As a PSA to the author- She stated in the sites comments that she wrote the article 10 years ago(2010-12ish) and that was the way she felt at the time it was written. She also acknowledges progress has been made since her home was built long ago and that some/most/all of the problems they have may now be solved. The impression I get from reading this is that:
1) the home was built by a franchisee that was cutting corners.
2) the marketing materials were believed without any additional research, but since the home was purchased in 1994 and this is early internet/AOL internet days at best.
3) They may have gone into it a bit naive.
Couple takeaways I have from this:
1) Building in the ground is hard, and doesnt just make the place magically efficient.
2) Be sure you arent stretching yourself financially to buy an 'innovative' home. Have the money or ability to fix the inevitable 'innovative' problems that crop up.
3) No home is maintenance free.
4) Seems to me that they need to scoop all the dirt off their home and do a full refurbishment/rebuild.
The author wasn't the original owner, the house was built years before they moved in. They purchased it for less than the original owner had paid to have it built, so it doesn't sound like they were stretching themselves too thin - they thought they were getting a good deal and would be able to deal with any issues that came up.
The fact that they own their own backhoe, and the pictures that they have shown, indicate that they have tried quite a lot of solutions, and as indicated in the article they are not interested in doing a full rebuild as it would not make financial sense, considering the depreciation of underground houses.
I dont think that was anything I was implying but you are correct. I was stating that in the big picture dont buy an unusual home if you are at the end of your budget. I think that they absolutely stated in the article that they could not afford to uncover the land and "fix" the home they way that was needed...
Couple takeaways I have from this: 1) Building in the ground is hard, and doesnt just make the place magically efficient. 2) Be sure you arent stretching yourself financially to buy an 'innovative' home. Have the money or ability to fix the inevitable 'innovative' problems that crop up. 3) No home is maintenance free. 4) Seems to me that they need to scoop all the dirt off their home and do a full refurbishment/rebuild.