I know when you are building a house, the planning stages are the most important, so I could use some imput.
About 2 months ago we bought about 2 acres in the country. Originally we wanted to build a cob house (I've been in love with it for years), but given the ammount of time and labor that is required, I don't think we would be able to get it all done by fall. So my next plan was to put a trailor out there while we work on something slowly, but then I decided that we would just be diverting money into something that we didn't ultimately want, when that money could go into stuff we actually do want and need.
So, then I started thinking about yurts (which I also love). So my current plan would be to have a basement with a yurt above it. I don't have a quote for the basement yet, but I think we can do it and the yurt for about $20K (I'm guessing 10K each). We've got about $5K-$7K on hand now. I'm pretty sure we will not be able to get a construction loan, so we are planing to try to get a personal loan, get a loan on our current car title (that we have free and clear) and possibly charge the remainder if there is any $ still needed. Basically, anything to get into our "place" this summer.
My question mainly (I *think* lol) is what about the water source and the septic? I'd like to do a graywater system to feed into the pond, but don't have a plan for the black water yet. Also, I'm not sure what funds will allow for a well (5K-7K), so we are considering a water tank temporarily. Has anyone ever done this? I know they are plastic, so I have concerns with drinking it, could we just filter it?? How do you get them filled up when they run out?
I'm still hoping to do some cob work, but we'd like to do a garden shed first to make sure we are doing it well, before we start in on the house. But, if we do eventually build a cob house, what would we do with the basement on the yurt? Pretty sure it wouldn't support a cob building... Don't even think you can do a basement with cob... I know the yurt won't last forever, so that is a concern to me as well.
Oh! And we are also considering straw bale. That would be a more permanent structure. But I do so love cob and yurts
We have no building codes in our area, so we have no restricitons, and we also currently already have electric and phone available. I though it might be easiest to hook up to it initially since it's available and won't cost us anything like investing in solar (or other) right off the bat.
Anyway, any sage advice out there???!!!
