We publish the House Alive! Newsletter about six times a year. With its to-the-point articles and updates on natural building techniques, appropriate technology and design, it is a great way to keep Natural building on the front burner!
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Posted by Coenraad Rogmans on October 9, 2011 –
I live about a 15 minute drive from the nearest town. Every time I drive into town I pass a house on my right that clearly does not belong. It simply feels wrong. And I know I am not alone: most everyone in my neighborhood feels the same way. We all call it “The motel 6,” because it looks a lot like a cheap motel.
Somehow, the people that live in the house also don’t feel like they belong: every 2 or 3 years someone new moves in. The current owner changed the color of the house from stark white to a darker green, which made the rest of us very happy. After all, the house is standing in the middle of a beautiful 5 acre (green) meadow. Also, on my last drive-by, I noticed that there was some tree planting activity going on, in particular right around the house. In a strange way the house belongs now a little more. And perhaps the current owner also feels like he belongs a little more too. Read More »
Posted by James Thomson on March 14, 2011 –
In May of last year I began renovating a small “craftsman” style home in Southeast Portland. I planned to add a bathroom, bedroom, and remodel the kitchen. I gave myself 6 months to complete the job…
9 months later, I am finally putting the finishing touches on the project. The old expression that building anything always takes longer and costs more than you think it will proved to be true, even for someone who often tells people that their project will take longer and cost more than they think!
Part of my intention for the project was to incorporate some natural building techniques into what is otherwise an ordinary, conventional home. I did not want to build new cob walls or insulate with bales: these things would have been challenging not only with the space I had available, but also to get past the code officials (I did everything with permits). But earthen finishes, such as plasters, paints and floors, require no permitting and are easy to retro-fit into existing spaces; so I decided I would do as much of that as I could. Read More »
Posted by Coenraad Rogmans on January 10, 2011 –
Many people consider a cob house because it is perceived as a very inexpensive way to build. After all, you just dig up the dirt around your building site and turn it into walls. Cob houses can literally be “dirt cheap.” Is this true? Not really. Cob houses can be very inexpensive, but this is usually not because of the inexpensive materials used for the wall system. But cob houses can also be very expensive. Read on…
Let’s first look at the material cost of wall systems. Although digging up the dirt around your site might be cheap, most people still have to import straw and sand. Often the ground is prohibitively hard and equipment is brought in to do some of the digging. If you then take into account that it will take you longer to build with cob than to frame a stick frame wall you may discover that the cost of the materials of the walls is not much cheaper than that of conventional buildings. This is partly so because conventional building materials (2×6′s, drywall, ply-wood) are mined and mass-produced without much care for the earth and are therefore ridiculously cheap. Read More »