A homestead without much money.
Is it possible?
.This blog is ongoing and incomplete.
Suppose you can get together a few hundred or at most a few thousand dollars.
Most folks can do this one way or another - whether through a job, or selling some asset. (More on this in a moment).
How can you achieve ZCL with such a small amount of money? Can you achieve it?
It is possible and I will perform an experiment over the next two years where I will set up a ZCL homestead and lifestyle and live it for an limited time. I will report it on these pages.
To do this I will use a small part of my social security checks (the rest going to my family) to set up my lifestyle. I still live with my family so my homestead will be in the nature of a very low cost retreat (mostly to give my family a break from me).
How to proceed:
Getting the money.
I have a source of money to begin but you may not so here are some suggestions to raise dollars (or 'grubstake' as the old prospectors would call it).
If you are on unemployment or welfare or social security or any other source of regular income it is possible (I believe) to save part of it each month to put towards a homestead by practicing the 'extreme thrift' methods described in my book.
If you have real estate sell it for any equity you have in it. Sadly many folks are underwater and owe more than their property is worth. This should change in a few years, however. For now, consider walking away so you can go buy a property you can really afford, and so you can buy a property suitable for a ZCL homestead.
A short term loan or a very low mortgage - if you can get a low interest rates - could provide your 'capital' to begin.
Another option I have used is a land contract where you make payments (with interest) to the owner until you pay her/him off. You do not own the property , so you will have to get the owner to give you permission to buildbut usually permission will be granted because it you default s/he gets the property back with whatever improvements you have made.
If you buy an old house on land contract ususally you are permitted to move in and can make whatever improvements you want - the owner usually will give you permission for any improvements - again because s/he gets the property back if you default.
Welfare payments have been limited by law to two years maximum (in Michigan) so you have this long to get your homestead up and running (using part of your welfare money) before they cut you off. If you can get a job in the interim all the better (and you may decide you don't need a ZCL lifestyle), but too often it is not possible or the job is unstable, or temporary or the employer decides you are not what s/he wants after all or the company can get somebody to do your job cheaper (in China or wherever). Even if you get a job you still might want to set up a ZCL lifestyle as a backstop or refuge in case things go wrong at work.
If you have a car and it has some value, set up your ZCL life so you don't need a car, sell the car, and you'll have some money to help pay off a loan - with this caveat. You may want to use your car to look at possible ZCL locations before you sell it.
Or, in some cases perhaps you can trade the car as part of your payment for your site once you have found one.
Note however, you will need a car or pick up truck to forage and pick up materials until you have most (or all) of what you need. Stores like Home Depot will deliver (for extra cost) and sometimes you can convice a source on Craigslist to deleiver, but you cannot depend on it.
Find a location for your homestead:
Though other options might come up such as someone offering to let you use a site for free (like Thoreau did) for most of us the best course it to buy property.
You need a an inexpensive vacant lot or a run down old house where property taxes are low, where the neighbors and zoning and building codes are tolerant, even lenient towards the somewhat unusual things you will be doing.
The ideal location in my opinion is near a small town that has good mass transit connections to a big city - ideally a university city - so you can live without a car (or keep a car in reserve and rarely needed or used and insured only when you use it).
My book goes through all the options for location in detail.
The internet has made it marvelously easy to look for property compared to the 'old days' (pre-internet). You may be able to find good sites from the comfort of your home (or library using their computers). Be sure to look in craigslist.
For my experiment - I will look for a lot or house that fits these criteria. I will present my ideas for each option (lot or house) so you may have some guidance for whatever
course you take.
Most of your money (or all of it) at first will go towards the purchase of property.
One fourth acre (11,000 square feet approximate would be enough, a half acre would be better. Several acres would be spacious but you may have higher property taxes in consequence).
So now you have a lot or possibly a beat up old house and no money to proceed. Now what?
Now the real work begins.
Building your homestead:
The pioneers went into the wilderness with a few tools, axe and saw perhaps and (getting free land through the homestead act) built (if they were industrious, skilled and frugal) prosperous homesteads within a few years. Today you usually cannot get land (or a house) free, you have to pay, exhausting your meager funds.
