“Slide show of the process of putting a ferrocement curved barrel vault on my earthbag house. Annotations and video rendering is a constant thorn in my side. We’ll go with this – you’ll have to pause the video to read most annotations. Original elevator music “the Hat” is by Doctor Dirtbag and The Baby Shakers. Thanks for watching.”
affordable
Tiny House Tour that Houses Family of Four
“A tour of our tiny house. Built on Tumbleweed principles, we bought this 272sq ft house already built, then hauled it across the state and parked it in a garden. We bought it fully functional but very bare bones. We did major remodels to suit our personalities and needs. We have enjoyed living in our home for the last year and a half but the recent fourth edition to our family is making it feel more cramped. We will be moving soon. Hope you enjoy!”
Affordable Lava Rock Insulation for the Far North
Porous lava rock — scoria (cinders) and pumice — is an ideal building material. We’ve covered this amazing material many times on our blog, but I just learned something very exciting. It turns out scoria is available in Alaska, British Columbia and to some extent the Yukon. All these areas have cinder cones (a type of volcano) that produce scoria. This is great news because porous lightweight lava rock is a good insulator and also fireproof, rot proof, easy to work with and doesn’t attract pests. It’s affordable if there’s a nearby source to minimize shipping costs. So this discovery makes it practical to build lightweight superinsulated earthbag houses in Alaska and Canada. Use the search engine on the right to search this site for details and example projects.
Costa Rica Earthbag Time Lapse
Earthbag House Time-lapse – February/March 2013 from The Yoga Farm on Vimeo.
February/March 2013 This is 6 weeks of work in 2 and a half minutes :)
Best Places to Live in Rural America
The cost of building a sustainable home is much higher in urban areas due to the stricter building codes, zoning and other housing regulations. Many readers dream of a simpler, healthier life in rural areas where there are few or no building codes and costs are far lower. But where’s the best place to live? Here are some lists to consider. You could compare the different lists and look for areas that are recommended most often. Everyone has different needs, however, and so you have to work out your priorities. Are you after the lowest cost land? Rural areas with jobs and growth potential? Rural areas with good weather? Minimal pollution? Lakefront land? Outdoor recreation? Good soil for gardening? Lowest taxes? Rural areas with like-minded people? The final choice will likely be based on some balance between these and other factors. Happy hunting.
Ferro-cement Dream House
“A friends hand built ferro cement dome house complete with roof top hot tub, heated by an internal pizza oven. Located well off the beaten track in the Far North of New Zealand.”