Building Your Own Hobbit Hole 358
Alien54 writes "Sometimes people go too far in being a fan of a great movie or of a great book. Now you can be the proud owner of a Hobbit Hole. The site offers basic plans, as well as technical resources. For example, one thing you might want to consider in your planning is Large Elliptical Precast Concrete Pipe."
LOL i want my own hobbit hole (Score:2, Funny)
Definitly (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Definitly (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Definitly (Score:4, Funny)
Florida is probably better for a replica of hobgoblin camp or maybe Golem's home (we likesss it) than a hobbit hole.
Re:Definitly (Score:5, Informative)
Some notes: I grew up on a barrier island called Singer Island in a split level house. The hill it was placed on was almost certainly artificial. My bedroom window was about two inches above the ground. On a couple occasions I had very large insects (including two wolf spiders the size of a man's hand) come inside.
That said, I got a book for my birthday, "The $50 and Up Underground House", a very out of print (I think) book written by an old school serious hippie environmentalist. You don't see his type around because he actually practiced what he preached and went off to live in the hills. Very fun and interesting book about how to build a cheap house, basically single handed, that is very good shelter. Lots of 'out of the box' thinking, and highly original (solves all the problems associated with underground houses like drainage and pressure but completely rethinking and reinventing the idea). His houses are built with the entrance facing *up* a hill... but they work for very non intuitive but very common sense reasons. Nifty.
--
Evan
Re:Definitly (Score:3, Funny)
You don't see his type around because he actually practiced what he preached and went off to live in the hills.
...And is now just a gustatory memory in the mind of some bear. That gives one pause to consider, though: if a bear eats a hippie, does he soon get the urge to raid campsites for Chee-tos and cream soda?
Re:Definitly (Score:3, Interesting)
--
Evan
Realism (Score:5, Funny)
And remember: it's not realistic unless you make the chandelier so low that wizards bump their heads on it.
Re:Realism (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Realism (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Realism (Score:5, Funny)
Sounds cozy, unless... (Score:4, Funny)
Which most human adults are.
Now, I like the concept, but it seemed like the pipe they were using wouldn't accomodate anybody larger than a child.
Re:Sounds cozy, unless... (Score:5, Informative)
Those concrete pipes come in sizes up to 144 inches. That would be 12 foot.
I think you'd fit.
The problem I have with the idea is basically you would be designing your home in the likeness of a sewer..
Re:Sounds cozy, unless... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Sounds cozy, unless... (Score:5, Funny)
there you go encouraging the teenage mutant ninja turtle demographic.
Building permit? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Building permit? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Building permit? (Score:3, Interesting)
Building permits are for humans! (Score:2, Insightful)
I can stand up (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I can stand up (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I can stand up (Score:2, Funny)
Right, 'cause this way it's a perfectly normal place to live
Warning (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Warning (Score:3, Funny)
Matamata: the original (Hobbit) hole (Score:2, Funny)
visit it at high speed if you must - I recommend at least 125 kph.
Going too far (Score:5, Funny)
Case in point:
"After seeing The Fellowship of the Ring, you have probably fantasized about living in a Hobbit Hole and lazing about in the shade."
Um... not sure how to break this to you, but NO I HAVEN'T.
*shakes head*
Too far gone, this one is.
Re:Going too far (Score:5, Funny)
Judging by the Yoda-speak, you must have opted to get Star Wars II instead of the LotR collectors edition, eh?
OSV Yoda's speech is (Score:5, Interesting)
Judging by the Yoda-speak
"Yoda-speak" you can call it, but the technical term is "OSV typology" [wikipedia.org], for "Object Subject Verb".
J.R.R. Tolkien's hobby was building fictional worlds and languages. The Lord of the Rings began as his back-story for a book about Elvish tongues. Some of his languages might have been OSV, but most were SVO like English.
Re:OSV Yoda's speech is (Score:3, Interesting)
E.g.
D'ith mé on madra.
"Ate I the dog".
Re:Going too far (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Going too far (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Going too far (Score:3, Funny)
The halls of the king of the Wood Elves seemed a better idea. (Note to self: Install ultrasonic alarm zones and mount handy bags of fine flour on the walls for guards to use. Make sure chief jailer doesn't have a drinking problem.)
