small homestead for a single person

Discussion in 'General Survival and Preparedness' started by hank2222, May 4, 2012.


  1. hank2222

    hank2222 Monkey+++

    I have been talking to a young lady where i work at about a single person off grid homestead and how small could make it to work without it beening so small it could not enough to support the person in the long run.

    So here is the perfect homestead sized lot for a single person to live full time on and grow there own food on .

    The size of the lot is 50.ft wide-x-100.ft long or 1/8.th of a acre to build a small 20.ft wide-x-15.ft deep-x-1-story cabin in front or back of the cabin is a 20.ft wide -x-20.ft long food production set up .

    The rest of the area is taken up with solar panel metal stand and fenced off area for the small chicken coop to let them free range as it needed .the driveway to the side of the house as you needed with a small carport on the end to park the car .We figure you could make it happen for about $50,000.oo dollars with the following amounts paid out to build the place up over a few year to have it completely paid off by time you retired

    -land-$10,000.oo
    -house-20,000.oo
    -solar house solar set up-$5.000.oo
    -gardening items that you could not build yourself-$2,000.oo
    -misc gardening items-$1.000.oo
    -misc-items need for the house-$3.000.oo
    -misc items that might come up -$9,000.oo
    for a grand total of $50,000.oo

    plus the land taxs should not be that high if the place is kept small .So what do you think could it be done and liveable for a single person to live and grow enough of there food to keep there cost of living down in the future
     
  2. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    When you build the cabin, you need to design the walls, so that you can upgrade the Floorspace, by raising the roof and going to two stories. Doing so, will only add 10% +/- to the construction costs, NOW, but will allow you to expand when you find that Perfect Companion, down the road. .....
    "No Man/Woman, is an Island" .... YMMV.....
     
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  3. melbo

    melbo Hunter Gatherer Administrator Founding Member

    Does this assume city water and sewer? I'm not sure you'd have enough room for a septic system.
     
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  4. hank2222

    hank2222 Monkey+++

    No city water or septic system with the well is design to be run off solar by pumping the water into a larger tank near the house and the hand pumping into the kitchen area to be heated or used as it needed .

    With a small lot septic system using two 55.gallon drums using the-Quick-4-ISI.plex half drum style leching system to run along side the driveway entance .here is a picture of the newer style leching field unit's that has come out in the last few years where you can custom the unit to match the house needs .The idea is to use a grey water system to flush the toliet as it needed

    It might not in a large house but a small single person useage it should last a while and it not as hard to get the health dept or county personal to sign off on it when out in a rural area and no it would fly in a city setting but in a rural area it should work ok
    untitled. 381px-Septic20. 507px-Septic25. 498px-Septic8. 563px-Septic7. 585px-Septic23. 602px-Septic9. Septic22. Septic27.
     
  5. hank2222

    hank2222 Monkey+++

    She started asking me question day during lunch when she saw me reading the small gardening journal and was watching me draw out on paper my ideas for a small homestead for a single person .

    She think's it funny that i'm into solar and green home building and recycling and other things when she see me reading diff homesteading magazine during lunch hour

    Bruce sometimes you have to be a island with no one around you when it comes to trust issuse and getting things done in this world .I hate to say it but sometimes to better to go it alone than go it with a group
     
  6. TnAndy

    TnAndy Senior Member Founding Member

    Not enough room, and WAY overpaying for the lot, if she is looking at a lot w/o utilities....which SHOULD be a rural lot. She's at 80k/ac.....

    Great book is "5 acres and independence".....written long time back, but still a lot of good info in it. A single person could be fairly sustainable on 1-2 acres....but I think 1/8ac is really pushing it. And I'd want at least 5-6ac of woodlot personally...with that amount, you could harvest firewood indefinitely ( in most areas that will grow trees, i.e., enough rainfall ) for heating/cooking fuel.
     
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  7. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    The septic system has to be further away from the well for safety. And needless to say, I agree with Andy, the land is way off reasonably priced.
     
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  8. hank2222

    hank2222 Monkey+++

    We have been looking at land prices here in the northern part of the state of Az with the idea of staying away from anything that needs to heated or cooled with wood or some form of power . The basic idea is to stay rural in the long run .

    Alot of the idea is to use semi bermed or thick earth type housing to build so the factor of heating or cooling is reduced to a very small amount of enegry need to do those items in the summer or winter time .

