Meeting with the Water Well Driller & More Digging

We met again with Derek Kuester of Kuester Well Drilling. Derek is a super nice guy with an exuberance for life. He's a lot of fun to talk with. He and Brent located the path in from the driveway to the well site for his drilling rig today. We also filled out the permit paperwork. It will take 1-2 weeks for the permitting to go through and then he'll let us know where we fit into his schedule. On the suggestion of a friend, we opted for requesting a domestic and livestock use permit. We don't anticipate having livestock, but someone in the future might. It's easier to get it on the front end than to try and request it added later. Now, we may try our hand with chickens and rabbits again, so if they are considered livestock, we'll be covered. The permit will give us 1 acre-foot per year of water. Way more than we'll need.

After Derek left, we got back into the digging for our yurt site. We were able to get all of the A and B horizons cleared off and are down to the clay layer now. We were pretty tired and called it good for the day. About 4.5 cubic yards moved according to Brent's estimate. The site is not level, so the next step is digging down mostly on the uphill side and seeing if we can reach level before bedrock – not sure which will happen first. We also have the option of building up the lower end to help reach level rather than digging down the upper end to reach level. We shall see how it comes out.

Oh, our color swatches came for the yurt. I think we'll be going with an earthy blue teal for the wall and a tan roof. When I mentioned this to Fortress Yurts, I was told this is a gorgeous combination and one of their favorites. We plan to make our order next week.

Another aside is that Brent built a double sized bi-fold futon frame a couple of days ago. I will be ordering a chem free futon mattress (most likely wool and cotton combination) for the frame and this will be our bed and couch for the yurt. Need to get that order made this next week too!

Parcel News & Power Solutions

We did successfully close on the property this past Wednesday. Yesterday we went out and put in stakes and string outlining our 20 ft yurt site. Today we went out and removed some trees and raked the site clean of debris and duff. 

Then, we began digging. Brent, after we'd dug maybe 10 minutes, had the fortunate insight to suggest we ought to separate our soil layers as we dug. So, we began digging just the top layer (B horizon for soil people) off and making a pile of it and then there will be another pile for the clay (the next layer). After about 2.5 hrs of this, we called a break to meet with our solar power person: Jen Cooper of Cooper Power Solutions LLC.

Jen was great. She is very knowledgeable and excited about our project. She likes that we don't need education in how to live off-grid as we've already been there, done that. It's easier for her. We liked her enthusiasm and knowledge. She will be pricing out a 24v and a 48v system for us. Sounds like the plan is to go ahead and install what we'd need for the house now, rather than building an expandable system. This is the better way to go for battery life/health. It isn't recommended to add new batteries to old ones as it is a detriment to the life span of the new batteries.

So, 24v or 48v? We had a 24v system in Maine. We had 8 batteries. If that same system had been set up as a 48v system, we would have had 16 batteries. Batteries are VERY expensive. That would make a 48v system seem the wrong choice, right? Well, a 48v system doesn't have the voltage dive way down if you have several things draw at one time. For example, if you're running the washing machine and the well pump kicks on and the dang refrigerator kicks on – that will suck down the voltage in a 24v system, but you won't see that major draw down in a 48v system. Having a deep dive in your battery voltage is not good for battery longevity.

We aren't sure yet which way we'll go. We are also considering a suggestion Jen made about our well pump. She suggested we might put in a solar set up (no battery involved) just for the well pump. The well pump would pump water into a storage tank when the tank wasn't at capacity so long as the sun was shining. The well pump would then never impact our main solar system, making a 24v system more attractive. In Maine, our well pump was the main power draw, so this seems like a really good idea. Our only concern is what kind of maintenance such a water storage tank might need.

Jen did make an offer of renting out her “Tortoise”. It is a portable solar power system that would allow us to live in the yurt before our full solar system was set up. We jumped at the chance to do so! Anything to keep from paying rent or burning gas!

What does tomorrow bring? Water well drilling: we start the permitting process for drilling and water rights.

Yurt Platform

I am learning all about yurt platforms. They are always exactly the size of the yurt – that's critical. When you see decks around a yurt, they are a separate deck from the circle that is the yurt platform. That circle generally is raised above the deck a bit to keep rain/snow out. Yurt platforms can be made from SIPs panels, composite material, lumber, or concrete. Now, if you can make them from concrete, then you should be able to make them from concrete alternatives, right? Right!

(A wooden deck or SIPS panel deck would be easier, but a lot more expensive.  So, we're going with sweat equity here!)

We are looking at making a concrete alternative floor/platform for our yurt. Brent is currently experimenting with the soil from the property (seems to have a decent amount of clay for concrete alternative floors). It is something we had already been thinking about for our house, so why not try it out with the yurt first?

Some options are soil concrete, stabilized adobe, poured adobe and tamped/rammed earthen floor (may or may not have a stabilizer added). He is currently trying out different “recipes” for these flooring options.

Fortress Yurts is very supportive of our thinking in this direction. They want us to let them know if we go this route as they will change the bracket type they use for attaching the lattice to the platform so it will be easier for us and they will shorten the walls a bit to fit the type of platform we'll be making. So nice to have such eager support.

