Building Off The Grid - General Discussion

[yanksno1]

Discuss Building off the Grid here!

Surprised there wasn't a thread for Building off the Grid yet. Really liked the show watching on DIY, but recently switched to YouTube TV and they don't have it there. But did see Discovery has it also. It's the same show right? Tried looking online and didn't find much to see if there was any difference between DIY's and Discovery. Any of you guys know?

[laredhead]

I like this show as well.  There have been some newer episodes recently. 

[rcc]

I watch this on Discovery. Love this show. The beautiful scenic land they all choose to build on is a plus.

[RoxiP]

I get so tickled though. Every one of them talk about how they want “something that nobody else has” and yet almost every show...burning the cedar - check!  Cabinets made of pallets - check!  Having said that some of these are so cool!

[RoxiP]

Oh the one I watched last night was certainly different.  These people built a double container house on the property where they run a donkey rescue (and those donkeys were so cute!).  She fashioned it after a house in Key West.  It was butt ugly and so out of place in the middle of the woods (they were somewhere in Missouri).  Usually I just shrug stuff off like that but this was just stupid.

[Shermie]

Just watched one where a couple used a “silo” to build a house with a greenhouse on a mountaintop. The end result was lovely but…

First, that was not a silo; it was a grain bin. Nitpick.

They were moving out of a tiny house, which they said was way too small. Surprise, surprise. Those tiny houses are impractical.

They didn’t say where they were located, but it didn’t look well insulated. Being on a mountain surrounded by trees is probably temperate, but there could also be snow and cold (it looked like a place that would get winter). Not sure how those fruit trees will survive with just single pane windows between them and the frost.

They had a young baby! It will be fine living there for a few months, but I can’t imagine a toddler in a place like that. The only bedroom had a narrow staircase with no railings (which wouldn’t meet code where I live), not even on the wall. Not sure what their plan was when the baby starts climbing. 

They also put in a pond with a rope swing. Again, the baby. 

I can’t figure out if they were going to live there full time or just use it as a vacation home. But all those greenhouse plants need constant attention, so I assume they’re living there. But they’re up on a mountain that they can’t even drive to. Heaven forbid they have a medical emergency. And how do they earn a living?

Living off the grid confuses me. It seems so anti-social.

[laredhead]

Haven't seen any new comments on here in a while.  My DVR has been recording what seem like new episodes lately.  The format has changed a bit in the episodes I have watched in that a lot of the prep work scenes have been deleted, and the builds begin after the site has been cleared & the build is ready to begin.  Latest one was what was billed as an underground house in Virginia.  The house really wasn't under the ground, but was a fiberglass frame with dirt piled on top of it.  I couldn't figure out how fresh air got into the house since it had only a couple of operable windows.  Also had a giant round front door which the owners said weighed 200 pounds.