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Check Out the House of ‘Bioclimatic Troglodyte’ — A Home Hewn Out of Rock!

French Man Makes His Home in a Troglodyte

Until the 20th century, many people in the Saumur region of France could be found essentially living in a cave. The cave homes were made from rock carved during the quarrying process.

While it became less popular with more modern conveniences, Fair Companies showcases the updated cave home of one man who has found it inexpensive and comfortable to live in a home carved out of rock.

French Man Makes His Home in a Troglodyte

Fair Companies reports:

[...]

there are over a thousand miles of underground tunnels and thousands of caves, known as “troglodytes”, homes, hotels, restaurants, museums, wineries, farms (silkworms, mushrooms, snails) and even a disco and a zoo (for nocturnal animals like bats).

What makes this land so perfect for underground dwellings is its very malleable rock. 100 million years ago, this part of France was covered by sea. When the water receded, it left a layer of tufa, or tuffeau, a type of limestone that turned out to be ideal for building castles, churches and homes in the surrounding area during the Middle Ages.

All of this quarrying created lots of tunnels and caves that turned out to be ideal homes, especially for quarrymen.

Watch the footage of Henri Grevellec who bought a condemned cave home in 2000 and has updated it since for his own family:

Grevellec says that homes like this are not expensive to buy but that he has made improvements “here and there” to update it for more modern living. The rock, Grevellec says, keeps the home cool in the summer and mild in the winter. Fair Companies refers to the home as “bioclimatic troglodyte” for this reason.

French Man Makes His Home in a Troglodyte

French Man Makes His Home in a Troglodyte

Grevellec made things such as the skylight and extra windows in the rock to improve ventilation and light.

French Man Makes His Home in a Troglodyte

Fair Companies reports that Grevellec’s home is actually six individual cave homes, which he is working to connect or use for other purposes, such as a wine cellar.

Comments (59)

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  • machochris
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 5:34pm

    cool

    Report Post »  
  • bjornskis
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 5:05pm

    what a wonderful home

    Report Post »  
  • UrbanCombatSurvivor
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 4:55pm

    I wonder if the French have heard of radon gas…

    Report Post »  
    • MoreC02
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 8:48pm

      Radon is usually only a problem if you build your house on top of granitic rocks. This is limestone.

      Report Post » MoreC02  
  • midnightvelvet
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 3:18pm

    How French, to go through all that trouble to add on a wine cellar. Love it.

    Report Post »  
  • Marris59
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 3:09pm

    My next home will be an earth shelter home!!!

    Report Post » Marris59  
    • MoreC02
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 7:56pm

      I thought that once. Can‘t find one in a state that isn’t rabidly leftist or over-run by illegals. Honest. New Mexico comes to mind.

      Report Post » MoreC02  
  • TEIN
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 1:13pm

    I can not pick up a rock on USA BLM land because of endangering the environment, but it is eco-cool to carve a house out of rock…..??? The double talk of the eco/enviro/EPA hacks is sickening….

    Report Post »  
    • Marris59
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 3:50pm

      Settle down . . . this cave is in France, not the US of A.

      Report Post » Marris59  
    • GeorgeRodgersClark
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 10:49pm

      Only American rocks are bad for the environment. I would like to take this moment to apologize for the arrogance of American rocks around the globe…

      Report Post »  
    • 1ofthechosenfew
      Posted on January 4, 2012 at 9:49am

      Yes, when you live in a country where they say it is more environmentally friendly to ship in rock from another region to build a road than use the local rock, you have to wonder what is the definition of environmentally friendly. Is it more environmentally friendly to dig into the earth, or cut down a tree, move it across state, and build where it will get blown down by a hurricane and litter the land? These homes should be mandated by the EPA…

      Report Post »  
  • janmil200
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 1:06pm

    Tres charmant. I’ll bet his wife lives back in Paris.

    Report Post »  
  • ozchambers
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 12:22pm

    Le Chateau Petra!

    Report Post » ozchambers  
  • ShyMan
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 11:58am

    The neighborhood children call him a cave troll.

    Report Post » ShyMan  
  • BrendaB
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 11:42am

    If you wish to be off the ‘Grid’ cave dwelling would be ideal, easy to heat and self cooling, all you have to make sure there is great ventilation to keep down on mold

    Report Post »  
  • ginger100
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 11:34am

    Over here in the U.S. there called bomb shelters and most people who have them don’t let their neighbors know about them.

