Interesting ways to build homes
Catchfire mentioned something in the Attawapiskat thread about Scots (in the olden days) building homes with piles of peat, and that reminded me of some of the houses I saw built into the sides of mountains in Iceland, where they had rooves made of earth and grass. But I didn't want to sidetrack that important thread, so I thought I'd start a new one. I wish I could find my pictures of them - I think they're on some external hard drive somewhere in rr's mess of wires and computer paraphernalia. ;)
Here's a blogger's pictures of some turf houses that I found in a google search. How's that for the ultimate green roof!
Icelandic turf houses have been constructed for centuries. Time for us to pay attention. Slowly we are greening rooftops and growing skyscraper gardens. But, when you look at the simplicity of the green roofs here you realize how built into nature they actually are and have to just stop and say ahhh.
Anyhow, just wondered whether anyone was interested in discussing alternative or traditional ways of building homes.
Like round houses. They're neat too.
Michelle,
Thank you for the very interesting topic. Its has always amazed me as how we gain technologic advances we forget the basics of survival and our rural roots.
Here is a blog of a group building an iron age home in western Alberta. Its a bit out of date however it is another simple design that can last for years if properly maintained.
http://roundhousealberta.blogspot.com/
This group of people are building their round house via traditional means, there are no power tools and most of the material is gather from the local area.
They are very simple, can be very warm in dry in the winter months. It only takes a few days to build by a very few people.
Using modern materials and resources a few dozen people can build a village in a few weeks.
Thanks.
I was thinking of commenting, and didn't for the same reason, but I agree.
His point was correct WRT history and culture, but just looking at the technology, the important thing is that it be suited to the location and climate.
No, no one of us would want to go back to living without chimneys, or overwinter in the tiny wooden lean-tos that some immigrants lived in less than 100 years ago, but that doesn't mean that low-tech is bad tech. When it comes to some of the latest innovations in homebuilding - like airtight design - there is evidence that the opposite is true.
I am sure most people here have heard of people using bale construction, and down south, adobe. THe town of Craik, part-way between here and Regina has many projects dedicated to alternative energy, and alternative construction, including passive solar and geothermal.
http://www.craikecovillage.com
You can now get winter yurts that are perfectly serviceable; The Ness Creek festival site north of here has one, as well as a straw bale house.
Really, the only thing standing in the way in a lot of places is zoning by-laws and insurance companies which set their own rules, but without which you cannot build a home unless you have the money to bankroll it out of pocket.
And also, the notion that some of these old methods are like something out of Mony Python and the Holy Grail is also untrue. As it happens, my mom grew up in a sod house built during the 40s. The pictures I have of it don't look much different than a modern mobile home.
Interestingly, right after I posted my question re: Attawapiskat traditional housing in the thread referred to, the show "Sheltered" came on on APTN. Last night's episode was on traditional structures built out of the rainforest. I don't know if that was the last episode, or if they're already running repeats, but I hope I get to see the others. Very interesting.
Great thread! And boy, those Icelandic homes are gorgeous! Thanks, Michelle.
I've always been a fan of Toronto's Little House:
I have recently become aware of the Rural Studio in Auburn University, brainchild of alternative architecht Samuel Mockbee. From Wikipedia:
You can check out their projects here.
The most interesting project to this thread is their $20K House project:
I think the most efficient building technology is twobyfour and 2x6 wood framing to start with. Canada represents an ocean of timber with which many homes could be built.
I like log design, too. I would love to build a log cabin.
I'm not liking a roof cut-up like this with that many small dormers, but the rest of the home looks good to me. Metal roofs are durable.
@ Fidel
There is also the problem of not being able to use recycled lumber in some new construction, even though the old stuff is often incredibly sturdy wood, like fir, sometimes in cuts that simply no longer exist, and that new "wood" - even used in joists - is often an I-beam of plastic and plywood. And code requirements to use vapour barrier, even though old homes were built to breathe, and interfering with that is a sure recipe for rot and mold.
