Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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105 of 107 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Revolutionary, but Problematic too, January 6, 2007
I read through the first chapter on Amazon and was absolutely sold on the idea. Subterranean housing is vastly more ecologically compatible than surface dwellings; it can even be environmentally regenerative. But the book's last chapter was a crushing blow; the designs and methods Oehler suggests are not compliant with the Uniform Building Codes.
If you do your best to play by the rules in life, this book will have to be set aside. It's thought-provoking reading, to be sure -- not to be missed. But before you can set out into the wilderness and build yourself an inexpensive answer to today's housing problems, you'll need to socially-engineer a way around civilization's permit/inspector traps. The author proposes a few far-fetched possibilities, e.g. getting a code variance, getting an underground code amendment. Basically, the only real options are: either move to an area with NO building codes (Oehler himself admits there are almost none left), or hide your construction -- and this entails forgoing utility hook-ups, since meter readers apparently double as spies for the housing board, looking for unauthorized renovation/building projects.
Being an outlaw is not my cup of tea. Nor does it suit the mainstream. So perhaps this book's main function, after showing us how inexpensive housing can be, is to wake us up to a harsh reality. Housing boards, composed largely of members of the building professions, "have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. In other words they are not likely to take a cheerful view of any system which cuts the cost of building from 70% to 90%." The reason houses are so expensive is: the law REQUIRES them to be, and the law is assiduously enforced by the very contractors building those houses. What we need is a uniform building code flexibly oriented around safety and good construction standards, NOT the maximization of revenue to entrenched special interests.
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36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Who Wants to Look at Houses?, February 3, 2004
By A Customer
I first purchased this book about twenty years ago, then lent out my copy and have been without it for five years or more. Having recently bought a new copy, I have just finished re-reading it once again. I find the author's ideas to be intelligent, logical, and revolutionary. His personality comes through strongly as he is a man who is not afraid to state his opinions. I find this book to be an interesting read for this reason alone, but strongly recommend it on the basis of the building system he outlines. He explains to the reader, in simple, easily comprehensible language, just how to go about building a warm in winter, cool in summer, low cost home, that is easy on both the eye and the environment. A huge advantage is that a person living in such a home doesn't have to look at neighbor's homes, and, for their own part, is residing in a home that blends in with the surrounding countryside. If, by good fortune or good planning, one lives on enough acreage that viewing a neighbor's house is not an issue, there is still the benefit of having the home tucked away out of sight, part of the earth around it. Having never been the type to build a "impressive" home, I am more intersted in staying out of sight and being left alone. I enjoy the woods and wildlife. Mike Oehler shows us how to build a home that lets me do just that.
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33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book, September 26, 2002
This book is excellent. I've wanted a copy for years, but now-a-days, it's very hard to find. I recommend it to everyone, provided you keep in mind the circumstances of rural Idaho. One person noted with horror the keeping of loaded guns (can be seen in the background of one of the photos). Don't forget Idaho
is bear country. And there is a bit of editorializing, but rural folk do that; you get used to it.
I don't fully agree with the earth flooring, unless you were really trying to economize. Rather, I like the idea of laying down plywood under the carpeting, but not nailing it down - it's still moveable if you need to reach your piping, and it can move with the house if it shifts, but there's less settling than carpet/earth. I can't believe carpet/earth doesn't become lumpy eventually.The one thing missing (maybe it'd be better in another book), is a biography of Mike. How did he come by his acreage in Idaho. Did he spend all his money on land and have none for a house? How did he survive all these years, farming/hunting? A person still need cash for taxes and such. His books and his lecturing brings in a little money; does he do anything else? I'd be interested in knowing how to start a lecture circuit, or self publish a book. I think there's an audience for this kind of practical information.
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