Getting off the grid
The story of building our tiny house, off the grid experiment
I first bought this piece of land at 900 meters altitude, close to my parents farm, back in 2006. During my travels and work around the world I kept on dreaming that one day I will have a house here. The land offers amazing views to all directions, except one of them points towards the Velenje valley, where you can see a stack of smoke coming out of the powerplant. Part of my dream was to design a house without needing to be plugged into the ‘big system’ that the powerplant represented.
As the saying goes — if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans — and so my plans had to change. Since I wasn’t at home much, my family offered to build a large hut on the land that I could use for tools and storage whilst I would be building the ‘real house’. Then — I met Robert and I kept on working and traveling outside Slovenia, until Covid came and it grounded us in Slovenia for long enough to make the decision to make a more permanent living over here. But our needs had changed too, and we soon realized that we would prefer to live somewhere with more land to grow food and have animals. Therefore we decided to turn the hut on the hill into an off-the-grid tiny house experience for us, and for guests.
So what does it mean, in our world, to be off the grid? For us, it meant first rethinking the needs of the house and the people staying in it. Looking at what is around, what is nature providing, that we can use? And especially what can we live without? Also realizing that the purpose of this house is being a base to be outside in nature. The compensation for lack of certain city comforts comes with being outside all day long, so it’s not a hard bargain.
INSPIRATION FOR DESIGN AND MATERIALS
I always loved old beehives in Slovenia, and when I got the land I sketched a first design based on how beehives were built during the last centuries. Beehive in Slovenia is ČEBELNJAK, and my mom was quick calling the tiny house MIŠELJAK.
Then my family helped with setting foundations — building pillars, and sourcing local wood. All the work on putting the tiny house together was done by my stepdad, and my uncles.
The house is all wood, spruce, except the roof which is made in a traditional way from local larch, as the most durable wood in our regions. It looks so beautiful, but it did later on give us quite some headaches on how to use solar energy….
GIFTS
One of my uncles (yes, I have many in this village), a farmer that was the first owner of this land, mentioned an old disused water well that was across the road above the house and he offered it for my use if it was still functioning. Our area has a significant amount of water coming down both on and inside the hills, since most of the area is limestone and we are located at the foothills of a million years old volcano. We discovered that the concrete water well was very old, but had never dried out. The ‘gift of a water well’ feels very unique yet it is a great reminder of how communities operated in times before cities. Thus with local knowledge and generosity one essential foundation was laid.
Sometimes big events can help push the work on a project. In 2016 we got married and aimed to spend our first night in the hut, so lots got done in anticipation. On the day, when people asked to see the hut, we all walked up the hill and had a great spontaneous singing party in front the house.
HEATING AND ELECTRICITY
This winter Robert and I decided it’s time to push to really finish the house. We got help from friends and family and insulated the house from inside, built the patio and new windows to enjoy the views. We also built in a small woodfire-stove which was easy and the chimney to go with it which was amazingly hard and expensive.
Heating with wood here is a no brainer. There is enough wood on the forest’s floor even, but you can also easily cut more ( now we both master our own chain saws) or get it for a low cost from the farmers around here. Since the whole house is from wood, we picked the woodfire-stove that we had already used in Netherlands and knew it can operated safely in a wooden house.
And then we were on to the last step. Electricity. First, we were thinking to have this house without it, but when looking at fridge options and cooker options it really seemed worthwhile to get it. And besides, we people, somehow always want more!
So we started to research the options for a closed solar system, with storage. There are so many options on the internet, that it really makes it hard to know what we really need. We found a family owned business that is working with electricity storage for decades and they were very kind and offered a lot of advice. They designed a set for us that we would be able to have lights, a small fridge and a small cooking stove to use, so about 2400 W minimum.
We felt so excited back in April, that we have a configuration that will help us get our own electricity. And then….my beehive design with the wooded roof backfired. We were told that there are serious concerns about fire safety and that by no means we can install the panels on the roof. And even if that wouldn’t be the case, then we would need to consider cutting an old pear tree down, and we were by no means willing to do that. This tree in front our the house is more then 120 years old, and it is so beautiful and still produces pears for cider. So it was no go.
And now what? Solar panels on the land. OK we thought, we will get someone to do it. Of course, in the post Covid times, every builder is booked up, so for small work on a steep land to position and build in 8 foundations, we could get no one. So we had to learn to do it ourselves. Luckily we had a lot of family and friends coming over and staying in the hot summer, so we got help with planning and measuring, then everyone did a bit of digging, concrete mixing, and setting up the foundations.
When the land was prepared, we had to wait for another two months for the construction to arrive. And when it got set up, I was so disappointed because it felt to me that we completely spoiled the look of the house, even if it was only in the back.
Than it was up to the last step — to connect the whole system together and once the solar panels were up, we both felt such a relief. They are positioned in the way that you can see them only when you are in the back on the house or from one of the view points, and the rest is discreetly hidden with the landscape and trees, so it’s not in the way.
All in all — we designed the system with 4 panels, 2 storage batteries and a 3.5 kw inverter. Panels and batteries are all outside, away from the house for safety. The Inverter, that is more sensitive to low temperatures, we installed inside the toilet in the house, so that the noise and lights are not in the living space.
A DAY AFTER.
We made our first coffee on the electrical stove, drank cold beer from the fridge to celebrate, and enjoyed our lights in the house. So much effort, for such simple pleasures. And that’s what makes it even more special, because we had to figure it out all ourselves.
If you are dreaming of designing your own off the grid house, we assure you, you will have ups and downs, learn so much on the way and be proud and happy at the end. The more of us experiment with going off grid, the easier it will get. Unplugging from the old and leaping into new possibilities is what future is about. Enjoy the ride.
Robert and Mihela
October 22, 2022
