I’m intrigued by alternative building styles. I really love straw bale houses! Am fascinated by cob homes, domes, tree houses, cave dwellings, tiny homes and the myriad of ways they can be built. These “aircrete” domes are beautiful! Can easily picture being very happy in something like that!
This one is cute, simple to build and the concrete block partially does the insulating job of straw bales, underground or any thick walled construction. It should be relatively cheap shouldn’t it? In fire prone areas like ours it could be a good idea with an appropriately fire proof roof. Would also be great for the ridiculous winds we get here! #AlternativeBuilding #TinyHouses
I have always liked underground stuff. This garden fascinates me.👀
Love these! This couple is very inventive. 😍#TinyHouses #AlternativeBuilding
This is AMAZING!!! Far, far, out of our budget but I’m in love with the the setting and view. #AlternativeBuilding
I’m old and don’t want stairs but I really like this space saving way of doing them. #AlternativeBuilding
Thanks @ContentTBA for alerting me to this.
It’s really a cool way to build. A good repurposing of plastic bottles and a sturdy, warm/cool, structure for minimal costs. Love it! #AlternativeBuilding
This building method is cool! And easy! A lego style house would pretty unique. #AlternativeBuilding
https://odditymall.com/gablok-giant-building-blocks-diy-home
I’m in love! 😍 The measurements it sound small but we’ve been in 390sq ft for years. This looks much more spacious than our standard park model trailer. I’d give a pinky for that kitchen! 😍😍😍 #AlternativeBuilding #AlternativeLiving
But damn…$275,000? It’s really nice but I’d go more organic and less $$$ probably. Unless they finally bring my giant Publishers Clearing House check. 😁
Oh man I love her tiny house!! Would be a lovely place to live. 🌲🏡🌳
#AlternativeBuilding
WOW…this one helps a couple of our problems in NorCal, wind and fire. I like the look. It’s like half a Quonset hut. #AlternativeBuilding #AlternativeLiving
@NorCalCherylLyn Me, too! There are so many beautiful and creative solutions using cobb, bamboo & hemp construction it's really quite fascinating..
@zoidette it really is. I have so many saved on Pinterest and YouTube. I’m always watching out for new ones. The creativity is wonderful!
@NorCalCherylLyn That's something else I really cherish about this community is finding other like-minded individuals that share my interests. Unprecedented In my experience!
@zoidette same for me! Very interesting and cool folks here.
I’m going to pin this thread and add to it. #AlternativeBuilding
@NorCalCherylLyn Ditto!! I'll find a few of my own bread crumbs I've saved, to post on coso, too
@zoidette looking forward to seeing what you’ve found.
@NorCalCherylLyn
Sounds like a great idea for the NorCal mountains. My parents' home land is burning every fire season.
@Bix it does doesn’t it? That’s one of the things that started my interest in alternative building.
i would love to live in one of these. this is a future i can get behind. hobbits of the world unite😎✌🏽
perfect rendition of what i was imagining 👌🏽
@holon42 my dream home!
@NorCalCherylLynWe have helped with building cob, straw bale and yurts so I am also interested in alternative building. it has been years since I have participated but yes.. lived off grid for a few years while we were transitioning after a family tragedy. Investigated and put into practice all sorts of DIY. Hempcrete is something that was also used on the reservation.
@NorCalCherylLyn
@zoidette
@Bix
@peeppeepcircus #AlternativeBuilding
I have a strong interest in building styles that interweave the outdoors with the indoors. Integrate passive solar and natural light to live more in line with the environment the living space is built within.
If we do that, energy requirements plument and we are more in tune with the earth we live upon.
@peeppeepcircus @millard_jmm @NorCalCherylLyn @Bix Don't stop now, we are listening!
@NorCalCherylLyn @zoidette @Bix @peeppeepcircus
#AlternativeBuilding
What if every room with an outside wall had a small square window fit in between all the wall studs and just below the top plate?
The wall framing would be standard so no extra effort there, drop in the window and add one 2by to the framing underneath each window.
If the windows crank open at the bottom no rain let in and will vent out hot air up at the ceiling in the summer months.
