>>597154

That's the ideal.

This is what they generally look like. Now, picture one of these parked in your neighborhood. The cops will tow your Bentley if its parked for more then 48 hours, but these things get too stay for months.

Try www.thatroundhouse.info

the guy has some experience and its fun to read his stuff (and there isnt too much)

>>597152
except his house has no plumbing and almost no electricity it is nice.

>>597334
learned about this house in my Industrial Design class. Hella cool

>>597136
I think I recognize this image from "Handmade Houses". 1970s book on "back to the land" housing.

>>597348
It could work as a mobile home and you make it so you can drive around. If it's immobile, then it becomes a problem if you don't own the property it's on

I have a "diy ideas thread" I have some interior design and maybe some houses I'll post what I find.

>>598204

Well, that was pretty much everything.

OP- give us some more info.
>How many square feet?
>Budget?
>Certain type of material you'll probably use/refuse to use, etc?
>Type of use? Full time, weekend...

>>597136
I have never seen the Outside of that house before but have seen the interior before and love it. Thanks!!

>>597152
>less than $5000

that means he didn't even cough up the cash for pressure treated wood. Shit's gonna suck when it rots in a few years.

>>597334
>>598330
Architectural magazines and websites masturbate furiously to this house, just like they do all Frank Lloyd Wright's things. To me it just shows how much you can do with money, and a lot less things you can do just yourself.

i-im kinda new. where would one go to teach oneself how to know and build something like this? like construction and woodworking and such?

>>597144
Why?

>>598355

he's probably thinking about the greenhouse effect.

Doubt it's a real problem. It looks like the center tip opens up to let out heat.

>>598138
Hey, I have that book, too! (And I also recognize the picture from there.

>>597122
Can you get any dumber?

>>598338
>building houses with pressure treated wood

logcabin!

>>597108
to keep people from trespassing use gothic arches

>>597108
If you build in the woods, take advantage of the view. Glass, lots of big glass.

>>597111
>forest fires
really depends where it is

>>597324
Are you sure of this? I am part of a small cabin project and I keep pushing for a solution where the cabin is not supported by the trees.

>>599552
THUMP... THUMP... THUMP...

You hear that? That's the sound of birds beating themselves to death unless you put stickers and stuff on your windows.

U should include a pond, make it get to around 5ft deep max, maybe at least 10 feet in diameter.
Then add some weird fishies and plants that can survive ur general climate but still look alien like

>>600263
Reflective/tinted glass would fix this.So would a plastic owl.

>>600263

Sounds like a plus to me.

>>600263
>not taking advantage of free food source

hobbits are the only ones doing it right

>>600384
fuck yeah
if I had the money i'd move into a hobbit house in a heartbeat

Build a super adobe or don't build anything at all.

>>600384
>Living in a grave that will collapse on top of you at the first lil unexpected earthquake.

No.

>>600434
>implying no supports
>implying most normal houses wouldn't do that anyway
>implying hobbit holes are anything more than a house low to the ground with a few inches of soil and sod on top
Pig disgusting.

>>600434
>>600465
This is /diy/ after all, so it begs the question-
How would one go about building a proper hobbit house? Clearly looking at >>600418 it's been done before. I can't imagine it'd be any more expensive than building a real house, even if you do have to take into account added resilience against natural damages.
Does anyone here have experience with this sort of thing?

"Sir, you'll have to stand back. We're here from the city to cut down that tree."

5 years from now when the tree is rotted and deemed a dangerous to neighboring structures.

>>600515
You could partially bury a shipping container in the ground. If you had enough resources, you could slightly dome the top to make it more hobbity, and deck out the inside with wood and comfy shit like cats. See picture for details.

Of course you'd have to be careful about rust and potential flooding, but those complications could be worked out.

>>600656
You'd need more than one shipping container for a house. Two would probably do, welded together. I saw a This Old House where they built a house like that above-ground.

Why would you cover the house with dirt? That's a lot of dirt to buy. Like a dump truck full. Covering it with dirt makes water a big concern, same with burying part of it. If you don't bury it, you'll need to install gutters, and if you do, you'll need to somehow waterproof the entire thing.

>>600656
>>600515
>>600465
>>600434
>>600418
>>600384

>what is an earth berm

Do you even hobbit?

>>600648
>Couldn't legally do that anyway

>>597202
I can't believe the state didn't take his kids after this went public.

>>597147
A-frames are good.
Just make the top round so you can fit in a second story.

>>598205
Wouldn't having the bed so close to the ceiling cause it to get too warm up there when you're sleeping? The heat your body gives off wouldn't have anywhere to go, right?