Really, I think as much of the problem is in people's heads as in the regulations. Many people are used to thinking of their houses as automatic robots that keep them comfortable, rather than machines that need regulation, like closing the windows and drawing blinds on a hot day to keep the heat out. I suspect people started forgetting that around the same time they no longer had to haul coal, wood, and water, or order fuel oil. And a whole lot more forgot once they no longer had to change storm windows.
A little awareness of the dynamics of heat, humidity, and the flow of air and water in our houses could probably go a long way, even with standard construction.
(edit)
Just one example of the superiority of low-tech - the bathroom vent hole which has been replaced by the bathroom fan. When we bought our house ours had been covered over with a false ceiling, which of course I removed. There is no need for an electric fan (even though they are required by code), because if you have a vent to the roof the airflow outside and heat inside will create an automatic draw, without electricity and without noise. You want to control it so it doesn't drip condensation in the wintertime? Stick a rag in it.
@ Fidel
And yes, metal roofs are a much better option than asphalt shingles, which only have a lifespan of 25 years, and bleed tar and gravel into the environment.
I regretted having to remove the original wood shingles from our house (they had been shingled over and nailed through) because with regular treatments of linseed oil they would basically last forever,
Romano-British "Grain Dryer"
http://www.butser.org.uk/iafrbgd_hcc.html
More pictures of roundhouses
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13603185@N05/
Build your own round hose.
http://www.nms.ac.uk/kids/people_of_the_past/celts_and_romans_at_birnie/build_your_own_roundhouse.aspx
@ Fidel
There is also the problem of not being able to use recycled lumber in some new construction, even though the old stuff is often incredibly sturdy wood, like fir, sometimes in cuts that simply no longer exist, and that new "wood" - even used in joists - is often an I-beam of plastic and plywood.
I put a cathedral ceiling on the addition at the back of the house. The city wanted me to use an engineered I beam or even one-piece as it is a 22 foot span and ~13 feet from the floor to the peak. That saved a few hundred bucks right there. What I did was laminated three 2x12s together and had an engineer from the city come to approve it. Took three of us to nail it together in-place with 2x4 props, scaffolding and ladders. The rafters were fun for three brothers who tend to do more yelling at one another than hammering. What a day.
This is what I want to build someday. http://earthship.com/
Not super cheap but saves lots in utilities and uses mostly local recycled materials. Homes for a new, sustainable future.
@ Fidel
Sounds like fun.
The only big reno I did was to greenhouse in our back deck. But I did do a lot of small work inside - five years, worth, actually - insulating all our walls, extending the rooms upstairs to reclaim big dead air spaces because of the steep pitch of our roof (speaking of dormers). Again, I was lucky that friends were pulling a bunch of 3" fir flooring out of their house just as I needed it to extend my floors. Insulating the basement and building a cold room.
I have been toying with the idea of bulding a passive heat stack on our south wall (there is a house a block over which has one streetside - a bold statement. But I haven't done it.
Back to the thread topic, I rememer hearing that a lot of houses here in Saskatchewan had passive solar water heaters on their roofs during the Second World War. Of course they were done away with when people were no longer compelled to conserve.
But it is a good reminder that conservation is not a new idea. It is only recently that we haven't paid attention to it. I have lived in houses which had cisterns, which are notable because they don't only hold water; they are the best heat sink you could ever hope to have, and they mean your basement will never freeze.
Is the requirement to build cheap effective home for people or to compel to conserve their building materials to the basics? Or is it a bit of both?
It is my view people have became to depended on national governments to solve their problems. The small communities of likeminded people helping each other out of basic needs no longer exists within Canada.
Most people are only focused on their personal needs.
Fidel, I liked your idea of a community saw mills and other infrastructure to help foster localized building projects.
I like what three Swedish women came up with: http://www.boklok.com It's pre-fab housing. They may look like shoe boxes, but they go up fast. Swedes like lots of natural lighting, and bright colors, too.
