The Countryside article on the monolithic dome has some very interesting points and solutions and possibilities. I have "visited" the dome sites and one of them has some exceptionally interesting calculations on building (and then renting out for income) a $10,000 dome.

As an aging homesteader who has her land all paid for, but lives nearby in a mobile home (also all paid for) in a mobile home park (oh, the pain of coughing up that montly lot rent!) I want to live on my land but NOT in a leaky, ugly old mobile home. For years I have tossed around the idea of a cordwood home or strawbale or cob or adobe or rammed tire covered with adobe (yeah, I love the Earthships the best) but they are all labor intensive and I'm a feeble old female that hasn't the physical strength to do all that work!

Searching through all the home plan books for sale on the magazine racks and in the bookstores, and looking through all the ads of homes for sale in my area (Virginia) I see only wood homes. I drive by ones under construction and they are made of particle board wrapped in Tyvek and selling for $240,000 -- just the opposite of my homesteading dream home!!!

Have any of you on here ever built a simple block home? Or do you know anything about the possibilities? I sure would appreciate any comments or information or helpful suggestions you can give me!

I note that I talked to a block builder. He puts up storage units and industrial buildings. he says he can make me a simple block building 24 by 40 (two story, a garage with an apartment on top is what I asked him about) for $6 per square foot, doing a flat roof for the floor between and a flat sloped roof for the top with structural concrete beams for $7 a square foot. That is markedly cheaper than a modular home or mobile home or whatever. But what would I do about insulation, stucco, etc?

Does anyone on here have a reference for where I can get plans for a simple home or cottage or whatever? All helpful suggestions gratefully received!!!!!! The dome idea, only shaped more like the Alamo!!!!!

-- Elizabeth Petofi (tengri@cstone.net), April 27, 2000

Answers

Elizabeth, if you were to build your home yourself, you would need to be aware that concrete blocks are heavy-- it would be hard to lift them very high. If I had to build a house all by myself, I would go with standard frame consruction, just because the pieces are manageable in size. As far as your builder is conserned, it sounds like he would just be putting up the shell. You would still need plumbing, wiring, windows, doors, floor(?), cabinetry, and, as you mentioned, insulation and an exterior finish. It wouldn't cost very much to put up what's called a "Micro-house", a tiny house about ten by twelve, which could actually have most of the amenities, and would serve well enough while you decided how to go about building something bigger. Go to the library and do a search of magazine articles for some plans -- it has been quite a while since I first saw this concept written about, and I can't remember which magazine it was in. If you can't find anything, let me know, and I can draw plans for one -- but I'm not an architect, so I don't know if you would have to have the plans approved by one before building. Do you have to worry about building codes there? Hope this helps. Kathleen.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), April 27, 2000.

Just finished a beginner's masonry course (which means I know enough to be dangerous). After comparing prices to build a wood barn with a block barn the instructor (and friends and contractors) I asked said block is now cheaper. And it really lasts a long time. You can insulate block by filling the cavities ("holes"), but I believe the air pockets from those holes are also generally beneficial for insulating capacity (depending on the size block used). I would not hesitate to use block. You can always side the outside of it if you didn't want it to "show". And put drywall inside (or wood panelling).

Go for the new home if you can afford it. With block, a basement is easily possible, while it is more difficult for a mobile home (!). I would go for the design that appeals to you. If you plan on staying there make it what you want it to be and can afford. Don't forget room for hobbies and animals/pets. And don't worry about the $300,000 places, design for your habits and wants. Extra outlets always come in handy!

Good luck.

-- Anne (HealthyTouc101@hotmail.com), April 27, 2000.

Elizabeth: Concrete block is great. We built our that way. Our advice is to keep it small. Make the roof with trusses, sheet it with ply and cover that with galvanized metal. Looks good, lasts forever and will never blow off. If the appearance of the block bothers you,have the mason put 1/8" dia galv. wires (12" - 16" long) in the wall as he lays it so that the wires (put a 1" bend on the end in the wall) stick out on the outside. After the wall is done, trowel on a coat of roofing mastic, push big sheets of 3" thick styrofoam over the wires onto the mastic. Put sheets of expanded metal lath over the styrofoam and bend the protruding wires over to hold the whole thing in place. Stucco over the lath and there you have it. It looks good and turns your block house into a big thermos bottle. We don't even need heat or air most of the time. Good Luck, John and Pat

-- John and Pat James (jjames@n-jcenter.com), April 27, 2000.

Thanks for the responses. The one by John and pat is extraordinarily helpful!!!! That's what I want, is to hear from those who have actually done what I am only in the conceptual stages of doing myself!

I do NOT have the strength or ability to do my own blockwork. I did take a local tech school class on stone-laying and not only did I not have the strength to do the work, but I was surprised to discover the dust from the mortar really triggered my asthma and made me quite sick.

