Building a Low-Budget Rustic Passive Solar House

By David Schonberg
Published on September 1, 1982
1 / 5

[3] Notice the sunlight panels in the interior portion.
[3] Notice the sunlight panels in the interior portion.
2 / 5

[4] The bulletin board pops out of the utility room wall to provide an extra bedroom exit.
[4] The bulletin board pops out of the utility room wall to provide an extra bedroom exit.
3 / 5

[2] Looking east toward the kitchen end of the sunroom.
[2] Looking east toward the kitchen end of the sunroom.
4 / 5

Diagram 1: Passive solar house.
Diagram 1: Passive solar house.
5 / 5

Diagram 2: Passive solar house.
Diagram 2: Passive solar house.

This low-budget rustic passive solar house that costs less than $12 per square foot. (See the solar home photos and diagrams in the image gallery.)

The Schonbergs built a low-budget passive solar house that sets new standards for simplicity.

My family’s rustic solar home might not suit everyone. (In fact, people with plenty of money on hand could undoubtedly have found ways to sink another $20,000 to $50,000 into it!) But we’re grateful and delighted to have a comfortable, efficient, 1,800-square-foot, four-bedroom dwelling at an out-of-pocket price of only about $20,000. As our county assessor pointed out, the typical house in our area costs about $30 per square foot to build . . . but we managed ours for less than $12 per!

Furthermore, for the first time, the frigid Minnesota winters can bring us that bright, warm, lazy feeling we used to get only in summer. “Who needs to go south for the cold months,” commented one friend, standing in the sunshine streaming into our dining room last December, “when you have a house like this one?”

Patience When Building a Solar Home

Seven years ago my wife and I agreed to be patient for one more decade . . . and then, if everything worked out, we’d build a new home. In the meantime we decided to maintain our old farmhouse as best we could and be thankful for the roof over our heads. Of course, every time a drain backed up or the winter wind shook the worn wooden structure, we couldn’t help dreaming of the beautiful, earth-sheltered, solar houses we kept reading about in books and magazines . . . and so we soon began to plan just how those energy-saving concepts might fit into our own home. While doing so, however, we all too frequently butted our heads against the same problem . . . most of the designs we read about were well beyond our budget.

Comments (0) Join others in the discussion!
    Online Store Logo
    Need Help? Call 1-800-234-3368