Work has been slow and I’m at this awkward period where I am mentally checked out of my current location but it is too early to begin packing things for my move. So I’ve been spending a lot of time learning about various ecological topics related to homes. If you recall from earlier posts (see
here), my prototypical use case is a 100+ year old rowhome in a mid-Atlantic US city. There is an abundance of this housing stock and they allow for owning of a single family home even in an extremely dense area. I’m aiming for a neighborhood that is still rough around the edges, but is perhaps next to or in the vicinity of recently gentrified neighborhoods with desirable amenities.
Here is a typical example of a layout (although there are many variations but the shell is similar). This one is about $50k overpriced by my estimates, which is why you see no one has bought it. You can click around on street view to get a feel for the housing stock in the area:
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandho ... 3933142844
That unit is a corner one which makes it a little uncommon and the lot is small with an addition built out the back at some point, but nevertheless it shows the style. Ideally, I’d find one with a bigger back yard and perhaps in more decrepit shape (there is an abundance of those in the city as well). There are a lot of properties that flippers won’t touch do to design quirks, but I actually would prefer a shell of a property that I can purchase cheap and add exactly the modifications I want. South facing would also be ideal so that I can take advantage of passive solar in the living room and front bedroom with those large windows. The idea is I would purchase this and then live in one bedroom myself, while either renting out or some kind of work exchange with the other two bedrooms so I can live with eco-minded people and get the benefits of community and economies of scale.
I’m just going to go down the list of my ideas based on particular areas within the house.
Front outside
As you can see, on these houses there is a few square footage of space that exists from one side of the stairs to the other side of the house, along the front of the windows. Some houses even have a porch in this space. This is actually valuable space because it is south facing and also is visible from the street so it has a lasting impression in how a passerby experiences the space. I got the idea from Brad Lancaster’s book for a sparse trellis to grow some kind of deciduous vines on that will shade and provide privacy in the summer, but not block any sun in the winter (see
here). I further expanded on this idea when I came across folks that have made greenhouses out of cowpanels and clear plastic. So, the idea would be to use pallets and cow panels to build a lean-to greenhouse structure, kind of like one of
these if you split it in half because it will be against the front wall of the house. In winter months, the greenhouse can be used to start seedlings and for less cold hardy plants (almond tree?). The plastic will be able to roll up and stow for summer months when I will plant climbing vines to cover the trellis. This also provides some year-round privacy and slight noise reduction from traffic/pedestrians walking by while one is in the living room. Maybe if I can get the neighbor onboard I’d also do an arbor trellis arch that spans over both of our doorways/steps to provide further aesthetic appeal.
A street tree or rain garden are also a possibility in front of the house (funded by the city), but a lot depends on the width of the sidewalk and how far back the house is set from the street. I’d add window boxes to at least the 2nd story windows to add more growing space and improve street appeal. Retractable awnings would provide shielding against summer sun.
Ground floor (kitchen and living room)
These houses traditionally have vestibules, which allow for a spot to put shoes and coats while also limiting drafts when someone opens the front door. I like the Japanese style of having guests remove shoes and wearing slippers/sandals inside.
The ground floor will be an open floor plan with the living room towards the front and the kitchen towards the back. I’d like to install a masonry heater as a centerpiece dividing the two spaces and possibly vented through the original masonry chimney. This will almost certainly require some structural reinforcement in the form of support beams built up from the basement. The masonry heater is woodburning but differs from a woodstove in that it heats very slowly and consistently over a long period due to the large amount of mass. It burns extremely cleanly because the actual burn time is so short and hot. Masonry heaters can also burn softwoods just as efficiently. Some designs allow for a cooktop and oven as well, so I’d consider adding those to use in the winter time for cooking, but I’d have to figure out the exhaust fan/ventilation piece (see
here for possible design). These are legal under the local code. Custom design plans online cost about $500 and probably tack on another $1-2k for materials. I’d do the labor myself or with the help of friends because professional design and installation is generally in the $10k range, which is not economical. The entire house would be equipped with insulated indoor shutters at each window, which can be closed at sunset in winter months to further improve insulation.
In the living room, I’d like to have a few benches or couches and table arranged in a circle. Ideally no television, but perhaps an exception will be made. I think it would be cool to have furniture that is adaptable to the seasons, so maybe something like breathable airy furniture in the summer and then large pads/cushions to add to the furniture for more thermal mass in the winter. The idea is the living room is the hangout space during winter or inclimate weather. A microgreens shelf might also be tucked in the corner.
