Describe Your Ideal Home and Homestead, if Money Was no Option

[Weedygarden]

Let's talk about what we would want in a home if money was no problem. Survival and preparedness ideas would be great! What would your house be like? What would your property be like? What equipment would you have? How much land would be ideal? What would the land be like? What state or country would it be in? What would you grow and raise, crops and animals?

 

[UrbanHunter]

100 acres at least 1/2 mile off any paved road, 4 car barn with a lift or pit smooth concrete floors and room to work, big green house connected to the main house by an enclosed walkway, nice size 2 story house made with thick walls of brick or concrete,10 Kw solar, rain water collection system off all the buildings, full basement, rooms for food storage, equipment storage, and a 10'X20' walk-in gun closet, a nice trophy room with a 6' diameter concrete pipe running 100 yds away from the house with a vent and a shed above it at the end to make an indoor shooting range and excape route. A nice tractor with all the Implements, including a bucket and backhoe; like the smaller John Deer, 1000 gallon on site fuel storage. Hardwoods and a nice stream way down hill from the house would be nice. Property would need about 2 acres of garden patch, the greenhouse would be 30' x 60'. And I would be 35 years younger and well healed.... that way I could enjoy it!

 

[Bacpacker]

Great thread Weedy. I'll give this some thought, and likely to take a few posts. It'll be cool to see everybody's thoughts on it. Urban has some goods ones already.

 

[Sourdough]

My neighbor Jay Hammond, had my idea of a perfect homestead, and a lovely wife. It was a perfect location, on the North shore of majestic Lake Clark. Abundant fish and game, good southern exposure for winter sun. People often talk about living off the land.......you could never starve living on Beautiful Lake Clark.

They had a beautiful log home (a bit large). Nice beach frontage. Good soil for garden. Much of this overview video is filmed at the Jay and Bella Hammond Homestead.

Enjoy........Jay Hammond's Alaska Volume 1 (Series Overview) - YouTube

 

[Neb]

100 acres at least 1/2 mile off any paved road, 4 car barn with a lift or pit smooth concrete floors and room to work, big green house connected to the main house by an enclosed walkway, nice size 2 story house made with thick walls of brick or concrete,10 Kw solar, rain water collection system off all the buildings, full basement, rooms for food storage, equipment storage, and a 10'X20' walk-in gun closet, a nice trophy room with a 6' diameter concrete pipe running 100 yds away from the house with a vent and a shed above it at the end to make an indoor shooting range and excape route. A nice tractor with all the Implements, including a bucket and backhoe; like the smaller John Deer, 1000 gallon on site fuel storage. Hardwoods and a nice stream way down hill from the house would be nice. Property would need about 2 acres of garden patch, the greenhouse would be 30' x 60'. And I would be 35 years younger and well healed.... that way I could enjoy it!

Ditto@urbahunter

I would add;

Micro-hydro turbine electric generator
Steam powered line shaft machine shop
And throw in a cul de sac for houses for the extended family.
A 20 cubit stone wall around it all complete with a drawbridge.
While I am at it, a small chapel to put a bow on it.

You did say money was not a restriction.

Ben

 

[Weedygarden]

Great thread Weedy. I'll give this some thought, and likely to take a few posts. It'll be cool to see everybody's thoughts on it. Urban has some goods ones already.

I know my thinking would be limited and I know there are some members here who have great ideas, knowledge and experiences. I know I will enjoy their ideas, as I have already enjoyed what has been written.

I also want to do more threads about specific types of alternative home builds, and know that in the shed thread, other ideas have come up, so why not dream here together and let the topics be about the topics?

 

[Weedygarden]

How hard would it be to have a set up to produce your own fuel? What would that take?

 

[Neb]

Coal

Our dirt burns

Ben

 

[Weedygarden]

Coal

Our dirt burns

Ben

I don't think mine does. It is pure clay here. I could make bricks or pottery with mine.

 

[Haertig]

I would probably start out buying a high end Dude Ranch. Already pre-equipped with a lot of infrastructure and land - stables, workshops, large entertainment areas, shooting range, trout fishing stream, trails, etc. I'd hang on to the staff too, so I'd be ready for all my friends to come visit!

