Nathan Pieper

Four our climbing beans we assemble 6 12ft tall scissor supports (two 12' 1x4's with one bolt near the top) spaced. The stance is about 3 ft wide at bottom. We space the scissor supports every 10 feet along two of our 50 foot garden row, one leg in each row so using two garden rows. We lay long 12+ foot maple poles across the top and wire them tight to the scissors support boards. One or two guy lines to keep the whole 50' monstrosity from tipping/leaning is advisable. Then we have a bunch of roughly 24' sections of galvanized wire, looped and loosely twisted through a single hole in a 1ft wooden stake at each end. you hammer one in, toss the other end over the top pole, and hammer it in. The beans climb the wire great, it's very sturdy (we had plenty of breakage and mending the first year we tried using natural twine. In this style one trellis is supporting beans form both sides for a lot of volume so you have a long triangle tunnel of foliage you can climb through for example. At end of season, you can simply release the wire form on of your ground stakes ( leave the other staked in) and slide/pull all the vines off the free end of the smooth wire and go straight to the compost with it all, and use the wire for years.

Anyone have a good handle on what the ecologic impacts of poo in a septic system really are?

Location is western Wisconsin. I'm considering a bucket composting poo system, but it will cost me more money, and more energy, to bucket compost my own poo, and I don't really think I'll miss the added compost, what with all the animals pooping everywhere already and organic matter in decay. The ONLY reason I would spend the additional money and energy on poo compost infrastructure, and the continual energy to make it function (carrying and washing buckets etc), would be to spare my environment my share of whatever the ecologic endgame of the septic sludge in theory hauled "away" happens to be, so, what is that? Bear in mind I'm pretty confident I legally have to hire a pumper to come to my home and pump the tank every so often, regardless of if I put any poo in there.

On an entirely different note, is a septic system unhappy when it doesn't get it's intended poo/pee for any reason? How about water lines, does absence of water flow at plumbed toilet stations (but with no toilet hooked up) cause any problems I should be concerned about, if switching to a toilet box with a bucket in it? I've shot myself in the foot before, with things that are designed to be used or otherwise start a downward slide (an automobile for example). Thank for any insight.

Thanks for the input guys. Your suggestions have me thinking of a few more things. First, I'm assuming a dirt floor simply allows more moisture to enter the space, is there any disadvantage to putting some rock down over that? Joseph, your mention of a pit dug out of basement floor really has me thinking. What about a cold cellar, with a pit style "rootier" cellar under part of the floor of cold cellar? It could be below a floor hatch door kind of arrangment, and the coolest moistest air might settle there in theory? I could even add water to that space, and it would humidify the pit most, and possibly aid in humidifying the rest of the cold cellar to some degree as a bonus. I do think what we need the MOST volume for is a less humid cold cellar, which I'm thinking will simply be at rear of a walk out basement garage arrangement, two walls are foundation walls direct to subsoil at least 6-7fet up wall on outside, one wall would be shared with utility room, and one wall would shared with garage. Seems like a reasonable ratio to me, kind of like the under porch format. If I ever needed more root cellar space I could add cave style cellar later. Does this arrangement sound sensible?

More concept drawings. I've got a very preliminary kind of zones 1&2 layout started, any ideas there are welcome too (as I'm probably a bit naive about a fair amount of it), but its mostly to show the homes relationship to the property and topography.

Not sure if this is the best category for this, this is certainly no wofati, but my main concerns are about the earth berm/bury so hopefully this is the best place to seek input.

Beyond any general observations or recommendations folks interested in building science and function or earth berm/bury might have, I'm primarily wondering about realistic "natural" but more importantly structurally superior alternatives to concrete in a foundation situation that would conventionally require "engineered" concrete work. I guess I think I'm wondering about genuine stone walls, but what else don't I know, and I know nothing about modern stone walls either, or concrete really.

In any case our new home site lends itself well to a kind of earth bermed/buried south walkout format of a home, which I'm happy about, but doing that kind of build certainly requires a lot of subterranean wall, where both strength and moisture mitigation would seem paramount. While I have read about concrete's less then ecologically ideal building merits, which do matter to me to an extent, I'm frankly just more interested in building a home with a long generational lifespan, and have read questionable things about the longevity of concrete.

In a home envelope that will be practically half finished before framing etc even starts (lots of foundation), I worry about building a foundation that sets a sooner than otherwise possible termination date for the home and future generations who might otherwise use it. I don't want the hardest component of the home to remedy as it ages, to have one of the earliest expiration dates. I don't know if that truly would be the case with concrete, I just worry it could be and have read some scary things, like that deterioration really sets in after 80 years. That seems unacceptably short to me. I'm opting to build because any preexisting homes on acreage in our budget was already so far gone that it would have cost us a lot more to get them working again than to build new, and that's a conundrum I'm hoping to spare future generations to the best of my ability.

