“No one has to sell us about the pleasures of a small town. We know them well, if not from reality, then from the old Andy Griffith Show, or It’s a Wonderful Life. But the small town we all know best is the one deep in our heart, with its elm-shaded streets, little clapboard houses and picket fences, and gnarled fruit trees and run-amok vegetable gardens, where doors are never locked, and where shopkeepers stand in front of their shops and greet you, and the cop greets you, all by name,
low cost
The Mud Home: Earthbag Foundations
“There will be many who refuse to believe this will work. What no concrete? Will be their never-ending refrain.
Concrete foundations have been around for less than a hundred years. Buildings have been built for millennia. In the eastern Mediterranean it’s common to see structures still standing over 2000 years after they were built, without a drop of concrete.
Rice Hull Mesh Earthbags
This bit of news is a nice breakthrough for rice hull earthbag building. Using a suggestion from Richard, a long time reader, I made a test bag using raschel mesh and rice hulls. I had previously ruled out using rice hulls in mesh bags, because it seemed certain that the hulls would fall through. Well, it turns out some hulls do fall through, but not many. The hulls naturally jam up against each other and only a negligible amount (say 3% or so) fall through.
Recycled Wood Housing Business
This small construction company is just down the street from us. I’ve driven past it countless times and it suddenly dawned on me to do a blog post about this business. This appears to be the owner’s home. They build small houses similar to this one using a combination of recycled wood, slab wood and wavy edge siding, along with wood poles and curved branches from the forest. These materials create an interesting, natural rustic look that many find appealing.
Candle Powered Clay Pot Heater with Fan
“Candle Powered Heater! (Improved!!) DIY Radiant Space heater! (with fan!!). Easy DIY. Produces 170F+ Temps. Since about half of all the heat from a clay pot heater is typically concentrated at the top of the heater, it just quickly rises straight to the ceiling and is “in effect” lost (or at least “not felt”). This new design attempts to tackle that problem by directing the hot air where you want it (in your personal living space, not at the ceiling).
Earthen Floors: A Modern Approach to an Ancient Practice [Book Review]
“Earthen floors are ubiquitous in most of the world. They are the most accessible type of flooring to a vast portion of the human population. In the modern world earthen floors are still something of an oddity to most people, that is until they step foot on one. And then they are hooked for life.