My (late) summer project

So I'll tell y'all what I've been drawing up since last October and see what you think.

My house is so old the county can't tell me when it was built, it was there when they started their records. So it has to be 200 years old. Back plaster and front plaster, lath, no insulation to speak of. I tried blowing in insulation a couple years ago, biggest mistake I ever made I think, because it won't hold heat at all now.

Few years ago I read somewhere that even a cardboard box can be heated reasonably well if you can find and eliminate the air leaks. Well I've got the lumber and I bought some insulation, and I'm super stingy right now because of some debt I'm paying off... But there's a 30-year-old farrowing house, Morton Building, on my acreage with 10-inch-thick insulated walls, it hasn't had a hog in it since the 1980s. I already crudely framed up a room that's 8x12 and 8 feet high. I figure I should be able to wrap that in plastic sheeting and insulate it at minimal cost and heat it for not a lot of money. I planned for a toilet and shower and sink, it just has to be mounted and plumbed, the hardware is sitting here. I figure if I stuff an upright washer/dryer in the corner I can deal with laundry. I almost never cook but I have a stove/microwave upright combo to put in there too. I don't need a bed since I sleep on the floor anyway.

I only need to insulate my freshly-constructed wooden floor and two walls. I don't figure I even need a window. I'm quite happy with an incredibly sedentary lifestyle when I'm at home, my job gives me plenty of exercise year-round. I just figure this should be many times cheaper to heat than the drafty old house, even if I go electric heat with the regular (higher) rates. What do you think?

Aren't there any caves nearby?

U WILL HAVE TO INSULATE THE FLOOR AND CEILING ALSO -
we have a 5' x 5' x 6' tall basically uninsulated box that sits above our old well pressure tank - we used to keep that above freezing in south dakota with 2 250 watt bulbs - about $1.80/day at todays rates - energy efficiency is definitely the way to go over heating an old structure in my book -

I think I'd go bonkers living in an 8X12 all Winter with no windows! An' I like reading, tv, and such as much as the next guy. OTOH if the pigs could live in there maybe it isn't that bad? I guess you can always "visit" the main house on warmer days, right?

Sounds like a plan to me. If you insulate it correctly, you should be OK. Sounds like a lot less expense at any rate. If you are happy living that way, and I understand where you are coming from, because I have never danced to the same fiddle as everyone else, then go for it. You gotta please yourself, If you try to please everyone else you'll go nuts.

Gonna go way out on a limb, here, and say you're single, and intend to stay that way. Because that's the way its gonna work out if you move forward on your plan, IMHO.

That being said, I'll admit that I've had the same thoughts. And I'm married! LOL Just move out there one day, and that's that.

Would be especially nice to have a good shop in the rest of the building.

"So I'll tell y'all what I've been drawing up since last October and see what you think.
My house is so old the county can't tell me when it was built, it was there when they started their records. So it has to be 200 years old. Back plaster and front plaster, lath, no insulation to speak of. I tried blowing in insulation a couple years ago, biggest mistake I ever made I think, because it won't hold heat at all now.

Few years ago I read somewhere that even a cardboard box can be heated reasonably well if you can find and eliminate the air leaks. Well I've got the lumber and I bought some insulation, and I'm super stingy right now because of some debt I'm paying off... But there's a 30-year-old farrowing house, Morton Building, on my acreage with 10-inch-thick insulated walls, it hasn't had a hog in it since the 1980s. I already crudely framed up a room that's 8x12 and 8 feet high. I figure I should be able to wrap that in plastic sheeting and insulate it at minimal cost and heat it for not a lot of money. I planned for a toilet and shower and sink, it just has to be mounted and plumbed, the hardware is sitting here. I figure if I stuff an upright washer/dryer in the corner I can deal with laundry. I almost never cook but I have a stove/microwave upright combo to put in there too. I don't need a bed since I sleep on the floor anyway.

