In the Beginning...

Our dream of living off the grid began several years ago. We are nearing retirement age and through a series of unfortunate events have pretty much lost any retirement savings either of us may have had. So we began to make plans to simplify our lives to make the most of what we do have. Our goal was to own our own property, build a small but comfortable house, and simplify our energy needs so that by the time we are ready to retire, we will be debt free and able to live relatively comfortably at minimal expense.

So, 3 years ago we began purchasing 40 acres of land near Terlingua, Tx. There were many factors that were considered in our decision to buy property in the rugged mountain desert of the lower Big Bend area. First, it was cheap. Secondly, it was secluded - away from the hustle and bustle of more populated areas. And thirdly, there are no restrictions on how we build.
View from our 40 acres.

Years before we actually made the commitment to buy the property, we had researched a number of different building materials that would be suitable to use to build our house. My preference was to build with Strawbale. It seemed the least labor intensive, easiest material to work with. And the R factor is rated very high. It can be load-bearing, bringing the cost of construction down considerably. Cost is a major factor for us. However, the terrain is extremely rough, making getting a large load of strawbales to the property very difficult. After looking at a number of alternatives - Stone ( which is plentiful on the property, but labor intensive to gather), Earth Bags, Adobe - we finally decided to try our hand at Papercrete.