What it means to be home for me is relaxation at it’s most energetic.

We started building our house six years ago this month. We have done the majority of the work ourselves, with breaks to “work for
money” and play with the kids.  Many people have built there own houses.

Newly weds pounding tires

ceiling and framing

Many people have done this both slower and faster than I am, using many different methods.  The way that we chose to do this project involves a good deal of labor.

Our foundation is made of tires filled with dirt and pounded with sledge hammers to compact it into a brick.

The super structure is traditional mortise and tenon framing (with a handful of timber lock and star drive screws thrown in for good measure).

The exterior walls are twelve inch thick poured adobe in Larson Truss and the interior walls are light clay straw on Larson Truss and wattle and daub. The interior of the apartment we are in now is finished with natural plaster. In the kitchen we have painted it to enable ease of cleaning, the rest is still raw.

natural plaster on cob

We are building our house as a multi-family home. My wife, children and I currently live in a four hundred twenty-five square foot apartment constituting one third of the second floor. This apartment will become my mothers as we move into a new (yet to be built) co-housing living space on the first floor.

Then, of course, there are the sheep, the small orchard, green house, chickens…… the list goes on.

I am looking forward to sharing my thoughts, dreams, progress, stumbling blocks and frustrations.