 

[Sourdough]

I would probably start out buying a high end Dude Ranch. Already pre-equipped with a lot of infrastructure and land - stables, workshops, large entertainment areas, shooting range, trout fishing stream, trails, etc. I'd hang on to the staff too, so I'd be ready for all my friends to come visit!

That is a GREAT idea........I would like to own a "ranch" also.........."The Mustang Ranch". I'll keep the employees.

 

[Neb]

That is a GREAT idea........I would like to own a "ranch" also.........."The Mustang Ranch". I'll keep the employees.

So I wasn't the only one that had that tought.

The Princess would not aprove.

Ben

 

[Neb]

Which leads me to considering Epstein Island.

Let the staff go and it would be a good start.

But I would still want the steam driven line shaft machine shop.
.
Ben

 

[Amish Heart]

Nope that place has bad juju.

 

[Cascadian]

My current home paid off and add the one property between us and the river.

 

[Neb]

Nope that place has bad juju.

I didn't find a tongue in cheek emoticocon. Yes bad juju.

Ben

 

[Spikedriver]

I wouldn't need that many acres but I would need:

A house built into a south facing slope. Ideally the basement would be built into the slope and the first floor would be at the top of the slope. Walk out basement with a path leading to the second requirement:

A pond of at least 5 but less than 10 acres and at least 20 foot depth at the dam. This would give enough water volume to prevent winter fish kills and would permit larger growth and balance of the fish in my 4 preferred species - bluegill, largemouth bass, crappie, and catfish.

I'd want some brush with some oaks and or hickory to attract deer. I'd also have apples and pears. A limited number of mulberry wouldn't hurt.

A shop building with a full efficiency apartment. It would be on its own well for water. (Redundancy is good and it would be a backup residence/emergency quarters)

A fairly large tractor, 120 to 150 hp with implements. An 80 hp backhoe. A full set of shop equipment.

A garden area. I'm a crappy gardener, but I can manage to grow potatoes without killing them...

Somewhere on this ideal property I'd have a small windmill generator. Enough to run the water pumps and refrigeration, at least.

And of course this ideal property would have a shooting range with a 200 yard berm...

 

[elkhound]

tongass forest

 

[UrbanHunter]

How hard would it be to have a set up to produce your own fuel? What would that take?

If you have wood you can make syngas, a gasifier is easy enough to make. (smelly natural gas)
If you have wood/coal and grain, sugar, and yeist you can make a stil - alcohol will burn - many cars had a flex fuel option that can take that juice streight up.
If you have everything in the first two, plus some colbalt (salvage from lithium ion batteries) and some real engineer types you could make fischer-tropsch Diesel - that would cover most of your needs

But I would still want solar, steam, and hydro for electric and mechanical power....

Or you could just choose to make you place next to a bio-refinery in the midwest that is already making alcohol........ why build when you can occupy?

 

[Morgan101]

This will be a lot of fun. I too would want property in a remote location; heavily wooded with its own water source; at least 100 acres. I would check the elevation, and make sure 1000% that I would never be flooded. I would probably opt for a ranch style house, everything on one floor, with a basement, and a second subbasement. All of the security features on the house would be state of the art, and rival Fort Knox.

The house would be steel and concrete, and as fireproof as humanly possible. O.K. I will decorate the exterior so it doesn't look like a prison. It would have complete solar capabilities with generators for back up. A pond as Spikedriver described would be great. I might also try my hand at hydroponics and have indoor gardens in the subbasement.

I would include an escape tunnel from the subbasement large enough for a conversion van to drive through. The tunnel would exit on the property at least a half mile from the house. Kind of like the gangsters used to do back in the 20's. The conversion van would be a fully stocked BOV.

I would want the house to look as normal as possible, and want it to blend it with whatever houses were near. I don't want a castle that would be a target for anyone looking to make a score. I would keep the amenities comparable to other houses in the area. If they have a paved driveway I will have a paved driveway. If they have dirt or gravel I will have dirt or gravel. My vehicles would be modest, and kept in the garage. Is it possible to still be the gray man when you are living in your dream home? And cost is no object?

