The air quality with a modern wood stove or rocket stove or the like is not poor - these are way different than an open fire place. I’ve been to the house in winter of my friend who uses wood stoves in this area for heat and he’s discussed their good points and bad point. The air quality is fine. Nor do they take as much wood to produce the same amount of heat as an open hearth. Ash will be an issue, but it’s just part of cleaning the house and cooking.
Not exactly. More that we have certain and sure sources of water, not necessarily easy sources of water. People go to the expense and bother of drilling a well out there to get the “easy” part of the equation.
Actually, the local regulations might in fact require a septic system for a year round residence. We’re checking into that. It’s the difference between “physically possible” and “legally possible”. As other folks have pointed out “rural” doesn’t mean “lawless”.
Getting a service truck in is quite doable - there is a road access to the property, that’s how the owner has been accessing it for three quarters of a century. The “driveway” is currently dirt but upgrading that would be part of putting in a home.
Which are cramped and not all conducive to aging in place, which is a significant factor for us. Sure, as you have noted we could get a custom build-out but we can also design from the ground up. We could gut the interior and rebuild it, but we can also design from the ground up. I’m not entirely sure this route would save us time, effort, or money. Like I said, there’s not a bad idea and probably great for many people but they aren’t what we’re looking for.
That’s why one consideration is making sure we can hunker down for a span of time in the home with everything we need. It’s not that the roads are never maintained, but you can’t expect them to be groomed and car-ready 100% of the time. Heck, I live in the Chicago area and my home is equipped so I can get by for days without needing to go out because we’ve had storms that made our roads impassible for a couple days from time to time and this is an urban area. You plan ahead so you don’t need to haul “significant supplies” in winter conditions.
A couple thousand per trip is a substantial freight charge for most people. It’s not impossible, but it’s not done lightly, either. This sort of air freight is not a feature in the area, although perhaps it’s worth looking into why not. There is an air port just outside of town, perhaps that would be a place to inquire about such things as they would be aware of such activities even if they don’t originate there (which I’m pretty sure they don’t, as only 110LL and “mogas” are available there, not the fuel I’d expect for the sort of turbine engines I’d expect in that line of work these days). Charming little airport, set right inside the golf course with the notice that one should be on the look out not only for deer and birds but the occasional golf cart crossing the runway. Sounds like the sort of places I learned to fly.
We’ve actually kicked around the idea of putting in a private strip on this piece of land and getting an ultralight/sportplane/two-seater GA but that’s a daydream until we get this place built - adding all that would be a luxury. One we’d like to have and it’s alright to dream but very, very much on the back burner. Also, mowing/plowing a backyard strip would be a pain in the backside but that’s neither here nor there. It would be less effort to base at an established airport although more expensive.
There is one significant bottleneck for getting goods into and out of the area that most locations accessible by road do not need to consider that needs to be factored into these sorts of decisions. Now that you’ve brought it up I do wonder why there isn’t air freight in the area. Or maybe the owner just isn’t aware of it. Maybe folks don’t use it because it’s not occurred to them and the old ways are “good enough”.
Sure. We’re already looking into that sort of technology. You don’t provide the link for the very pretty Finnish stone stoves, but honestly we’re not going to pay to have something like that shipped halfway around the world when we can build something in place that will do the same job for less initial outlay. If nothing else than because use more local (like sourced from the same continent) will reduce the freight charges.
I think it’s that word “temporary” causing a problem for me. We are wanting a permanent home. And maybe one can be made using such things.
I stand a real chance of living to be 90 or 100 based on my recent ancestors who made it into old age. All of whom who still upright, walking, clear-headed, and capable of living independently. So could the next oldest member of this group (her mother is in her late 80’s now and still lives in her own home, takes care of herself, drives, etc. We are, in fact, considering that we might want to move her up to live with us as well in her final years if we get this project done soon enough.) That’s 30-40 years I feel I need to plan for. So maybe it’s just that you keep saying “temporary” when to my mind 40 years isn’t temporary.
I did go back and look at the links again to the used trailer and I have to say that it would be terrible for aging in place. It’s not just a matter of putting a ramp in to the entrance. The doors are narrow and I’m not sure there is any way to widen them. The walk ways are likewise narrow. The bathroom and kitchen are cramped. Part of it the long, narrow layout of the unit that makes it look like living in truck trailer. If it was for just one person, maybe, but for three? I don’t see how any of us could actually have private space to ourselves in there. Not to mention that we all have some possessions we’d like to keep. Perhaps there are better and more comfortable examples but what you’ve shown me makes me want to stay away, not look into this further. Also, none of us want to be sleeping bunk beds for the rest of our lives, never mind the issues of having to climb into the top bunk for the elderly. For a couple of years when I’m young and healthy, sure, but that is not the place I’d willing live in as my last home.
Which is why I said what you suggest is great for some people in some circumstances. Thank you for the suggestions, but I don’t think this particular solution is going to work for us.
Bottom line, this is not something we have to do - all of us have retirement plans in place and could choose to continue along that path. This is us trying to figure out if, by pooling resources, we could get better so we don’t want to just buy what’s cheap or expedient, we don’t want to buy something used and jury-rig it into working. There’s much to learn from what has already been done by others, but that doesn’t mean we have to do things exactly as they did. Maybe there is some sort of modular housing out there that would work for us (and certainly there are modular homes from a variety of eras in the area) but the stuff you’ve shown me made for remote mining/worksites are not it, because it seems either engineered for hundreds of people (which we aren’t) or cramped even for one, much less three people living in close proximity for decades. Likely there is a middle ground but if so I haven’t seen it yet.
That’s the other word I think it throwing me off. It’s not just about pinching pennies. Sure, there’s a budget and definitely there are financial limits but we’re not on a shoestring budget here.
We are looking into using modular/pre-fab units in construction so “modular” and “pre-fab” aren’t the obstacles. I think it’s words like “temporary” and “cheap”. So perhaps I have miscontrued some of your posts and I will go back and reread them again with that in mind.