I like Alphaville’s idea of making a kitchen structured more like a commercial kitchen rather than having a bunch of expensive cabinets. I already use some metal shelves that I like, I’d add a large double sink built into stainless steel counter, another stainless steel work station with wheels, and then a pegboard wall to hang all sorts of kitchen implements (like Julia Child’s wall). I think most of this can be scored used from restaurant supply stores or other sources. I also would add a dish drying and storage rack above the sinks (see
here) to obviate the need for a dishwasher. There would also be a large table for additional work space and community dining. Perhaps I’d also put the washing machine in the kitchen to allow for easier channeling of gray water to a rain garden in the backyard. Sink gray water would follow a similar path, with a simple 3 way switch that allows one to drain to the sewer if needed.
Stove will be a propane camping stove that is portable with the propane line running into tanks in the backyard. In the summer this can be used to run on biogas (more on that later). Fridge is either a deep freezer to fridge conversion that you commonly see among off grid houses, or even some super insulated coolers that use large block ice. I plan on having a deep freezer in the basement to store things over the long term, so a part of me wonders if it makes more sense to freeze large block ice in it and then just load those once a week into two super-insulated coolers (one for drinks/non-perishables, one for perishables). In the winter months the basement freezer can be unplugged and loaded with block ice that is frozen outside on a similar schedule. I got the idea from RetroSuburbia and this blog about boating:
https://theboatgalley.com/ice-box-cooler-food-storage/
Basement
Nowadays, concrete unfinished basements are utilized for storage and large appliances. However, I plan on making mine more productive. In the back northeast corner I may install a root cellar, but that is going to depend on the necessity of storing a lot of root vegetables. If we are producing a ton of sweet potatoes and potatoes it might be necessary. The idea is essentially to build a small sealed off room in a corner (vapor barrier and lots of insulation) with ventilation in the window and then go from there. I might even go high tech and add a humidity and temperature sensor to operate the vent and maybe some kind of mister or humidifier (not technically off grid, but it would still be possible to easily manually manage temperature and humidity if power ever went out). The idea is you want it to stay humid and between 32 and 40 degrees so that you can store vegetables harvested in late Fall through winter until Spring.
The rest of the northern wall is going to house 500-1000 gallons of rainwater cisterns. The roof tilts backwards so this is already where existing gutters are, and the northern end should stay cool. Outdoor cistern is a non-starter due to winter below freezing temps. The challenge will be fitting the tanks in the basement, although I see on the market that there are a few plastic tanks designed in pieces that can fit through doorways. I think it is legal to use this as potable water in many places since it is quite similar to well water, provided I run it through a UV filter and test it for pollutants. I’d follow standard best practices for rain water harvesting. Electric pump means that if power goes out I don’t have water, but with spigots on the side it is pretty easy to fill buckets and haul them upstairs in that rare circumstance. I’ll also have a Berkey filter in the kitchen to add one more level of filtration for drinking water and as a backup in case of emergencies.
I save some space in the basement by not needing major appliances. I plan on using a tankless water heater with extremely efficient water fixtures, so it can be small. No boiler, water heater tank, or furnace needed. No ducting needed (many of the houses do not have it anyway). Washing machine located on main floor and no dryer needed. The other side of the basement will contain a small workshop, perhaps with work bench and small power tools. This is where a lot of the messy DIY work can happen if tools are required. Somewhere in the basement will also be the quail cage. The basement maintains a moderate temperature year around and is unfinished so it makes the most sense to house the quail there. Odors shouldn’t be an issue to the rest of the house as long as the poop tray is cleaned regularly. They’d have 12 hours of light on a timer to keep them laying regularly through all seasons and they shouldn’t have the stress of weather extremes and predators in the basement like they would if they were outside.
2nd floor (bedrooms and bathroom)
The 2nd floor typically houses a bathroom and 3 small bedrooms. I’d probably just install a low flow toilet due to code restrictions and guests, but perhaps the residents will still utilize a compost toilet bucket system. It seems that a NSF certified compost toilet is actually within code to install, but they are ~$2k and from reviews I’ve read don’t function very well. I’d like the same option to route gray water from sink and shower to the backyard or sewer line depending on the season like in the kitchen.
Cooling on the 2nd floor may be an issue, although I’m trying to design the house to mitigate that. If it becomes a recurring issue, I could install a ductless minisplit AC that has ventilation into each bedroom, but I will probably hold off on that and see how far I can get with just passive strategies and air flow. Since I’ll have roommates as well, I’m sure they will have an opinion about such things (but of course I’m going to screen for eco-minded people who understand house expectations and purpose).
