Low Profile Survival/Eco Retreats -Living Free

howdy folks

Ive kept my eye on the oehler materials for some years now and have been very impressed with the creativity of these methods. any suggestions for related out of the box books/ideas on building?

In australia over here land and loans are very expensive, and im fascinated with the idea of building low profile survival/eco retreats in the massively vast tracts of state forest. I feel that many of the problems we face today in oru world is because of the corrupted banking system and how it ties people in to paying huge mortgages for small pieces of land which our ancestors enjoyed free of charge. Here in australia its out of control, with the governments releasing little drips and drabs of land to keep the prices up high. ( Average house price here atm is  $465,000! ) http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa/9279819/home-prices-plummet/

So far im thinking camouflaged teepees, underground oehler style houses, or even burying shipping containers which is prob my least preferred method

Any experience/suggestions on this? Its me and my friend at most building so efficiency would be key

cheers

Snake

well for a hidden place i dont think much can beat an underground house, and mikes methods are the cheapest way ive found to construct a decent house underground.

If you're squatting on land you don't own, or living on public land, you might consider a house which is inexpensive and easy enough to build that you won't mind (too much) if you have to move.  A very small (8 - 10 ft diameter)  cabin or wickiup frame made of branches and covered with plastic sheeting or tarp for rain protection and that covered with grass, branches, etc for protection and camouflage could be built under a low-hanging tree or in the brush to conceal it.

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Wigwam

http://library.thinkquest.org/04oct/00019/id38.htm

thank you, those are both good ideas

could you give me a link or let me know more about mikes methods

i also like the idea of a moveable house, partly why i decided to buy a 4x4 van and turn it into an eco camper that runs on vegetable oil.

i want to create lots of little retreats around the city for survival/shelter and an insurance policy if the shtf for extreme weather changes and extreme politicians

take care

snake

Snake a wickiup and many other natural material survival shelters should be easy to build out of natural materials on site within a day or two and improve over time with maintenance. By the same token they also revert to the soil from whence they came without that maintenance (how fast varies with materials and location). I cannot see the need to build several in advance in different areas unless you are on the move and hiding from something. If you are going to build something that you plan to come back to months later you need to think more stabilized construction. Even then building something a lot less permanent on the fly might be a better option. If you must have several "permanent" shelters build them and improve them as you visit but do not take too long between visits.  Personally if I planned to stay a while and then move I would either have a camper like you are suggesting or a thick canvas cabin or military style tent.

BTW not sure about the legality of this in Australia but here in the US what you are proposing by building permanent structures (of any sort) on public land (government owned) is illegal. In fact living in temporary shelters is in most places but I would bet you would get into less trouble with a temporary or natural shelter than say a cave or cargo container dug into the side of a hill.

One of the things we are looking at is taking some of these ancient building techniques - Yomes, yurts, wigwams, etc. - and using modern materials. For instance, building your yome out of oil field pipe, or your yurt out of welded wire material.

Don't even THINK about trying to bury a shipping container, unless you're prepared to do an awful lot of work on it.  Shipping containers are designed with strong points at the corners.  The walls are (relatively) very weak.  If you bury a container without having something to keep the dirt from pressing against the wall, eventually the wall will break and the dirt will come in.