The pipe could be big enough (Score:5, Informative)
Now, the other thing to deal with is your local building code. Would they let you live in what is, essentially, sewer pipe?
It would make a pretty cool bomb shelter/computer room.
Re:The pipe could be big enough (Score:5, Informative)
Bummer about the missiles/bombs tho... it's fairly routine to penetrate (greater than or equal to) 16 ft. thick concrete with conventional munitions... Also, I'd check out the local earthquake/flooding history in your area for the last millenia or so.
Having said all that, it would make a lot of sense to me to do one of these... if only I could get the financing.....
Re:The pipe could be big enough (Score:3, Funny)
Or pipes, anyway....
Making geeks vamoose! (Score:5, Funny)
For who haven't seen... (Score:2, Funny)
*chuckles* (Score:5, Interesting)
Great. Just what a Geek needs. Something the promotes sunlight deprivation all teh more. *shakes head*
Really though, half of what makes Bag End from the movie so damn kewl was the woodwork and *THAT* isn't cheap. My uncle did it for a living (before going back to school again and becoming a newspaper editor) and the cost of godly woodwork of the Hobbit or Elf is enough to buy another whole house...
Re:*chuckles* (Score:2)
Actually, it's a lot more than you think. Let's say you want to do this in red cedar (aromatic, nice color, and not that expensive). For material you're looking at ~$10/sq ft. Labour is at least $20/hour. To panel a 15x15x8 ft room, you're talking at least $10k for a rudimentry job and probably double plus that for detail work.
All told, you're looking at *EASILY* doubly the cost of your home by doing a rudimentry job.
monolithic domes (Score:5, Interesting)
Someone did it! (Score:3, Informative)
Malcom Wells wrote the book (Score:5, Informative)
Uh, yeah... (Score:5, Funny)
If his generator powered Mac Classic could see pictures of that hobbit hole he would be on his backhoe tonight, digging pits all over perfectly good hills.
Fear the pot smoking LOTR fanatics.
Re:Uh, yeah... (Score:3, Funny)
Fear pot smokers? They generally lounge around and say:
"Yeah, sure, whatever you want is cool with me. Got any potato chips?"
Yep, real dangerous types them pot smokers
-
Somewhere at Hanson Concrete Products... (Score:5, Funny)
Smart move keeping the site simple - serve it up, IIS!
Hey, their pipe come with joints! (Score:2, Funny)
Networking? (Score:2, Funny)
Been there, done that (Score:4, Insightful)
So when yuppies want to abandon their nice cozy frame houses for sewer pipes, may I propose they kill two birds with one stone and just trade?
Building Your Own? (Score:2)
Meh. The true freaks (or at least, the dedicated and skilled ones) work at the Weta Workshop [wetafx.co.nz], who was in charge of making every prop in the movie series.
Some of the work that is shown on the Special Extended DVD Edition is truly amazing.
hobbiton lives (Score:2, Funny)
Obligatory Slashdot Gag (tm) (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Obligatory Slashdot Gag (tm) (Score:2)
Topic icon (Score:5, Funny)
Building Your Own Hobbit Hole, topic: It's funny. Laugh.
Isn't the topic icon [slashdot.org] missing something?
Like fur?
bizarre (Score:3, Funny)
have probably fantasized about living in a Hobbit
Hole and lazing about in the shade. I know
I have."
You poor sad deluded git.
I never thought I'd see the day... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I never thought I'd see the day... (Score:4, Funny)
Just try getting it approved (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Just try getting it approved (Score:3, Funny)
Bedroom? Why would the builder move out of his parents basement?
help with codes (Score:4, Informative)
There are technical solutions to all the other problems. You can insulate or even heat your walls to avoid moisture problems. If you put a moiture barrier and insulation between your walls and the the air inside you should not have condensation. Who wants to look at concrete walls anyway? Fire, flood and proper ventilation and lighting are real design concerns, but they are balanced by thermal insulation safety from storms and man made hazards. The author's design had large windows or doors on every large room.
I'll admit, I want to live in a bomb shelter. The author's design was not roomy or sturdy enough for me. Culvert is not cheap either. Still, it's a nice effort.