    Report Post » ginger100  
  • caveman74
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 10:55am

    ug me know me come back in style some day

    Report Post »  
  • ThePostman
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 10:34am

    4 more years of Obama and we will all be living in caves.

    Report Post »  
    • HorseCrazy
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 11:12am

      or fema camps for the rest of them

      Report Post »  
    • TomFerrari
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 1:30pm

      Or hiding in caves so we can still speak the TRUTH !

      Report Post » TomFerrari  
    • Nightjar
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 11:32pm

      Yep same if Romney too IMO.
      Seems like they all are bleeding us dry and giving our US dollars to Nations who don’t even like us and to illegals.

      Report Post »  
  • Telcoman
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 10:14am

    Living in South Louisiana I guess I could make an underwater cave LOL. There are some advantages of this type of home and with some work I do not think you would really know the difference one you are inside than any other “normal” house.

    Report Post » Telcoman  
    • mils
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 11:13am

      we lived along side the Teche …the closest thing to a basement..cave swelling ..we can get is a tomb and pile dirt on it..:)..
      These places, rock houses, are amazingly climatized…nice and cool and little to warm it up.
      Hope the quarrymen and families realized what an amazing place they were living in..

      Report Post »  
    • AmazingGrace8
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 11:38am

      Assume the little children are the grandkids…how cool is that to have a grandfather do this and the grandkids will have great memories and survival skills. Great story, The Blaze. Thank you.

      Report Post »  
  • larrylarrylarry
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 10:09am

    Fire hot, burn finger, me no like fire, flame bad, better to be darkness.

    Report Post »  
  • JLGunner
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 9:53am

    Finstones, meet the flintsones…..

    Report Post » JLGunner  
  • Hickory
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 9:53am

    Pay attention. If Obama is re-elected, some of you may have to live in a cave.

    Report Post » Hickory  
  • Anonymous T. Irrelevant
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 9:52am

    So this guy really DOES live under a rock.

    Report Post » Anonymous T. Irrelevant  
  • SpankDaMonkey
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 9:51am

    .
    A real Man Cave……….Cool…………

    Report Post » SpankDaMonkey  
  • Rickfromillinois
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 9:45am

    If possible I would love to have a home like this in my area. Once structural reinforcement is completed there would be very little maintenance required. It would be difficult to catch on fire. Also your heating and cooling bills would vastly reduced. Of course there would be a lot of headaches running plumbing pipes, electrical cabling, and heating ducts.

    Report Post » Rickfromillinois  
    • RichNGadsden
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 10:04am

      I would think that running the plumbing for the most part behind a well structured chase wall that kitchen and bathroom cabinets and sink counters are attached. Making the chase accessible to make repairs and maintenance less costly. Would tie up usable floor space, but I can see where the the savings in the long run would be beneficial.

      Report Post » RichNGadsden  
  • Ruler4You
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 9:38am

    I Love it!

    Report Post » Ruler4You  
  • W@nd@
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 9:31am

    what about the ones in Austrailia?
    dont people live in them there as well?
    why carve when you can create them out of cement…
    isnt it the same thing?
    (dome homes survive hurricanes and tornadoes and wild fires ~ flooding not so much )
    If i could sell my house……that is what i would go for!
    dome home the poor mans mountain!

    Report Post »  
    • SgtB
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 9:50am

      In Australia they do this in opal mines. So when you dig out your house it pays for itself in all the semiprecious stones you find. Unfortunately, I live in Oklahoma and we have clay and a high water table making below ground living nearly impossible. I don’t even know of a single home here with a basement. However, we can make brick homes with all our red dirt.

      Report Post » SgtB  
  • Detroit paperboy
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 9:30am

    What a stoner ; ))

    Report Post »  
  • Jenny Lind
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 9:18am

    Love the natural feel, I guess I would need extra windows and lots of shoring beams, but I could do this, big time.

    Report Post »  
    • jnobfan
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 9:39am

      Its brilliant. You could finish it anyway you wanted inside

      Report Post »  
  • jakartaman
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 9:14am

    Not bad for believers of end of the world theorist

    Report Post »  
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