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This book was written by Tarvin C Durbin to give you different insights about finding land and building your own small, self-sustainable off-grid home. So, you can then determine whether you feel that off-grid building is a good fit for you or not.
(If this is a fit for you)
You can then begin your own personal journey by moving forward towards building your own small, self-sustainable off-grid home. Tarvin gives You 3 Different Examples of Structures to Consider when Designing and Building Your Home. As well as the 3 Main Systems That You Will Need to Make Your Off-Grid Home Self-Sustainable. Plus 3 Additional Things That You Can Add to Make Your Small Off-Grid Home Even More Comfortable, and that’s not all you’ll discover inside of this eye opening off-grid guide.
(And if this is not a fit for you)
Then hopefully, this book will help save you a lot of trouble and time doing hours and hours of research on setting up your own off grid property, not to mention the unnecessary expenses that you may not have been aware of or considered, if you are thinking of embarking on your own off-grid journey.
Either way, if you are serious about wanting to find land and build your own small, self-sustainable off-grid home. The knowledge you will gain from this book alone is a win.
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Tarvin Durbin
Discover The Off-Grid Protocol
An Easier Way Of Going Off-Grid...
All rights reserved
Copyright © 2024 by Tarvin Durbin
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Published by Spines
ISBN: 979-8-89383-388-1
DISCOVER THE OFF-GRID PROTOCOL
AN EASIER WAY OF GOING OFF-GRID...
TARVIN DURBIN
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION / OFF-GRID: WHO’S IT FOR?
There are a lot of people in the world today who are growing ever so tired of living in the everyday Rat-Race and dealing with all of the different self-imposed problems that our society is gradually forcing us to live with. These people do not agree with how the world is rapidly changing and have had their eyes opened in many different ways over the past few years by the unwanted changes and newly fabricated rules that are continually being imposed upon them. They have a hunger to do their own thing, and this particular group of people is unique in its own way and doesn’t want to follow the crowd. They are continually looking for different ways to detach themselves and their families from all of the unsettling craziness that is growing around them. This group of people is in search of a more peaceful and simpler lifestyle, and for the most part, they just want to be left alone. This group of people has started saving their money, working on gathering up their resources, cashing in on their retirement funds, educating themselves about off-grid living, buying suitable land, building an off-grid home, water collection, solar power, homesteading, gardening, canning, raising chickens, raising ducks, raising goats and other livestock, prepping, survivalism and just about anything that has to do with being self-sustainable in some form or another and they are constantly doing research on how they can make this all become a possibility for themselves.
Some people want a change in their lifestyle so badly that they will do just about anything to achieve their goals. As you well know, there is a ton of information out there. In fact, there is so much information that it can be overwhelming and hard to know where to begin. You may start off making different lists and asking yourself… Where do I go? What do I buy? What do I need? Etc. So again, you end up asking yourself… What is Real? Where do I Start? and how do I get to where I want to go from here?
One of the things I have noticed the most over the years is that many people have a misconception about Off-Grid living. They think that if you move off-grid, you’re going to have to lower your standard of living and live in a small shack or dirt hut. This is simply not true. The beautiful thing about building and living off the grid is that you’re in charge of your quality of living. You’re in charge of the outcome of your project. You can design and build your very own Off-Grid Hideaway however you wish. I would first suggest that you start out with a small budget and build what you can afford as you go. Now, of course, if you have the money and resources available to you, then you can make your build come together much faster. My point here is that… that part is totally up to you. The biggest thing I would like to emphasize here is that you are the common denominator here, and you should take your time, do your research, make your list, make your comparisons, and then go over all the options that are available to you before you start the project. Once you can do these things, then sit down and start putting together your plan. Do whatever you can to make it fun.
