Can You Build an Alternative Rural Home in Northern Arizona?
Rural Northern Arizona property (Willow Creek Land, Spring Valley Land, Cedar Hills Land, Windmill Ranches Land) owners have varied uses for their land — some living off-grid, some homestead, some vacation, some hunt, and some just play. The parcels in the link above are in a beautiful mile-high strip of juniper/pinon woodland just north of I-40 perfect for all those uses.
If you are a prepper or are someone who loves the outdoors, fresh air, and privacy of your own get-a-way property, then rural land in Northern Arizona is for you. Rural Arizona Land!
Can I Build or Erect an Alternative Rural Home in Northern Arizona?
Arizona is perfect because there are few restrictions on rural land depending on the area you choose. The cost of an alternative could save you a lot of money over a site built home and be as comfortable.
People in Arizona have used yurts, teepees, strawbale buildings, tents on platforms, earthen homes, and re-furbished manufactured homes to live in. Many of these alternative ideas are ideal for a part or full-time home. Pole-mounted solar panels can be used with any of these homes to provide electricity.
Other posts in this series are about the design and feasibility of modern teepees, yurts, tents, and straw-bale building. Soon I will also write on another trend happening in our area where so many people have had to give up their manufactured homes.
Can I Build or Erect an Alternative Rural Home in Northern Arizona? Rural Arizona Land!
Could You Live in a Tent on Rural Land in Northern Arizona?
How about living in a tent on your own rural land. What, that’s crazy! Maybe not. Tents on platforms create practical and comfortable dwellings in both cold and hot climates, many are used in Africa game lodges.
North of the I-40, in Northern Arizona there are some very special parcels of rural land in mile-high juniper/pinon woodland. It would be perfect to erect platform tents as homes on this rural Northern Arizona land.
Last year I stayed at one in Nata Lodge near the Nata Bird Sanctuary in Botswana, Africa. I thought, “oh no; I’m too tired for a tent.”
But this tent was beautiful, spacious and high, with a gleaming wooden floor, a half wall behind the bed, a bathroom in the back. Could You live in a tent on rural land in Northern Arizona? — Yes, what a terrific idea! You could do it! When I wanted more air, I just unzipped a window. It was great! It was a cold night but warm inside the tent.
COULD YOU LIVE IN A TENT ON RURAL LAND?
This one had a hot outdoor shower on a balcony off the back of the tent. Heavenly!
Just like a house, all the necessities can be added — a septic system and plumbing, a well for water, and a solar system on poles to run the pump, the lights, and access to the internet.
See earlier blogs in this series on alternative homes, teepees, and yurts.
Could you live in a tent on rural land?
Could You Live in a Teepee in Northern Arizona?
Could You Live in a Teepee in Northern Arizona?
Teepees (tipis) as Alternative Rural Cabins in Northern Arizona
How about living in a teepee? Have you ever dreamed of living in a teepee as an alternative rural cabin in Northern Arizona?
It can be done; I’ve seen teepees in harsh North Dakota winters so our mild eight weeks of winter would be easy. Modern teepees of all sizes and prices are now available.
The basic elements of a teepee are cover, liner, Ozan (an interior drop ceiling), and poles. The poles form the framework that supports the cover and provides a lattice from which the liner and Ozan are hung. The teepee liner hangs against the inside of the poles and seals the bottom. The liner makes a double wall and creates a chimney effect. Arizona land over 10 acres which would be great for a teepee.
Could You Live in a Teepee in Northern Arizona? Why Not? A teepee may be heated with an open fire or a wood stove. In hot weather, the smoke flaps are left open and the bottom of the teepee cover is rolled up (either all the way around or just on one side). Even the most gentle breeze creates a nice cooling effect. Teepees as alternative rural cabins in Northern Arizona are worth looking into.
Could You Put a Yurt on Your Rural Northern Arizona Land?
How about living in a yurt? A modern version of this ancient structure (fragments found have been dated at 5000 BC) could be used as a home on your piece of rural land in Northern Arizona.
Yurts use compression and tension to form a freestanding, clear open structure. At the top of the yurt, the hub or compression ring is under pressure from the rafters, which radiate out from it. Could You Put a Yurt on Your Rural Northern Arizona Land? Why not, there have been several for sale in our area and I’ve seen used ones on Craigs List.
The rafters span out and down from the ring at a thirty-degree angle and hook onto the main cable. The main cable is a continuous loop, preset to the exact circumference of the yurt. It is supported by the lattice wall and is enclosed by the fabric.
By combining the durable yurt concept with a few modern updates, you have a stalwart, light-weight shelter that is easy to install and transport. Yurts would definitely work as alternative homes for rural Northern Arizona Land
Could You Put a Yurt on Your Rural Northern Arizona Land? Kingman Area Rural Land
Yes, you could!
Posts in this series include living in Teepees, Tents, and Strawbale homes on rural land.
Could You Live in a Strawbale Home on Rural Land?
Could You Live in a Strawbale Home on Rural Land? When you have found that perfect piece of Rural Land in Northern Arizona in Willow Creek Ranch, Spring Valley Ranches, or Cedar Hills Ranches for your retirement, your vacation spot, or your homestead and you’ve signed on the dotted line, you’ve put in your septic system and you’ve drilled the well, what next? You could build a frame home, buy a mobile, bring in a re-possessed modular home, or build a straw bale home. An affordable alternative is to build a cob or strawbale home.
Cob is a mixture of straw, sand, and clay (similar to adobe but with more straw). These homes have been built for thousands of years and once dried they are incredibly durable. The house on the right was built in Cornwall England in 1539!
Could You Live in a Strawbale Home on Rural Land? In the mid-1800s when there was free land to be homesteaded, these homes were the best choice in the treeless Nebraska sandhills. The advantages include cost, availability of building materials, and high insulation value. Disadvantages include susceptibility to rot and high space requirements for the straw itself.
These days to build a straw home on rural land consists of stacking rows of bales on a raised footing with a moisture barrier between the bales and their supporting platform. Bale walls are tied together and then plastered.
The picture to the right is an interior shot of a completed straw bale home. Curves are much easier to achieve than with framed homes. So, what do you think, Could You Live in a Strawbale Home on Rural Land? Other blogs in this series include living in a teepee, a yurt, or a tent on rural land. Rural Land in Northern Arizona