Re:Just try getting it approved (Score:3, Interesting)
That is what you use electro-osmotic pulse [army.mil] systems for. He'd have to space these through the house, but further reasearch would be required.
Curved Floors (Score:3, Insightful)
Your fantastic elliptical tubing is still leaves you with the problem of curved floors. There are 3 solutions to this. 1) fill the room with enough dirt/concrete/whatever so that you make a flat floor. But this severely reduces you headroom, which is already at a premium. 2) Cut open the tubes and only use the top half + some square walls. But here you loose all of the advantages of prefab that you mentioned. 3) live with curved floors. While you might be able to live comfortably, the only place with enough headroom will be in the middle of the room. As well, anyone who has ever had to pick out furniture for a curved wall can tell you what a pain it is; furnature for a curved floor would be a nightmare, it would all have to be custom and wouldn't be easily relocatable within the room.
One other thing, do you have an entrance/exit othe than the garage?
Re:Curved Floors (Score:2)
Re:Curved Floors (Score:3, Interesting)
The cool thing about that is that you have natural conduit space under your floor.
Did you ever see cylindrical pressurized lunar habitation modules, back when the U.S. cared about space exploration? Same deal. The diff is that the lunar station are tubes to maintain enormous internal air pressure, compared to this bermed tube/pipe, which keeps out enormous masses of earth and water.
I remember the earth-sheltered homes built in the '70's. The big problem was leakage and cracks. This tube concept solves the cracking problem, and has Hobbity coolness to boot.
This makes some sense in deserts (Score:3, Funny)
However, calling it a hobbit hole turns it into a time and money consuming quest to prove to everyone in the neighborhood that you'll never breed.
Womanizer (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Womanizer (Score:3, Interesting)
There are women as geeky as me!
Re:Womanizer (Score:3, Funny)
master bath bigger than dining room (Score:2)
I REALLY have to get a bigger monitor! (Score:2)
Somehow I doubt the thing would be "Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."
Bunkers, airplanes, and now hobbit-holes. There's a trend going on here!
Maybe I shouldn't... (Score:4, Funny)
COWABUNGA!
-- Tino Didriksen / projectjj.dk
Hobbit Hole (Score:4, Funny)
Sauron had the right idea (Score:5, Funny)
An underground fortress for Sale (As Seen on Tv) (Score:5, Interesting)
underground fortress [invisiblepuzzle.com]
That is incredible. (Score:2)
Wish I could buy one.
Re:An underground fortress for Sale (As Seen on Tv (Score:2, Funny)
Too bad there would be no other computers to network with. May have to count on setting up a lan party.
wtf (Score:2)
No, not precast concrete pipe (Score:5, Interesting)
The way to go is tunnel liner [armtec.com], bolt-together segments used for making tunnels and small underpasses. Diameters to 6 meters are available standard, and to 36 meters by special order. Various cross sections are possible by mixing curved sections of different radii. You can get a nearly flat floor if desired.
Armtec's tunnel liner system isn't particularly good looking inside, but there are nicer ones, such as the ones used in newer Jubilee Line stations of the London Underground. The Tube is a good place to look for ideas on how to use curved underground spaces.
I can see it now... (Score:3, Funny)
Ma and Pa drive by, "Look Pa, there must be a nest of Geeks movin in." "Git ma gun from the rack Ma!"
Could you use mirrors to light up with sunlight? (Score:2)
It would be kind of cool to have my server room under my backyard.
Re:Could you use mirrors to light up with sunlight (Score:2)
My own hobbit hole (Score:2)
I'll email the picture per request (here)
Re:My own hobbit hole (Score:4, Informative)
The full size one is still available per request
Mixed movie refferences! (Score:2)
the Zen room, [geocities.com]
2 bedrooms (really the same room with different lightbulbs - pink for sluts and blue for assholes),
the Master bedroom (chains included)
the living room where hobbits folk dance, [161.58.5.90]
the dining room, [angelfire.com]
the Foyer, (why is the banister sticky?)
and the Library. (this man has no fucking neck!)
Note that Hobbit Holes don't have phones, asshole!
-
Clever idea, but... (Score:4, Interesting)
I want to make it clear that this is extremely clever, and now I want one! But, here's a few ideas I have.
