Solar energy house
Is it possible to put up a small solar house without an access road, grid electricity and tap water into a meadow in the forest? Done by one person? Lets find out.
So, here is the startup picture, taken in February 2017. The area, which is a small meadow inside a forest with around 12'000 m2, is located one kilometer from the sea, about 60 kilometers or an hour drive from the capital of Estonia, and about 30 km from my house where I live. In the area there are deers, wild pigs, lynxs, foxes and wolves hanging around there. There is silence. There are no neigbours, no road noise. Okay, to be honest, during spring and autumn the sky and trees were full of different birds, who travel from Egypt to Sweden/Norway etc. The house will be built behind those wild apple trees.
As I work full-time from Mon-Fri, then only free days to build something is on the weekends. And as the sun rises from 9AM and sets at 3PM, then there is around 6 hours of building time.
I opened ArchiCad and draw the basic outlook of the small house. The main idea of the small house was to see nature as close as possible, so one wall was made from glass. It was not planned for everyday use, just for some spa-experience of seeing wildlife in the forest. It is said Estonia has 9 months of good skiing weather, and 3 months of not so good, so having a warm house around you while sitting in the woods would be a good investment.
The total cost of 5'000 EUR would consist:
- basement
- wood
- insulation 150mm wool + 50mm polystyrene
- windows and door
- chimney + fireplace
- solar panels + battery
- terrace
The first thing that arrived was... The fireplace inside the trailer. Strange where it all started. At this point I am not even the owner of this place, there are a couple of days still to go for the deal.
Here are the tools. Now I own this land. It is February 17th. As there is no electricity, then Husqvarna 357XP will do the main job of cutting wood. Yoghurt for me, gas and oil for the chainsaw.
On 17th February 2017, the house arrived on the truck. Everything had to put now altogether.
As the truck could not get nearer than 200 meters to the construction site because of no road, then another methods were used to carry the materials to the spot.
This is the end of day one, on 17th February. Tractor helped with the foundation job. Foundation beams were leveled.
Day 2. Walls are up. 5x15cm roof trusses are put in position.
Without electricity I carried UPS with me, so I could charge the drill.
Heavy 4x4 use, to carry lighter materials on a trailer to the spot. There was only mud.
Day 3. Roof is on. Winter storm is coming with heavy snow and gusts. I tried to put polystyrene boards into the walls, but wind gusts more than 20 meters per second took them all away.
Day 5. March has appeared meanwhile. And so did the windows.
And the wild door appeared. Well you can go in from hole next to the door.
Day 6. Front windows are set. And winter was back.
Day 7. Its March 12th here. Back window appeared.
Side window is also okay. Door can be locked from now on. As there isnt any floor, then still there are multiple entrances.
Roof is not plastic cover anymore. Water drops cannot enter.
Look, there is our national flag now on the site.
Day 10. March 19th. Almost looking like a house now.
But the roads started to melt with the spring.
All ice leftovers went away.
Interior insulation is almost finished. No wind anymore inside. Its time for wool.
Here is the creation of the heater. Its simple - air is pumped through the pipes, that will be colored black. Solar panels for the air vent can be seen on the bottom. Logic is also simple - sun shines, air is being pumped. No sun, no vent.
Heater is finished. Yes it produces a lot of heat. Nice to arrive into a warm house in the evening, and theres no need to heat it.
Outside looks even more like a house. Time for color!
Interior has some wool.
Wow. There is light and I do not pay for it. 12V bulb.
Mid-April. Time to start with the terrace.
No filter.
Coloring the house is finished. Mid-April.
Solar lights.
Outside is almost done. A lot of colors.
A spider, not so many colors.
Interior upgrades.
16th April. Start of the chimney construction.
In the end of the April the air heater shows pretty mad incoming temperatures, so it needed some intelligence here.
Tractor made a dwell and a pond and tried to get rid of a huge stone. Nope, did not succeed with last one.
So we made a pond around it. Water from my own dwell with my own electricity.
Spring hit us with huge waters.
And spring hit us with lot of amps coming from solar panels. It is a 20A max controller, and now it produces 19.2A. Close call.
Some outdoor work.
Oops! Winter is back for a second in April 29th.
A visitor came with the snow.
I love strawberries. I put them in front of the house.
Mad team selfies.
In the night the outlook is awesome.
20th May. There is fire in the fireplace inside and fire in the fireplace outside.
The fireplace was meant to heat 150 square meters, so putting two matches inside already give enough heating.
A wild tower appeared near one pond.
Another family moved in near to us.
Spring. Green is taking over.
May. Interior is finished.
And so is the exterior.