>>597334
> begin quote

The home and guest house cost US$155,000, broken down as follows: house $75,000; finishing and furnishing $22,000; guest house, garage and servants' quarters $50,000; architect's fee $8,000. From 1938 through 1941 more than $22,000 would be spent on additional details and for changes in the hardware and lighting.

The total project price of $155,000, adjusted for inflation, is the equivalent of approximately $2.6 million in 2013.

> end quote

That's not far-fetched. Should be a lot cheaper if you just copy the Fallingwater design completely and modify it a bit.

>>597134
No ventilation at all.
Have fun heating it in the winter and then the fucking death trap in the summer with 100+ degree temps.

>>600661
Wouldn't using a plastic liner(like they use in landfills) suffice for waterproofing? Rustproofing could be done by coating the containers with wax or something, though I suspect the plastic would be enough to keep them from rusting.

I can't imagine why this solution would be too costly.

>>601854
the problem is that dirt is salty, abrasive and water retaining. even stainless steel rusts.
any the plastic liner could potentially trap dirt and water between the sheet and steel.

all drainage systems are exactly that. they drain. your plan is fine but you need a way to make the water drain away.

shipping containers even second hand are expensive. why not simply construct an underground bunker using reinforced concrete and steel beams?

>>601857
>all drainage systems are exactly that. they drain. your plan is fine but you need a way to make the water drain away.
Good point, there could be a pipe to the outside concealed above a false ceiling. This probably wouldn't limit the living area much if planned properly, and it would allow any water buildup to drain away. I still think a thick, waterproof plastic covering the container would suffice to keep water/dirt out, though.
>shipping containers even second hand are expensive.
Just checked from eBay, 1000$-2000$ per container doesn't sound very expensive, even if you have to haul them. People build houses from these for a good reason.

>>601869
nope its more like this.

>>601874
Nice.

I don't know a lot about drainage, so I guess I have a ton of reading to do before I even attempt to build my semi-subterranean hobbit home.

>>598286
LMFAO do you really think OP is serious?

He is treating the board like Pinterest. This guy isn't going ot build shit

>>601874
Needs a French drain around the outside of the walls too.

>>597111
Lmfao! !! In movies its fine to have a house in a tree. In reality, its not. Trees are growing, expanding( and possibly falling) all at different rates. Unless your underground, you do not want to build on under or near a big tree ...... That is all. ;)

>>601975
Actually that doesn't matter at all as long as you build supports for the trees. Sure, you'll have to build to accomodate expansion, growth, and so on, but it's not the hardest thing to do. I saw a neat trick where you put elastic/spongy material where the tree connects and your house can last for years on years.

>>602186
you know nothing about trees. like, not a goddamn thing.

>>600515
Goddammit 4chan! Now I have a new goddamn fetish.

>>601877
oh it's not very complicated. you're just building a house like it was above ground only underground. essentially the drainage is to create a nice big pocket of air around the house so that it stays dry. look at how they make rooftop gardens for ideas.

so the house wont be underground at all, it'll more just be in a pit and you make the roof superficially appear to blend in with the ground outside.

>>600661
The dirt would come from on site, most of it from the hole you're digging.

5 house building threads pop up everyday yet nobody ever posts progress or results. You are all autistic faggots who thinks living off the grid is a thing. You still pay taxes, you still need to buy land. You can't just walk in the woods and start building. You need to pay for permits and licenses. I doubt you are an experienced tradesmen so good luck getting a contractor license. You'd have to hire someone to build it or you'd be breaking the law. Buy a trailer and cheap land an hour outside town. Call it a day. It'd be cheaper.

>>597138
>She rides past every day growing more beautiful
>I built this house for her
>Everyday I stand outside and she starts to ride slightly closer
>one day she stops riding past
>I see her driving past in a carriage with Gasdon

>Tfw nobody rides past now.

Bonus feel:

>You will never grow up as a poor but intelligent blacksmiths son and woo the sweet provincial bicycle riding daughter of the local baron.

>>602450
Get fucked.

I would buy enough land to have privacy. What I'm living in is none of their business. I could claim to be living in anything. And they would have no reason to search my land to prove otherwise.

Mainly I would build from cob.

Fuck permits and licensing. And yeah I still need to buy land but it's expensive as fuck here.

i am not an authority for sure, but it is my understanding that (in the USA) the main way you escape housing codes is that you have to live in a "non permanent structure" -- that being a trailer or an RV.

Many of the articles I have seen on micro-houses were ones built on utility trailers, for that very reason.