I don't think ceiling ductwork is optimal for the application - in fact, placing everything subfloor may be more optimal for aesthetic value, especially for the CAT5 and electrical. (Rather than have things plug into the ceiling or have the wall outlets run down from there, wire them up from the floor. Less intrusive.) It might help to raise the floor a couple of inches to accomodate everything, but the impact if you remove the ceiling (as it were) should be trivial. on the other hand, if you are required to install sprinklers by your local building code...well, still drop everything else below, but keep a trivial ceiling to accomodate the sprinkler system.
For acoustic purposes, the builder would be advised to place some kind of padding on the walls. Yes, I know, acoustic tiling is expensive and carpeted walls went out when the The Gobbler [lileks.com] was torn down, but something should be done, or you won't be able to discreetly make love on the opposite end of the house from your guests with your SO.
Furnace and water should be placed centrally to all used utilities. In the floor plan [stormbear.com], you will notice that the builder has the utility closet placed between the pantry and the secondary bath. I think if I were me, I would place the utility closet off of that unused corridor, facing into the center of the oblong there. It takes it a bit farther from the kitchen, but it puts it significantly closer to the master bedroom, and unless you heavily insulate the pipes, heat lossage will be cut down significantly by doing this. The problem can be countered of course by installing secondary heaters as appropriate.
The chimney in the kitchen is a very smart touch, but an exhaust system in the bathrooms would be very optimal to keep those after-use odors down. =O.o=.
Take that secondary bath away from that side corridor. Put another attached to the bedroom/study/zen room branch, and another on that other corridor that is not used in the floorplan. It may seem redundant, but you don't (for one thing) want bathrooms *too* close to the kitchen or pantry, and you'll find a bathroom closer to the bedrooms and common areas of the home to be of significant convenience.
And where's that fireplace in the living room, hmm? =^_^=
As mentioned in another post of mine, make sure you install an electro-osmotic pulse system to keep those walls dry and intact.
Not concrete! (Score:3, Interesting)
There's something similar in the Bay Area (Score:3, Informative)
My high school bio teacher's parents live (or lived) in there, IIRC.
Living underground (Score:4, Informative)
Some answers to common questions:
- Isn't it dark in the house?
A: Not at all. In fact, it's much lighter than most normal houses. The entire front of the house is open to the side of the hill, and is mostly windows. Each room on that side has probably 12' to 15' of windows in it. Furthermore, the atrium in the center of the house provides much more light than even the biggest skylight could.
- Isn't it cold and damp?
A: No. The exterior of the house was well-sealed when we built it, so moisture isn't a big problem. (There have been leaks over the years, but for the most part they've been easy to fix.) As for being cold, the fact that the house is underground helps regulate the temperature. It is easier to heat in the winter, and easier to cool in the summer because there is less house exposed to the outside conditions than with a normal house.
--Josh
Replies on the hole (Score:4, Interesting)
First I wanted to thank whoever posted this to
But allow me to make a few observations and corrections.
There are eight fire exits and they are listed on the site.
Six rooms, the ones most used, have direct sunlight. You may not be able to see the windows in the pictures, but you have windows in the master bath, master bedroom, living room, foyer, kitchen and dining room. Plus you have skylights in the zen room and the study.
The space under the floors is at least 18 inches deep which can leave you up to 9 feet of headroom. I think that is enough. The curved walls can also be used to build closets and trunks without taking up floor space or clog the halls.
I have some concerns with other building methods because of the crushing weight of soil that would need to be dumped on the structure. The plan would not be to excavate, but to find a somewaht flat ground, lay the pipe, apply several layers of moisture barrier and then cover with many feet of soil and landscape. Rain itself would add several TONS of roof loading in a matter of minutes. Also, the point of this is to have a LOW amount of labor-hours. Most rammed earth structures takes years of spare time to build.
The use of pipe means you can configure the dwelling anyway you want; ringed, linear or multilevel. for example, if you build it as a ringed structure, you can have an open-air garden in the middle with all rooms being open to it. My example is just ONE example.
My goal for this site was to simply come up with yet ANOTHER idea for home construction that is not based on the traditional house. Who knows if anyone ever builds it? As I said on the site, I am just "expressing my inner architect."