The Micro-home idea is a cutie. It was in Mother Earth News. It was so interesting to me that I xeroxed it and put the copy of the article in my Ideas notebook. However, I live in an area with some pretty stringent Building Code requirements and there is a minium number of square feet for an actual dwelling. Plus I do NOT want a wooden home. I already have a mobile home that's paid for that for $2,000 or so I could have moved to my land. Nope, what I want is a stone or block or poured cement home and I LOVE the idea of having one that's like a thermos jug with very low expenses for heating and cooling!

Ideas on here have been very helpful to me. I put a question up about Form-tech and got some VERY helpful information -- which basically caused me to discard the idea! -- Now I am considering concrete block in the belief that it will give me the most building for the least expense. Whatever I build -- someone else is going to have to do the physical labor! AFTER I get my home built and am living on the land, I can do micro-houses or sheds or chicken tractors or a person tractor (now, there's a concept. I have an Airstream trailer for that one!)

Anyway, thanks for the ideas and if anybody has any more information on concrete block buildings especially plans I can buy that will make the building inspector AND me happy, or websites, etc., I'd sure like to know.

-- Elizabeth Petofi (tengri@cstone.net), April 28, 2000.

Liz, I think block tho ugly is a good way to build but keep in mind, all the dust generated from the blocks & morter, it will take quite awhile to get it out of the place. I still thik the Yurt is the best, cheapest, easiest idea. The place I built in NY 30 years ago still had original saw dust in the corners of closets 7 years later, when I finally got electricity I was ble to get it out with a vacuum cleaner.

-- Hendo (OR) (redgate@echoweb.net), April 28, 2000.

Good morning Elizabeth, This isn't what you want to hear but I'll share my experience anyway. We lived in a '74 mobile home (14 x 70) on our place for over 10 years. When we bought land down the road and built our house, I (almost by myself) completely remodeled it. It was easy to do because the walls are not tall. You can gut out a mobile home and put walls anywhere you want, if you want to go that far. It now rents for $475. without heat. People who looked at it loved it. It is cosy and homey. I also added insulation and it already had a shingled roof. If I were in your position, I would move the PAID-FOR mobile onto the land and add a concrete block room to it- to the south side if you are in the north, and to the north side if you are in the south. A nice wood-burning stove in a room like that would heat the whole house and you would have a complete house while you are finishing. BTW, the "trailer" doesn't look like one anymore. It has a nice enclosed porch , and is painted. You can paint trailers any color you want.You can even add siding over more insulation. Best of luck with whichever way you go. Oh yeah- my cousin in Missouri put in a large mobile home, then put a much larger steel roof right over it.( With space above so they could pull the trailer out when they were done with it.) They built a porch all around the home, under the new roof. Now that they have finished their house, the trailer is gone and sides were added to the steel roof to make a huge barn.

-- Peg (NW WI) (wildwoodfarms@hushmail.com), April 28, 2000.

Concrete block, even filled with insulation, is not a very good insulator. Sorry I don't have data, but I do know that the heat wicks right through the areas where it is concrete all the way through. It will not pass code, even in relatively mild SW Oregon, unless you add insulation either inside or out. Jon and Pat's idea for insulation on the outside, with stucco is a good way. So is putting up a separate stud wall on the inside. You can put up a two by four stud wall, four inches inside the blocks, leaving room for R21 fiberglass insulation and an inch of air space (to keep the insulation away from the blocks)

Having the studwall there makes wiring and plumbing these walls a snap.Also, if you have the stud wall, with its insulation, inside, you can use split faced blocks, whose appearance is much nicer than "regular" blocks. They also come in colors, with the color going clear through the blocks. I used split faced blocks, dyed charcoal colored, for what it's worth, because no one around here had the forms to do a poured concret wall, because my walls varied from almost nine feet to almost twenlve feet, and the labor cost was too high.

If you're going to use concret blocks, I highly recommend filling the spaces with steel and concrete. It strengthens the blocks unbelievably, in case of earthquakes. But I'd check around for a contractor who could make you a poured concrete wall instead of concrete block, if possible. If there's one who has the right forms, he/she should be able to build it for the same price, or maybe slightly cheaper (depending on how complex the walls are, number of angles, curves, etc) than a block wall, and they are way stronger, and more water proof--especially important for earth sheltering.

-- jumpoff joe (jumpoff@echoweb.net), April 29, 2000.

I am a block layer for a living. A block house will make a nice home. You will need a control joint in your long walls for expansion and contraction. You will need rebar in the footing and rebar running vertically to the top block. And you need to pour with grout every four feet. And the top block needs to be poured all around (bond beam). Pour all other cells with insulation before you pour bond beam. Also you need to put rebar in the bond beam. Light weight blocks will work just as well and around here they are cheaper because blocklayers will not lay heavy weight blocks for a reasonable price. Need anchor bolts in bond beam to bolt wood plate to nail trusses to. Good luck.

-- mason (blocklayer@blocklayer.net), April 30, 2000.

Thanks so much for the ideas and information. If you have any more, I'd like to hear them, especially comparitive costs and expenses! And getting financing! And money saving ideas on windows, etc. Guess I better start a new thread for that.

-- Elizabeth Petofi (tengri@cstone.net), May 01, 2000.