I know that some people can be a little nit-picky and even a little critical or harsh to judge how we often do things sometimes, and with that being said… I would like to add my own little disclaimer, so to speak. While this book is not designed to be a Step-By-Step or How-Too Book, I am writing this book as a preliminary guide of sorts to help give you some insights about a lot of different things that you may or may not be aware of and that you should consider in order to help you to determine whether you feel that building your own off-grid style home is right for you or not. Now, I will tell you that there are harder ways to build off-grid, as well as easier ways to build off-grid. Some of those ways will require more hands-on labor and resources, as others may require more money to accomplish certain tasks. I am also not saying that this is the only way, and maybe not even the best way of doing some things. However, this is how I like to do things based on my own research and past experiences. I hope that you will find what I’m going to share with you to be informative and that it will also motivate you to press forward with your dreams and goals of moving off-grid and building your own small off-grid home… My recommendation for you, once you have finished this book, is to do even more research on this subject because the more you can learn on this topic, the more knowledgeable you will become and the more it is going to clarify what you need to do and what steps you need to take to reach your objective... My thought is that even if you only take one thing away from reading this book that can help you move forward in your journey, it is all worth it in the long run. Remember, this is your journey. Your journey is different from mine. It is unique only to you. Remember your WHY… Find ways to make it enjoyable and find ways to make it fun. Celebrate your small victories, keep pressing forward and don’t look back.
First and foremost, In my opinion. If you want to be away from the crowds and on your way to living a more carefree life with less stress and chaos in our world today, you need to have your own home. One of the things that people need most in the world today is housing. Everyone needs a warm, dry, safe, and secure place to lay their head. A place to call home. Yet, it’s something that feels completely out of reach for so many people in our world today. Housing is actually a global issue; it’s not just an issue here in the States. When it comes to housing, especially here in the States, having a home of your own can feel like an unattainable goal for so many people. Government rules, regulations, building codes, permitting, home inspections, giant mortgages and so on. It seems the list of roadblocks is almost never-ending. I guess that is true to some degree, depending on your financial status and where you are located. However, if you are willing to open your mind a little and do some research, you will find that there are still many areas out there where you can still buy affordable land that you can build your home on that doesn’t have any building restrictions, permitting requirements or regulations for building. Yes, they can sometimes be hard to find. But the land is out there if you look hard enough. I guess it all basically comes down to just One Question… How bad do you want it? Followed by a few more… Are you willing to relocate? Do you have an open mind? Will you do what it takes to make your dreams and visions come true? Sometimes, it’s about finding a loophole or a workaround, technicality and so on. I was introduced to Alternative Building back in 2001, which was several years ago, and I’ll tell you that I have been hooked on the concept ever since. A lot of people who know me will sometimes roll their eyes, take a breath and say, “Oh No…Here he goes again… “ I love the concept of alternative building and absolutely love talking about it whenever I get the chance. I’ll also tell you that the Alternative Building Concept is definitely NOT for everyone. It takes a certain mindset to get past all of the programming that society has invoked on us throughout our lives. You have to be willing to take a chance. That means you may win, you may lose. Who knows? That part is solely left up to each individual and how far they are willing to push themselves to get to where they truly want to be. I have had many failures along my journey, but those failures only gave me the incentive to push harder so I could continue to grow and achieve those few successes in my life, and those successes, my friend, were totally worth every bit of it. So, with all that being said, I’m going to dive right into it.
Throughout the course of this book, I am going to give you some valuable insight on building three different types of Off-Grid Structures that would make really nice Small Off-Grid Homes, complete with the systems that will make them totally comfortable, livable, and functional for you, although each of these structures is very different in their construction methods, materials, etc. Each structure has different levels of difficulty in building, and each structure has different benefits. However, the same principles for all the systems and the finishing details still apply to complete each structure. As you continue to read through the chapters, this will become clearer to you. Most people today are accustomed to big houses and lots of space. Well, when you get right down to it, a big house, although it may be beautiful to look at, usually has a large mortgage attached to it; a big house also has a lot of Waste. It takes a lot of energy and resources to heat and cool the wasted space within the house that nobody is even using, and that is big money coming out of your pockets that could be going towards something else or fewer hours you would have to spend at work and doing something else you would rather be doing if you didn’t have that large monthly mortgage to pay every month. OK, so enough of that. I would first like to introduce you to a simple concept. The concept I would like for you to follow is to figure out just how much space you actually would need and start off by building “a small room” at first, just to get you started. Now hear me out … Perhaps begin with something that may be the size of a large master bedroom that you could use as a small kitchenette with a bed, just for starters… for example. Then, finish out this room, and you will be able to move out onto your land faster. Once you complete the first room, you will then be able to add another room, such as a bathroom. So, just adding one tiny section would already make it more convenient. This would then make your small home even more comfortable. Then add on another room, such as a kitchen and so on… and before you even realize it. You will be living in your very own nice, comfortable home. That is TOTALLY PAID FOR!! With NO Monthly Payments to worry about. With this concept, you pay as you go and build your home as you can afford it. Having no monthly mortgage or rent payment to worry about means you will now be able to put that money, you would have been wasting on the mortgage or rent into your own pockets and have extra money to invest into your home instead.
