I recently had an opportunity to study a bit of
permaculture under the genius Sepp Holzer.
There was a site where he was "doing his thing" and one of the interesting structures was a root cellar:
It's still under construction, but you kinda get the idea.
Here's another pic from one that he built somewhere else:
The important thing is, that with a track-hoe around, he can build the log one in a day.
He uses these
shelters for root cellars or for animal shelters.
A root cellar requires a bit more ventilation and a door out front.
Total cost for the roofing is about $1000 (two layers of felt and one layer of
pond liner) plus the cost of the track-hoe.
Lots more pictures and info
here.
And ... now to really throw another whammy in here ... there is a theory that if you extended rubber lining and added insulation, a few windows and a front door, you would have a home that no longer needed heat ...
more details at
http://www.norishouse.com/PAHS/UmbrellaHouse.html
And so I start to get these ideas that if you have a few acres of land with lots of trees and a bit of slope, you can build something really fast. And it's cheap because you can get a lot of the materials from the land - instead of trucking it in.
So you might start to think it could be like living in a basement - so I present:
More at
http://www.simondale.net/house/index.htm
So back to the roofing ... what about replacing the felt and pond liner with newspaper and polyethylene? The felt is to keep rocks and sticks from poking holes in the pond liner. I think a quarter inch thick (or more) layer will probably do that and do some of the job of the pond liner.
And as for insulation, what about replacing that with sawdust/straw/pine-straw? The trouble with it is moisture/rot and flamability. But there will be 8 inches of dry soil between the home and the sawdust/straw.
So, I'm thinking that the layers would be
12 inches wet soil
newspaper
poly
newspaper
straw/sawdust
newspaper
8 inches of dry soil
newspaper
poly
newspaper
wood
So instead of double layers of pond liner/felt/insulation that is trucked in and costs about $8000, the total cost might be about $200.
Will it work? Am I brilliant? Or am I gonna die under eight tons of dirt?