Roof deck
The big money-maker (and money-drainer?) is the roof deck and garden. These are quite common in the region and not something one can DIY. Pilot houses cost around $20k and I’m guessing it’s going to be another $5-10k to reinforce the roof and add the green structure. However, in this region it is quite typical that these roof decks pay for themselves by increasing property values. I envision adding a whole house fan to the top of the pilot house, which will be the highest point of the building. The primary cooling strategy in the summer will be to open the windows on the bottom floor and run the fan to draw in cool air at night. The open staircases should act as a thermal chimney. In the morning, windows close and remain closed all day. With enough insulation and a minimum of heat generating appliances/activities indoors, it may be possible to keep the house cool the entire summer this way. Average overnight lows in summer months range from 64-70 degrees. It might even be possible to rig a food dehydrating rack under the whole house fan.
The possibilities of the roof garden are likely limited by what the structure can support with reinforcements. If it’s not a ton of weight, then I’m planning on covering the whole roof in some kind of ground cover that requires little maintenance. I will then add dwarf fruit trees in containers on the borders of the garden to cut down wind and perhaps some raised bed/tables that grow shallow rooted crops down the middle (again depending on weight limits). There will also be a couple beehives. If the structure can support more weight than I can possibly integrate some intensive tuber production as outlined in my potato bucket prototypes.
Irrigation will be taken care of by a separate drum on the roof that captures run off from the roof cover or pilot house. This eliminates the need to run water pipes all the way from the basement up to the roof, which wouldn’t make sense since I don’t need to water plants with potable water.
The “deck” portion of the garden is the play and processing space. I’d like to have a roof cover over the northern section to allow room for a table and grill. This allows us to entertain guests, enjoy the garden, and provides space for processing. It also provides a space for an outdoor kitchen to cook without generating heat in the summer. The roof cover means it is also usable during rainy conditions.
Solar panels are a consideration. I think some states offer tax and other incentives to the point that it is possible to put a giant solar array on the roof and sell back the excess to the power company. If that is economical at the time, I may consider installing PV panels on pilot house and deck area roof cover. The one thing I’m not sure about is the setup of these systems in the event of a power outage. Like if I normally am selling energy back to the grid, and the grid goes down, can I just unplug something and plug it into my own charge controller? Obviously not having a battery bank in this situation would mean I’m limited to running stuff only during sunny hours, but that alone would be enough to run my freezer, water pump, water heater, and charge devices during those hours. Heat is not a concern since I’d be running off of firewood.
Backyard
Backyard possibilities are limited by space and north-facing direction. With a large backyard and appropriate zoning permissions, I could construct a goat shelter and pen for 2 Nigerian dwarfs, which would give the house access to milk protein created onsite. I’ve already written about those possibilities elsewhere. I’d make use of various shade loving berries in the backyard to provide privacy and more food. I’d also like some kind of rain garden that grows native habitat for pollinators, which is also where the gray water would drain to. Without goats, this might scale up to a small concrete pond complete with multiple levels and reeds to filter things.
The other purpose of the backyard is going to be storage. There are certain things I don’t want to store in the house, so I’ll need space and structure for a cord of firewood, a couple of 20 lb propane tanks, an IBC tank biogas digester, and various sealed 55 gallon drums of compost (especially if compost toilet is being used). The biogas digester would only be used during warm months for cooking fuel and fed with garden waste, animal manure, and/or food scraps from the household and neighborhood. No compressed biogas so the gas would just live in one of those large bladders, probably tied to the back wall of the house. Cooking in cooler months would use propane or masonry stove.
Exit Strategies
There are risks to such an endeavor, but I’ve tried to select retrofits that can be easily reversed or will increase property values. For example, if I ever wanted to sell the house, the cisterns and additional plumbing could easily be removed, the gas/oil baseboard heating could be reconnected, and a somewhat normal kitchen could be retrofitted. The roofdeck is still functional even as just an entertainment space without all of the fruit trees. The backyard structures can also be removed relatively easily.
I plan on putting a 5-7 year lifespan on the project, but if I decide to abandon ship I could rent out the bedrooms individually or the entire house to a family. I could also sell the house, which depending on the neighborhood should at least break even. If gentrification happens then property values will likely go through the roof. If it doesn’t happen, I already added a lot of value to a house that was likely barely livable before.
Edit: Also, to clarify it makes a lot of sense for me to live this particular area from a web of goals perspective. I intend to spend 4-6 hours of my day working towards other projects completely unrelated to the house, but this does seem to make a lot of sense from a housing perspective.