Brent did a couple of very basic soil tests to find out the percent of sand, clay and silt in our soil. The first one, he didn't really dig down deep enough. The second one, he dug down into the yurt site 6-12 inches. He put this dirt in a half gallon mason jar and did the “jar test”. So, the jar was about half full of soil, then you add a tablespoon or two of dish detergent and then water until the half gallon jar is about three quarters full. Then you shake for 5 minutes. Let the jar sit for one day. Then you measure the height of the settled soil in the jar. Then shake for 5 minutes. Next, measure the height of the soil that settles in 30 seconds. This is your amount of sand. Then, after 30 minutes you measure the height of settled soil and that minus the height of sand is your amount of silt. The difference between that number and your total amount is the amount of clay.

Our results: Clay Loam. This is considered a good type for making adobe. (Yay!)

So, Brent's recipes:

1. Full on Adobe: Soil mixed with water to a wet cement sort of consistency.
2. Stabilized Adobe tamped earth style: 2.5% Portand cement, 2.5% hydrated lime and 95% soil. Lightly dampened while tamping.
3. Stabilized Adobe Brick: 5% Portland cement, 5 % hydrated lime and 90% soil. Mixed like concrete.
4. Soil Cement: Same as a cement mix, but use soil instead of aggregate. Brent also added the hydrated lime and cut the Portland cement in half (so 12.5% of each of these).
    

(In the picture, it is #1 to #4 left to right.  #3 and #4 have been linseed oiled in this picture.)

All mixtures were put into a “form” which happened to be a plastic drawer. #3 and #4 cured in two days, though they were removed from the forms after about 6 hours. #1 and #2 were set on their sides out of the forms after two days and cured for another 5 and 3 days respectively. Once cured he has added three coats of boiled linseed oil (couldn't find raw in town) to the top of each “brick”. So, as of today, each brick has had a total of 3 coats of boiled linseed oil. The oil is to seal the material so that you can sweep and mop your floor and it is protected from stains.

#4 was puddling and sticky, so it really wasn't absorbing the boiled linseed oil from that 3^rd coat well. Brent notes that as the cement decreases the amount of linseed oil absorbed goes up. In another week, he will do the dreaded “drop test” where each brick will be dropped from chest height onto a corner on the ground. The result (cracking, breaking, shattering, etc) will offer insight into which recipe to use. We will go with the lowest cement content that offers acceptable results.

Our ideas for the details are evolving as we dig.

Practicalities Part 2

OK, so we're going with a yurt. I began looking for a used yurt in the 20-24ft size range. No luck. I also researched new yurts. We found a yurt company close by in Taos, NM. Fortress Yurts builds their yurts off grid. They locally source their lumber whenever possible and they send a person to hand pick each piece of lumber used in their yurts. They also use glass windows. I reached out to them and they have been super helpful and friendly. We talked size, we talked platform plans, we talked colors.

At this time, Brent and I are awaiting a few color swatches they are sending to us to see. We have decided that we can make a 20ft yurt work for us. We will have an 8'x20' shipping container (rented) on site for storing our household goods so we don't need to have a storage unit in town – the price is the same per month. The container will be large enough to hold some of the tools we'll be needing as well and it's rodent and water proof and lockable.

So, what about power? What about internet (remember, Brent telecommutes)? What about water? Um, what about, ya know, the bathroom? Oh, and the platform the yurt needs.

We have spoken with Cooper Power Solutions LLC and will be meeting with them this week. These sisters are the two most highly recommended by everyone we spoke with. Our contractor thinks highly of their work. We will be getting our solar system for the house ahead of the house being built and will be able to use it while in the yurt. We aren't sure yet if it will be an expandable system (small for the yurt, but will expand it once the house is ready for it), or if we'll just go right ahead and size it for the house now. Once we have power, we'll contact the internet company. They are who we are currently using at the rental and they are already aware that we will be shifting addresses with them. Their system works by direct line of sight radio signals. The new place is closer and our speed will actually be faster. (This is so much better than the satellite internet we had in Maine – faster and no monthly data cap.)

As soon as we close on the property (this Wednesday), we will contact our well driller and get him started on the permitting process and get our water well drilled.

Ah, so the bathroom. We'll be using a composting toilet system as is very common with tiny homes and yurts. As for a shower, it will likely be pretty much a solar camping shower or bucket baths. We'll see as this is still evolving.

As for the yurt platform, that will be discussed in the next post.

Practicalities Part 1

We are currently living in the only rental we could find quickly that accepted month-to-month rent, a dog and was a decent place to live. We looked at a few and most were just, well, not acceptable and one was even expensive and not acceptable.

So, the current rental is a nice enough home in a nice enough subdivision – totally not our thing, it is the proverbial cookie cutter home. But, it's clean and safe and the management company is responsive and good to deal with and there's a fenced yard for Suki. However, it is expensive. The monthly rent is higher than our previous 15 year mortgage and we also have to pay utilities here that we didn't have at our previous home. It feels like we're bleeding money and with no future return on it.