 

[SheepDog]

This is what I have planned - and have been planning for for more than a few years. My needs and desires have evolved over the years but the goal has not. I want a forest - not for the wood but for the trees and the animals that inhabit them. I want pasture land enough to raise cattle. A breeding population that I will use for food. I want a breeding population of pigs for the same reason. Chickens in a breeding population that will supply eggs while they can lay and when they get too old to lay they will be food. I want an orchard with Apple, Pears, Apricot, and Cherries. I want oak and walnut trees that will provide a few nuts for us and help feed the pigs. A garden large enough to produce at least a years supply of vegetables and fruits for preserving and eating fresh. A small atrium will supply greens throughout the winter.
I want an acre for Wheat and one for oats, 2 for alfalfa, and 1 for buckwheat. I want 5 acres for Jerusalem Artichokes that will supply about 10,000 gallons of alcohol per year. All the farm equipment, the backup generator and backup heater will run on alcohol at 80 - 85% (160 to 170 proof). It burns cleaner and stores longer than gasoline. I want streams or rivers for the fish and some limited power. For power I would like to have 30KW in solar and another 30KW in wind. I'll need at least 600Kwh of batteries for a "turnkey" home. Depending on the amount of water I would like a hydroelectric generator as a tertiary but constant power supply. The all electric home and shop will be heated and cooled with geo-grid heat pumps. The shops will have three sections - metal working, wood working and the last section for automotive and equipment repair. My house will be built to remain habitable during and after most anything nature throws my way. With the proper landscaping it will be fire-proof from brush or forest fires, sustain no more than cosmetic damage in earthquakes up to M8 and winds to 140 mph with 20% gusts. The 2x8 inch studs and sheathing will have no less than 7 inches of rockwool insulation and the floors will have the same. Above the ceilings will be rockwool insulation to a value of R90. (my current shop has R60 as does the garage). Lighting will be supplied by LED panels in the ceiling. The entrance will be through air-lock mud rooms to keep the outside air out. The ventilation will be supplied through a geo-grid ducting filtered before it gets to the heat exchanger and go from there to the heat pump and into the house. I don't want the air recirculated in the house. There will be a number of out buildings for various uses as well as a good sized root cellar. The house will have a bath in every bedroom, a gym, big dining room and living room for family and friends gathering and the kitchen will be large enough for two to work in without interference. A double pantry connected to the kitchen that will store dry, canned and bulk foods for at least 4 adults for a year. It will be a 4 bedroom, 5 bath home with an office, a sewing and craft room, a library and a small home theater. The laundry room will have a folding table, a sink for delicates, cabinets and cupboards for supplies, a linen closet and a place to hang clothes. Under the folding table will be storage in drawers and cabinet bins.
Since the house will be built to last 100 or more years I have to plan for the next two generations. Everything will be put into a trust that will cover expenses and prevent the sale of the land or properties upon it. I won't own any of it but my family and our guests can have total use of everything.

 

[Weedygarden]

I would include an escape tunnel from the subbasement large enough for a conversion van to drive through. The tunnel would exit on the property at least a half mile from the house. Kind of like the gangsters used to do back in the 20's. The conversion van would be a fully stocked BOV.

My grandfather had a cousin who had an auto repair shop in Chicago. Al Capone used to park his car in the cousin's shop when he was trying to ditch the cops.

I have often thought of tunnels for many possibilities, but I never thought of this, to drive through it. I thought about the 40 acre property that my parents had as my visual. I thought about the possibility of a tunnel inside the fence on the perimeter, and could never really figure out how big to make it. The railroad tracks ran behind the land and there were roads on the other three sides. Two sides were not that long, but the sides which ran parallel to the railroad tracks were long.

 

[Meerkat]

We are living on our ideal homestead. For how long it will be ideal is another question.
We built a small 24X34 includes porch one b.r. 2 bath home [with loft ] with a nice porch, greenhouse fenced small acreage.
Get along with all neighbors but don't associate with any except on phone now and then or wave when we pass on road.

