My "off-grid" playground experiment!
Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 5:25 pm
I have converted part of my playground into a small, 6x4x6 tiny "home." Here's how I did it:
Over the past 5 months, I've modified a section of a playground in my backyard to be an insulated, passively (and electronically, if needed) heated/cooled, weather-proof area for under $80 (wood, materials, and plexiglas). It took me about a month to do so since I have a lot of stuff to do with school, but if it was well planned out, I could have had it completed in a weekend if I dedicated 8 hours a day to it. This is expected to be an experiment that will last from now until summer of 2016, when I graduate high school and begin living off the grid on my own.
Originally, before I got all of this, I used a part of my playground right under a roof of a section to keep it basically dry. That lasted for a month. As it got progressively colder, I realized this wouldn't work out well with all the stuff that I would have to deal with concerning a completely exposed solar setup. I looked for ways to get a much better area for all of this, and the idea hit me: use the room right below me. It had wood walls (small 1cm gaps between all the boards), a few windows, a big opening for a window, a nice ceiling (same type of gaps) and obviously a spot for a door.
So I began to move all of this to the bottom floor.
-I had 3 2x4s to support two big pieces of wood that would act as the floor (all screwed in solid- around 36 dollars.), 1-2 inch thick cardboard insulation (free from U-Hual's box reuse program), spray foam insulation to seal in small areas cardboard wouldn't fit in and for corners ($3), a sheet of plexiglas from Lowe's ($20), free 1'x1' plexiglas for the small windows, and wood to cover all the cardboard on the inside+for the door ($21). Every bit of that was done well. I even used recycled wood for the ceiling to obviously keep cold air and rain/snow out.
-To weatherproof the ceiling, I had a ton of trash bags (folded out but not "inflated," if you know what I mean) unfolded and lying down, covered that in cardboard, and covered with wood. It never leaked besides one area that I can not find the opening to (very small and is channeled to the ground below).
Once this was done, I moved all my stuff down- the batteries, inverter, lamp, etc. and it was done. Everything inside there was stuff that was either second-hand, bought to come with me in the future, or was going to be trashed.
The point of this was to show myself what it was probably going to be like if I was going to build my own house to live in off the grid in the future, and everything I have bought for it besides the wood is now being bought to go into my future home, such as the inverter, batteries (I know they will get old), solar panel(s), etc.. I find this project to be a success and I posted this because I believe a lot more people would like to live off grid if they knew that it was so easy, a kid in high school could do the basics of it (from scratch, most people would just convert their house). I know what I did is virtually nothing compared to building an off grid house, but it just goes to show that basic stuff like the playground experiment is possible. If I really needed to for some weird reason, I could live in that playground comfortably for days. I consider that a success. The only thing it lacks is plumbing/ toilets.
I currently have 1-100 watt solar panel and 210 amp hours of battery, but I am planning on buying a second solar panel today and having it here by next week. The total cost of everything I can bring on to my future home is $500 and that should last years.
Over the past 5 months, I've modified a section of a playground in my backyard to be an insulated, passively (and electronically, if needed) heated/cooled, weather-proof area for under $80 (wood, materials, and plexiglas). It took me about a month to do so since I have a lot of stuff to do with school, but if it was well planned out, I could have had it completed in a weekend if I dedicated 8 hours a day to it. This is expected to be an experiment that will last from now until summer of 2016, when I graduate high school and begin living off the grid on my own.
Originally, before I got all of this, I used a part of my playground right under a roof of a section to keep it basically dry. That lasted for a month. As it got progressively colder, I realized this wouldn't work out well with all the stuff that I would have to deal with concerning a completely exposed solar setup. I looked for ways to get a much better area for all of this, and the idea hit me: use the room right below me. It had wood walls (small 1cm gaps between all the boards), a few windows, a big opening for a window, a nice ceiling (same type of gaps) and obviously a spot for a door.
So I began to move all of this to the bottom floor.
-I had 3 2x4s to support two big pieces of wood that would act as the floor (all screwed in solid- around 36 dollars.), 1-2 inch thick cardboard insulation (free from U-Hual's box reuse program), spray foam insulation to seal in small areas cardboard wouldn't fit in and for corners ($3), a sheet of plexiglas from Lowe's ($20), free 1'x1' plexiglas for the small windows, and wood to cover all the cardboard on the inside+for the door ($21). Every bit of that was done well. I even used recycled wood for the ceiling to obviously keep cold air and rain/snow out.
-To weatherproof the ceiling, I had a ton of trash bags (folded out but not "inflated," if you know what I mean) unfolded and lying down, covered that in cardboard, and covered with wood. It never leaked besides one area that I can not find the opening to (very small and is channeled to the ground below).
Once this was done, I moved all my stuff down- the batteries, inverter, lamp, etc. and it was done. Everything inside there was stuff that was either second-hand, bought to come with me in the future, or was going to be trashed.
The point of this was to show myself what it was probably going to be like if I was going to build my own house to live in off the grid in the future, and everything I have bought for it besides the wood is now being bought to go into my future home, such as the inverter, batteries (I know they will get old), solar panel(s), etc.. I find this project to be a success and I posted this because I believe a lot more people would like to live off grid if they knew that it was so easy, a kid in high school could do the basics of it (from scratch, most people would just convert their house). I know what I did is virtually nothing compared to building an off grid house, but it just goes to show that basic stuff like the playground experiment is possible. If I really needed to for some weird reason, I could live in that playground comfortably for days. I consider that a success. The only thing it lacks is plumbing/ toilets.
I currently have 1-100 watt solar panel and 210 amp hours of battery, but I am planning on buying a second solar panel today and having it here by next week. The total cost of everything I can bring on to my future home is $500 and that should last years.