    We are working togerther as a pet project for her to put togerther a working idea for a small homestead with a small group of people on 20 acres sized lot with each person building a small homestead set up on there lot .Each house would be on a 1.acre sized lot with a half a arce between each homestead to be able to hae some basic privacy and have a two lane cental road into and out of the area that connects to the main road .


    The septic system is close to my design that i have and it 100.ft away from the well point along with it runs down the one side of the driveway for about 50.ft mark to keep it from getting into the well point

    My water table where i'm at is right around the 450.ft mark with alot of rock and earth between it and the septic line
     
  9. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    I kind of doubt that the State or County will let you Subdivide the 20 acre Parcel, into one acre Lots, without conforming to a Small Subdivision Water and Sewer System per-installed. Also Zoning will be required in MOST of AridZonia, and you folks don't have the money to get those variances... ..... AZ is way to civilized, for that kind of Wild West Land Use.... YMMV....
     
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  10. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    Speaking of Aridzona, take a look back into dragonfly's posts concerning his experiences off the beaten track in that state. Enlightening, maybe. Not all is sweetness and light up in the hills.
     
  11. hank2222

    hank2222 Monkey+++

    With a few phone calls to the Najavo county i did get the septic tank approved for my place and once they came out and looked at it and how it was design with a larger 300.gallon tank with one 55.gallon drums set up in a lowered prostion in front of the larger tank they had no problem approving it for use on the place .

    The main problem was getting them to understand how simple the system was for a single person household and not large large multi family unit that they where used to dealing with inside the county .

    i did go to there office and asked a few question about turning a peice of land it into a 6.1/8.th arce sized lots for making a small little town out of and they said if i could lay it out and explain to them how it would work with green home building and few other thing they would think about making the change's to the laws for small homes with solar and green home building .

    Most of the state has lost alot of the socalled goldern money of the socalled houseing bust in the valley of the sun and they did think it was a good idea if could be made to work with green home building and low inpact on the land with green septic system and low useage of water from the homes to be recycled and used again on low inpacting toliet's system inside the homes .

    The county is willing to work with you if you could prove it a socalled feasible solution to a problem of over building in the state like it was in the late 80's to the mid 2000' era time frame
     
  12. fedorthedog

    fedorthedog Monkey+++

    We have a local shed shop that sells the weekender a two store shed that can become a cabin. They sell it for over ten grand but I think I could build it for two. Foot print is about 20 x 12
     
    hank2222 likes this.
  13. Yard Dart

    Yard Dart Vigilant Monkey Moderator

    I have thought about this a bit and my concern is to have more workable space for the homestead. I think your plan works to some degree but other aspects open you up to security issues. If you need to defend your property you do not have good fields of fire due to potential congestion of buildings on multiple lots of similar size, under hostile acts. Most of the property that is adjacent to you, in a small lot, would limit your site lines as well as add to potential advesaries if they get hungry. The upside is organizing for a communtiy working together, but now days that seems to be more of a disconnect in our daily lives. Many neighbors don't even know each other.... I have been looking at 10 acre properties minimum just to have the seperation as well as workable land for gardening, animals and general security.
     
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  14. RightHand

    RightHand Been There, Done That RIP 4/15/21 Moderator Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    I love the tiny house concept as it would suit me very well (depending on how many Dobies I have at a given time.)

    I got interested several years ago when I bought a book on tiny spaces.

    Check this website: Tiny Houses
     
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  15. chelloveck

    chelloveck Diabolus Causidicus

    Click

    Small is beautiful, unless you are living in a shoe with a horde of children.

    I have been scoping out several tiny house websites today....having been interested in the concept as a consequence of a guy building a tree house in Canada. http://www.survivalmonkey.com/forum...not-only-do-some-people-have-dreams.htmlsting

    There are some very interesting imaginative, creative small solutions to the problem of having a dwelling. There are some interesting solutions based on a small - medium truck flatbed and also trailer mansions that offer a semi permanent solution.

    Tiny House Blog - Living Simply in Small Spaces

    A Tiny House in Australia

    5 Tiny Houses With Big Green Ideas | Earthtechling
     
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  16. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    Small is as small does. Do a search on SM for "shanty boat" and see what Seacowboys lived on at one time.
     
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