 

[Neb]

This is what I have planned - and have been planning for for more than a few years. My needs and desires have evolved over the years but the goal has not. I want a forest - not for the wood but for the trees and the animals that inhabit them. I want pasture land enough to raise cattle. A breeding population that I will use for food. I want a breeding population of pigs for the same reason. Chickens in a breeding population that will supply eggs while they can lay and when they get too old to lay they will be food. I want an orchard with Apple, Pears, Apricot, and Cherries. I want oak and walnut trees that will provide a few nuts for us and help feed the pigs. A garden large enough to produce at least a years supply of vegetables and fruits for preserving and eating fresh. A small atrium will supply greens throughout the winter.
I want an acre for Wheat and one for oats, 2 for alfalfa, and 1 for buckwheat. I want 5 acres for Jerusalem Artichokes that will supply about 10,000 gallons of alcohol per year. All the farm equipment, the backup generator and backup heater will run on alcohol at 80 - 85% (160 to 170 proof). It burns cleaner and stores longer than gasoline. I want streams or rivers for the fish and some limited power. For power I would like to have 30KW in solar and another 30KW in wind. I'll need at least 600Kwh of batteries for a "turnkey" home. Depending on the amount of water I would like a hydroelectric generator as a tertiary but constant power supply. The all electric home and shop will be heated and cooled with geo-grid heat pumps. The shops will have three sections - metal working, wood working and the last section for automotive and equipment repair. My house will be built to remain habitable during and after most anything nature throws my way. With the proper landscaping it will be fire-proof from brush or forest fires, sustain no more than cosmetic damage in earthquakes up to M8 and winds to 140 mph with 20% gusts. The 2x8 inch studs and sheathing will have no less than 7 inches of rockwool insulation and the floors will have the same. Above the ceilings will be rockwool insulation to a value of R90. (my current shop has R60 as does the garage). Lighting will be supplied by LED panels in the ceiling. The entrance will be through air-lock mud rooms to keep the outside air out. The ventilation will be supplied through a geo-grid ducting filtered before it gets to the heat exchanger and go from there to the heat pump and into the house. I don't want the air recirculated in the house. There will be a number of out buildings for various uses as well as a good sized root cellar. The house will have a bath in every bedroom, a gym, big dining room and living room for family and friends gathering and the kitchen will be large enough for two to work in without interference. A double pantry connected to the kitchen that will store dry, canned and bulk foods for at least 4 adults for a year. It will be a 4 bedroom, 5 bath home with an office, a sewing and craft room, a library and a small home theater. The laundry room will have a folding table, a sink for delicates, cabinets and cupboards for supplies, a linen closet and a place to hang clothes. Under the folding table will be storage in drawers and cabinet bins.
Since the house will be built to last 100 or more years I have to plan for the next two generations. Everything will be put into a trust that will cover expenses and prevent the sale of the land or properties upon it. I won't own any of it but my family and our guests can have total use of everything.

@SheepDog has us pointed in a good direction.

I would like to point out that there should be an EMP contingency included.

A steam power alternative and hardcopy of the most recent Encyclopedia Britannica... along with updates.

Ben

 

[Patchouli]

Still an eastern girl but so many places to choose from and there are so many places I've never been to. If money is not a problem,then we don't have to worry about property taxes. Are we worrying about gun laws in this homestead dream? Ok, I didn't think so.
No arguments.
PA, WVA, VA, MD, mountains of NC or TN, all beautiful areas, likely not to run out of water, areas where you can be fairly secluded; Arkansas, Missouri and Maine (never been), used to daydream about Alaska. Went through northern Alabama and thought that was pretty cool looking. Not a desert girl, at least I don't think I am. Crazy person, upper peninsula of Michigan.
I would likely choose an area with not much in the way of forest fires. Love seafood so being landlocked would not be so happy. British Columbia.

tongass forest

that's only 16 million acres.

If the ground isn't covered in snow half the time, I would want animals.
dogs, lots of dogs, big dogs, little dogs. cats, ok, just 2. haha
Horses
Possibly Scottish Highland cattle if I'm in a colder than temperate region, but they do okay in temperate regions too. Goats to match, how about sheep? Chickens...maybe. An airplane. Boats, I don't know. Greenhouse. Springhouse. Smokehouse. Summer kitchen. An area with lots of stone to use for building purposes since it's too far out to get big heavy stuff to it readily. My home would be made of local stone, maybe wood. Not sure about the roof.
Someone was mentioning trees. Whatever will grow where I'm living, nut trees, any fruit trees, cranberry bogs, orchards, whatever is good for my area. Herbs galore, medicinal and culinary.
Bees, i would have bees and fields of native grasses and wildflowers. It would naturally be a stop-over point for any migrating critters.
Forests with lots of wild mushrooms and ferns. Lots to forage for, if necessary.
Hot tub for when I'm too tired to walk to the hot springs
Nearby to my main house, on my vast property, my cottage, or A-frame, or log cabin, so I could go there to get away from something at the house. The business, that's what I'd be getting away from. Two bunkhouses by the main house. A big covered area for parties, picnics and festivities (not that anyone would be coming to visit me). An Alpine slide. Waterfalls.
I'm not dreaming for the apocalypse, I'm dreaming for peace on earth.

