When we first moved up to Black Dike, there was nothing but the old well, a couple of old trails, and a cleared spot near the top of the hill. We had a driveway cut in to reach that cleared spot, traded a pickup truck for a 5th-wheel RV, and shortly we moved on!
The need for an outdoor settin' spot soon became apparent. Thus the hexagonal Gazebo was built as a freestanding porch, enabling us to enjoy the great Arizona outdoors and abundant views on Black Dike.
The roof is supported by 6" grouted PVC pipe columns, braced with 30" high soil-cement walls, has a soil-cement floor, and all steel roof framing & roofing.
In early 1998 I was still using the RV for home, but things began to change. The gazebo was enclosed "for storage" with steel framing and siding.
Then of course I needed lights, and wired the building, and spent many hours pressing Styrofoam between the framing, which was soon painted - looked pretty good!
Well, now the Gazebo had become the beginnings of a house. In early 2000 I converted an old pickup camper into a kitchen & clothesbar (pic), sold the RV and moved my bed 'n stuff into the gazebo. The next day I went to Corpus Cristi for a sailing adventure that didn't pan out, so later in the year I set out to make the best of this "pioneer" situation.
Sponge bathing and dishwashing was set up in the Outhouse; a garbage can was my hamper and my potty was a bucket with a plywood seat under the eave out back and a view for miles! This is a shot of the inside of the Outhouse during later 2000. Washing water was heated in a couple of black containers; it sometimes got so hot it hurt! Thank you, Mr Sun!
With things gradually "looking up", the Outhouse was converted to a 3/4 bath with washing machine. That first shower was GREAT!
But it was so wonderful to get that RV out of my space; the interim inconveniences were no problem at all.
An old pickup camper which I'd brought out from Michigan on one of my jaunts was converted to the kitchen and storage (including a clothesbar), using a campstove to cook and dishwashing in the Outhouse. The inside picture came out badly, but it's the only one I have, soooo....
Was still hauling drinking water, as the well had not been tested and was used only for washing, plants and cement mixing, etc., so I rigged an old Pepsi syrup barrel to store the drinking water.
It was a bit of a challenge living between the three little buildings, but Black Dike is so remote and private that there was really no need to get dressed for the trek!
April of 2000 brought a need for more space, but there wasn't time to finish the Hilltop house. I finally figured out a way to add onto the Gazebo without destroying it's octagonal theme. While initially we were just trying to add some storage space, once the basic layout was done and we were about to pour the slab, it seemed building it as living area wouldn't take all that much, so......
We got a real kitchen, bathroom and dining room in this little place!
Front faces South, 25 degrees East
I promised to bring you more and better pictures. Finally after two computers died and one event of hard-drive data recovery, here are a few more of the gazebo construction... here's the old solar-guy digging footings. A monolithic slab was poured with #4 rebar in the perimeter.
This shows the walls and roof framed with steel on the new slab. The wall framing was 2-1/2" standard 25ga, and the roof was 4" 20ga, installed as purlins to support the corrugated roofing.
Here I'm finishing up the copper plumbing - had a terrible time because I didn't have a fitting to connect rolled copper to rigid copper. In the background now you'll see that foamboard insulation has been installed.
Standard press-fit fiberglass insulation was used, full thickness to the framing size. Panels from the original part of the gazebo were re-used - that was a real pain trying to save those few sheets with their screw-holes and etc. Budgets are always a problem, but some savings just don't pay!
The old film-camera used was dying, but one can still see the kitchen. I found some 5/8" Masonite hardboard for the doors and exposed ends, and had to build the Formica countertops because the cove-top people said they couldn't make it fit!
The dining room next to the kitchen was just large enough to fit both a small table and chairs and the computer setup. I notice there was an extra little 'fridge there because we'd just brought our solar system up to about 2 kw and had plenty of power now. The PV system was sized to accommodate all our needs for the coming HillHouse.
The living area had to include the queen-size bed, set atop storage cabinets used for clothing and boxes of "schtuff". 'Twas all very cozy indeed!
The rest of the living area held a hide-a-bed sofa, which JUST could be opened up when the grandsons came for an overnighter! They had a ball with it, tho, and were never stepped on!
There was no original plan that the Gazebo ever become a home, but we did apply solar home techniques during the enclosure process - windows faced 30 degrees southeast and southwest. The exterior was covered with 1" styrofoam to make the original soil-cement lower- walls act as thermal mass to store heat from 72 SqFt of south-facing single glass. It performs well on sunny days but needs help at night. Foamboard fitted inside the windows helped immensely, but I just admit we finally broke down and bought a small propane heater.
Posted by RonKZ Sunday, August 15, 2004
copyright 1998 - 07 July 2006 by Ron Klotz-Zellhoefer, SolarSense Designs, Arizona & New Mexico
Permission is granted and welcomed for personal application only.