Sears and Roebuck offered pre-fab homes in the U.S. back in ... I think the 1920s or so? Apparently your home was delivered on-site and came in approximately 30,000 pieces. I think very many Americans were able to build their own homes as a result.
In Venezuela, a friend of mine told me that if one can find some land to build on, the government will deliver most of the materials to build a home yourself. You can see a lot of unsightly white and green PVC water and sewer pipes run above ground around Cabimas and other heavily populated areas. But the fact that the poor in those parts have plumbing at all is a significant plus.
@ Fidel
Eatons did that too.
Everyone should have a home.
You are correct Fidel, everyone should have a home. So much open land here in Canada, I can not understand why people flock to the city to be homeless when they build simple structures in rural areas and have a decent life living amongst the land.
Open land for sure. Much of it is inaccessible to or unaffordable for Canadians and especially First Nations people. And we can't go out there and squat on crown land. Like the RCMP, the paramilitaries/park rangers are toting guns now. You'd have to be a real Jeremiah Johnson type to avoid them for long. I've lived and worked in the bush for months on end, and I realized even then that civilization wasn't that far away. Unlike the mad trapper, we were still dependent on the outside world. People who do live in the bush independently of modern society are tougher and more resourceful than most of us.
The children of Canadians end up in cities like Toronto and Vancouver because that's where the work is, supposedly. Piling us higher and deeper is the way, and it's not what nature intended.
To answer the earlier question: there is no thought, zero, 'embedded' into building codes as to costs and impacts of building materials used.
The inputs are all about ongoing energy costs- and even there, only on efficiency for a given size/volume. So that as with automobiles, most or all of efficiency gains are eaten up by the increase is size, weight, and complexity of the vehicles.
I have not seen any figures for the latter point viz. housing, but I expect energy usage per housing unit is still going up.... while actual consumption per vehicle has at least leveled off, and is probably on a permanent if very slow trend towards down.
And it is dangerous to look at Canada as having oceans of forest. In every province and region forest is declining- whether you measure by hactare or fibre volume. Sure, a lot of that is the crazy export industry. But we will always be exporting wood products, and all production and use has to be rationalized to an incredible degree before we would only be harvesting only at a renewable level.
Log homes suck for sustainability or efficiency. Given the generalized massively wasteful use of timber in the housing industry, there is no reason they should be singled out for attention.
They only make sustainability sense is in a relatively closed local 'economy' without a lot of people. Even then, you have to insulate them to get close to contemporary expectations of energy efficiency. Otherwise they are contributing above average to GHG emissions.
Thanks.
I was thinking of commenting, and didn't for the same reason, but I agree.
His point was correct WRT history and culture, but just looking at the technology, the important thing is that it be suited to the location and climate.
No, no one of us would want to go back to living without chimneys, or overwinter in the tiny wooden lean-tos that some immigrants lived in less than 100 years ago, but that doesn't mean that low-tech is bad tech. When it comes to some of the latest innovations in homebuilding - like airtight design - there is evidence that the opposite is true.
I am sure most people here have heard of people using bale construction, and down south, adobe. THe town of Craik, part-way between here and Regina has many projects dedicated to alternative energy, and alternative construction, including passive solar and geothermal.
http://www.craikecovillage.com
You can now get winter yurts that are perfectly serviceable; The Ness Creek festival site north of here has one, as well as a straw bale house.
Really, the only thing standing in the way in a lot of places is zoning by-laws and insurance companies which set their own rules, but without which you cannot build a home unless you have the money to bankroll it out of pocket.
And also, the notion that some of these old methods are like something out of Mony Python and the Holy Grail is also untrue. As it happens, my mom grew up in a sod house built during the 40s. The pictures I have of it don't look much different than a modern mobile home.
http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/passionateeyeshowcase/2010/ecohome/
Jeremiah Johnson.. thanks for putting a smile on my face.
Do you think the government would care about squatters? In my region of Canada, I have a better chance of running into bigfoot than a game/park warden.
I will be building a simple structure like those mentioned in the thread next summer. I am still trying to decide if I will use process material or more natural material.