Building a house is going to cost more than we had anticipated, so we started thinking about what we could do to decrease our living expenses while building. (Living in our current rental long term is not going to work.) We started thinking, “How can we live on our land while we build?” Something we've considered in the past (glad we didn't at the times we were considering it!) is living in a yurt. We could buy a yurt to live in while we build and then what? We could sell it and come out well ahead of what we would have had we continued to pay rent. However, another thought occurred. Brent has said he'd prefer a separate building for his office. He telecommutes, and going to another building for his workday will help keep him focused (and make it so that Suki and I don't have to be quiet all day). Hmmm, the yurt could work well for that and Brent's always been drawn to them.

We began exploring the yurt option. Looking at Brent's office sf needs vs our needs for living in it up to a year, we narrowed our search down to a 20ft yurt (315sf) or a 24ft yurt (450sf). The 24ft would be huge for his office, heck, even the 20ft would be too big for its long term purpose. We decided we could build an interior wall dividing the yurt into his office space and a workshop space. So, what space did we really need to live in for a year? We talked about it, thought about it and played with floor plans.

Due Diligence

We made our offer on the parcel contingent on consulting with a water well driller, a septic installer, a contractor and a soil test.  Anything that showed up and caused us too much worry would allow us out of the deal.

The water well driller brought in his dowser.  Now, I've never seen dowsing done before.  Quite frankly, it seems like hocus pocus, but that's the way they do it here (maybe elsewhere too?).  The driller said that the dowser is very good and always hits the spot and nearly always estimates the depth correctly as well.  The dowser was really nice and brought his helper:  Loki the border collie.  Loki was very sweet and friendly and took his role as Dowser Helper very seriously.  (Of course, right?  He's a border collie!)  In the end, $300 later, we have a well location and water is at 340ft and 460ft in a nice wide crack.  We'll see what the well driller actually finds - we're hoping the dowser is right on.

The septic installer came out and said that with the soil type we couldn't have a traditional leach field.  That's fine, we didn't want one of those.  So, we'll have a small tank installed with a lined pond following that and then an unlined pond.  They call it a wetland system and they work very well.

After making many phone calls, interviewing two contractors in person and then driving around to see examples of their work, we chose one.  Brian Meyers of SunBear is the designer/contractor we chose.  We both feel comfortable communicating with him and his sensibilities are right in line with ours.  His attention to detail was very obvious in the homes he showed us.  We had Brian visit the building site and he believes it a very workable site for the type of home we wish to build.

The soil test is something we did ourselves.  We just wanted to get an idea of how much clay might be on site for use in creating an earthen floor.  We think there's a good chance of doing that.

Our due diligence done, we are looking forward to closing next week.

Looking for Land

Once we knew we'd be moving to Silver City, NM, we started perusing the internet looking at houses and land for sale.  We wanted to get a feel for prices and what kind of things were available.  We had this sort of dichotomy of interests.  On the one hand, we like old historic houses with character and a walkable location.  (The ultimate in sustainability would be living in a pre-existing home in a walkable location.)  On the other hand, we really enjoyed our off grid, rural acreage where we were living in Maine.  So, we kept our eyes open for both options, just seeing what the winds might blow our way.

We had settled on Silver City in part due to its location in the foothills of the Pinos Altos range. Silver City has fantastic mountain and road biking, hiking and backpacking all available right around town and/or within fairly short drives.  There are two wilderness areas close by.  The community is diverse and eclectic - totally our style.  There's a local food movement, a food co-op and two farmer's markets.

We knew we wanted to be close enough to town to easily join in on group bike rides and in-town festivals, etc.

One parcel of land began grabbing our eyes back in March 2018.  Our house in Maine went under contract.  The parcel was still available.  Nothing else had shown up that grabbed our attention yet.  By the time we were packed up, closed on the house and heading west in June, the parcel had dropped in price by $10,000.  Oh yeah, our attention was grabbed hard!

Once we arrived in Silver City, got moved into a rental and started driving around, we made sure to visit that parcel.  It was beautiful.  We met with a realtor.  We looked around, we drove around, we explored.  We were trying to think things through and not jump on it.  We're both pretty cautious people and we didn't want buyers' remorse.  The realtor knew we were super interested and he informed us when another party inquired about the parcel.  Uh oh.  We got a bit nervous.  Two days later he informed us the price had dropped another $10,000!!  The reason is that to get power to the property would require an easement through a neighboring property.  The other party who inquired didn't want it after they found out.

We were intending to be off grid, so this didn't matter to us.  The price drop, however, was fantastic news as we had been interviewing contractors and learned that the cost/sf for building a home was a bit higher than we were expecting.  This meant, we really needed to find cheap land in order to build and not end up with a huge mortgage.  And, it seems, it was delivered right to us. 

Other parcels were too far from town, too expensive for us, too deserty, water waaayyy too deep, or land waaayyy too steep, etc.  This parcel was absolutely perfect and affordable.  We made our offer, it was accepted and we close next week.