Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Basement houses

My family and I live in a basement home. We love it. It keeps us warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Plus, since we live in "Kansas" it protects us if and when a tornado or high winds come a'calling.

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That view is from the driveway. Good thing dogs and kids and horses don't climb on the roof. It sure would be easy for them to. Hell, if I was a kid I am sure I would have by now. We used to climb up the antenna Dad used for his CB radio and play on the roof when our parents weren't home. I'll never forget when myself and Caryngirl were up there and Mom came home. She looked at us, pointed her finger and said "I've caught you in the act!" OMG, Caryngirl and I just about died laughing. In fact the last time I saw her just last year we laughed about that again.

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That's the house from the garden view. From this view you can kind of see the dry lot pasture.

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It's way far in the distance. Here's a closer view of the horses taken from the same angle.

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Anyway, we didn't buy our house like this. In fact it didn't have a roof on it. It looked pretty much like this house a few roads over from ours.

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See the black material? That is some thick stuff. The folks we bought the house from were going to build a main level on top. We quickly decided we didn't need a 4,000 sq. ft. home. We contracted an Amish company to install the roof. They built the entire roof on site. They used nothing electric either. Every morning for weeks they traveled several miles in a horse drawn buggy to our house. It took them 2 hours each way. Amazing huh? They did a fantastic job of building and installing our roof. We love it.

I had to take a detour last week because of a tree trimming truck that was in the way on my way home. The detour took me down a road I don't travel often enough. I saw this basement house and naturally took a picture.

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There is a tree limb in the way but you get the picture. Just down the road from that house, in fact the daddy of the woman that lives in the basement house, was this.

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A farmer's mailbox. Danny Hart lives there and this man owns several thousand acres in our area. In fact he owns the field beside our pastures.

Country living at its finest. At least in my opinion!

13 comments:

Lou said...

You have posted pics of your house before, but I never really got it. The environmental aspect of it is great, and it saves money. Interesting about the Amish. I didn't know they were in Kentucky.

MichelleSG said...

I really love the idea of a basement house, especially since I'm terrified of tornadoes. You're heating and cooling bill must be much less than everyone elses too!

Syd said...

I guess that I've never heard of a basement house. But it makes perfect sense for tornado alley. Very interesting.

Trailboss said...

We have lots and lots of Amish in this area. The Walmart and other stores in Mayfield have hitching posts for their buggies. It's pretty neat to be driving along and see traffic slow down and there is a buggy leading the way, horse just a trottin' away.

Paint Girl said...

I bet your house keeps you very cool in the summer! That is pretty cool that the Amish did your roof! And that would be very interesting to have hitching posts at Wal-mart!

Sherry Sikstrom said...

Interesting, I somehow never got that from the photos before.It seems like it would be cost efficient to with the ground insulating and preventing heat loss.

Scott W said...

I am so glad you had the Amish put that roof on, how else would you keep the rain out?

Dry lot pasture? What is that? You have weird names for things.

dAAve said...

I am here.
Now you may relax.

Dan and Betty said...

Works for me. Having lived in Ohio I have a great respect for Amish craftsmanship.

Nice pictures.

Dan

Jen said...

Love your home...love the area also.

Bill said...

You have an unusual home. I like it. I especially love the roof of your house, even more now knowing the interesting story of its construction.

tj said...

We are looking into building a basement house just like this in Georgia. Is there anything you wish you had done differently?

Trailboss said...
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