Jeremiah Johnson.. thanks for putting a smile on my face.
Do you think the government would care about squatters? In my region of Canada, I have a better chance of running into bigfoot than a game/park warden.
The RCMP and all the crown's men would hunt you down and reposition your body back to your designated sector, yes. Squatting on crown land is not a trend they want to encourage anytime soon. Our colonial administrators are very senstitive about property rights and making sure that ordinary Canadians have as few of them as possible.
At times when I was working for mining companies in remote regions of northern Ontario, Manitoba, and Quebec, I was supposed to carry a prospector's licence in case the rangers kgb'd us. I often didn't have that licence on me. But then again, I was never in one place for more than a month or three at a time. And they knew there were Canadian and foreign-based mining companies in the area doing exploration work.
But nowadays you need a fishing or hunting licence and an outdoors card at the very least. They can send you home if youre not carrying papers. And squatting? Not for long I imagine.
There are still plenty of regions where squatting is tolerated. And I'm talking about places where it is virtually impossible not to have your presence known. Counter-intuitively- probably the more remote you get, the more the other people who live around will know you are there and your comings and goings.... despite living dozens of miles from you.
The basics like that, when they know them, so do the authorities.
I only squatted in BC. And there is nowhere here in Nova Scotia that is anywhere near as isolated. But I have thought about [not because I want to do it again], and I'm quite confident I could pick a nice place to sqaut where I would be left alone indefinitely. No security of course, but if something happens that makes it impossible to stay, there will be other places.
Part of it is being unthreatening and making no problems that force the police or DNR to have to deal with you. Which is not difficult.
I have always questioned why we do not have better short term housing for homeless in the cities. Why we don't organize a tent city in places like Toronto and Vancouver on empty lots of land.
We managed to create tent cities for the occupy protests, why not for the homeless? Of course we could do a better job at organizing the tent layout.
Squatters face eviction from crown land 2009
I like the idea of squatting on crown land. I don't believe that we will see a homesteading trend anytime soon, though. This is a cold fact of the capitalist system in general. Land is supposed to be available to all given a fair exchange of money or whatnot to compensate deed holders, the crown etc. The truth is that in practice, things are very different. It may not be as bad a situation as, say, the British enclosure period when landless peasants were dragged back from the forests to their designated work sectors in order to work off what was typically of a lifetime of indebtedness to lords of the land. Now the king's sherrifs and just fine you and-or throw you in jail if you persist attempting to be a modern day Gerrard Winstanley, England's first Marxist before there was Marxism.
This is why we lefties must insist on basic rights for the poor across Canada. They have no real alternatives to living in what roach motels and firetraps are available to them when they are able to escape life on the streets. There are no real alternatives and especially not squatting on crown land. The best land tends to be reserved for future corporate needs and the wealthy Canadians and Americans who own quite a lot of the best land already. No, there will be no Marxist trend setting in Canada soon. Not if they can help it.
We managed to create tent cities for the occupy protests, why not for the homeless? Of course we could do a better job at organizing the tent layout.
Do you think that the only reason Occupy's tent cities were evicted were because they didn't organize the layout very well?
Anyway, Vancouver did exactly what you proposed during the Olympics. It was called the Red Tent campaign. Guess how Gregor Robertson and his congregation of well-meaning cowards responded?
Bless them.
We managed to create tent cities for the occupy protests, why not for the homeless? Of course we could do a better job at organizing the tent layout.
Do you think that the only reason Occupy's tent cities were evicted were because they didn't organize the layout very well?
Anyway, Vancouver did exactly what you proposed during the Olympics. It was called the Red Tent campaign. Guess how Gregor Robertson and his congregation of well-meaning cowards responded?
Bless them.
Where did I say anything about the Occupy's Movements being evicted because of their tent city layout?
They were evicted because they are a threat to the current class/social system in Canada.
The tent cities being horribly disorganized did not help the cause either.