The small refrigerator is propane-fired, the cooking stove is an RV stove (propane). The lights are 2 or 3 LEDs total--1 in bedroom, 1 in kitchen and 1 more in the main living/sitting area--and are powered by a solar cell / car battery setup. For heat you can use a small indoor-rated propane heater and none I've seen had A/C.

>>597148
>it's a waste of space
What? First you build the roof and then, when you have more money, you jack it up and build the rest of the house under it. It's brilliant.

>>598352
Start working construction. The work is hell, so they'll hire anyone.

>>602459

You must not live in America then. City trucks drive around wherever the fuck they want. Got trash in your driveway? 30 day notice to clean your yard or the city will do it and fine you. My Great-Grandma passed away and we got a $200 fine because the city mowed her lawn.

Find a county where laws aren't as strict. Most farm counties have lenient laws. You'll still need a permit to dig a well. You'll still need a permit to build. Etc. Saying fuck permits will be funny when they make you tear it down or pay a new house worth of fines. If I remember correctly for my entire state, you need a licensed contractor to supervise anything that requires a concrete platform (anything larger then 8x8).

Just buy a shitty trailer for $5K and fix it up yourself. Buy a cheap land in a rural county. You can do as much as you please without city/county trucks driving around. Dig a pond and stock it with catfish, shad, and minnows. Get a gun and hunt. Collect rainwater, etc. You can still semi off the grid in some states. But sooner or later, you're gonna pay the price of permits or get it tore down.

>>602977

Yeah, I've been told that when the city/county collects trash, the driver writes a report on any violation they see such as boats, cars on jacks, dirty yards, etc. I got a notice because my boat was in my driveway for 30+ days without being moved. Somebody must be watching. I come to think that all of these house building threads come from people who have never even owned a house yet alone rented an apartment.

Protip for the Hobbits out there:

If you want to make your smials as hobbity as possible, you'll want to find someplace that has suitable hills already. A lot of the guides I'm seeing on here are just for making turf-roofed houses or houses with a hill poured on top of them.

If you don't have any hills, build your house long and low on a single story, stick to a "round" aesthetic, and have a single hallway that runs down the center of your house that connects all of the rooms.

bump

>>603398
I think that too with zoning and what someone will think when they need to inspect your place to make sure it's livable.

>>597334
Oh dang that's beautiful, I'd love to live in a home like that. With proper environmental concerns taken into account for designing and construction.

>>597144

It must be terrible in the winter. pretty though.

How about a demotivational.

>>597348
>>597154

fuckin elves

>>606759
fookin' prawns

>>605984
I see no problem with this. Build some wall frames to surround the inside of the container adding insulation and then drywall.Buy some second hand hard wood flooring for ascetics. Maybe invest in a water tank, solar panels, and a sky light. Very simple and cheap projects to take on. Might cost about 1,500 but could look nice as fuck.

>>597202
>dat fucking trampoline
HOLY SHIT

>>603398
The come from fags with

1. No money
2. No skills
3. No physical ability to build shit.

Why do people even want tree houses or hobbit holes?

yeah I get it some rich hipster kid got someone to build it and he posted cool pictures on tumblr cool

Tiny homes are cool, but mudhuts and wood huts are old and frankly lazy architecture. Has to be full on above ground or full on below ground to really start to gauge the practicality vs sexy factors. Treehouses and hobbit holes satisfy neither

>>597122
well, that just happened where i live. new rich soybean planters moved from countryside to town and erected this classless new rich megahouses in the woods in the bends of the river that flows by the city. now the river flooded all the banks and the new rich neighbohoods are under meter and a half of muddy waters

>>602977
>You must not live in America then
>City trucks drive around wherever the fuck the want

You must have never lived outside of a city. I live on a few hundred acres of family land and I have yet to see any vehicles that did not belong to friends or family. Granted, the 1/4 mile long driveway could cause some of that. However, I have no-one living around me for a half dozen miles. There is no reason for any governmental vehicle to come out here.

I can do and build whatever I please and no-one would know any better

>>609653
This

If you want to build, move to the country, get a couple acres, doesn't have to be a lot. Buy a trailer, go to your job, get enough money to do what you please.

Problem solved.

>>603398
that's not the council, that's the home owners association. nosy fuckers who demand payment for making sure your pipes are all colored green to match the neighbours or your petunias arn't purple enough.

this is often just some nosy old bitch in the neighbourhood thinking she is batman by calling the home owners association every day because she heard someone hanging a picture frame and said it was DAYS OF LOUD BANGING LATE INTO THE NIGHT.