The Plans

Though we had been researching earth shelters and buildings made of natural materials for years, we had minimal plans on paper. We used Rob Roy's Earth-Sheltered Houses: How to Build an Affordable Underground Home as our main guide and Sam drew up the plans at night after working all day on the "house hole."

Ben and Sam built a 1":1' model. The model gave us an idea of what would and what would not work. The original dimensions (1385 sq ft) would not provide a large enough living space, so we bumped the circle out, giving us nearly 1800 sq ft. Our daughter started spending considerable amounts of playtime creating her own house models.

Money spent: $0
The book was a wedding gift and the model was made of found and recycled materials.