I'm not high on Gregor Robertson. I thought he was supposed to be a good guy?
I guess I didn't understand why you thought a tent city for the homeless would be successful where Occupy was not, Todrick. I was confused.
Anyway, I don't want to derail a perfectly great thread. So here is a photo of the Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna:
That's really beautiful, Catchfire. It looks like a combination of business and residential.
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the "hobbit houses" a guy is building in Wales. He's estimated a cost of about £3,000.
http://www.simondale.net/house/
Buddas - Thached shelters with wattle and daub walls - were what Ukrainian immigrants lived in when they first came to the Riding Mountain area at the turn of the 1900s:
http://www.town.rossburn.mb.ca/pag_cms_id_133_p_buddhas.html
I can't find a good picture of this one, but it is a traditional house from the 1600s in Ammerland, near the Dutch border. The living area and a huge stable are all under one roof, with an open fire in the middle. The sleeping quarters and kitchen are in "cupboards" in the back wall. Post and beam construction with clay in between, like a lot of buildings which are still in use over there.
The building had no chimney, only a large thatched roof that was curved to draw air upwards, and the smoke seeped through the ceiling. the rafters served as a smokehouse.
http://www.bad-zwischenahn-touristik.de/urlaubsthemen/essen-und-trinken/...
http://www.artflakes.com/en/products/ammerlaender-bauernhaus-bad-zwische...
Oh wow, this thread has taken off since I posted it! I'm greedily reading all the posts, and slowly getting through the links - thanks everyone! Loving the pictures too - the "hobbit homes" are amazing and I think I'm in love with them. Catchfire, that "little house" in Toronto is close to the last place I lived before moving across town to the east end. Timebandit - looks like a very interesting show. ;)
hi, a couple classic books on the subject of housing, design, building:
a pattern language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Pattern_Language
and
shelter http://www.shelterpub.com/_shelter/shelter_book.html
(i loved this book as a kid!)
"With over 1000 photographs, Shelter is the classic book celebrating the imagination, resourcefulness, and exuberance of human habitat. First published in 1973, the book gave birth to the "Green Building" revolution of today."
“How very fine it is to leaf through a 176-page book on architecture — from baliwicks to zomes — and find no palaces, no pyramids or temples, no cathedrals, skyscrapers, Kremlins or Pentagons in sight…instead, a book of homes, habitations for human beings in all their infinite variety.”
looks like they also have sequel out,
Home Work: Handbuilt Shelter
http://www.shelterpub.com/_home_work/HW-book.html
"A stunning sequel to the classic 1973 book Shelter, Home Work illustrates even more imaginative ways to put a roof over one’s head, some of which were inspired by Shelter itself. Home Work showcases the ultimate in human ingenuity, building construction, and an independent lifestyle.
Home Work describes homes around the globe built with soul, creativity, and designed with a solid understanding of natural materials, structure, and aesthetics.
Home Work contains over 1,000 photos and 300 line drawings, stories of real people building and living in their own homes, plus photos, stories, and feedback gathered over the thirty years since Shelter was first published."
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fidel wrote:
I think the most efficient building technology is twobyfour and 2x6 wood framing to start with.
agreed- there's a reason 95% of north american homes are built this way - it works really well. if harvested appropriately, not wasted, and used to build what's needed (no new mcmansions); lumber is a logical, local building material. it insulates! cement, earthbuilt, stucko, straw, can also sometimes be great local non-toxic materials.
though fer sure, as ken commented, we are not harvesting sustainably. and the forests we see now are not the same forests as even 100 years ago. in nova scotia, there's only about 5% old growth forest left, that hasn't been cut at some point. it grows back different, takes a _long time to build up to climax forest again.
in context, the eastern forests, and the eastern indigenous peoples, have been bearing the brunt of the invasion for hundreds of years longer than many other parts of canada.
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6079_smith wrote:
Many people are used to thinking of their houses as automatic robots that keep them comfortable, rather than machines that need regulation, like closing the windows and drawing blinds on a hot day to keep the heat out.
