This is a story about freedom.  A family decides to build a simple cheap ecological house that will let them concentrate on living.

We will be making a documentary and keeping a blog to document our experience.

We are building an EkoHus in Sweden.

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http://www.busyboo.com/

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Ben owned a third of the sweet-chestnut woodland and rented the rest. The house he designed was to be made almost entirely of wood, with an A-frame made of tree trunks, a wooden platform for a floor and oak shingles on the roof.

All the timber would come from the surrounding trees – sweet chestnut is a strong hardwood, ideal for this kind of building.

Because Ben coppices trees instead of removing them, roots and all, new growth would quickly replace the old.
The Vision

The house would comprise: a single large living room, rising all the way to the roof, including a kitchen area; one bedroom on the ground floor; and a bathroom. Ben came up with some simple drawings and appointed architect John Rees to advise him.

Volunteers were invited to come and stay in the woods and help build the house in return for food and drink and some tuition from master-carpenter Viv Goodings. With no builders’ wages, and the wood being free, Ben aimed to build the house, complete with sun and wind powered electricity, for £25,000.
Natural Beauty And Strength

Building began in May, and Ben’s ambition was to move in by the time the winter weather arrived. The hand-crafted approach meant taking time over details. For instance, much of the wood was being left in the round. This meant that it kept its natural beauty and strength, but special joints were required for fixing curved surfaces together. And the pace of work altered according to how many volunteers turned up.

The A-frame went up in a day – an extraordinary feat, involving hand-winching pairs of 30 foot ( nine metre) tree trunks. But filling in the frame with floors and a verandah, and adding rafters and internal walls, involved slow and steady work that lasted months. Then there were the 12,000 oak shingles, all hand-cut by Ben, to be nailed on to the roof.
Sleeping Indoors

In autumn, recycled newspaper insulation went under the floor and into the roof, and oak-edged boards were fitted on to the outside of the house. Then barley-straw bales, which had been bought from a neighbouring farm, were stacked in between the timber fame and the internal stud-work to create thick walls. Ben installed a wood-burning stove, bath and hot-water cylinder, and started sleeping indoors.

Cabling, wrapped in copper to proof it against fire and rodents, was run through the straw. Using clay from his pond, Ben built a fireplace and covered the internal lath walls with clay plaster. Finally, glass went in to the windows, the straw bales were covered with lime plaster, and the house was weatherproofed – just as the November storms arrived.
Window, Sussex: The Woodman’s Cottage, Grand Designs
The Detail

The house is a hymn to wood. Inside and out, wood displays its beautiful variations of size, colour and texture. Pieces are fitted together with hand-crafted pegs. The oak shingles of the roof ripple with natural curves. The big arched window echoes the shape of house.

Light floods in and shadows of beams and laths move across the walls. Eventually, storage platforms will be installed high up at either end of the house.

The living-room walls, covered in lime plaster, are a gentle yellowish-cream. Lime wash mixed with iron oxide and turmeric has turned the bedroom walls red-orange. Some surfaces are curved, where the straw bales beneath the plaster had been shaped with a chainsaw.

A tall, curved clay fireplace mirrors the shape of the arched window. Curved niches for candles are set into the chimney breast.

Bathroom and kitchen have all Ben needs in the way of luxury. An enamel bath connects to the hot-water cylinder. Iron pots hang above a black Rayburn.

The house runs entirely off natural energy, and even some of the technology has recycled parts. Solar panels previously used in the Big Brother house provide electricity, which is stored in second-hand submarine batteries. Together with a few wind turbines, they will power Ben’s lights, stereo and laptop. Rainwater and a nearby spring supply the taps. And soon the composting toilet will arrive.

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I have had several search engine visitors asking- “how they make ecological green homes in Sweden“.
I would have to say that they don’t.

We are nowhere as advanced as builders of earthship and strawbale houses in other parts of the world.

Often, when you read about an “ecological house”, they just end up saying they used non-toxic materials in building the home.

Non-poisonous building doesn’t mean green in my book!

But let us think about this very important question- where do you start in building an ecological house?

My answer is very simple- do your own homework! Every single ecological house I have heard of has received some kind of end user criticism.

People building earthships in harsh northern climate have complained of cold, humid area dwellers are complaining of heat, and straw bale construction has brought complaints of mold.

However, a smartly planned ecological home can save you money, health, and make you financially independent at an early age, if you are willing to rough it and homestead.

Here is where to start

1) Decide what you want.

People often do not know what they want. This is where the kind universe comes in and beats you on the head until you at least know exactly what you do not want.
If you don’t have money, you will probably want to build your own home (which you can, a la Simon Dale).
If you are making lots of money and have no time, you can hire someone to do it for you.