For a bit more context (see sketches and layouts also) I'm planning on building into a 16% grade slope. Pretty clay heavy subsoils. The footprint of home will likely be around 26 feet in depth (north to south, buried into a south-east facing slope) with a broader 36 to 44 foot length east to west "home" portion, maximizing solar exposure and fitting the site well. The "home" portion will also have an attached single stall garage/workshop/cellar/solarium-entry, beside it, keeping the same 26ish depth, but increasing overall width of the whole structure to around 64 feet. I'm so far planning a second floor roughly 20 deep by 36 wide, over the northeast portion of lower main home level. Seems the main level of what I'm drawing here would be considered either a "walk out basement", or "partial basement", or "slab on grade with retaining wall"...nobody who looks at what I'm concepting can seem to agree. No crawlspace beneath so a slab on grade or partial basement floor whatever you prefer to call it. I'm heating this place strictly with wood initially (southwest Wisconsin 4b), but will probably put radiant floor heat tubes into the first level floor for circulating hot water one way or another at some point, if desired.

We are working on a smallish budget, so extraordinarily expensive alternatives to concrete, while nice to know about, may not be able to realistically apply. Thanks for any input!

We're building a small new home, and being only a few years into domestic food production and storage, could use input from more seasoned cellar users on what works for them. What would you do (or have you done) given the opportunity to design and integrate cold storage into a new build (or not)? Some have suggested to us NOT to integrate a cold damp space (root cellar) into a home you generally want warm and dry (site is 4B in Wisconsin), and I suppose that makes sense, though convenience of access is of course a consideration too. We don't really have a full 4 wall basement going in, unless I make a point of putting one in for the sake of cold cellar specifically. So far everything is sitting on what some call a walk out basement (main living level for us), others call it a slab-on-grade with north retaining wall.

Home site is 16% grade, so a nearby cave style cellar should be a natural fit if a better idea, but maybe it is more sensible just to attach it to home and have the excavators and foundation guys dig and pour walls for it while they are there anyhow? Maybe we want a cold DRY space (cold cellar?) integrated into home itself, and then also a stand alone wetter "root" cellar outside the home, maybe some kind of earth bag or easy block build. How about ventilation and temperature management for either. Are there any notable advantages or disadvantages to either style of cellar sharing one wall, or two or three, with other parts of the home? What are your thoughts? Any good resources on the fundamentals of design on cold and or root cellars? Thanks for any help!

So I'm by no means a nomad, but could probably use some nomadic insight for an upcoming life transition. This seemed like the most appropriate forum.

Say you wanted to live on a relativelyl visible (to neighbors and therefore authorities) property (10+ acres) for at least a month or two before actually building your home there, you know, to try and observe a bit before interacting, and then probably for yet another 6 months or so once you pull the trigger on building a permanent home as anticipated. You own the land free and clear, and you're bringing a flock of ducks with, so there will be no secret that you're there, in fact that's half of what you're trying to determine early on -if you and your premie ways are going to be an audabile nuisance to neighbors in such a peaceful valley, with a lack of noise "pollution" like you've never known.

I could build a shed/garage that I would eventually probably build anyway, and live out of that but that would take some time to erect and is something of a commitment in itself that might be better to wait on until after observing for a bit. Or maybe I buy and live out of that RV for a while, that I can sell when done?. I'd have to level a site, it's a rugged spot. I can filter water from the stream, and would just learn to compost the poo as it's on the to do list anyhow. Any other structure, shelter, technique, or strategy ideas worth considering? Should I be concerned about or cautious of any potential legal problems in doing something like this, even if only for less than a full year, and even on my own land? Location is western Wisconsin. Thanks for any insight!

C Jones, last winter I tried something along the lines of what you're mentioning, with pretty good success. I basically built a giant "coozie" that fit over the top of a standard galvanized poultry waterer, and kept that combo inside the coop (not out in the run) where it would be further protected form cold and wind. Filled with hot water, and given all that mass of water inside an insulated coozie, (with plenty of insulation on the top of course) it would stay unfrozen for several days, even in subzero temps outside, though replacing the water every day with fresh warm water always proved the best proactive defense against a difficult to open and clear waterer. In short I can attest to insulating water storage (essentially what that cool compost method is doing too but with the added benefit of decomposition) working well, the question for me was whether managing that larger volume of water generally well suited to trying to insulate, was a better option than smaller quantities of water slightly more frequently (once per day vs twice). Ultimately, moving 5 gallons once a day was a lot more trouble for me than 1/4 gallon twice per day, and having the insulated waterer in the coop certainly added more moisture and eventually ice to the inside of the coop than was ideal.

One IDEA I've considered is that of building on of those "solar air heaters" (people make them to heat home air) with a snow hopper above it. The hot air coming out the top of solar air heater could perceivably melt snow in the hopper, that you could arrange to have run or drip into a small pan that the birds could sip from as it arrives. It would of course only work during the day, and probably only well when generally sunny, keeping it out of wind would obviously be a help. Might have to try that someday.

