You Can Hand-Sculpt Your Own Home
“Cob (an old English word for lump) is old-fashioned concrete, made out of a mixture of clay, sand, and straw. Becky Bee’s manual is a friendly guide to making your own earth structure, with chapters on design, foundations, floors, windows and doors, finishes, and of course, making glorious cob. I believe that building with cob is a way to recreate community and experience the joy of working together while taking back the right to build our own homes and look after our Mother Earth. She loves doing something that makes sense in a world where lots of things don’t.”
green building
Post and Beam Knee Braces
Perhaps the simplest to build post and beam frame, and the one easiest to get code approval for, is the one described in a previous blog post about Post and Beam Hardware. The standardized hardware used in this method takes all the guesswork out of the process and ensures a strong structure. However, that system is not suitable for every situation. Some people prefer the beauty of traditional post and beam where the frame is exposed. Traditional post and beam construction is much slower and requires much more skill and tools than joining the frame with standard hardware, but the results can be worth it.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions Most every topic imaginable about earthbag building and related topics has already been covered numerous times on our blog or one of our other websites., this page explains how to find answers to the most Frequently Asked Questions and locate the most popular and useful articles. See these, on this site and … Read more
We The Tiny House People (Documentary)
TV producer and Internet-video personality Kirsten Dirksen invites us on her journey into the tiny homes of people searching for simplicity, self-sufficiency, minimalism and happiness by creating shelter in caves, converted garages, trailers, tool sheds, river boats and former pigeon coops.
Earth-sheltered House Plans
Earth-sheltered houses is one of the most popular topics on our Natural Building Blog. New readers may not be aware of my sustainable house plans that have been designed for earthbags, straw bales, cordwood and other materials. There are now around 130 plans, including numerous earth-sheltered designs. Most plans are only $200-$300 and include a scaled floorplan, two elevations, section or wall detail drawing, perspective drawing and building details doc that summarizes the basic building process. All orders now include a free copy of my Earthbag Building Guide. Custom plans are usually only slightly higher cost. Just email me for a free fixed quote: strawhouses [AT] yahoo.com