The mother said:
"I have always said that the perfect home for a large family is either an old church or an old school."
LFL likes the school with a gym idea, but I think that an old church would make a wonderful home. The architecture of some of these old schools is lovely (there's one in our city that I admire every time we pass it), but the sight of an abandoned church building always makes me sad. Whether it disbanded (the saddest thing of all) or outgrew the building (positive), I think it's unfortunate that these lovely old churches rot or get bulldozed. It would be so wonderful to turn a House of God into a house of God, raising a generation for Christ.
Another lower-cost option is a metal building home. Admittedly this is not as aesthetically pleasing as an old church or school, but I believe the outside could be nicely dressed up, and it would be inexpensive. Furthermore, the floor plan options are limitless as long as they fit within the boundaries of your building.
While we still have a small family and hope to stay in our wonderful home and neighborhood for a very long time, these stories and ideas capture my imagination. Such wonderful possibilities for families with lots of children!
I know there are many other options for low-cost large family homes. If you know of more, tell us about it in the comments!
3 comments:
We're doing a lot of research on low-cost building since we hope someday to have some land and build our own home. Right now we're leaning toward cob building...it's super-cheap, long-lasting, and you can build a totally unique structure and make it as big as you want. It's sort of like adobe...the walls are made out of dirt and straw, both of which cost next to nothing!
This was great! I love how people are buying the churches and schools and turning them into homes. Todd and I moved to Saint David to build a strawbale home... We are still doing research and have met several people who have built strawbale homes. We have also looked into cob building. There is an apartment complex in Tucson that is all straw bale and if I remember right they have also don some cob building with it.
Great Stories!
Here on the rez, we have dozens of old abandoned churches. Unfortunately the location is bad and the land under them can seldom be bought, but if a person wanted to relocate them, they would make beautiful homes when moved and refinished.
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