Underground Homes

Rating:
Summary: Hesitant however trying to be fair
Review: Interested.

Trying to be as fair as possible. The book is interesting to say the least. I would use it as a guide if I were building /and I, my wife and I might just do that. We have just retired and our retirement home will be either underground or a log cabin. her and my choice respectively, so both of us are looking into the possibilities. I will use your book as a reference. I have obtained a copy from a friend and will see how the progression goes from there. I will stay in touch.

Rating:
Summary: good introduction
Review: Mr. Wampler's "Underground Homes" offers a good introduction to the drawing up and building of an underground home and I give it a pretty good rating, though from a carpenter's viewpoint I would like to have seen a few more detailed elevation drawings within the book to allow the reader to expand with one's own floor plan and draw up a full plan for at least a small underground home without buying a full set of blueprints, though it's necessary to have prints for full scale buildings, some homeowners may choose to add on an underground room or storm room also, and here is the perfect opportunity to offer some basic accepted methods of construction on elevations into plan form. He does cover the various problems which are unique to underground building and one should not approach this type of construction without due information and particular preparation.But, there are no actual home plans in this book.Chapters on waterproofing, insulation, lighting,heating and cooling, and more, will get the reader to thinking about all the options and wonderful security offered in an underground or earth-sheltered home.

Rating:
Summary: Skinny and dated, but it's a good conceptual starting point
Review: This book is fairly old (1978; revised in 1980), and slim (only 107 pages of text). But there aren't too many books that cover underground homes, and this is a fair overview.

If you're just starting to think about building a house, and want to consider the underground or earth-sheltered option, this book makes a decent starting point. You'll need to search out other materials if the idea strikes your fancy, though.

Chapter titles:
---------------
Introduction
Lot or Land
Structure

Waterproofing
Insulation
Interior
Natural Light
Heating and Cooling Systems
Exterior
Standard Roofs: A Compromise Solution
Building Sequence
Conclusion
Reference Material
Index