During winter it looked like this:
Now its time for level two - addon to the house.
And there is also a sauna, an outdoor kitchen, a road and a pond upcoming. Lets go.
So, here is the startup picture, taken in February 2017. The area, which is a small meadow inside a forest with around 12'000 m2, is located one kilometer from the sea, about 60 kilometers or an hour drive from the capital of Estonia, and about 30 km from my house where I live. In the area there are deers, wild pigs, lynxs, foxes and wolves hanging around there. There is silence. There are no neigbours, no road noise. Okay, to be honest, during spring and autumn the sky and trees were full of different birds, who travel from Egypt to Sweden/Norway etc. The house will be built behind those wild apple trees.
As I work full-time from Mon-Fri, then only free days to build something is on the weekends. And as the sun rises from 9AM and sets at 3PM, then there is around 6 hours of building time.
I opened ArchiCad and draw the basic outlook of the small house. The main idea of the small house was to see nature as close as possible, so one wall was made from glass. It was not planned for everyday use, just for some spa-experience of seeing wildlife in the forest. It is said Estonia has 9 months of good skiing weather, and 3 months of not so good, so having a warm house around you while sitting in the woods would be a good investment.
The total cost of 5'000 EUR would consist:
- basement
- wood
- insulation 150mm wool + 50mm polystyrene
- windows and door
- chimney + fireplace
- solar panels + battery
- terrace
The first thing that arrived was... The fireplace inside the trailer. Strange where it all started. At this point I am not even the owner of this place, there are a couple of days still to go for the deal.
Here are the tools. Now I own this land. It is February 17th. As there is no electricity, then Husqvarna 357XP will do the main job of cutting wood. Yoghurt for me, gas and oil for the chainsaw.
On 17th February 2017, the house arrived on the truck. Everything had to put now altogether.
As the truck could not get nearer than 200 meters to the construction site because of no road, then another methods were used to carry the materials to the spot.
This is the end of day one, on 17th February. Tractor helped with the foundation job. Foundation beams were leveled.
Day 2. Walls are up. 5x15cm roof trusses are put in position.
Without electricity I carried UPS with me, so I could charge the drill.
Heavy 4x4 use, to carry lighter materials on a trailer to the spot. There was only mud.
Day 5. March has appeared meanwhile. And so did the windows.
And the wild door appeared. Well you can go in from hole next to the door.
Day 6. Front windows are set. And winter was back.
Day 7. Its March 12th here. Back window appeared.
Side window is also okay. Door can be locked from now on. As there isnt any floor, then still there are multiple entrances.
Roof is not plastic cover anymore. Water drops cannot enter.
Look, there is our national flag now on the site.
Day 10. March 19th. Almost looking like a house now.
But the roads started to melt with the spring.
All ice leftovers went away.
Interior insulation is almost finished. No wind anymore inside. Its time for wool.
Here is the creation of the heater. Its simple - air is pumped through the pipes, that will be colored black. Solar panels for the air vent can be seen on the bottom. Logic is also simple - sun shines, air is being pumped. No sun, no vent.
Heater is finished. Yes it produces a lot of heat. Nice to arrive into a warm house in the evening, and theres no need to heat it.
Outside looks even more like a house. Time for color!
Interior has some wool.
April 1st. Time for big solar panels. 2 x 300W panels + 12V 119Ah battery + 3 kW inverter for 220V applications.
Mid-April. Time to start with the terrace.
No filter.
Coloring the house is finished. Mid-April.
Solar lights.
Outside is almost done. A lot of colors.
A spider, not so many colors.
Interior upgrades.
16th April. Start of the chimney construction.
In the end of the April the air heater shows pretty mad incoming temperatures, so it needed some intelligence here.
Tractor made a dwell and a pond and tried to get rid of a huge stone. Nope, did not succeed with last one.
So we made a pond around it. Water from my own dwell with my own electricity.
Spring hit us with huge waters.
And spring hit us with lot of amps coming from solar panels. It is a 20A max controller, and now it produces 19.2A. Close call.
Some outdoor work.
Oops! Winter is back for a second in April 29th.
A visitor came with the snow.
I love strawberries. I put them in front of the house.
Mad team selfies.
In the night the outlook is awesome.
20th May. There is fire in the fireplace inside and fire in the fireplace outside.
The fireplace was meant to heat 150 square meters, so putting two matches inside already give enough heating.
A wild tower appeared near one pond.
Another family moved in near to us.
Spring. Green is taking over.
May. Interior is finished.
And so is the exterior.
During winter it looked like this:
Now its time for level two - addon to the house.
And there is also a sauna, an outdoor kitchen, a road and a pond upcoming. Lets go.
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