We seldom profile log homes because they use so much wood. I’m making an exception for this home since it’s so spectacular. After all, it’s made of wood – a renewable natural resource. In areas where trees are still plentiful and harvested sustainably it might be practical to build a log home with locally available materials.
natural materials
Seacrete/Seament/Biorock Building Components
Yesterday’s blog post introduced the topic of seacrete, also called seament and biorock. Today we’ll briefly look at just a few building components that a do-it-yourselfer could make for very low cost if they live near the sea. Yes, this takes a bit of work, but remember the materials are extremely cheap and the end result is stronger than concrete.
Gravel Bag Walls
Question from a reader: “Owen, I have started an Earthbag storage area 19×17 as a test project for using earthbags, and I have finished the gravel section about two feet high and I have moved on to using road base, clay, and cinder. Cinder for insulation as your e-book recommends, but it is very time … Read more
Simple Shelters Book Review
“Rarely do you get such a small book that feels much bigger than it really is. This diminutive book, (measuring a mere 6 by 5 inches) with the title ‘Simple Shelters’, is anything but small in content and the shelters are anything but simple. In fact I am thinking of shrinking the size of my coffee table so it does not look out of place.
Building an Eco-Friendly Green Bamboo Home in 6 Hours!
How to build an Eco-Friendly House out of Bamboo. Video tour of the build process of a Bamboo Hut at Phuket Top Team in Thailand. According to Johnny FD, the cost was less than $1,000 (rough estimate).
Restoring the Heritage Mud Forts of UAE
“Hunnarshala and our artisan groups were invited by Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) to restore four forts in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, a UNESCO City. We worked in collaboration with architect Eike Roswag to restore the centuries old mud forts. More than 150 artisans worked on this project and were handsomely remunerated for it.