Green Means

Site Selection

By Shannon Scott

            You’ve read up, have drive, a strong back, and a personal commitment to building your own home without hired help.  The first step is to select a functional, desirable building site.  A well selected building site will expand home design choices, and help the home to save energy.

Musts

Southern Exposure

            An open expanse to the south is critical for passive solar heating and cooling.  Land may be sloped to the south or relatively flat.  If neighbors to the south have high profile structures or trees, these might block sunlight from hitting your potential house; the lot won’t work.  Do not waste money on a building site that is not open to the south.

Suit Your Lifestyle

            Green living means sustainability and longevity.  Select a site that will suit your needs for many years to come.  If you work in town, have young children who need shuffling to and from events, and resent supporting big oil companies, look for a site close to your activities.  Conversely, if you don’t have much need to be in town and enjoy rural scenery, maybe a more rural site will work.  Think about what you like to do and how you actually live day to day.  Choose an area accordingly. 

Water and Power

            If you choose to live in town where there’s good municipal water then there’s no or few concerns about access or quality.  The same goes for power. 

            A rural site may have a community well or water organization, check access, quality, and prices.  If you have a well drilled, check costs and depths.  Ask neighbors about the mineral content of their wells.  Poor water quality or lack of water may make land unbuildable. 

            Ideally, wells in our seismically active area should have steel casing.  If you’ve found a rural site that you love, ask potential neighbors how their water is.  Check with local well drillers.  I used Hackworth Drilling with good success.  They were honest, did sound work, and kept a good attitude.

            Don’t assume that just because you’ve chosen 100 acres and have a mind to raise cattle or grow feed that a domestic well will suffice.  It won’t.  Most domestic wells in our high desert, limited water environment produce more than enough for household and garden use, but not nearly enough for serious irrigation or large animals.

            If you want grid power, make sure it’s available and accessible.  If you have to run power from the periphery of a lot line into a piece of land, check costs of power poles or underground lines.  You will also want to make sure you have legal right-of-way.

Check Before You Buy  

             Check subdivision covenants and restrictions before you buy.  If you want many acres of rural solitude don’t buy in a subdivision that allows for commercial development, or doesn’t have noise restriction clauses.  Covenants may restrict some green building choices, like reflective roofs, or clothes lines strung outside.  Covenants generally are intended to maintain property values and neighborhood integrity. 

The Future of the Neighborhood

            If you like the way a potential building site and subdivision is now, what’s on the city or county planning board for future growth and development?  How has the area changed over the last five or ten years?  Have an informed idea about whether or not the site will still suit you in coming years. 

Mere Suggestions

Food Sources

            Keeping a garden is often desirable.  But if neither of your thumbs is green, having a grocery store nearby is the next best thing.  Having a market close saves fuel costs, but still try to reduce trips to the store to once per month if you’re able.

People

            We are social animals and on occasion enjoy a get together with others.  Consider whom you care to be near and how often you care to see them.  Remember the adage, “Good fences make good neighbors.” 

Flora and Fauna 

            If you keep a small pet, give serious thought to the coyotes and avian predators that abound in rural hills and on the edges of town.  If you are an avid bird watcher select a treed area.  If you dread allergy season due to sage and rabbit brush, don’t buy land loaded with the stuff. 

            Save the Sage!  Stripping sage brush off land creates an unsightly dust bowl; topsoil erodes away.  It also destroys long established habitats for desert fauna.  Protect the environment and live within it - harmoniously. 

            Trees are nice.  They contribute to keeping a home cool in summer.  Just make sure that if trees are mature and dense on a small lot that they are deciduous (leafy), so that sun hits the house during winter months.  Trees also help maintain soil structure and erosion.  Trees and other vegetation provide habitat for birds and other small animals.

 

Photo by S. Scott:  If you like to fish, live near a fishin’ hole.  Pictured: Rob of Robert Pogoda Home Inspections

Love the Place

            If you enjoy hiking live as close to trails as possible.  If love to fish during any season of the year, then live near fishing access.  If you like nightlife, movies, restaurants and all the rest then live close to these activities. 

            Find a building site that suits your lifestyle.  Make a list of what you want and start looking.  Remember never fall in love with any piece of real estate –there’s always more good ones out there.

              Shannon Scott, LEED Green Assoc.,  is a green home owner, designer, and builder.  She and her husband live in northwestern Nevada in a straw bale home they designed and built themselves.  She teaches green building idea classes and can be reached at: greenmeansnv@gmail.com