Jim Gagnepain and his wife, Stephanie, built their retirement home in eastern El Paso County, Colorado. Jim, who has a background in electrical engineering, acted as the general contractor, and he and Stephanie did a lot of the work. The result is an almost completely self-sufficient bermed earth home. Jim and Stephanie had long been … Read more
Mark and Chera rescued and renovated an old cabin and transformed it into an epic off-grid home for their family of 5. There’s no road to get there, so they had to figure out how to do absolutely everything by boat and barge: transporting building materials, equipment, belongings, workers, as well as commuting to and … Read more
Dan Phillips of Phoenix Commotion is a trained architect from Huntsville, Texas, who helps people build their own affordable dream homes with recycled materials. He has helped construct at least 14 houses, mostly for low-income, first-time buyers. When Dan was a child, his family suffered through the Great Depression and he learned to value what … Read more
Here is one couple’s experience with an earthbag root cellar in Alaska: www.youtube.com
Rammed earth is made of damp soil or earth that is placed in formwork, and then compressed or rammed into a solid, dense wall. As a construction technique, rammed earth has been eclipsed by the development of reinforced concrete, but there has been renewed interest because of its aesthetics and its perceived environmental benefits. The … Read more
Have you heard of the 100-mile diet? This is the 100-mile house! The goal with this build was to source and salvage as many materials as possible from within a 100-mile radius to reduce the carbon emissions associated with transporting building materials, to re-use materials in order to reduce the environmental impact of building with … Read more