A little awareness of the dynamics of heat, humidity, and the flow of air and water in our houses could probably go a long way, even with standard construction.
exactly. simple stuff.
people do "fall" for all this automation, but i think most of the blame belongs with the business/government relationship which crafts the regulations.
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Speaking of squatting and urban housing problems, I remember in 1992 when there was severe housing shortage in the former west Germany many students were renovating trailers and living in them.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauwagenplatz
I went online to find a bit of historical info, and lo and behold, they are having the same crisis now, except that it has become the new normal.
One of the pages that popped up was from an insurance company that has a specific plan for "student trailers" as they are called.
I don't know too much about travellers in England, altough I do know that many areas are required to have places for them to stop, and I remember seeing camps when I was there. I also spoke to a fellow on the continent in the 90s who told me about Thatcher's campaign against them in the previous decade - that police would deliberately attack them and wreck their caravans; that is how he became a refugee and left the U.K.
Building out of recycled material, found material and cast offs, with the help of Habitat for Humanity:
http://www.leaderpost.com/Salvaged+materials+help+build+cabin+awareness+...
@ Timebandit
I have used them. I was surprised when I visited their store in Vancouver though. Nothing there was actually recycled - it was all retail surplus. I was afraid the same thing was going to happen here in Saskatoon when they moved from their old location, but fortunately it is still largely recycled material.
Of course, the real bargain store is the dump, if you are lucky enough to have one that you can get access to. It is an absolute crime what people throw away.
Yes, some is surplus, but it would often be bound for the dump if ReStore didn't take it. So at least there's less waste. The truly recycled or novel materials in the project were what I found most interesting.
No, I'm not dissing the ReStore. THey definitely serve a good purpose, regardless of what is on the shelves. I am happy that our location still IS recycled.
damn...trouble inserting image...
...ah, better. Harran, south Turkey. Beehive houses are thought to be among the first dwellings in the world. Harran is considered the oldest continuously inhabited village in the world. Anyway, they're fuckin' groovy. Walking around the village was otherworldly, and gives the troglodyte cones of Cappadocia a run for their money!
I know you're not. :)
I think it depends on the donations at any given time.
One interesting point of building (and this was a building built to the building codes in Sask.) with recycled/found/surplus materials was that the cost was less than half what it would take to build the same building out of new materials - including labour costs.
http://calearth.org/
Check out the superadobe.
Elke Cole http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvJnTpdfZko who might be still a part of ourecovillage might be able to help anyone who wants to build cob houses or "light Clay" . Light clay is wood framing with straw coated with clay used as the infill http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmpOGKR5drg . Elke Cole has buildt cob, straw bale and light clay all over the world and often goes to Africa or India to work there. (Light clay comes from Germany and is much lighter and quicker than cob. Probably has better insulation properties too. It might still be used there) There is also Anne and Gord Baird http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1473169828&sk=photos who made a 2 story cob house (all code compliant) in the highlands area of Victoria. As far as I know, both ourecovillage and the Baird house were used to design standards for alternative building here in BC and to write them into the building code.
I don't have their links handy but they are easily searchable. I do have my cob shed (which will soon be gone) at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.58490180766.92970.736625766&typ...
I also had a link for a guy who built a cob house this year on a reserve in central or east Canada but it will take a while to find it.
Brian
Here's a working link to the Baird house:
http://whatthesooke.com/2008/09/17/victoria-real-estate-board-green-task...
Very cool.
I was wondering how cob fares in wet damp climates, but I guess it's adobe that doesn't work here. Cob is traditional in the UK.
Questions and answers about cob.
Homeplace As Revolutionary Front - by Cynthia Dewi Oka
http://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/homeplace-as-revolutionary-f...
"...While theft of land, resources and labour enabled early European capitalists to rob poor families and people of colour of their material capacity to survive independently of capitalist rule, the destruction of homespeces was designed to destroy our resources for socializing future generations on our own terms.
The autonomous home, in other words, is a threat to capitalism.."