sustainable

Wholewoods Natural Buildings

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Wholewoods Natural Buildings -- recreating traditional architecture with natural materials
Wholewoods Natural Buildings -- recreating traditional architecture with natural materials

“A celebration of wood, art, and craftsmanship. See us on Channel 4 this summer working with Kevin McCloud on his latest project and at Grand Designs Live in London May 5th.

Wholewoods is an ethical business supporting traditional woodland crafts and sustainable woodland management.

Creating natural buildings is a skill we have passionately honed over many years. We take regular commissions but also specialise in using the building process as a way of bringing people together to learn. Whether this be a local community group, school children, members of staff or volunteers, all can have a chance to get their hands dirty by working with us.

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Roundwood Open Web Joists

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Parallel chord open web joists made with small diameter roundwood (click to enlarge)
Parallel chord open web joists made with small diameter roundwood (click to enlarge)

Inspired by projects such as William Castle’s house, featured on our blog yesterday, I set out to design an open web joist using small diameter poles for non-code areas. It’s not as shiny and elegant as manufactured brands, but hey, who can argue with the cost? These trusses would cost just a few dollars apiece if you have a good source of poles. In parts of the U.S., and probably other countries, the poles you would need are practically free. Small trees like this are thinned out to reduce fires and help larger trees reach marketable size. You could use scrap metal for tie plates and cut the cost in half. Barter for a can of screws and you’re talking really dirt cheap.

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Weaving Barbed Wire Corners

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Weaving barbed wire corners, step 1. (click to enlarge)
Weaving barbed wire corners, step 1. (click to enlarge)

Guest post by Patti Stouter about another low tech way to reinforce corners in earthquake zones. More methods are explained at EarthbagStructures.com:
“Corners are one of the most vulnerable parts of buildings in earthquakes. Straight wall earthbag construction has not yet been tested on a shake table or in a severe quake. It may absorb vibrations, but we don’t know for sure yet. Builders need to exercise all caution and build well to save lives.

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Exterior Log Siding

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You can a short video about  this at www.youtube.com I’ve talked about wood siding on earthbag houses before. In that previous blog post, I talked about using slab wood and other low cost offcuts from sawmills, and cutting your own wood. Another option is buying factory made siding. There are lots of styles and options … Read more

Additional Passive Cooling Strategies for Hot Climates

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Windcatchers have been employed for thousands of years to cool buildings in hot climates. The windcatcher is able to chill indoor spaces in the middle of the day in a desert to frigid temperatures.
Windcatchers have been employed for thousands of years to cool buildings in hot climates. The windcatcher is able to chill indoor spaces in the middle of the day in a desert to frigid temperatures.

The following list includes dozens of low tech, low cost ways to cool buildings in hot climates passively without electricity or machinery, i.e., passive cooling or natural cooling. This list is in addition to the 11 or so simple passive cooling techniques that I talked about in my video the other day. Altogether there are over 50 practical methods for cooling your home sustainably.

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Grain Bin House Videos

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDE3E5vSknM&w=420&h=315] [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UVQ3QLD6Cc&w=420&h=315] [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmrF3er7zus&w=420&h=315] It really helps to see finished examples of what others have done. Once again it’s YouTube to the rescue. Cornell University’s Silo House Glenburn Silo Home Silo House aka The Cabin in the Woods (low quality footage but has some good points)