Storm Bear Williams
Let me give you a gift... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Not Very Practical... (Score:5, Interesting)
Only the very poor and the very rich hobbits live in holes. The poor hobbits live in holes because they can't afford to build a house, and the rich live in elaborate holes because it is traditional, and because they can afford to make them luxurious.
... anyway, that's what I remember reading. If anyone can confirm that I'm not just pulling this out of my ass, please do. (I can't find it in the book at the moment.)
actual quote (Score:5, Informative)
That's from the prologue in the fellowship of the rings.
Eminently practical (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Eminently practical (Score:4, Funny)
2. Hobbit Hole Conversion Kit
3. Profit!
Re:hobbit hole (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Imaginations (Score:2)
Instead of working on a unique project requiring lots of engineering knowledge, creativity, and imagination, people's dreams stop at buying some pre-made car, as if that makes them important. Or hording lots of money showing how good they are.
Instead of just watching a film tonight just fantasing about doing something, I urge you to go out and do something, and stretch yourself!
Re:Imaginations (Score:4, Insightful)
- But when a grown adult man daydreams about living in an underground wizard cave instead of about girls, money, and cars, I believe that there is a problem.
WowDeeK
Re:Imaginations (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't doubt he dreams about girls; but some of us need other, more realistic dreams. Cars just aren't everyone's thing. He who truely dreams about money is lost; they get to spend their life in the cold and heartless chase of cash.
I doubt any of us live on grounds that are vast and mountainous enough to actually build one of these holes.
You doubt that any one of the tens of thousands of slashdot readers lives near a hill? Go back to geography class; just because you live in Kansas, doesn't mean we all do.
being a hero and saving everyone from a death by drowning. [...]imagine that you're a sexy, long-haired Mel Gibson.
Because these are such realistic goals. Instead of dreaming we're a hero in the ancient past, let's dream we're a seductive commoner in the recent past (who, IIRC, only saved one person) or a sleazebag who lies, and steals his way to the top and is a complete cad, but it's all right, because he has charisma and is Mel Gibson.
You offer us the sad myths of the modern world instead of the great myths of fantasy. Sorry, not interested. I'll try and take my modern world straight, and let my fantasies go where they may.
Re:Imaginations (Score:3, Insightful)
actually... and some musings (Score:2)
With that said, an alternative to the concrete pipe is to use a large diameter galavanized road gutter pipe. They can be quite large as well. These are in place all over the nation right now, useful as tornado or bomb shelters, or to use day to day as practical root cellars. Yes, some people grow most if not all of their food and need a place to store it. What a concept, almost like having a "store" out in the back yard. It's kinda nifty really.
Really, the hobbit hole is just a cooler way to do a "basement" one with a superior roof than a flammable building. Now I think living in a novel fantasy world is silly, but the concept of cave-as-shelter is quite robust in human history, as it has quite a bit of practical value. After all, our manmade buildings are just that, artifical "caves" of a sort, square, tall, whatever, it's still the same sort of concept, "stuff" around you that protects you from the outside elements. This guys gig is just fantasy art as shelter, sort of day to day performance theater I guess you might classify it as. Who knows he might find his fantasy chick to dig it with him. Ever been to a scifi con? Ain't as many grrls, but there's *enough*.
You deal with moisture/condensation problems in earth bermed or completely underground shelters by using an air heat exchanger/condenser. In a pinch, it's actually usefull to recover the moisture, as it's distilled water. They do similar I *think* on high tech space craft. Ya never know when water might come in handy and maybe the ole tap ain't working. Stuff happens. Airplanes into buildings. Maybe sometime we get nukes in cities. Maybe sometime soon, too, BTW. Or something like that. Hope not. I won't bet against it though, not the way this old whirrled is shaping up. I think michio kaku nailed it. Misuse of element 235 and it's cousins is gonna more or less slow down the old human race to a desparate crawl sometime. Well, and to that I'll add the modern day Dr. Frankensteins and their biocootie inventions. Another subject another day.
I thought the novel Dune had interesting survival aspects to it, the stillsuits were a cool idea.
Re:hey! (Score:3, Interesting)
Just remember to reserve the lowest point of the subfloor for the emergency drain pipe you will need in a heavy flood, or if those bored neighborhood geek kids drop a garden hose into your chimney and crank up the water.