( CNN ) -- Getting a foothold on the property ladder can be a challenge at the best of times , and the prospects for many of us have been battered further by the global recession . But necessity is the mother of invention and there are routes to home ownership that are not blocked by estate agents and eye-watering fees . For the aspirational , willing to bend their backs and broaden their minds , the materials for a dream house are all around us ; in tin cans , tires and scrap metal , ready for construction projects anywhere from city centers to tropical islands at minimal expense . Cooler containers . High concept architects Infiniski of Spain have carved a niche in recycled construction that does not compromise on aesthetics . Their stylish designs are spreading through Europe , Asia and Latin America , with around 85 % of the materials pre-used . The basic components are shipping containers supplemented with wooden pallets , which in addition to dramatically reducing cost , also have the benefit of providing a cooling effect in hot climates . Cano 's Castle . Thousands of square meters of scrap aluminum came together for this towering complex in Colorado , courtesy of Donald 'Cano ' Espinoza , a Native American veteran of the Vietnam War . Beer cans , hubcaps and window frames provide much of the raw material for four separate buildings , with four floors in the largest . Cano uses the gleaming site as a farm and reportedly does not encourage visitors . Save the Beach hotel . Launched in Madrid in 2010 , the brainchild of German 'garbage artist ' H.A . Schult -- who had also produced a whole army from trash . The hotel was constructed from the contents of landfills and beaches to highlight the environmental impact of waste . The rooms were fully disinfected to allow guests to sleep safely , and the hotel took an international tour to raise awareness . How to build your home from scratch for $ 35,000 . Don Justo 's Cathedral . An astonishing labour of love , for over 50 years former monk and farmer Justo Gallego has been singlehandedly creating a cathedral close to Madrid , modeled on St Peter 's basilica in Rome . Standing over 40 meters high , complete with cloisters , crypt and grand domes , the epic structure has been built entirely from discarded materials ; broken bricks and tiles for the walls and oil drums for the columns . Despite working from 4am each day , 89-year-old Gallego may still require another decade to complete the project . Joyxee Island . British artist Richart 'Rishi ' Sowa built himself one floating island in Mexico , but when that was destroyed by a hurricane , he replaced it with Joyxee . Measuring a spacious 20 meters in diameter , the island floats on 100,000 plastic bottles with cabins of recycled wood . Complete with beaches and waterfall , the island has become a popular tourist attraction as well as an extravagant home for Sowa . Home sweet homeless . Designer Gregory Kloehn re-purposed a New York dumpster into an apartment , featuring a separated kitchen , bathroom and sun deck . He then expanded the concept , accessorizing waste disposal units further with abandoned washing machine , bicycle tires and scrap wood , for as little as $ 30 a time . Several of these have been made available for the city 's homeless community . Earthship Biotecture . Originating in New Mexico , the Earthship designers are now exporting their sustainable building principles as far afield as Malawi and Haiti . Steel-belted rubber provides the primary building component for the distinctively shaped off-grid structures , with interior walls composed of colored glass from reclaimed bottles . Energy is also harvested from the immediate environment at minimal cost . The company run courses across the world teaching their methods adapted to local resources . Would you live in a house made of sand and bacteria ? Toothbrush house . An entirely recycled concept creation in the British city of Brighton draws on an imaginative range of construction materials . Thousands of toothbrushes and video tapes make up the wall insulation , bicycle tires hold the windows in place , with supporting roles for denim jeans and chalk waste . The `` house of waste '' will be monitored over a trial period to determine whether the design could be reproduced at scale . A place in the woods . American artist Ethan Hayes-Chute makes found wood his foundation , which have been displayed around the world in a series of inhabitable installations . The designs explore themes of `` quiet , solitude and isolation '' , leaning to a rough-edged aesthetic that the average hermit could realistically aspire to . Maison Gomme . Dutch artist group Refunc made use of locally-sourced car tires for the walls of a chic garden cabin , completed with the windows of a bankrupted local business and recovered steel . The group have become masters of tire re-purposing , having also used them as a building block of furniture and vehicle construction in South Africa . Read more from Make , Create , Innovate : . How to build your home from scratch for $ 35,000 . Would you live in a house made of sand and bacteria ? The artificial leaf that could power the world .
From New York City to hotels and treehouses , ideal homes from waste materials . Madrid Cathedral built single-handed from scrap over each day by ex-monk . Islands dumpsters adapted for homeless people . American project based on Thousands of toothbrushes and videotapes .