Before we get into the details of how to accomplish all of this. You’re most likely asking yourself, who is this guy, and why should I listen to what he has to say? Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tarvin Durbin. I joined the military right out of high school. I got a lot of different types of training in the military during my enlistment. I was stationed in Germany right out of high school; I was in Operation Desert Storm as a soldier. I Was in Operation Iraqi Freedom at Camp Speicher, Iraq, as a Civilian. I Was in Operation Inherent Resolve at Camp Taji, Iraq, as a Civilian, as well as deployed to several other crap holes over the years. I got out of the military in 1992 and was in the Aerospace Industry for 38 years. I held just about every position that the aviation industry offered at one time or another throughout the years: aircraft mechanic, fuel technician, supervisor, inspector, planner, and scheduler. I have worked and traveled to many places throughout the United States as well as around the world during my career. Having this kind of career meant that I had to spend a lot of time away from home and away from my family over the years. Which I am sad to say came at a cost to all of us because I was seldom home for them. The longer I was in my job the more I began to really dislike what I was doing. The industry had started to change more and more over time. New rules, new policies, new restrictions, etc... etc. As time went on, it was becoming harder and harder to do my job. It didn’t matter what company I worked for or where I went. The industry was changing everywhere. The industry was promoting people who had no business being in their positions but were chosen because they wouldn’t say no to anything that the company told them to do, even when they knew how they were jerking us around was wrong.
Whenever I started off in my career, I absolutely loved my job and what I did for a living. I was very proud of the fact that I had such a unique and credible career. You might guess that with the way the industry was changing and all the time I had to be away from home and all the time traveling to other places that, it eventually started having an adverse effect on me to the point where I was just miserable most of the time. Unfortunately, as time passed, I started drinking to cope with things. Then, over time I drank a little more, then a little more than I should have sometimes while I was away. Long story short, it finally caught up with me one night, and I ended up going to jail for assault and a DUI. (I believe that it was that night that woke me up!)
I promise that I am getting to the point… This all explains what led me to make the decision to turned my life around. Now, the funny thing about that (well, it wasn’t funny back then) was that I was out with some guys I worked with in Daytona Beach. We had all gone out partying after work one evening. However, we did have a designated driver for the night to drive us around and make sure we got back to the hotel safely. Let’s just say that things didn’t end up going as planned. Once we got back to the hotel, I was feeling sick and stayed down in the parking lot in the car with the back door open because I was feeling sick. I told the guys I would be up in a little bit after I started feeling better. So, the guys went up to the room, and I stayed down in the car. The next thing I remember is that there were lights flashing all around the parking lot and there was a police officer waking me up. Turns out that the maintenance guy from the hotel called the law and yes, you guessed it... That was not a good thing for me. I ended up having to do a sobriety test... which I failed miserably. With the lights flashing all around the hotel parking lot, the guys I was with came down to see what was going on and much to their surprise, it was all about me. The guy who was our designated driver and the one who was driving the car left the keys in the ignition so I could get my bag out of the truck whenever I came up to the room. So, with the keys being in the ignition and since I technically had access to them, I was arrested for DUI even though all of the guys vouched for me and said they would all write statements and swear that I wasn’t driving the car. However, that didn’t matter to the police officers. I think it might have had something to do with my having a California driver’s license at the time, but that’s just me. The police officers told all of the guys to go back up to their rooms and that if they didn’t stop interfering they were going to be going to jail with me. That comment caused me to become uncooperative, thus belligerent, which made things worse. So, fast forward a bit. I was living in Southern California at the time, and after I got back home, I had to go through all kinds of legal issues. I had big fines to pay, took the alcohol classes, lost my license for six months, and I had to do 150 hours of community service time for my punishment. I know that this scenario about my past has nothing to do with building, but it was this downward spiral in my life that caused me to finally “Wake Up” and made me realize that there was definitely more to life than the horrible path I was headed down. This incident is what forced me to go down another road, and from that point forward, it ultimately allowed me to become a better person and have a much better outlook on life.
