Advertisement: Free promotion
Recent Notes and Tags
Related Resources
Top Searches: • off grid living uruguay • living in rural uruguay • container house uruguay • living off the grid in uruguay • green living uraguay • off grid uruguay • uruguay solar property for sale • living off the grid in south america • of grid living in uruguay • living off the land in uruguay • container homes uruguay • green housing uruguay • eucalyptus dunii • green home uruguay • prefab timber house in uruguay • properties c2 a0for c2 a0sale c2 a0in c2 a0uruguay • move off grid south america • www thinyhouse com • pre fab uruguay • nuevo mapa google inside tienda inglesa atlantida uruguay • what do rural home look like in uruguay • prefrabicated house uruguay • thiny house uruguay • prefab house uruguay • cargo container homes in uruguay • green homes forums • prefab houses in uruguay • solar houses in uruguay • off the grid place in uruguay • green homes for sale in uruguay • live in rural uruguay • living in uruguay • |
Green / Off-grid Housing In Uruguay?This forum post has messages dated from 07/11/11 through 10/07/11, please be sure to read all the messages. If you feel it is old or outdated, please follow up with a question or comment and someone may be able to update it, or reply with newer information if you have it.
| Green / Off-grid Housing In Uruguay? Hello, my first post here - now that our children are grown and have left home we want to relocate and change our lifestyle; we want to live very simply without infrastructure dependencies. We have been looking for some land with clean water in the southern USA, but would prefer to move to South America. We would like a "tiny house" or shipping container dwelling with a small solar/wind/battery generator and well or spring for water. We want to leave behind a lot of the imposed structure of commodity-driven society. We aren't interested in being quaint. We don't require much entertainment beyond the weather and wildlife. We hope to be among like-minded people rather than people who only look like us on the outside! What is the response of those of you living in Uruguay - is such a life possible there? We are attracted to Uruguay because of the size, climate, and geography of the country. |
Comment #107/11/11 10:12Rural east Colonia departmento | "Its certainly possible"
There is a lot of rural Uruguay and outside the "cities" (think small towns and villages) there is very little in the way of controls or regulations.In theory there is a minimum land holding of 5 hectares (13 acres) and except for annual BPS (national insurance) liabilities and a small annual land tax (contribucion rural, ) the powers that be will leave you alone. BPS will cost you about 10k pesos/year (approx 540 U$S) simply for owning farmland and contribucion rural about 100 U$S. If you register as a self-employed small farmer (unipersonalisation) the BPS will be more (about 16k pesos - 865 U$S) but you won't have to pay contribucion rural and will get a free membership of the local mutualista (health co-op.) Windpumps are available to pump your water and kit for solar and wind powered electricity is available (but is quite expensive.) Failing that, rural mains electricity is widely available Most existing rural houses are more like hovels than haciendas but you can build what you like from a corrugated iron hut to a copy of the White House as there are no rural planning, zoning nor building quality regulations in force in the campo. The 3 mobile phone companies have made great strides with 3G internet access in recent years so the price of rural internet has fallen considerably. I now get an unlimited 2 mb wireless connection from Ancel for 819 pesos/month (44 U$S.) I'd advise you to come on down and look for yourselves before you think about buying land. I love it here and it would take artillery to shift me but there are drawbacks and rural Uruguay isn't for everyone. Buying land in rural parts is a lot easier than selling it. :-) |
| "A few more questions"
Hi Patrick, I so appreciate your response.Is it ever possible to rent a nice quiet hovel with nice views and good water? Outhouse & hauling water is OK as long as accommodations are adequate and can be maintained. Is land ever available for rent? We are reluctant to buy anything. We are concerned that buying rural land would be unwelcome. Do you feel that buying land + shipping container-style microhome would be accepted? We aren't really planning to farm too much ourselves, especially not cattle, and we will have to rely on the community. We do need to visit, and will soon - can't wait! |
Comment #307/11/11 14:03Rural east Colonia departmento | "To quote Obama... yes you can :-)"
