Next steps for the hut

2026-01-14

The new battery for my solar panels gives me electricity around the clock. I am happy with it. I am also pleased with the planning and hard work I did to (i) have an admittedly imperfect place to stay, (ii) be able to generate income in the meantime, (iii) save money for the battery, (iv) arrange for the purchase of the item, (v) handle its installation.

The patience and attentiveness I have shown thus far underpins the overall hut project. I have been improving it little-by-little. The longer-term goal is to have a house that is suitable for the average person: that may cover other people but, most likely, it is just about my future self.

As of this writing, I am not average in terms of resilience: I can live under a rock and have endured some extremely uncomfortable situations. This may not be a good thing because of how it conditions me to tolerate sustained discomfort without saying anything about it (i.e. “be vulnerable”), but is who I am and have proven that I get results.

Heating

At around 07:00 this morning the temperature indoors was 6 degrees Celsius. There is snow at the highest peaks, but nothing out of the ordinary. At noon it rises up to 15 degrees Celsius, thanks to the direct sunlight. I always dress well and do physical activities (long walks and/or manual labour) that help me keep my core temperature high. But the house has to be viable even in the scenario where I am not at my best (e.g. if I suffer an injury) or have to host another person (like an elderly relative). I thus want to bring the room temperature to around 20 degrees Celsius.

I looked around for heating units. Anything that needs to generate a lot of heat is energy-intensive. I do not like that because it will fail me when I need it the most, i.e. on a dark and extra cold day like those we had the past week.

The most viable option seems to be an air conditioning unit. The prices are comparable, so the criterion is the electricity profile. Air conditioning seems to be less energy-intensive, though I have to confirm that. I also need to determine what exactly do I need to install one, as I have not done it before (I will do all the work myself, of course, otherwise the price doubles or triples to prohibitive levels).

Realistically, I can have this project done for the winter of 2028 or beyond. It depends on my income.

Insulation

This is a multi-stage project to improve the building’s resilience to cold, heat, and water. I have already done the water-proofing of the roof. There still are two corners at the base of the house that leak a tiny bit of water on intensely rainy days. I will fix those in the coming spring or summer at the latest.

Resistance to heat is subject to the walnut trees I have strategically planted around the house. They need about three to five more years of growth before they can cast their shadow on my rooms. That aside, I planned the house at the outset (of course I did the architecture myself) to have windows on all opposite ends in order to optimise air circulation (the other optimisation is maximum exposure to direct sunlight based on the position of the sun at the winter solstice). It gets warm here at the peak of summer, but it is manageable. With the trees it will be comfortable.

I can reinforce all the walls with an extra layer of material. I am thinking of adding it to the exterior, because this gives me maximum flexibility from a construction point of view: the interior is not uniform due to the metallic skeleton that holds everything together, plus there are cables for the electricity and the power outlets.

Industrial products now include patterns such as faux brick, so that might be a little extra touch to consider, though my priority is the function it will perform. A generic grey gets the job done just as well, but if the cost is the same then I will think about what I like more.

Insulation is the single best upgrade I can make to my house from now on. Depending on what I can achieve, it might even eliminate the need for a heating solution altogether.

Assuming all goes well, I can place an order for the materials before the end of 2026 and start construction work in the spring/summer of 2027.

Floor work

The floor needs to be improved. Right now it is the concrete I had initially built. This works but (i) it is cold and (ii) get dusty. The goal is to apply an extra layer of material on top. I am prepared to do tiling work, though all the tiles I found on the local market are expensive. Perhaps there is some kind of mineral that is relatively cheap. I do not need it to be fancy, just to seal off the concrete below once I combine it with cement. I may also want to apply an extra layer of synthetic material above it, such as some laminated surfaces that caught my attention, but I need to sort out the basis first.

The floor work is still indeterminate. I must find the most viable option for me and then plan accordingly. So probably during the summer of 2028 or later.

Home appliances

I will eventually need all the common home appliances. The immediate priority is a fridge and then a washing machine: spring or summer 2026. Then I can think about “nice extras”, such as a dishwasher. Though those will be done after all of the aforementioned.

Stability and consistency

Things are looking good. There still is a lot to be done. I continue with the same intensity. Up until this point, my focus was on the absolute essentials. Namely, to have a roof over my head, to guarantee that it is safe, and to make it have electricity all day (off-grid solar panels with a battery). I thus cleared the land, built the house, installed the solar panels, created the electricity cabin that houses the inverter, battery, and combiner box, and did the flood-control infrastructure by the stream. Plus all the labour on my land to plant trees and herbs, improve resistance to soil erosion, do stairways, and many more. I am confident in my ability to finalise this project. It is a matter of having favourable circumstances, which I try to affect as best I can.