My ex-mother-in-law was living with me and my family at the time, and she went to church at a small local monastery that was only a couple of miles from our house. It turns out that one of the monks from the monastery had a business background and had heard of my misfortunate incident. He asked if I would mind coming over to the monastery to meet with him. I accepted and went over to talk with him. Little did I know that meeting with this man was going to literally change my life and put me on a totally new path that I could never have imagined. His name was Father Basil. Before becoming a monk, he was a businessman, and not just any businessman. He was one of 3 men who invented plasma cutting technology, and Fr. Basil, well, he was the guy who actually sold it to the Aerospace Industry! He sat down and talked with me for a while and told me that they were getting ready to start a major building project and asked if I would be interested in coming over to help them out. He knew of my background and had heard of my misfortunate incident and the trouble that I had gotten into. I never knew it, but he actually had something else in mind for me, which I had no clue about at the time. So, Father Basil offered to let me serve out my community service time with the church (which was 150 hours) in order to honor my punishment for my DUI incident. I agreed to come help out with whatever they needed, and it turns out that we all got along very well together, so they offered me a position as a maintenance man working around the monastery grounds until they were ready to start their big building project then we could go from there. Well, shortly after that, they pulled me into the office and offered me the position of project manager for their building project. I was speechless, but naturally, I accepted their offer, and we got started right away planning how everything was going to work. They briefed me on what their plans were for the building project, and we laid out a plan. They told me that we were going to build adobe dome buildings on the back side of the monastery property for all of the monks so they could each have their own private quarters. I was really surprised at what they wanted to build, but I also thought it was pretty cool because I had always liked the domes I’d seen in different places, and now I was actually going to get to build some for myself. I still remember the day they got the Engineering Drawings back. We all sat down and started finalizing the details of the project so we could get started as soon as possible.
Immediately after that, I found out that they had Father Basil and myself scheduled to go to visit The Cal-Earth Institute in Hesperia, CA, which was conveniently only about an hour away from the monastery. I had lived in that area for a couple of years and never even knew that school was there... Needless to say, whenever we pulled up and walked through the gates at the fence and walked into the compound, I was totally amazed at what I saw. I had never seen anything like it. There was actually a Mini Village that they had built at the school. We walked up to the office and met with Nader Khalili. He was an architect originally from Iran, and he used to design skyscrapers. He had moved to the States sometime before and started The Cal-Earth Institute and he taught people from all over the world about this new housing concept of building your own home or emergency shelter by mostly using the earth that was right under your feet. This was back in 2001 when Father Basil and I were trained on the Earthbag or Super Adobe method, which is referred to by Nader Khalili himself, as well as a few of his other instructors. I remember back then Cal-Earth had just begun construction on “Earth One” as they call it... and The Eco-Dome. A lot of time has passed since then, and both of those structures are finished. They are amazing displays to check out for yourself if you ever get the chance to visit The Cal-Earth Institute someday. I highly recommend visiting. I know that it’s definitely a time I will never forget.
Nader Khalili was a great man and very knowledgeable. I used to love to listen to his talks and lectures. They were incredible. He was very soft-spoken but definitely always had everyone’s attention. I was blown away by everything he had taught us. I didn’t know it until later on, but he was also the one who originally drew up the plans for the Domes on our project. Turns out that we were the first ones in the state of California to have that dome design signed off to Code within the state of California, which was a very big deal. All in all, it was a really cool project to be involved with. During the time that I worked with the monastery on their Dome Building Project, I will have to say that being a part of that particular experience had such a huge impact on me. I will even go as far as to say that the experience of building those domes and seeing how people reacted as we showed them what we were doing was just amazing to me and still amazes me to this day. I will even have to go as far as to say that being a part of that building project changed me somehow. It definitely changed the way I look at certain things. I have never felt such gratitude or satisfaction at anything I have ever done since that building project and being able to interact with others as we would show them around and explain to them what we were doing and actually seeing and experiencing a dome being completed and knowing I was a part of that is still mind-blowing to me, even to this day. There is nothing like walking inside one of them once it is completed. The sound, as well as the feeling of piece you get while being inside a dome, is something that I can’t explain. It’s something that everyone needs to experience for themselves.
Nadar Khalili and Myself at the Cal-Earth Institute, Hesperia, CA. First Eco-Dome Project, Late 2001