One idea to increase light and air.
@millard_jmm I like the sound of that. I worked in a shop on the coast that had those all around. They weren’t for light but ventilation and worked wonderfully. #AlternativeBuilding
@NorCalCherylLyn concrete block transfers cold. the concrete block new dorms when i was in college were always cold, while the older dorms were warmer
@redenigma the one I lived here in CA, Sacramento area, was warm in winter and cool in Summer. It was about this size but a 1930s layout do not optimal.
@NorCalCherylLyn well, i was at UNH. -30 with wind chills... it was cold back in the old days ;)
@NorCalCherylLyn stone/brick houses here have inner & outer walls for a thermal break. some newer ones are insulated between the inner & outer
@redenigma you’d definitely need that!!
@redenigma that would make concrete block housing a frozen block. Brrrrrr…. 🥶
We’re here and not in MN near hubby’s family because cold is not fun in too large of doses.
I've been fascinated for years by this type of creative home building. For 40 years I lived next door to a man who built his stunning home using rammed earth methods. He made his kitchen table and also curved the 2nd floor stairs around the fireplace chimney. Everything was so beautifully handcrafted. http://www.clyderice.org/the-place.html
@MerakiLife that is a beautiful place! I love the Clackmas River.
Rammed earth is a great building technique. And I love how sculptural you can make the mud. I’ve seen videos of really beautiful art done in cob in some of them. #AlternativeBuilding #ArtAsHome #HomeAsArt
Clyde Rice's home is really far more quaint than the pics show. The details are full of gracious surprises! Built in the late 20's.
My house was built in 1938 for Poppa Clyde's Wife #1's sister. I took care of wife#2 until she passed in her 90's. She was much younger than Pop and family was all gone.
I really miss living there.
@MerakiLife I can sure see why you would miss it! Love the stories that go with family properties.
@NorCalCherylLyn
They had me at pre-insulated
@peeppeepcircus @NorCalCherylLyn
FYI
The Atlantic:
The Simple, Ancient Idea That Can Replace Concrete Walls
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-simple-ancient-idea-that-can-replace-concrete-walls/ar-AA1l6bVb
@Bix @peeppeepcircus I love stacked stone fences and buildings. They look so cool!
I grew up in the high desert and there were lots of old river rock houses scattered around.
@Bix @peeppeepcircus so so cool!!
great now I want one 🤩
I had a convo some time ago about building structures to withstand floods, someone mentioned that stonework can last though that
@Wbtphdjd for sure! Luckily we probably could put it here on this property and sell our current trailer. Or leave it for my daughter and sil to rent out.
You have no idea how valuable living in small spaces can be. Eight months on the road in my van broadened my self awareness dramatically. Then Covid.
I’m still happiest on the road.
@LnzyHou we’ve downsized very much in the past 3 decades and currently live in 390sq ft. I can easily live in something this cool!
We hope to be mobile, at least part time, in the not too distant future.
I’m in 600 sq ft apt then road trips.
@LnzyHou that sounds so roomy. We’ll keep something here to come home to. I’m hoping for about 1000sq ft. We plan to go on at least one long road trip. Then evaluate how hubby survived it. 🤞🏻🤞🏻
Maybe we’ll keep the rv for shorter trips to the mtns or coast. Either is only a couple of hours away from here. Having a rolling house would make travel much easier for hubby.
It’s a joy if you drop expectations.
@LnzyHou I hope to have no expectations, just new sights and experiences.
@NorCalCherylLyn . Pretty interesting.
@Cmnslivn I’m really liking it!
@NorCalCherylLyn . I could have one to live in and one for a studio/yarn storage.😃
@Cmnslivn lol…our 2nd would be for bead and cord storage. Maybe a little room for hubby to have a music room. 🤔
@NorCalCherylLyn . A music room would be nice for my hubby, too, but I don't want to share my space!!
Haven’t seriously researched this company so I’m not recommending them yet but I like some of the designs. And the costs seem pretty reasonable. #AlternativeBuilding
https://offgriddwellings.com/