No matter what kind of house you hope to build, if you are interested in low-cost innovation, then be sure to read Mike Oehler's The $50 & Up Underground House Book.       Oehler is an out-of-the-box thinker who presents radically innovative house design and construction techniques. This book will stimulate your thinking and give you a fresh perspective on house-building design and construction. While unconventional and extremely low-cost, his techniques are entirely sound, and in many ways, engineered better than mainstream underground homes--although you might have trouble getting a building permit to apply his methods.

      The $50 & Up Underground House Book is not about building a dark, damp hole in the ground, but about building dry, well-ventilated, sunshine-filled homes that truly blend into the landscape. You will also learn how incorporate greenhouses, root cellars, and--if you desire--a fallout shelter. It is the only book on the market that explains the Post/Shoring/Polyethylene building method, which was developed by the author. The book covers hillside and flat land designs, and explains how to solve drainage problems with dependable gravity rather then expensive, failure-prone building materials.

      But The $50 & Up Underground House Book does more than just cut your building material costs by up to 90%. It is widely recognized as the book which offers the reader the greatest possibilities for light, air and views in an underground home. Where most owner-designers and even professional architects are stuck on the disastrous "First Thought" concept, a design which greatly limits view, sunshine and air flow, and which usually causes staggering drainage problems, Oehler offers the "Basic Design" with the "Up Hill Patio" which solves these problems and more. He explains the weaknesses of the other three design concepts favored by conventional architects: skylights, vertical window wells and atriums. For example, though skylights admit a rewarding amount of light, they often leak, get dirty quicker, admit too much of the summer sun, too little of the winter rays, and offer no view whatsoever. They may have special applications, Oehler argues, but there are better design concepts for normal use.

      Now in its seventh edition, The $50 & Up Underground House Book has sold more than 90,000 copies and has received enthusiastic reviews from Mother Earth News, Whole Earth Catalog and many others. Many consider it the classic in its field. The $50 & Up Underground House Book discusses in detail more than 50 different topics related to underground construction. Included in the book are 4 pages of engineering tables and diagrams, 8 floor plans, 54 photos, and more than 100 illustrations. 115 pages. 1978. 7th Edition, 1997. Mole Publishing. ISBN: 0-442-27311-8.

      The Earth-Sheltered Solar Greenhouse Book expands on the revolutionary, ultra low-cost underground building principles presented in Mike Oehler's $50 and Up Underground House Book.

      With Oehler's latest work, you can learn how to build a budget greenhouse that will allow at least nine months of gardening and all-winter harvesting, even in frigid climates. (Oehler lives in Idaho near the Canada border and has expanded his own growing season from ninety days to nine months.)

      This book is best considered a supplement to Oehler's $50 and Up Underground House Book. Use that book to fully understand his design concepts and building techniques. Then use the The Earth-Sheltered Solar Greenhouse Book to pick up the additional tips for building a successful earth-sheltered greenhouse. 230 pages. 2007. Mole Publishing. ISBN: 978-0-960-44640-7.

      An earth-sheltered, earth-roofed home has the least impact upon the land of all housing styles, leaving almost zero footprint on the planet.

      Earth-Sheltered Houses is a practical guide for those who want to build their own underground home at moderate cost. It describes the benefits of sheltering a home with earth, including the added comfort and energy efficiency from the moderating influence of the earth on the home's temperature - keeping it warm in the winter and cool in the summer - low maintenance, and the protection against fire, sound, earthquake and storm afforded by the earth. Extra benefits from adding an earth or other living roof option include greater longevity of the roof substrate, fine aesthetics, and environmental harmony.

      The book covers all of the various construction techniques involved including details on planning, excavation, footings, floor, walls, framing, roofing, waterproofing, insulation and drainage. Specific methods appropriate for the inexperienced owner-builder are a particular focus and include:

• pouring one's own footings and/or floor
• the use of dry-stacked (surface-bonded) concrete block walls
• post-and-beam framing
• plank-and-beam roofing, and
• drainage methods and self-adhesive waterproofing membranes