When I first arrived I lived in a couple of hovels before buying the chacra of my dreams and building/rebuilding myself a modest mock castle. I was fortunate in that a hovel next to my land was vacant so I rented it informally for a year. I have an Irish neighbour who lives about 10 kms away. He and his wife rent a rather nice larger hovel with a co-operative landlady who has allowed them to insulate the place, install a split air conditioner, a woodstove etc. His landlady rents the rest of her land to a local farmer as my neighbour writes i-phone, i-pod etc applications for a living. He is currently thinking about buying the place on instalments. Most such rentals are done informally so the only way to find them is by word of mouth. I used to pay 200 U$S/month in rent plus electricity and I think my Irish neighbour pays about 300 U$S for his nicer hovel. Most will come with a well, some form of water pump/header tank system, a cess pit, shower and a loo. Foreigners buying or renting smallish plots of land to live on is socially acceptable... prolly because we are a nation of immigrants. There is a general feeling that those of us who live in the campo rather than in "cities" are to be pitied as only serious farmers, recluses and people on the run would want to live in the campo. :-) I play-farm about 30 acres but I confine myself to growing crops and trees rather than keeping livestock. Long ago I owned a commercial pig farm in the UK so I'm a believer in the East Anglian proverb "Where there's stock there's trouble." Simple timber pre-fab houses are available here. I've heard stories about people living in containers but bearing in mind the climate, I'd have thought that the heat of summer and the cold humidity we can get in winter would make some sort of house the preferred option. |
| "crops and trees"
Patrick: thanks again for all the useful information. It sounds like we have more options to consider than we initially thought. We do have two follow-up questions to items you mentioned in your last post...Regarding the simple prefab timber homes, are you aware of any particular companies which make/sell them that we should look into? Out of curiosity, what types of crops and trees do you grow? |
Comment #507/15/11 07:15Rural east Colonia departmento | "Prefabs and crops"
I looked into prefab houses when I first arrived. Back then there was a company in Paysandu which did them nationwide and another near MVD who did a slightly posher version. I'll have a hunt to see whether I still have their details.I've planted 1000 eucalyptus dunii on 0.8 hectares (about 2 acres) which are a dual purpose variety... good for wood pulp and for firewood. With the current high commodity prices I've been growing winter wheat during the winter and soya during the summer. With 2 crops per annum I've had to pull a finger out after each harvest but I can now do the necessary clear up and replanting inside 36 hours. The price of wheat has dropped because of the bumper Russian wheat harvest so this winter I haven't planted wheat and am busy improving the drainage on my somewhat heavy land. I'll be considering more soya in the spring but if the prices aren't too good, I'll grow alfalfa under contract for a couple of years instead. |
| "Solar and wind supplier"
Renovables.com.uy - almost everything you can imagine. They have done some massive solar electric installations in Uruguay, supply the LED lights sold in Tienda Inglesa (and recently refitted ours with all-LED lighting). They refit cars to run on electricity and make fuel from sunflower seeds - pressed and filtered, nothing more. Quite an impressive operation, and no, this stuff ain't cheap. |
| "Renovables.com.uy"
How disappointing to be presented with a flash presentation and not a site I would spend anytime studying (or that anyone will find in Google).ie: being in Flash, anyone searching for LED lighting in Uruguay will never find them. Expert Page: Quick Tips for Getting Settled in Uruguay |
Comment #810/07/11 11:34Rural east Colonia departmento | "Biodiesel"
I know an expat who brews his own biodiesel from used cooking oils and methanol. He reckons that it costs him just under 8 pesos/liter with a 92% methanol recapture rate.He only disposes of his surplus to expat friends lest the wrath of ANCAP descends on him :-) One of my local ag co-ops manufactures a bit from sunflower oil but because of the regulations, only co-op members are allowed to buy it. The most cost-efficient biodiesl precursor I know is oil seed rape/canola. I hadn't seen any growing here in the ROU but 2 weeks ago I spotted a fair sized crop growing near Libertad. |
| "Latin America web sites"
Gosh, Glen, you've been how long in Latin America and still manage to be disappointed by a Latin American web site?It's true, their web site is a disaster, but I have yet to see a local business web site that isn't. I'll mention it when I email the owner in a minute about the solar installation quote he promised me two weeks ago. BTW, the one that does come up in a search. greenrayled.com, seems to offer technology that is already dated. Point is, the technology is here. |
| "I agree..."
But if someone can't find the technology... the it might as well not be there. The state of websites in Latin American (and else where)... is really for a different post.There are many times I didn't buy something because I couldn't find it on line, or the webpage was too hosed to make it worth the effort. It is good anti-consumerism. But bad business and bad for new technologies. I bought some small colored LED lights from a local store a couple blocks from my apartment that screw into a regular fixture. Some 100+ pesos but don't put out much light but are a lot of fun. Expert Page: Quick Tips for Getting Settled in Uruguay |
Reply Options Share your opinions, advice, questions or comments on this post. | Be Heard: Forum reply options: We encourage everyone to share their opinions, comments, thoughts and information, please consider sharing... Please register or login in to reply to this post: It is quick, easy and offers many advantages when using our site. |
Social NetworkingShare this with your friends on facebook, twitter and Google+ | | Social sharing because it feels good:
| |
|
RelatedSome related posts that may be of interest to you. | Related posts: Related posts on other sites: |
|
