My property is on a hill, so I'm thinking it'll work. But I will be doing all the checks before building. There are a few underground homes in LA, but they're further north than my property.

 Oehler has plans for flat land underground homes, but I haven't ordered his DVDs yet. He says they've got info that he didn't have when he wrote the book.

love, Valerie 

You lucky dog.  When I first started looking into building a place for my wife and I, (in the not-so-distant future), I wanted an underground house bad.  the water table is too low where I am looking for land, around Henderson/Parks area, right on the Basin.

"If you follow the advice of the average person, you will undoubtedly become average"

Why not build the "underground" home above ground? Use Oehler's PSP methods then berm earth over the whole thing... I guess you'd have to build the area up first though. I'm obviously no expert...just sold on not paying an electric bill for a/c.

I have thought about that, but it would take soooo much dirt.  I have a friend who raised his yard about 1 inch, at 10 truckloads of dirt at $50.00 a truck. Not too bad, but I can't afford the $50000 to raise it 10inches then pile another 90 on top.

I am looking into underground ventilation systems right now. Might work, and be cheaper.  I am also planning on growing melliton vines over the roof to cool the house. Might try and build under a big old oak too, if possible.

"If you follow the advice of the average person, you will undoubtedly become average"

I didn't think about purchasing the dirt. I plan on digging a pond and using that dirt to cover the house. Maybe I'll purchase a small backhoe and resell when I'm done. I don't know...still working it all out. And my house will be less than 500 square feet, so it's not like I'll have to cover a family-sized home.

My home now is shaded by a huge old oak tree. That combined with the cellulose insulation I had blown into the attic 20 years ago, means I have the lowest utility bills on the block. It's never gotten as high as $100 a month, even in our killer summers. 

Have you checked into cordwood? Rob and Jaki Roy have a site about their home, Earthwood. I've drooled over that building style for 20 years. I picked up my cordwood book a few weeks ago and it literally fell apart in my hands. Guess I should have worn a bib, huh? :DR

I've looked into it, but after talking with Huby7/Curt here on ishthink, I don't think it would be viable. He told me you have to dig a 12 inch foundation, which wouldn't fly, either.  TH eojnly thing I know for sure after all the research is that swampland is not exactly the easiest to build on.

I am thinking of just making 2 foot thick concrete walls. That should keep it cool.  Plus with shading and proper sun alignment, it should be all right.

"If you follow the advice of the average person, you will undoubtedly become average"

In your climate, Rory, you might want to look more into tropical house styles, which usually feature light materials and lots of shade provided by trees and vines, with cooling from attached shade houses and underground tunnels.   

Concrete isn't sustainable, and there are no stones in southern Louisiana that I know of, so building a stone home with less concrete wouldn't be economical. I had considered a concrete home at one point too, until I researched and found out it wasn't so good for the planet.

I'm stumped. Maybe the cooling tubes inside the slab? I haven't done a lot of research on that, so no idea.

I remember reading years ago about someone building several really tall towers onto their home and all of the hot air would rise into the towers. It was in the south, but my memory fails me as to where.

Valerie wrote: Have you checked into cordwood? Rob and Jaki Roy have a site about their home, Earthwood. I've drooled over that building style for 20 years. I picked up my cordwood book a few weeks ago and it literally fell apart in my hands. Guess I should have worn a bib, huh? :DR

Welcome to IshThink, Valerie. I think you're doing some amazing work.

I'm sure you already know this, but Rob Roy has written extensively about underground houses. 

Secondly, we are building a cordwood home on our 32 acres and have had some help from Rob Roy via telephone. We usually pay him for a half-hours worth of advice.  His advice has saved us from catastrophe a few times. It's really nice to be able to ask him questions because there just isn't anybody with any building experience around here that's had experience with cordwood and earth roofs.  I'm telling you this just to let you know that as you start building, and if you run into problems, there is always the option to get a hold of Rob through telephone.

Lastly, the folks over at daycreek.com have helped us out a lot, too.

Good luck on your project.

Curt

No idea why I missed this, Curt. Thank you.

I just checked out your site on the progress of the cordwood home. Amazing, and it's giving me the bug to build with cordwood again. 

And...Hurricane Rita dropped two enormous cedar trees that my grandfather planted over 100 years ago. I mean huge.. I can't reach halfway around either. If that wasn't the gods telling me to build a cordwood home.... Time to get a chainsaw.

Dear Valerie,

You wrote: "No idea why I missed this, Curt. Thank you."

Your welcome!

You wrote: "I just checked out your site on the progress of the cordwood home. Amazing, and it's giving me the bug to build with cordwood again."

That's cool. We will be posting some more updated pictures soon. Presently we are putting in long hours laying up the cordwood. We are 3/4's of the way done!

You wrote: "And...Hurricane Rita dropped two enormous cedar trees that my grandfather planted over 100 years ago. I mean huge.. I can't reach halfway around either. If that wasn't the gods telling me to build a cordwood home.... Time to get a chainsaw."

Cedar is one of the best woods to work with.  We are using about 25% cedar in our walls.

Good luck,

Curt 

Rory, I presume you mean you that the water table is high near you (that is close to the surface).

Concrete ain't cheap or easy to haul, either. And it's curing/setting is a substantial source of greenhouse gas...

Tunneling anything underground in swampland is likely asking for trouble - leaks, infiltration, mold, subsidence, collapse, etc...

-Jim

Concrete ain't cheap or easy to haul, either. And it's curing/setting is a substantial source of greenhouse gas...

I believe it is the manufacture of cement that creates the greenhouse gas.  Limestone plus sand plus lots of heat equals calcium silicate plus carbon dioxide.  The curing/setting is just calcium silicate plus water equals hydrated calcium silicate plus heat, no carbon dioxide involved.

Oops on me. I knew it was bad news, anyhoo.  That's what I get for skipping EVERY chemistry class...

-Jim

I agree that he's a dick, but I have no desire to date him. He was also fairly blunt in personal email. I'm incensed that he doesn't update his book but rather suggests strongly that you purchase his $100 set of DVDs to know what you should and shouldn't do before you attempt to build. He's sold a million books with unworkable ideas - why not update????  I sense greed.

I've also rethought my idea to build underground...mainly because of the high humidity here. The other reason is for the building code thing. People with unknown-to-me occupations will be visiting to purchase fruits, nuts and veggies, so I need to avoid any problems if possible. Maybe some day, but not in southern Louisiana.

speaking of officials... 
target="_blank">