Its been some time.

Sorry I have been doing other things.
I have not given up on underground as the Australian bush fires have proved a point.
Construction of a small shelter can be done by hand with a shovel now that the ground is wet. Dig a small trench 5 feet wide and ten or twelve feet long five feet deep cover the hole with burnt trees  and cover this with builders plastic to a distance from the hole the same width as the hole, that is a sheet 15 feet by 17 feet on a 12 foot by 5 foot hole.
Tamp the hole floor with a wooden hammer holding the handle vertical with an up and down motion.paint with linseed oil and the floor will harden paint the walls with any old plastic paint to stop dusting of the walls. Add door and furniture as required
This shelter will do till a more permanent house is constructed.

Just found this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwsDKy6xsAQ&feature=youtu.be

Underground tour

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUwbkUS2aw8

trolley

I have found some good wheels to make a trolley to dig out in a low area, a rail line will be made from bed frames. The wheels are high impact plastic and will be able to carry immense loads and are very free wheeling so there will be small amount of energy to move the loads of soil. I will update as things progress.

Sustainable concrete

Concrete road culverts can be used as the structural sections for a house. There is many sections that may be used. Stand up concrete panels can be used as retaining walls on the berms simplifying construction. These sections can be bought in and placed using a crane, earthen floors are a way of reducing concrete. Concrete is not as bad as some environmentalist want you to believe, used in engineered amounts concrete can be reduced to the minimum. I see where they pour concrete into the ground like there is no end, engineers design or over design places and you would think they got a percentage from the amount of concrete in the job.
The photo below is a photo borrowed from the Sovereign Concrete Product's of Ballarat site.
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If concrete is the be used to walk on only, then two inches is enough with wire mesh in the pour.  I read about the sustainable regrowth timber and this stuff is not that green in fact I would say its not environmentally friendly. Concrete can last hundreds of years and it wont burn down. I don't know weather I have said this before but hanging the furniture from the roof is a good idea. I will demonstrate the culverts in a future post and show photos of models that I will make. I would also like to recommend Rex Roberts engineered house book. Its a good read, I do not get paid for any recommended book or article in these posts. I do not get paid from the concrete industry. Cheers Stewart

Error in conrete and timber post

In the concrete and timber post it was meant to be 3,500 not 3500. Typo errors can be made and serious under or over engineering can result. That's why I recommend you use the figures as estimates and check them for your selves. We can all make mistakes and there is one of mine that I picked up. Sorry cheers Stewart

good reading

Just read this fantastic book

I read this book about engineered houses and thought you might like to read it.Its about houses and how to make them and a lot of fun stuff to boot..Rex Roberts' Your Engineered House