http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/Off-grid-blog.html Offgrid Desert Living updates en-us offgrid Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:57:25 GMT Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:57:25 GMT offgrid-desert-living.com http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-living-room.html Our offgrid living room is an open, comfortable room that invites you to sit down and relax. The dry stack concrete block softens with the yellow paint. Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:51:11 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/index.html Building and living offgrid in the desert of S. Arizona. How we built our dry stack home and off grid solar power systems. Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:34:51 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-solar.html How we connected our offgrid solar inverter/charge controller, deep cycle batteries, wind generator. Some of the mistakes we made when calculating how much solar power we needed. Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:05:34 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-kitchen.html Our first offgrid kitchen was this sink. This is what we had when we moved into our off the grid home. It is a utility sink that was figured we would be able to use in the laundry room. Sun, 02 Mar 2008 21:07:31 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-firewood.html Cutting offgrid firewood and finding the wood to cut is challenging. You cannot cut any wood on any state land. Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:21:29 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/sitemap.html Sitemap Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:19:25 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/monsoon.html Monsoon season in the Arizona deser is about two to three months of flash flooding. Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:03:46 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-bathroom.html The offgrid bathroom ended up very differently than the plan due to poor selection and/or lack of local materials. Sun, 02 Mar 2008 17:07:22 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-dogs-den.html We waited a year before building our offgrid dogs den. It is the room where our dogs eat and sleep. It was very important that we get this room right. It is a comfortable area for our dogs and us Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:11:06 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-house-cleaning.html Offgrid house cleaning is different in the desert. The demons that you face daily is called dirt. Not just any dirt, but desert dirt. Sat, 06 Oct 2007 20:25:18 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-dogs-kennel.html Materials used to build an offgrid dogs kennel for our small dogs. Sun, 30 Sep 2007 09:37:01 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/porch-north.html The north porch was constructed from recycled material as well. Since the lumber was twisted I used metal pole clamps to hold the boards down. Sun, 30 Sep 2007 09:34:50 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/concrete-footings.html The concrete truck got stuck in the mud. We were not going to start the concrete footings today. Sun, 30 Sep 2007 09:22:44 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-bull.html Offgrid bull, a brahma bull in the yard. What do you do? Stare at him in disbelief, shue him away, yell at him? Sun, 30 Sep 2007 09:12:47 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/dry-stack-concrete-block-interior.html When working off grid with dry stack concrete block as the interior walls 8 inches of interior space is lost. Sun, 30 Sep 2007 08:08:25 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/porch-east.html Recycled and scrap lumber was used to build the east porch. It still allows views of the mountains yet cuts down on the sun's summer rays heating up the dining area. Sun, 30 Sep 2007 07:51:29 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/water-recycling.html Water recycling can be done with some planning. You can learn to recycle water with spending little or no money. Sun, 30 Sep 2007 07:03:39 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/conservation.html Conservation is setting aside for a future time. Restricting use to insure enough for tomorrow. How much is enough for today? How do we say this is enough? How much will we need for tomorrow? Sun, 30 Sep 2007 06:58:25 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/water-harvesting.html Water harvesting for the future is a way to make use of our monsoon seasons in dry arid climates. It can be stored and prevent some pooling water of back yards in other areas. Sun, 30 Sep 2007 06:56:10 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/water-conservation.html Water conservation is a popular isssue. Since it is still an issue, we are not doing enough. We first have to acknowledge that there is limited water resources. If you are not faced with this daily, Sun, 30 Sep 2007 06:09:12 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/solar-junction-box.html Wiring a solar junction box in parallel is easy. Each junction box has a positive and a negative terminal. This picture shows red, blue and black wires. Any color of wire can be used. Wed, 26 Sep 2007 04:37:40 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/diamond-back-rattlesnakes.html diamond back rattlesnakes mid-May through the hot months rattlesnakes change their behavior and become night time preditors