Underground Homes for Living
I am sure many of us have seen the full basements that are mostly below ground level with the flat roofs. When you first look at them, you think to yourself, “Well they will add on in a few years.” The thing is, they don’t add on. They look like a house not finished.
To live in a home like this, one has to get over the over all appearance of the house. One of the earth covered homes has very nice grass growing on top of the roof with flowers planted on it. I often see the owner mowing the grass on their roof. However, they have now lived in that home for 23 years.
The greatest advantage of living in a home like that is energy efficiency. They have a stable subsurface temperature. In the winter time, if it gets extremely cold, it doesn’t take much heat to warm it just a few degrees. If you use solar energy, it can be even less. Solar collectors are used to heat the hot water the home uses. The coils of tubing even can be used for heating the home as well.
They are also good for noise control. If you live near a high industrial noise area or along a busy highway, the earth can reduce the noise level in your home.
There are many businesses such as wineries that are built into hillsides. Many of the owners just add living quarters and stay there as well.
Some individuals wouldn’t like the idea of no windows. The thing is that there are underground homes with windows. Some are set up with skylights and still some have windows on their open face walls. One face or side of the wall is left uncovered by earth. Usually, this is the front of the house or main entrance.
There are several types of names and types of underground homes. The web site Wikipedia lists them as so. There is the Earth Berm. Everything but one wall is buried. The material used has to be strong to not only hold the weight of the earth but that of the moisture that soaks into the soil as well.
Rammed Earth. These homes are not truly buried. They use soil much like one would use concrete. They are similar to the adobe type structure.
Urban Homes. Are of two in variety. They can be the mall type homes that are partially below or all the way below ground level. These usually are set up in an apartment style of living. Although they are not as efficient as the regular underground home, they still can be cost effective. The other being the basement type of home only that has an exposed roof. You see a lot of these homes where the temperatures might climb high or very low. This type of house is also lease expensive because there is less use of lumber. The major initial cost is for the full concrete basement foundation.
Shaft type Homes. This is a structure that uses a large deep and wide shaft with a solar sunlight type of roof. Apartments (homes) are then build on the sides of the shaft as it goes deep into the ground area. It gives one the feeling that are inside a huge hotel type of building with a center opening that has stairwells and elevators.
Cave dwellings. There are many places across the United States where homes are built into existing caves. As I stated earlier, a lot of these are used for business. However, they can also be converted into living quarters as well. During World War II, in the Philippines, General MacArthur had his main base set up in a cave type system for protection.
The biggest problem that faces underground living is that of flooding. Unless the house is very solid and water protected, they can tend to flood rather easily. Cracks in foundations can lead to major water problems.
Still, with the rising costs of energy, many might believe that this the way to go.
sources; en.wikipedia.org
