You can live in Granite Bay CA in subterranean house on 1.2 acres for under $800K. See it
A unique home mostly built underground has hit the Sacramento area market for $785,000.
If you think of a subterranean home — or earth shelter as this one is called — as a dark, damp and gloomy place, think again.
Retired pediatrician Dr. Sue Hooten has lived in the house, at 8080 Barton Road, in the community of Granite Bay for 34 years.
The residence, dubbed “Earthship,” sits on a 1.2-acre lot about two miles from the recreational splendor of Folsom Lake. The bright and airy living space spans 2,400 square feet under cathedral ceilings and skylights.
There are three bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms. The walls are curved and the interior is larger than it might seem at first glance. A soaring, two-story central cupola is a focal point.
“This unique dwelling offers sustainable living, making it ideal for those who want to reduce their carbon footprint,” the marketing material for the house states. “This extraordinary Earthship home is a true gem.”
Hooten has enjoyed living under the dome since 1990. She is only the second owner since the residence was built in 1985. Hooten, whose husband John died in 2018, has decided to move to a smaller home in Fair Oaks.
“I don’t know much about feng shui, but I think this place has a lot of really good feng shui,” Hooten said. “When you first step in, you just like it. It’s also very energy efficient. There are no wild swings in temperature when we have our hot days. It holds the temperature well here.”
Shortly after construction was finished, the original owner of the house, Hal Tritch, wrote about living in the earth shelter for the Earth Systems News newsletter. He said when temperatures reached 107 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer, the inside temperature was only 74 degrees — without the help of air conditioning.
Likewise, Tritch wrote, during a three-day period in the winter when the outside temperature dropped into the 30s and 40s, it was 65 degrees inside.
The property does have heating and air conditioning if needed.
Peer down
To enter the home through the front door, there’s a short footbridge to cross. If visitors peer down on either side of the railings leading to the entry, they can see down to the bottom of the dome’s exterior.
Back in 1984, work on the home began with excavating a large hole in an open field. A concrete foundation slab was poured, and steel girders and beams were anchored into the slab, according to Hooten. A frame of steel rebar, wire and mesh was erected over the foundation. She said the frame’s surface was covered with shotcrete — a method where concrete is pneumatically sprayed at high velocity through a nozzle — to create a monolithic dome shell.
In the kitchen pantry, builders left a small section of the rebar and mesh exposed so the unique design and method of construction can be seen from the inside.
Adjacent to Earthship, a separate 800-square-foot building comes equipped with a half bathroom. The space might be ideal for a home office, gym or guest quarters. The property also features a two-car garage and a carport. A well-equipped workshop stands between the garage and the additional building. These additional structures are not underground.
In the backyard, there’s an entertainment area with mature landscaping and a commercial pizza oven. The rest of the 1.2-acre lot unfolds beyond a fence. There’s plenty of room to build a pool or accessory dwelling unit, or ADU.
“So there’s plenty of space here,” listing agent Cheryl Harding of Coldwell Banker said. “There’s a lot of room to run around. It’s also ag property, so you can grow some crops as well.”
The house has a septic system. It also has a system to recapture rainwater.
The median price of a home in Granite Bay was $1.4 million in April 2024, according to recent data on home values from realtor.com. That’s $615,000 more than the asking price for the Barton Road earth shelter.
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This story was originally published May 28, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