Wed, 26 Sep 2007 04:20:09 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/desert-wildlife.html These are the desert wildlife found on or near our offgrid desert home Wed, 26 Sep 2007 04:18:34 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/sonoran-desert-toad.html This Sonoran Desert Toad was under a board that was moved near our house. Wed, 26 Sep 2007 04:09:33 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/desert-spiny-lizard.html This desert spiny lizard was taking advantage of an undercover hide a way in our back yard. We had elavated the rain barrels with a concrete block and some stones. Perfect resting place for a desert s Wed, 26 Sep 2007 03:47:41 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/solar-schematic.html Diaghram of solar schematic Sun, 23 Sep 2007 23:15:17 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/solar-watts-calculation.html Solar watts calculation sheet Sun, 23 Sep 2007 22:17:33 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-construction-adobe.html Of the many offgrid construction adobe is one of the oldest located in the desert. Thu, 13 Sep 2007 20:37:31 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-well.html Drilling an offgrid well in the desert was one of the most stressful experiences Thu, 13 Sep 2007 20:09:54 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/surface-bonding-cement.html Surface bonding cement was used on exterior walls and interior walls of our dry stack concrete block home. The fiberglas reinforced stucco gives the walls their strength. Thu, 13 Sep 2007 19:39:37 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-atv-riding.html Offgrid atv riding with the dogs every morning. It insures that the big dogs get enough exercise and the small dogs get out of the house. Fri, 07 Sep 2007 21:10:18 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-septic.html Our offgrid septic system is a closed system, square concrete recepticle Fri, 07 Sep 2007 07:33:43 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/gardening.html Gardening in the Arizona desert reaping critters instead of vegetables. Container gardening or raised bed is the least destructive. Fri, 07 Sep 2007 07:14:58 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/dogs-stories.html Stories of dogs sent in by visitors wanting to share information and experiences with their canine friends Fri, 07 Sep 2007 06:40:15 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/dogs-tips.html Dogs tips and safety care can be invaluable when faced with the care of any pet. Fri, 07 Sep 2007 06:37:25 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-roof.html The offgrid roof was rolled roofing chosen because it was inexpensive. Tue, 04 Sep 2007 23:58:36 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-roof-insulation.html Offgrid roof insulation in any desert off grid home is crucial Tue, 04 Sep 2007 23:57:35 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-roof-rafters.html The offgrid roof rafters were built by Ron and Herb (my brother). Tue, 04 Sep 2007 23:56:08 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-roof-OSB.html The offgrid roof OSB was hoisted up to the roof from a ladder with clamps. Tue, 04 Sep 2007 23:40:39 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-rafters-pictures.html Off grid rafters pictures Tue, 04 Sep 2007 23:39:01 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-daily-living.html Offgrid daily living makes your daily life more aware of conveniences that we had taken for granted. Like laundry, water, electricity...If we don't watch, it will run out. Tue, 04 Sep 2007 23:36:49 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-cooling-vents.html Offgrid cooling vents were made by turning concrete block on their side with double the width at the top. Tue, 04 Sep 2007 23:32:57 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/dry-stack.html Dry stack concrete block with a surface bonded cement was used for our exterior and interior walls. Tue, 04 Sep 2007 23:28:46 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-construction-styles.html There are many different offgrid construction styles suited for the desert area. Adobe, stick built, SIPs, kits, straw bale, manufactured homes and trailers to name a few. Mon, 03 Sep 2007 06:24:17 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-storage-shed.html We are currently building a offgrid storage shed to house the new inverter and the batteries which should be completed soon. Fri, 31 Aug 2007 08:35:53 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-interior-ceiling.html Chosing the right material for an offgrid interior ceiling with our limited resources at your disposal. Keeping with the rustic theme of the house, yet, bearing in mind that one person is doing the i Fri, 31 Aug 2007 08:23:03 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/concrete-slab.html Foundation concrete slab was poured at our off grid homesite by an outside contractor. Fri, 31 Aug 2007 07:35:28 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-house-plans.html To design our offgrid house plans we bought a computer program. First I had to learn how to use the program. Wed, 29 Aug 2007 07:48:05 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/offgrid-adobe-ruins.html Visiting the offgrid adobe ruins, an old windmill and farm house that are near our property Tue, 28 Aug 2007 08:32:59 GMT http://www.offgrid-desert-living.com/articles.html Articles published from offgrid desert living. Most are about experiences here on the property. Mon, 27 Aug 2007 20:05:03 GMT