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PURCHASE PAGE

The Self Reliant Home Plans

A 4 year study of a Do-It-Yourself Home, designed for maximum efficiency, maximum interdependent cycling, maximum natural energy use and production, least cost and labor and maximum esthetic beauty. Over-all, complete plans will be available upon request.

  • Proven home, fish production and methane designs from research studies.
  • An 8 sided, octagonal home which can be built anywhere, off the grid and away from all city zoning regulations. Ideally, the home should be built on a slight slope for gravity assisted water flows from the house to methane tank to the garden which is on bottom land. A woodlot should be located above the elevation of the house for easy log transportation to the house.
  • 1/3 of the home is greenhouse within the octagonal for winter food and fish quarantine tanks. The living room has an in-the-wall salt water tank for clam, oyster, lobster, mollusk and pearl production, and an in-the -wall fresh water fish tank, insulated from outside weather. Only 2 clear acrylic, 1/2 inch thick, 24 x 48 inch plexiglas sheets are necessary for the fronts. The rest of each tank can be thin, flexible acrylic plastic bonded to the plexiglas, sides and back reinforced behind with heavy plywood, with a 1/16th inch space between plastic and plywood for colored paper or background picture. The bedroom, kitchen, bathroom have access thru the center court. Kitchen and greenhouse accesses to the outside.
  • A small octagonal center court in the home allows for food stocks and herbs to be grown by the light of the roof skylight plus access to the attic fish tanks which use a series of sand filter chambers and plants as water filters as the water is circulated in a serpentine fashion thru the sections. Appropriate, tank-level doorways provide easy harvesting of attic tank plants for the methane digester and garden. Overgrown tank plants and the residue of the methane digester make excellent garden compost and fertilizer. A lift-door in the floor descends to a dark, octagonal area under the court floor, for canned-food storage. A simple ladder stored against the wall is for accessing both the water tanks above and the food storage below.
  • Bathroom uses an efficient, water-less toilet and has a waterfall-pool basin from the attic fish production tanks. The aerated water then goes out to the methane tanks, greenhouse plants and the garden as overflow.
  • The home only uses 1-12v pump for well water to the attic tanks and is split off for human use, 2-12v fans for circulation of air and the common 12v kitchen appliances plus 1-12v methane gas compression pump.
  • Warm water is achieved by circulating grids of water line thru the attic before use in the kitchen / bathroom. Cooking instruments are only sterilized by 212 degree water for 10 minutes. If hot water is needed it can be occasionally boiled, on the gas stove.
  • Battery electricity storage is accessed from the outside and are sealed from the interior of the home. The batteries take the energy from either wind, water or solar panels.
  • Talapia, South American tropical fish production is in the attic. Gardens love warmed nutrient filled water from the attic fish tanks which fills the whole attic. Fish can be seen thru the clear acrylic plastic sheet from all rooms. Room lighting can be either efficient fluorescent lights or gas lights. The lights are in the attic to keep the fish swimming upright in the 1 ft. deep octagonal tank of 20 tons of water, which doubles as a water suppy in case of an accidental fire. Gas lighting on the room walls can be for spot lighting or decoration.
  • Basement rock heat / cold storage (100 tons = 4 ft deep under the concrete pad floor) maintains 65-68 degrees all year with a necessary small wood stove backup. Heat is collected from sunlight during the winter and cold during the summer, thru vent control. Cold is collected from a lowland pipe directed into the basement rocks. Cold pipe is either too small to crawl thru or a steel grid covers the pipe end next to the rocks.
  • Stackwood walls are made of 2 ft. logs of any diameter, cut from local wood, using newspaper or flameproof insulation between the outside / inside. Mortar / concrete at the ends of the 2 ft. logs.
  • 12" x 12" x 13' posts (4 feet in the ground) and 12" x 12" x 9' beams are easily made and lifted. After "wilting" a cut tree for 6 months (letting it dry after cutting), posts and beams may be cut by ax or chainsaw-attachment and lifted by tripod with block and tackle.
  • All Tromp Wall glass south-side roof and walls for solar heating of the home interior and attic fish tanks. Double glass uses a 2 ft. space between to collect heat in winter and is covered inside, in summer, with reflective translucent foil.
  • A roof snow trapdoor for ice in the summer. Ice storage uses expandable walls to accommodate expanding ice. Shovel it down..pack it tight. Provide a low drain in a floor-to-ceiling, metal box with flexible sides, inside of which is a smaller metal box with shelves for food storage, at the bottom of the larger box, which is surrounded by ice water.
  • Methane gas production plans from organics of the garden and fish tank water from the attic tanks. A complete overview of handmade tank, flametrap, storage and 12v compression pumps will be available.
  • Organic French Intensive raised bed gardens are arranged in series, layed out in 4' x 8' grids you can walk around to avoid soil compacting hard-pan
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  • Companion planting techniques and biologic / botanical controls for pests.
  • 20 year old addresses for RV 12v electrics, gas lights, antique gas stoves, gas refrid, tools and much more. Addresses for well drilling machines you can roll anywhere.
  • With your computer and a Google Search Page, you can find all the books you need on any subject. Parts can be found through the Tomcat Directory of Manufacturers, also found in every good library's Architectural Department.
  • 20 year old, worn drawings were hand copied with pins and hand tools, on new paper Masters, which can be downloaded from the internet. They have a 1/4 inch = 1ft. scale but don't use them for precise measurement. Use them for concepts only. The drawings have a minimum of outside dimension measurements. Octagonal calculations are on the drawings. All interior items are numbered and listed.
  • A Step 1, Step 2 etc. Schedule Page is provided. A Notes Page is provided explaining fish tank, methane tank, garden items, calculations and procedures.
  • Plans and Help Pages will be delivered as printouts when the transaction clears. Use your printer.

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    You agree not to resell your copies.

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Copyright 2003 Robert Grace . All Rights Reserved.