 

[Weedygarden]

@SheepDog has us pointed in a good direction.

I would like to point out that there should be an EMP contingency included.

A steam power alternative and hardcopy of the most recent Encyclopedia Britannica... along with updates.

Ben

Lots of great ideas!

Your EMP contingency comment has me wondering about what are some things to deal with EMP's? Metal buildings that are grounded? What would you need too make any or all of them into Faraday cages? If you had a building for equipment such as tractors, mowers, etc., how could you protect them? And this would be a perfect illustration for two is one and one is none. A tractor out in a field either plowing, seeding, harvesting and an EMP hits. Back up tractor is still in the equipment shed, protected.

 

[viking]

My wife complains that she doesn't have enough room for things, I'm just grateful to have what we have, roughly 1,400 square feet, one bedroom, open kitchen, dining, office area, den and sunroom. The only thing I would have liked to do is to have a large basement but that may have created other problems due to the massive amount of water that flows under our home during winter months, as it is I put in a lot of drainage pipe all around and that's been a life saver.

 

[SheepDog]

EMP (from the sun) is not a problem. It affects only very long lines and then moreso if they run north/South.
If you are talking about a nuclear EMP attack (HEMP) then your best bet is a log cabin with nothing electronic anywhere.
It is nearly impossible to make a room HEMP proof much less a house or garage. Any grounding rod or the ground for even your power line is an antenna for the 50000v pulse in the air and ground.The E1 pulse charges the entire troposphere and into the earth about 10 meters. It is positively charged to 50000v in less than a nanosecond and then drops as the electrons return to the air molecules they were stripped from. That process causes the E2 pulse. After that you get the E3 pulse that is the same as a solar EMP.
There is a simple and inexpensive way to protect small electronics that are not in use from the E1 pulse but a room has doors and windows as well as plumbing and electrical in the walls. It can be done but you have to forget about Faraday cages and think about co linear capacitors. You need to wrap your insulated device in a capacitor in a capacitor and in a capacitor. No wires attached, no grounds, and no holes big enough for air to penetrate. With a room you have to find a way to connect the three layers of metal (gold, silver, copper, or aluminum) and the three layers of insulation on the ceiling, walls and floor to seal when you close the door. The window will be covered and no wires can penetrate the ceiling, floor or walls. Oh and Bluetooth and WiFi won't penetrate the walls either.

 

[Spikedriver]

If there's an EMP from a nuke we'll all have lots more important things to worry about than if electronics work. I'm not too concerned about it.

Just the same, if money isn't a problem for our ideal homes, having a half draft/half stock horse or two, or even a pair of draft mules, the horse drawn implements to be able to use with them, and the knowledge to be able to handle a team of horses, is not a bad idea. Hell, it's not a bad idea in the modern world either. You know..."just in case..."

 

[Morgan101]

I don't know about everybody else, but for me my age factors into my response. I am at a point in my life that I don't want to tend herds of animals and farm huge fields. An orchard would be nice. A well stocked pond that would provide fish would be nice. After that I will buy 20 or thirty years worth of food and keep a deep larder.

Call me lazy, but I don't have that many years left, and I don't want to work that hard. I want to take long hikes in the woods, and enjoy the wildlife. I want to go bird watching, and put out feeders to attract more species. I want to sit on the front porch and rock, and let the rest of the world go by. I want to be as far from this political nightmare as I can get, and still be in this country. I would have some animals, but they would be pets.

If you have ever seen the movie Second Hand Lions that is how I would like to live. If you haven't seen it I would highly recommend it.