So now you will have to forage for materials or use what you can find, and when you have a few dollars apply them to what you cannot find for free.
There are a lot of free or very cheap tools and materials out there - believe me - if you look.
Your town or region may have a Habitat for Humanity store with low cost building materials. Salvation army may carry things you will need.
Craigslist and free cycle will have all kinds of 'stuff'. 'Stuff' has never been easier to find or more plentiful thanks to these sources. And garage sales in summer may help but try to locate them and find out what they have ahead of time - and if possible call ahead first to find out what they have - random searches waste time gas and money and the savings may not be worth it.
You (usually) cannot be picky. You must build (or remodel if you have an old house) with what you can find and afford.
What to build - details:
Design: keep it small compact and simple.
Minimum Size: To conform with building code minimums: 900 or 1000 square feet on 2 floors - 24 x 30 = 600 sq ft x 2 = 1200 total
3rd floor is possible - as an unfinished attic if you do not use trusses (these are costly, hard to lift, and fill up useable attic space).
Trusses are not needed with the design I recommend: center structural wall from foundation to roof, with a ridgepole under the roof. All of the space in the attic is useable with this design - and the spans of joists and rafters can be kept short if the building is compact and rectangular.
Structure: short spans for joists and rafters are best: Lighter, thinner, cheaper lumber can be used. Long spans require heavy, expensive beams. I favor 12 foot or 14 foot maximum spans. Two spans and 28 feet across is very practical for a ZCL style house. A length of 36 or 40 feet and you have a basic rectangular house that will be easy to build, and very spacious if you go two or three floors (including attic and/or basement space made useable for living).
Have a 'raised' basements (sometimes called a bi-level) so the basement is fully useable - with windows.
Window wells (as they are called) also work and can be added to conventional basements to provide windows, light and air to a basement. These could be added without the building inspector noticing on the back or (sometimes) side walls of a house.
Excavated dirt can serve as free insulation if kept dry. Earth berms against the outside walls can work, kept dry with wide roof overhangs, and/or covers of various kinds over the earth such as layers of (old recycled - perhaps broken) tiles, or slate, or stones or (temporarily and cheaply but ugly) blue poly tarps - cover these with earth and stones to improve their appearance. Plastic protected from sunlight can last almost indefinitely.
For a really cheap foundation: excavate a trench foundation by hand (with a shovel) - entirely possible if the house is kept small. I have done this for a 24 x 36 foot foundation.
Use rubble in the trench for a cheap foundation, rather then poured concrete, or concretes blocks.
Materials: Buy cheap widely available materials: mostly concrete blocks, 2 x 4s and OSB (oriented strand board) panels. It is possible to gather these over time for free or very cheaply using Craigslist, freecycle, foraging, and (sometimes) Habitat for Humanity stores.
Earth insulation: see discussion on this elsewhere in this blog.
Bell stove for heat: see discussion on this elsewhere in this blog.
Windows: good windows can be purchased at habitat for Humanity at lower cost than building supply stores.
sometimes free or very cheap windows can be found on craigslist or freecycle. I have foraged some windows from building demolition sites.
Place most windows facing south for solar energy. On a sunny winter day, enough windows facing south can heat your house for free. You need to have insulating shutters to close over windows at night and on cloudy days - or the heat loss will negate most of the gain from sunlight. These shutters can be as simple (as mine are) as panel type insulation friction fitted from the inside. First cut the panels to be very close to the size needed. For a cheap tight friction fit: On the edges of the panels used duct tape (colored rather than gray if you want better appearance) to form a 'lip' by folding part of the tape back on itself.
For appearance; you can make an interesting pattern of windows on your south facing walls.
Electrical: Get books, study, practice, take a course (I did not) and do your own. If you get it wrong (and I had 20 locations I had to change), the electrical - inspector will show you how to do it right. Fixing it, making corrections is not that difficult with electrical. The whole system is designed to be modifiable - such
as when folks remodel.
