Skip to main content
May 08
Love2

Starting to build the living roof

By Living Sod Roof

sod03.jpg

Lately I have been focusing a lot of my attention on building the living roof (a.k.a. green roof, sod roof, or turf roof). Last week, I finished building an edge board – a sort of retaining wall around the perimeter of the roof to help hold the soil from sliding off the roof. I debated quite a bit about how to construct the edge board, and eventually I decided that I would use round black locust logs spiked into the rafter ends with giant 8″ nails. Unfortunately, the logs only extend a couple of inches above the height of the roof, so it’s less of a retaining “wall” and more of a little edge “bump.” (See above photo for a better idea.) I’m not too afraid of soil sliding off the roof, so I’m not that worried.

Read More

Apr 27
Love0

Building a Rocket Stove: Part 2: Cob Bed and Bench

By Rocket Stove, Cob Bed and Bench

cob-bed06.jpg

UPDATE: Unfortunately, this rocket stove design has proven to be a failure, and I have since deconstructed the stove. I cannot recommend that someone follow these plans. You can read my original post below for what not to do, though.

The rocket stove and cob bed and bench are essentially finished. The rocket stove (which I will detail more in yet another post) has 25 feet of horizontal run that wraps through the bed, into the bench, and out the southern wall of the house.

Read More

Apr 13
Love0

Building a Rocket Stove: Part 1: Stove Materials

By Rocket Stove

A few days ago, I finally began building my rocket stove. A rocket stove is a high efficiency, low cost type of homemade mass heater. The advantage with rocket stoves is being able to run the stove pipe through cob furniture such as benches or beds. Instead of sending the stove pipe straight through the roof (along with the heat) as is typical in conventional wood stoves, most of the heat can be captured in the cob thermal mass. Rocket stoves typically burn way less wood than typical wood stoves, and you can make them out of recycled and salvaged materials that are pretty widely available.

Read More

Apr 09
Love0

The Most Beautiful Cob House Ever?

By Cob Bed and Bench, Design

meka cob cottage

There are a few natural buildings that stand out in my mind as some of the most beautiful examples. One of them is Meka’s cob cottage. Meka Bunch of Wolf Creek, Oregon built this stunning cob house over a four year period. Complete with hand-sculpted furniture, shelves and nooks built directly into the walls, arched windows, and a killer custom staircase, his cob building is a divine artistic achievement.

Check out the photos of Meka’s cob cottage for yourself.

Read More

Apr 02
Love0

A nice place to break up

By Uncategorized

Today I heard a funny story from Ashley, a guy who passed through Dancing Rabbit last September on the Superheroes bike ride.

He told me that while he was here, he and his then-girlfriend were looking for a peaceful, quiet location to have a challening conversation. They decided my house would be a good choice if it was empty, and it was, so they had their talk there to discuss ending their relationship.

We joked about how my house could serve as the go-to place where couples could break up thanks to its soothing atmosphere.

I was amused.

Mar 12
Love0

Flue pipe for making a rocket stove

By Rocket Stove

I recently bought some flue pipe for the construction of my rocket stove and heated cob bed. I purchased it from a local hardware store, and I was very happy to learn that there is 60″ lengths of flue pipe for sale for roughly $11 each. Compared to the more common 24″ lengths, which are something like $6 a piece, the 60″ pipe is a bargain.

Since I will need over twenty feet of pipe in my cob bed, the longer pieces make much more sense to use. If you are planning to build a heated bench or bed, make sure to find some 60″ length flue pipe.

In the next week, I hope to get some firebricks from our neighbors at Sandhill Farm so that I can begin to build the actual stove.