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House down under

Couple moves into underground home

Thursday, Oct. 19, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Christopher Anderson⁄The Gazette Bill Garay has nearly completed construction on his underground home in Clinton. The home’s construction style saves the Garays on energy and maintenance costs, and they say it looks better on the inside than they had hoped.

‘‘Just picture an upside down swimming pool,” said Bill Garay, owner of the underground home, as he described the way the home looked as it was being built. The Garays moved into their home, which is located in the 8000 block of Poplar Hill Drive in Clinton, a few months ago. The said they are very pleased with the final product.

‘‘It looks even better than we thought it would. Usually, you like to kick the tires a little bit and see if it works, but we had never seen a house anything like this. After we started building it and the house really began coming together, we were both pretty excited about it,” Bill Garay said.

The Garays decided to build the underground home for practical reasons. Both liked the strength of the construction, the natural shelter provided by being under the earth, the minimal costs of maintenance and repair, and the economic savings that come from reduced energy costs. Building the underground home costs slightly more than building a traditional home, but constructing the former took about twice as long as latter. The building cost was approximately $350,000, excluding the land.

‘‘This was an exciting project to be involved in. Everything we did, we had to find a new way of doing. We had to be innovative,” said Otis Johnson, the builder. The home took twice as long to complete because all of the interior work had to be custom fitted. The walls are curved inside the dome shaped exterior, but from inside, the home resembles any other.

‘‘When we first moved in, it felt a little different. But it’s not like you realize you’re underground. We’re not looking at windows covered with dirt and have earthworms looking back at us,” Bill Garay said, jokingly.

At its widest point, the house is between 50 to 60 feet in diameter, with slightly curved walls and high ceilings creating a dramatic effect from the inside. Outside the home, there is final construction work being done on the garage. The Garays plan to landscape the property and perhaps build a deck on the roof.

‘‘At first I was nervous about it. But it turned out even better than we hoped. It’s exciting to build something that’s different, ‘‘ said Lisa Garay.

Now that Johnson has constructed one underground home, he is anxious to build others, and already has inquiries from five other potential clients.

‘‘The energy costs are basically zero. We didn’t have to install any heat or air conditioning systems. The only heat in the house is a wood burning stove. Three feet of dirt cover the house, so the interior temperature is not controlled by the weather outside. I think once people start to see how energy efficient and how safe houses like this are, they will begin to become much more popular,” said Johnson.

As for the Garays, they are used to their house being a bit of a tourist attraction.

‘‘It got to where I was giving tours every weekend. But we’ve had a lot of positive comments about the house. It felt different at first, but after a while, the odd becomes the everyday,” said Bill Garay.

E-mail Carla Peay at cpeay@gazette.net.