Currently, for my 24 ducks in Minnesota I just provide 1/4 to 1/2 gallon of fresh water from the house with each meal (twice per day). It's an extremely quick and easy amount of water to fill and haul any reasonable distance. I pour it warm to hot into the rubberized tubs already mentioned. It melts some of what froze from the time before too, and stays thawed plenty long enough to wash the meal down and keep even ducks happy for a good while. Ice gets stomped out of the oil pan sized tub maybe once per week. Apple cider vinegar brings the freeze temp down too, and though I've not tried it I hear a ping pong ball or other floating ball helps keep surface molecules moving. If we have to leave for a weekend or something, I currently put an electric de-icer in their small 15 gallon bath pool, and hope the electric doesn't go out. If it does, guess they are eating snow for a day or two, which won't kill em. The de-icer only runs maybe 6 days a year, so it's a pretty economical system for us I think.

Thanks for the input so far Joseph Glenn and Mike!

Joseph, good to hear that we could likely just throw some more fuel in to get the barrel or equivelant hot in pretty short order for cooking needs as they arrive. I honestly don't know enough about RMH yet as to have made the assumption I could do that without overshooting on the intended heat output.

Glen, glad to hear some positive feedback on likely getting enough convective heat upstairs to keep things reasonable. I won't discount passive solar gain, and will plan for it and take what we get, just won't count on it.

We are hoping to be able to build the ceiling/floor "plank on beam" as you're calling it (I've never been sure what to call it), partly for heat transfer's sake (sound transfer too though I'm sure, whatever), partly for utility's sake (I'd love to be able to just tap in trim nails and hang things as needed for example), partly for the spaciosness (I'm 6' 4" and want a compact home for heat efficiency's sake), partly because I think structural transparency is useful and homey, and partly because I'm interested in omitting materials (like ceiling drywall) and other frills wherever possible or reasonable to save on expenses. Only problem is I haven't been sure how to pursue a floor like this without doing full timber frame or something which might be (likely) out of the budget unless I do a lot of self assembly. I've been considering that, but that's a whole other can of worms probably not for this forum. Starting next weekend though, I am meeting with several generally conventional home builders to start getting ballpark bids on stick frame variations to see how small we have to ultimately build to stay in budget. After that I can really start nailing down the design. Is "plank on beam" a known or at all common ceiling/floor system for modern stick framing do you know?

I'd also be curious to know a bit more about your experience with the radiant floor and heating with RMH in tandem, since that may very well be my final scenario as well. Since it's a new build on slab, and everybody and their brother is telling me I would be reaaaaal stupid not to at least put the radiant floor heat tubes in, I have been leaning the way or radiant floor with respect to the backup/conventional heating system that would in theory only really get used in the event of winter travel or illness etc. local plumber just has an on demand electric boiler he says, and buys off peak electric for it or something. Seems like maybe the ticket for very occasional use and minimizing standby losses but I've not decided. One question that's been bother me (not that NOT having radiant floors would fix it) is if I'm living on a finished concrete slab on the main level, with radian't floor option, but don't actually (rarely) USE it (that being the goal) is it unreasonable to expect a RMH or wood stove to be able to prevent the slab from constantly feeling cold as ice? Or am I going to find myself running it just to keep the ankles warm? If thats the case then maybe I put down an overlay with less heat transfer, but again, I'm trying to keep materials to a minimum wherever I can. I'll likely just get some nice moccasins, maybe a few thick rugs too, and compression mats at sink etc. I'll be insulating below the slab of course. Stove folks have told me that radiant floor and stoves are a great combo because the floor is generally slow to tackle dynamic temps swings, and thats where the stove can step in. But in my case, I really just don't want to run the conventional system, whatever it happens to be, outside absence or illness. Still trying to figure out what the best system to rarely use is haha. Some have just suggested regular old cheap electric baseboard or wall units, but if I already have the floor tubes in.... and if the baseboards encroach on space and look stupid.... tough call for me still. Electric radiant floor? How bad an idea is that?

Thanks for clearing up the heat source close to cold surface dynamic being a pursuit of comfort, not efficiency. I thought I read somewhere though that radiant baseboard below a bay of windows for exmaple actually works to counteract heat loss at those windows. Idk, seems to me it would just more readily send that hard earned heat out the window to outers space.

The details on the rocket mass setup seem helpful, I'll refer to those ideas if/when I settle on doing rocket mass. Thanks.

Have tested the co detector. Maybe a leak in chimney but doubtful, its a straight vertical run

Mike, it could be a consequence of ash inhalation while loading I suppose. I might explain why wife has no problem, I'm the one messing with it, and do load more often than is typical, doing many half loads rather than a full. But it doesn't explain the alms instant partial relief when departing from the stove room.

Mike I haven't considered a tall masonry heater mainly because I don't think I have the budget to hire a mason. I expect a true masonry heater to be out of budget unfortunately, given prices I've heard quoted. I've seen exterior photos of that cordwood house you mention, but not the interior or its heater. Does sound a little gigantic for my application. Thanks for the idea though.