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| Shade is everything |
We have been off grid on an old California ranch for a few years now. The ranch itself is an original cattle ranch and has always been off grid.
Here are 5 tips we have found that work to make your off grid living easier...
1. Set up your home to optimize inside and outside living based on the season.
It is clear that the original builders of our ranch figured out how to have a nice shade area (that catches the breezes in the summer) on the cool north side of the house and windows in the winter that catch the sun and heat on the Southwest side..... But they were also clever enough to be sure that those south west windows could be shaded the summer and that upstairs doors/and windows could funnel the hot air out and pull in the cooler evening air.
So orientation of your building is everything. We are working on a new little caretakers unit. It is similar to this but built with 3 prefab little kit sheds. It has a shade awing for summer and the upper windows open to let the heat escape. We did it with 6 inch walls so it can be super insulated and planted shade trees that cool things in the summer and drop their leaves in the winter. The shell on a slab was less than 13K. for 12X 30. We backed it up to a pump house that already had water hookups and solar so we just had to plumb them through the wall and run a line to our septic.
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| Depending on your zoning you can hook several little pre made sheds together |
2, Figure out the whole Heating and Cooling thing and be done with it.
We have a big wood stove in the old main house and small propane heaters in some of the smaller rooms. We super insulated everything and used reflectix in the attic rafters. For summer we run a small window airconditioner on the cool side of the house in ONE room that we can retreat to and made our TV room. This is 600 watts and it runs off of solar panels. We have a battery bank that provides the power that is needed when the condenser kicks on and off. We just let it run all day on low while the sun is out... and the insulation does the rest.
We also have an old working cuppola on our house... we were skeptical of it when we first saw it because it needed repair. But after a couple of hot summers we get it. We have now rigged a little solar fan in it and when we open the cuppola windows in the evenging the house VENTS. The first year we didn't even have the fan and it worked great. The trick is to NOT open the upper most window until the evening outside temp is 76... then it works like a funnel bringing in the cooler temps and venting out the hot temps.
We also have an old working cuppola on our house... we were skeptical of it when we first saw it because it needed repair. But after a couple of hot summers we get it. We have now rigged a little solar fan in it and when we open the cuppola windows in the evenging the house VENTS. The first year we didn't even have the fan and it worked great. The trick is to NOT open the upper most window until the evening outside temp is 76... then it works like a funnel bringing in the cooler temps and venting out the hot temps.
3. Build a BIG shade room for living and gardening.
Gardens need a little break from the hot sun where we are... and we find a good shade house does the trick as well as providing a pleasant place to work. Our house has a large old pergola on one side made from old timber and limbs.
Remember everything always feels bigger if you have a high roof and air flow is better. Bigger is always better and that lets us train flowering vines and grapes up the polls and and allows beams that support shade cloth.
Again.. we are in a hot climate so we use a lot of green bushes and flowering trees to keep us cool and to be green and pretty. We are on a solar well so we have lots of water and everything is on auto timers. We have just enough pressure and gravity flow to water a small lawn and the pastures that we can see from the porches... makes everything 'feel' cooler when it is green.
5. If you are building... Go tall and build outdoor rooms inside of courtyards
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| Our old architecture makes the bones for the outdoor garden room |
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| this isn't our Garden Room... but we have adobe walls and a perfect place for an outdoor fireplce so this is what we are aiming for |
Remember everything always feels bigger if you have a high roof and air flow is better. Bigger is always better and that lets us train flowering vines and grapes up the polls and and allows beams that support shade cloth.
Again.. we are in a hot climate so we use a lot of green bushes and flowering trees to keep us cool and to be green and pretty. We are on a solar well so we have lots of water and everything is on auto timers. We have just enough pressure and gravity flow to water a small lawn and the pastures that we can see from the porches... makes everything 'feel' cooler when it is green.
4. Put your RV to work for 'facilities'.
We had friends who built a small pole barn and then used greenhouse double wall pastic for the roof (because the connecting strips that connect the panels screw into the beams and hold everything in place pre engineered and it had a great roof cap). They started out parking their rv next to it.. but then eventually ended up with something similar to this with little sheds, and their RV at one end essentially the kitchen and bathroom. They have the problem of it always being TWO warm so solar fans have been the trick.
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| Pole Barn types of structures make great starting points |
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| Another version |
Courtyards and entrances are the easiest and cheapest things to build... And when you step through one you have an immediate feeling of suprise and something wonderful. You can make them with pallets and waddle if you are really cheap.. or stretch chicken wire over them and learn how to make a stucco wall.. we have a couple of beautiful old stucco walls that are stucco on old cinder blocks that we salvaged. You can stick chicken wire on anything.. and stucco/cement with polymers will stick in any shape. We made molds for 'edges from plastic coke bottles and just worked with it till it formed up... then add stucco paint. Anyone can stucco over ANYTHING using the stuff right out of the can... this is our go to material over scrap/salvage wood.
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| Courtyards are easy.. and gates even easier |
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| Salvage upcycling is a great place to start |
The other EASY trick? Go tall. Everything always works if it is a little taller than expected.. a doorway, windows, a roof or a wall.
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| This is a multi million dollar home. But a pole barn with salvage windows and faux painted floor can get the look |
Have fun, Survival Chic
