• Miles O'Brien@startrek.website
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    16 hours ago

    I know someone who did something like this.

    They bought a huge garage/warehouse on an empty plot of land, and built essentially two floors of a house right next to each other inside it. Didn’t make it look fancy though, just enough to keep the insulation in and hold everything solidly together.

    His reasoning? “it’s got to be cheaper to heat and easier to maintain if it’s inside a cheaper building”

    He’s lived there for over a decade and has since gotten married and had a kid, so it’s still working for him.

    • i_dont_want_to@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      14 hours ago

      Interesting! Does he have any issues with other people needing to access near the house, like getting deliveries and the meters for utilities read?

      • Miles O'Brien@startrek.website
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        13 hours ago

        From my understanding, he has solar/wind powered well pumps, and a septic system he can “shovel out” himself. He had a covered box for deliveries next to his mailbox, and anything that needs to be dropped close to the house can drive straight in, I assume he plans those out ahead of time.

        I just checked street view maps and since the last time I was over there he actually has a driveway now! With a gate across it.

        Last time I spoke to him regularly enough that house questions wouldnt be weird, he was already working on solar power and already had a “battery wall” from 18650 cells cobbled together from surplus and garage sale battery packs. Had a whole table set up with testing and monitoring stuff for it. Apparently when the power went out, he could keep his fridge and freezer going for “almost a week”

        I’m sure by now he’s gotten some of the trees cleared so he can have a garden, as that was also on the list of things he wanted to do to the place.

        So he’s probably living as off grid as possible by now, while still using satellite or cellular internet.

        It would be weird for me to just out of the blue start talking to him to ask more about it, we were never really “friends” friends, more “he’s friends with my friend so by extension we hang out” which makes it weirder. Not sure why, we just didn’t seem to interact outside of hangouts and group chats. Although if I’m being honest it’s probably because his family is rich so any time he went on about the stuff he’s “built” and “earned” it just rubbed me the wrong way.

        But It’s a nice setup for sure.

        • Miles O'Brien@startrek.website
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          16 hours ago

          I don’t understand this mentality from people who already have their name out there. You’re supposedly famous and you’re getting mad about being even more famous and recognizable.

          • Deceptichum@quokk.auOP
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            6 hours ago

            Maybe they want to be famous for their own work, rather than from being the butt of a joke from others?

          • lobut@lemmy.ca
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            13 hours ago

            I’m having trouble sourcing it now, but I think he got over that. What was posted was initial reaction but I swore he was trying to embrace it afterwards.