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Mom's house in Butte county was built around 1985 up to whatever California building standards existed at the time. The first owners weren't mechanically includ

Mom's house in Butte county was built around 1985 up to whatever California building standards existed at the time. The first owners weren't mechanically included but appeared to have a mix of professional repairs where it mattered and confused DIY otherwise. What helped saved the structure were American city habits of high-water lawns and pushing back the wildland-urban interface. Coober Pedy is a completely subterranean town around the opal mines. These days (not in AU), I'm looking at semi-underground housing structures to cut heating and cooling costs and avert some classes of risks associated with conventional housing. 40-45 C summers for 4 months & -10 C winters will increasingly become too expensive for conventional structures. Plus, there's wind, hail, lightning, tornadic, and wildfire risks to consider. Flooding isn't a problem if building on high ground.

Jedd 3y ago
Yup, over winter (just at the end of that here, now) we've been continuing to clear a larger break around the abodes, a few very large bonfires over the past couple of months, but ultimately if a fire is heading towards us we're mostly at the mercy of climate & localised weather events. Underground is appealing, but radon and costs (water diversion, load-bearing roof strength, etc) have put me off that idea. I should revisit. We're starting to plant out more deciduous trees as our break zone extends - local Australian natives (eucalypts, cypress) burn like tar barrels. Similarly contending with -6 through 45 celsius. You paint a cheery picture. ; |