Bermuda Roofs

Traditional Bermuda stone roofs have been the preferred roofing system in Bermuda (a hurricane region) for nearly 400 years.
Traditional Bermuda stone roofs have been the preferred roofing system in Bermuda (a hurricane region) for nearly 400 years.

“The archetypical Bermuda house is a low, squared building with a stepped, white roof and pastel-painted walls, both of which are made out of stone. The roofs are designed to catch water, of which there is no fresh supply in Bermuda apart from rain. The walls are designed to restrict damage from hurricanes and are required by law to be able to withstand windspeeds of over 100 mph (160 km/h).”

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Rainwater Harvesting

A reader’s question the other day reminded me that we haven’t posted much on rainwater harvesting. This is a very important topic that will likely become even more pressing in the future as groundwater sources dwindle and become polluted, are taken over by big corporations and as population increases. Rainwater harvesting includes roofwater capture and … Read more

Earthbag Cisterns

Since water is vital to life, and there is increasing scarcity of clean drinking water in much of the world, it makes sense to store this precious resource and use it wisely. Earthbags in combination with ferrocement offer a number of interesting alternatives for storing water. Three different methods are shown below. www.flickr.com/photos/10349013@N02/2798383930 www.flickr.com/photos/11222150@N02/1082496465 http://earthbagplans.wordpress.com/2009/06/24/earthbag-cistern/