I only need to insulate my freshly-constructed wooden floor and two walls. I don't figure I even need a window. I'm quite happy with an incredibly sedentary lifestyle when I'm at home, my job gives me plenty of exercise year-round. I just figure this should be many times cheaper to heat than the drafty old house, even if I go electric heat with the regular (higher) rates. What do you think? "

Here's what I think:
You got the start to a great idea. Saving money and living in a properly insulated structure is a worthy goal!
Now with the the shower, etc. you need to think about MOISTURE!!!!
Exhaust fan to say the least. Mold(s) Love dark, moist, still air. Some are penicillin types, some are toxic.
Perhaps some type of filtered, fresh air exchange can be economically figured into your plans.
We want tractor guys to grow old and crusty, but mold free!
Dave

A neighbour had a similar house, they didn't need all the square footage so they framed 2x6 walls inside the existing walls and insulated and vapour barriers. I understand it worked well.

Seeing that you have already started to frame the late pigs abode, it's a little late for thoughts, but I would concentrate on the house and do a little at a time,
If you want to live in a cell, steal a car.

So you plan not to heat the main house at all? Make sure you winterize it well.

Vito

If people steer clear of you it mite be that you smell like pig $hit. It will never leave that building. You might not be able to smell it but other people will. My neighbor is a hog farmer. He doesn't spend a lot of time in the buildings. has hired help. but I can smell it in his pickup and their house when I first go in. My son-in-law is a hog farmer also, I can't smell it in their house or truck. He changes clothes and takes a shower every time he leaves, changes shoes also. Just a thought maybe you don't care. My son lives in a pole barn that has been sprayed with closed cell foam. plus blown in insulation. has windows also, heats and cools for almost for nothing. Vic

Just a thought...

Regardless of if you are getting a permit, etc., most building codes or good building practices require more than one way to get out of a dwelling or bedroom and there's a very good reason for that. It's safety. An 8x12 room really isn't tough to get out of and not sure where it sits in the building, but consider a second way out of wherever you are. Better to have it and not need it.

Good luck with it.

Tony

Why not just get an old chest freazer and live in that. Seriously, If its real small and real tight I would be concerned about oxygen.

Yup. Single and no particular hurry to change that. Not dating or looking now. Last girl I thought was cute and had similar beliefs turned out to be a distant relative.

So until I'm ready to move away (not in my immediate plans because one of my parents had a recent health turn for the worse) I'm just looking to cut costs - and be a little more convenient: a wood-burning stove doesn't help if you're gone most of the time.

I'm actually a computer geek, my dream job for decades was a cubicle with a computer in it with almost no human contact.

I don't even need a tv, just a computer with an internet connection.

Excellent idea. This Morton building has two big hoods that originally had fans in them with closing attic vent doors. I planned to seal these, maybe use one for an easy place to hang a small propane furnace like you might put in a garage. But a way to deal with moisture and get some fresh air may be important, seeing how (approaching) air-tight is my design goal.

LOL! You kinda' remind me of my BIL. He's got a coupla' monitors and about three or so computers running most all the time. No tv for him either. He and the Wife built this computer

Friend of mine converted an old barn, abandoned many years ago, into a fine home. But he said to never do this, as the smell can never be totally gotten rid of. I listen when the voice of experience speaks.

single guy living close-by has a 2 car garage. 2 9x7 garage doors, 8 foot ceilings, probably 24x32. It was built beside a mobile home. he tore the mobile home down, blocked up one of the doors, and has a very nice slab house. IF he drinks, he can hit the toilet without getting off teh couch, but, the bathroom floor is just the raw concrete, with a floor drain, so even if he misses, it all hoses down quite nicely.



I considered building a log cabin from trees on teh farm, but I'd imagine the building code people would find a way to nail me to the wall. They don't like me as it is. Turns out, they are more communist than that Boris and Natasha team who used to harrass Rocky and Bullwinkle.