Month: April 2012

Build a Home for $10,000 in 10 Days!

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The shell of this modified timber-frame house was built in 10 days.
The shell of this modified timber-frame house was built in 10 days.

These are the type of stories I enjoy most, and what makes Mother Earth News such an incredible resource. In this example, a natural builder has devised a faster, easier timber framing method that looks incredibly practical. The article provides enough details to put the information to use (although more and larger size pics would have been nice).

“The modified timber-framing method William Castle has developed lets him quickly and easily turn this low-cost, local resource into beautiful houses, such as his daughter’s cabin (see the Image Gallery). The shell of the 1,000-square-foot house was built over an existing foundation by a crew of three to four adults and two children in less than 10 days — for less than $10,000!

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Weaving Barbed Wire Corners

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Weaving barbed wire corners, step 1. (click to enlarge)
Weaving barbed wire corners, step 1. (click to enlarge)

Guest post by Patti Stouter about another low tech way to reinforce corners in earthquake zones. More methods are explained at EarthbagStructures.com:
“Corners are one of the most vulnerable parts of buildings in earthquakes. Straight wall earthbag construction has not yet been tested on a shake table or in a severe quake. It may absorb vibrations, but we don’t know for sure yet. Builders need to exercise all caution and build well to save lives.

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Tree Root Furniture

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Tree root table
Tree root table

More low cost furniture ideas for your sustainably built home. The least expensive, high quality furniture is typically made from free salvaged/recycled materials like pallets and barnwood, and free natural materials such as branches, twisted wood, stumps and tree roots that most logging companies leave behind. Tree root furniture is strikingly beautiful because its twisted, rustic shape is 100% natural and unique. You could pay hundreds of dollars or even way more for this incredible furniture at a boutique store downtown. Or you could put on your hiking boots and head for the forest to gather your own tree roots for free. Either way, you’ll end up with a one of a kind piece that could last for centuries. And unlike that pressed board crap, this stuff is super strong and doesn’t offgas formaldehyde.

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Super Low Cost Housing Message Going Global

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It’s been fun watching the web stats on our blog hit record highs every month (at least up until our new blog that doesn’t yet show this). I take the surge in readership as a sign we’re on the right track. Our message about building do-it-yourself, dirt cheap houses using locally available natural materials is resonating worldwide. A new admin feature on our WordPress blog shows what country visitors are from and the number of hits. Not surprisingly, many readers are from the US (highest number of visitors), Canada, United Kingdom and Australia. But it’s surprising to me to see so many visitors from South Korea, Romania, Russia, India, Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Italy, Germany, Ukraine, New Zealand, France, Netherlands, Philippines, South Africa and on and on – almost every country in the world, in fact.

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Exterior Log Siding

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You can a short video about  this at www.youtube.com I’ve talked about wood siding on earthbag houses before. In that previous blog post, I talked about using slab wood and other low cost offcuts from sawmills, and cutting your own wood. Another option is buying factory made siding. There are lots of styles and options … Read more

Parallel Pole Roof

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Here’s another good way to build an inexpensive roof if you have access to wood poles from a forest. Like many of the ideas here on this blog, this design is for areas with few or no building codes. One way to get the wood is with a firewood permit from the forestry department/forest service. … Read more