Plumbing: Do your own. Plastic pipe is really easy these days (copper is hard - at least for me. cpvc or pvc pipe glued is very cheap and easy and if you make a mistake, you can cut the section out with a saw and redo it at little cost except time. Another method - very common but more expensive (but better pipe) is cross linked poly - this stuff has expensive fittings. If you make a mistake cross linked ploy is easy to fix - the fittings can all be taken apart and put together again - not like copper. Don't use copper. It may get stolen these days if your house is open during construction.
More on windows: fixed windows (that don't open) are very cheap (see books by Ken Kern). You only have to buy or forage the glass, then build a frame. The frame can be very simple if the window does not have to be opened. For ventilation don't use windows, use solid shutters (with insulation and latches) over openings in your walls. Another words separate the ventilation function from the window (light and view) function and your windows then become very simple.
Kitchen and bath cabinets: Get them from Habitat For Humanity very cheap.
Finish work:
Flooring: OSB with a polyurethane coating makes a good, very cheap floor.
carpet remnants and scraps - can be gotten free.
I do not like wall-to-wall carpet - you cannot clean under it and dirt will pile up underneath.
Carpets are dust magnets
Best are carpets you can take outside and beat and shake - dust will come out of it in a cloud - and you will have all of that dust out of your house. And you can leave carpet outside to air out for a while or even hose it down (or leave in the rain) if made of the right material. A vacuum may only spread fine particles around in your house - unless you buy the new type of 'cyclonic' vacuum. These have become very cheap to buy.
Use the cheapest vinyl tiles where you don't want carpet 30 cents a square foot.
More topics for later:
Drywall:
Paint:
Ceiling:
Trim boards:
Doors
Yard:
Sheds, and or garage
greenhouses: necessity for ZCL
Garden
Mobility: This is discussed in detail in my book.
Walking: Practical if you locate in the right kind of area. Almost free. Great for health.
Biking: Almost as cheap as walking (free bikes or very cheap bikes can be found -see Craigslist or freecycle). You can go 3 times faster that walking - or more - and with baskets or panniers carry a bigger load. Try to locate where biking is practical: where there are bike paths, sidewalks (when needed) ,roads with wide rights of way, slow traffic, not too much traffic (or use sidewalks).
Electric bike: See my discussion in this blog on electric bike city.
Mass transit: cheap and practical in some cities. Ann Arbor Michigan is an example.
Car: get a cheap beat up (but good) old car. Now (December 2012) people are buying new cars more as their old cars are well past their prime, so more old cars are available.You need to know how to evaluate and old car, and how to fix one to do this and still live ZCL. These are major skills requiring serious study (perhaps self study) or help. They ought to be taught in high school or as adult education courses or at community college -and sometimes are.
Summary:
It is possible to build a very good homestead, suitable for Zero Cost Living for well under $10,000 (not including land) if you make thorough use of recycled and foraged materials, follow the suggestions made above, and do most of the work - including the foundation - yourself. This is entirely possible to do, well within the range of most people - if you keep the design and structure simple.
Here is a task and material cost estimate:
Foundation:
excavation: with shovel, 42 inch deep trench 40 x 28 = 136 foot perimeter
rubble to fill trench including delivery:
blocks for wall above rubble trench foundation (100 blocks)
( berm of dry earth will be placed against the wall)
Main floor:
Floor joists: 2 x 10 x 14 feet
sub floor - OSB panels
wall frame: double 2 x 4 with gap between of 5 inches ( space for 12 inches of insulation)
wall panels: plywood wall siding panels
center structural wall: 2 x 6 on 2 foot spacing
Ceiling joists: 2 x 10 x 14 feet
flooring 2nd floor OSB panels:
Roof:
Rafters:
roofing: OSB
roof cover: roll roofing with vinyl battens over overlaps
windows from habitat:
Interior:
Heating system: bell stove in shed adjacent to north side of the house
Concrete block structure 10 x 10 ft. 240 blocks to house thermal mass.
This is cheaper and safer than a metal chimney to the roof peak, and cheaper than a brick or block chimney to the roof peak.
