Building a Low-Budget Rustic Passive Solar House

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[3] Notice the sunlight panels in the interior portion.
[3] Notice the sunlight panels in the interior portion.
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[4] The bulletin board pops out of the utility room wall to provide an extra bedroom exit.
[4] The bulletin board pops out of the utility room wall to provide an extra bedroom exit.
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[2] Looking east toward the kitchen end of the sunroom.
[2] Looking east toward the kitchen end of the sunroom.
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Diagram 1: Passive solar house.
Diagram 1: Passive solar house.
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Diagram 2: Passive solar house.
Diagram 2: Passive solar house.

This low-budget rustic passive solar house that costs less than $12 per square foot. (See the solar home photos and diagrams in the image gallery.)

The Schonbergs built a low-budget passive solar house that sets new standards for simplicity.

My family’s rustic solar home might not suit everyone. (In fact, people with plenty of money on hand could undoubtedly have found ways to sink another $20,000 to $50,000 into it!) But we’re grateful and delighted to have a comfortable, efficient, 1,800-square-foot, four-bedroom dwelling at an out-of-pocket price of only about $20,000. As our county assessor pointed out, the typical house in our area costs about $30 per square foot to build . . . but we managed ours for less than $12 per!

Furthermore, for the first time, the frigid Minnesota winters can bring us that bright, warm, lazy feeling we used to get only in summer. “Who needs to go south for the cold months,” commented one friend, standing in the sunshine streaming into our dining room last December, “when you have a house like this one?”

Patience When Building a Solar Home

  • Published on Sep 1, 1982
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