A 20TH CENTURY CLIFF HOUSE

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

ONE WALL, NO ROOF

Once the excavation was done, the construction of the 1,920-square-foot, three-story interior actually turned out to be less difficult than that of a comparable "wide open spaces" building. Since a cave house requires weather protection on only one side, the retired contractor was able to avoid the effort (and expense) of placing insulation in the walls, floor, and ceiling . . . as well as that of installing waterproof roofing and siding. (However, Chuck did decide to insulate the floors of the second and third stories, to prevent any irritating thumps and squeaks from being transmitted to the rooms below.)

Basically, the "constructed" portion of the home consists of standard 2 X 4 stud walls on 16-inch centers, with dry wall on the inside and 3/8" plywood on the outside. A two- to three-foot air space surrounds the walls—as well as the ceiling and floor—to provide access for the installation and service of plumbing, electrical connections, and ducting.

When construction began, Chuck didn't know whether humidity would be a problem in his cave house. However, the porosity of the surrounding sandstone, combined with the vapor barrier provided by the open space between the rock and the wall, proved to be more than sufficient to prevent any such difficulties.

As another benefit, the home's design allowed cabinets, closets, and even bureaus to be recessed into the air space surrounding the walls. Thus the Nystrom house tends to have a relatively uncluttered interior . . . which makes more of its floor space available for use than would be the case in a conventional home.

COMPARABLE CONSTRUCTION COST

Because a cliff dwelling offers significant savings in both materials and labor, the current cost of such a structure is about equal to that of a quality conventional home ... in the $40- to $45-per-square-foot range. However, Chuck hopes that he'll soon be able to improve the economy of the technique by using new ly developed hydraulic mining methods.

The actual construction of such a house is a job that almost any building contractor—or even a skilled do-it-yourselfer—could handle. Once the hole is prepared, the rest of the process is actually less complicated than are standard building techniques.

BIG ENERGY SAVINGS

While Mr. Nystrom's cliff house cost about the same to build as most homes, it pays him a dividend every time he writes the check for his power bill. Chuck's annual heating and cooling expense-—n the 5,500-degree-day Colorado western slope area—is about 1/10 that of a similar-sized tract home: an average of 34¢ a day, or about $125 per year. (The electricity consumed serves a heat pump—with resistive coils located in the distribution system for backup—which Chuck installed on a separate meter in order to accurately monitor his home's performance.)

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print