Getting building permits can be as simple—or as complicated—as your property location makes it. If you’re within city limits, you’ll almost always need permits and multiple inspections along the way. Inspections for framing, plumbing, electrical work, and even drywall are standard, and each city has its own checklist. We built outside city limits, by design,Continue reading “Permits, Builders, and the Creative Journey of Building a Home”
Author Archives: Alt-Ark
Designing Homes for Modern Homesteaders
What Activities Should Shape Your Home Design? A homestead home isn’t just about how many bedrooms you have or what kind of furniture you like. It’s about building a home that fits your life today—and has the flexibility to grow with you tomorrow. Let’s jump in!
Privacy and Security Features Every Homestead Needs
Designing for Privacy and Security in Your Homestead. This isn’t about building a fortress. It’s about building a home that is welcoming and warm while being thoughtfully designed to protect what matters most
An Essential Guide to Finding Land for Your Texas Homestead
A Guide for Families Ready to Build a Legacy If you’re dreaming of homesteading, chances are you’re craving space, quiet, and a slower pace of life. Maybe you want a place where your children—and someday your grandchildren—can grow up close to the land. You’re not alone. Many families are stepping away from the rush ofContinue reading “An Essential Guide to Finding Land for Your Texas Homestead”
HARVESTING WIND ENERGY TO COOL YOUR HOMESTEAD HOUSE
Design your home to use more fresh air instead of spending energy on your HVAC. Permaculture tells us to use natural processes and store energy. Here’s one way we can do it in home design.
EXTERIOR VIEWS
Progress design for a permaculture inspired home for homesteading. This shows the main form of the house that meets the purpose it is designed for, the finishes have not yet been selected.
Permaculture Homestead House Design – Scale model views
I took the photo outside and this shows the approximate shading the house gets on a winter morning (February)
Optimizing a Trellis Spacing for Texas Summer Solstice
What is the best spacing to maximize shade from your trellis? I modeled different trellis spacing to see which would get me the most bang for buck of shade for my lumber. This is fine tuned to my geolocated site, set for the summer solstice. The best spacing for my site was 9 inches apart,Continue reading “Optimizing a Trellis Spacing for Texas Summer Solstice”
End of Year Permaculture Homestead House Design Update
I can say that, as the year ends, I was able to put much more design thought into this home designed for homesteading. I hope you invested your time well for 2021.
A Personal Design Breakthrough
Today is a mini breakthrough for me. I have been working tirelessly at a design for a permaculture concept home, a home for homesteading, for the last year. The thing that took a lot of creative effort for me was the exterior. It was wrestling with years of creative neglect and brainwashing myself into whatContinue reading “A Personal Design Breakthrough”
Honest and efficient home ornamentation
A home designed with permaculture principles needs to be honest and true to it’s resources. The facade in this sketch mirrors a deeper indoor living space on the north end, and the south end has a shallower interior space but has a deeper shade from the outdoor porch.
RENOVATIONS FOR AGING IN PLACE
I aspire for functional forever homes-where you live the life you dream about and are able to keep doing so into old age. I want you to have that home where your kids grew up in and where your grandkids can visit you. One way we refer to this is the design concept of aging in place.
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Permaculture Home Concept: Detailing a Storm Shelter
Inside the permaculture home concept plan I have been working on, I’ve planned for a pantry that can be upgraded to a storm shelter in the main section of the house. Today as I was developing the roof I realized I was very close to connecting the roof supports to one of the storm shelter walls. This raised a red flag in my head.
On Passive House design for a Permaculture Home
Would a passive house approach work for what I am trying to do with the permaculture house concept? How does the Passive House design apply to this Texas Permaculture home concept?
PERMACULTURE HOME DESIGN UPDATE
What would my permaculture concept house look like at this point? Here’s a quick 3min video of what that exterior would look like simply using the floor plan.
Alt-Ark 