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Sep 20
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Design Your Deck With Rot Resistant Wood

By Carpentry, Timber Framing, Strawtron
White Oak Deck Wood

Our white oak balcony deck floor

It is a wise idea to incorporate rot resistant wood into your outdoor deck, balcony, or porch designs, to ensure a long-lasting, safe floor for years to come.

I’m happy to be finally decking our west balcony so that we can stand out there and enjoy the view, without worry of falling through or tipping the temporary piece of plywood we’d been using. We obtained some nice white oak boards for the occasion, as the balcony is exposed to the weather. The balcony is actually under a substantial roof, but nevertheless, with our occasional big storms, moisture and rot is a concern. We chose thick 1.5″ white oak wood for its excellent rot resistance and strength.

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Sep 13
Love0

*Hiccup*

By Uncategorized

flatbread

Wow, the last week has been a stream of constant web hiccups … but I think it may finally be over. I hope. Fingers crossed. Prayers prayed. If you are reading these words, then everything may very well be okay. Let me know if you’ve had or are having any problems reading The Year of Mud. Updates may now commence on their previously programmed schedule. Goodbye 404s and 500s.

By the way, check out that flatbread… oh boy, I love cooking a good flatbread on our rocket stove. These were actually supposed to be wheat tortillas, but this one got carried away and had an identity crisis, becoming more like a pita than anything else. It’s amazing what you can do with a little flour, water, and yeast or baking powder. Dry or with butter/oil, and there are about 50 variations in there depending on heat, dough consistency, temperature, etc. Mm.

 

Sep 06
Love0

2013 Natural Building Workshops Planning

By Natural Building Workshops

Straw Bale Workshops at The Year of MudAfter such a successful 2012 Natural Building Workshop season, we are already planning for next year’s courses and classes in 2013. Planning is an on-going  process, and especially for events like these, we need to organize very far in advance to be able to structure our time and energy for the year. We hosted one Straw Bale Workshop and a Timber Framing Workshop this year, after months and months of planning, but next year may see the introduction of newer courses in the offering. I’m excited about the possibilities, and I hope you will be, too.

Things should be ironed out over the course of the fall season (the best time to do anything, really). Keep an eye peeled. Sign up for our email list to be the first to know.

 

 

Sep 03
Love0

On The Issue of Maintenance, Building Or Otherwise

By Uncategorized

Cob House Lime PlasterI gotta say, it is somewhat bothersome when people have skewed perceptions & expectations of maintenance. Some people love the idea of “maintenance-free” homes, or gardens.  However, I think that life is nothing but maintenance — literally everything, from your own body, your mind, to the environment in which you live (your house, your property, your vegetable gardens, etc.). Everything demands upkeep, demands sustenance and nourishment, demands a level of working functionality (ideally). Some lifestyles, of course, have a much higher percentage of “maintenance work” than others — farming, for one.

But since this is a blog about building (and building naturally), let me say a few things about the issue of building maintenance.

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Aug 29
Love0

Straw Bale House Building Progress

By Straw Bale Building, Strawtron
Straw Bale House Construction

What Strawtron currently looks like

This is where progress on building our new straw bale & timber frame house currently stands. A year from now, the house should be fully plastered and lime washed, with a lush green roof, and a big ol’ greenhouse full of plants growing on the left side of the house. Imagine me on a hammock on a balcony, snoozing, too.

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Aug 28
Love0

Top 5 Natural Building Reads on The Year of Mud

By Resources, Strawtron

reciprocal roof frameIt’s fun for me to track the content on The Year of Mud to see what people are reading and sharing the most. It is definitely the how-to articles that attract the most attention — here are the top 5 natural building posts on The Year of Mud:

As the building season dies down and time becomes more available to me, I have plans to travel backwards in time to create more how-tos, and detailed posts about all of the building we’ve done this year — timber framing, straw bale building work, etc. Look forward to more articles about our adventures with the new straw bale & timber frame home!

Aug 25
Love0

Rainy Sunday Natural Building Reading

By Resources, Carpentry
Canadian Timber Hewing

How to spend a rainy Sunday… when you’re not doing this…

We finally have a day of rain in the forecast for tomorrow — a 100% chance. I will definitely take it. It has been weeks and weeks of drought here. To celebrate, here are a bunch of fun building links. Perhaps you have your own rainy Sunday coming up. Check out these cool natural building and carpentry websites in your time off:

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Aug 23
Love0

Gransfors Bruks Hunters Axe: A Sentimental Review

By Hand Tools, Timber Framing
Gransfors Bruks Hunters Axe

The Gransfors Bruks Hunters Axe… ah…

There’s something intensely romantic about axes. Perhaps it’s that they have an ancient quality, having existed alongside humans for much of our history — they’ve been carried all over the world, used and depended on, for a long, long time. I’ve always thought of the axe as something that you’d really need in your arsenal, if you subsisted with only a small collection of manufactured tools. As far as woodworking is concerned, they predate many other hand tools and have long fulfilled the purposes of many newer, more specialized tools. Axes are versatile, simple, elegant, and timeless.

They’re something I can’t stop myself from looking at and picking up at the flea market, moreso than most other hand tools.

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Aug 13
Love1

How To Build a House That Will Last 200 Years (Or More)

By Resources, Timber Framing

Bayleaf Farmstead Timber Frame House

“The life cycle of timber frame structures is measured not in decades, but millennia.”

It’s true: timber frame houses are built to last, and their durability surpasses conventional stick frames by leaps and bounds. The renowned Ise temple of Japan is, astoundingly, over 1300 years old and claims the title of the oldest existing timber frame structure in the world. And there are many more 500+ year old timber frame barns, homes, and buildings scattered globally, especially throughout Europe.

If you want to build a house that will last 100, 200, 300 years or more, the timber frame is the only answer to long-lasting framed buildings.

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Aug 10
Love0

Living Roof and Pond Liner Excitement, and Safety Tips

By Strawtron, Uncategorized, Living Sod Roof
EPDM pond liner

Pond liners... please, lift only once, if you can

Living roofs are a lot of labor. Especially dealing with several hundred pound EPDM pond liners, which are big and awkward to move around. So when you get the liner on your rooftop, make sure it’s going to stay there. We encountered some fun with the recent installation of our pond liner… let’s say we repeated the lifting of the 300 pound liner. Twice, actually. The circumstances were… a bit scary.

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