Do you have health concerns? Are you allergic to certain materials or electricity/wi-fi (some people are). Do you need constant hot-like warmth in your house, or are you content with wearing warm clothing?
Is there enough wind and sun in your area to provide for off-the grid living? (Surprisingly, deserts are energy-plentiful, what with hot sun and strong winds)

Every single aspect of your life will determine your needs, and thus your house.

Do you know how much of a commitment to the house you want to make? Planning every aspect of the new green dwelling, is this something you will enjoy? Are you a happy shopper or a happy maker?

Ecological is a term that is often too broad to give any definition.
Think of it as a sliding scale that should fit around your life.

On one end, you can grow your own food, make your own electricity, recycle all your water (so you do not need sewage connection), and need no heating.
On the other, you can simply use energy efficient appliances, better insulation, LED lights and use of sun’s energy to cut your heat and energy bills in half.

The start with green solutions is in realizing that green truly is the color of simplifying your life.
With a bit of careful planning.

Stay tuned for your future articles on
2) Planning your green home

3)Homesteading
How to stop renting and live at the site of your future home- right now.

Helpful Hint: After doing all of your homework on you ecohouse, you will most likely want to protect it. To find certain deals in your area you could do a search such as “ADT Seattle” and see what potential offers and installation they provide.

Earthship Design Principles:

1)Thermal/Solar Heating & Cooling

2)Solar & Wind Electricity

3)Contained Sewage Treatment

4)Building with Natural & Recycled Materials

5)Water Harvesting

6)Food Production

Some more little houses we like. Making a small house to live in using the cheapest materials is the best green house alternative for people with time and money constraints.

My first introduction to little houses happened many years ago. I saw a Japanese Tea House. The whole concept of living in small space, so common in Japan, was quite appealing to me.

Later on, as far apart as Amsterdam, Holland, Bangkok, Thailand, and Broklyn, New York, I saw floating homes.
The concept is quite appealing, but the costs can be quite hight.

Then we have the humble trailer/ RV / camper home
and it’s recent offspring, the tiny house on a trailer.

With all these examples, the idea that smaller is better and you can do it yourself started to blossom in my mind.

I also started becoming more and more aware of certain opressive regulatory forces in society.

For example-

The Smallest House in Great Britain

can be found on the Quay, in Conwy, Wales. It has its own entry in the Guinness Book of Records. This house is also known as the Quay House.

Its dimensions are 3.05 metres x 1.8 metres.

It has been lived in since the Sixteenth Century. It was even inhabited by a family at one point[citation needed]). It was lived in until 1900, when the owner was a 6ft 3 inch fisherman named Robert Jones. The rooms were too small for him to stand up in fully and he was eventually forced to move out when the council declared the house unfit for human habitation. The house is still owned by his descendants

I am thinking of making a small house on a trailer for working on the bigger house. Doing some research on my options to make a small cheap house from recycled materials.

One man is using pallets.

Other options?
Either a wood or a metal frame.

If metal, will need a welder.

Some good ideas for DIY welders made from a used microwave.

you can also weld with car batteries alone.
This only makes sense if you have used batteries lying around.

Takasugi-an, a tree tea house by Terunobu Fujimori, is the scariest and wonderfulest little house we have seen in a while.

We love downsizing, and this is an easy and fun project to start with if you want to explore building yourself.

The name Takasugi-an means, “a tea house [built] too high.”
via dezeen
another great design by Terunobu Fujimori is here

It is also great for the environment, providing food for bugs and birds.

Rooftop gardens are being proposed for the top of some of London’s biggest buildings. By installing them on the rooftops of places like universities and town halls, it is hoped that endangered species of birds and bugs will be saved.

The Living Roofs for Wildlife project will create seven “living roofs” which will recreate the natural habitats of some of the species and include wildflower meadows, sandy areas and beach.

find out more:
Buglife Via : Evening Standard
via treehugger

Martin Rauch Builds His Dream House (Rammed Earth, of Course)

A good looking home indeed.

We like the underground idea, as large mass equals good thermal properties.

We do prefer a straw bale or an earthship design to rammed earth because:

Earth buildings are costly in terms of labor. The silt and earthen mixture is compressed periodically in horizontal layers and compressed with air compression beaters and vibration rolls. In case of “House Rauch” 41% of the house’s volume is under earth, which results in some subterranean cave-like spaces. The building’s foundation is made of 60cm trass cement – the traditional roman cement, the ceilings are “Dippelbaumdecken” (beam ceilings) and the interior thermal insulation is made from rush mats, which is also a perfect underground for the finishing coat.

via <a href=”http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/03/martin-rauch-house.php”>treehugger</a>

On a side note, to add to our architects suck philosophy, the source for the story, anArchitecture, is an architectural blog.

Guess what is the top link at that said architectural blog? “a guide to architects fees” Do not trust architects. Do it yourself.

Try getting permits to build a green house in your area and see what nice people from the architectural and construciton lobby  you will meet.