Monthly Archives

January 2012

Jan 31
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Land Ark Liquid Wax End Sealer

By Timber Framing

In the not-too distant future, we will be contacting the sawmill for our timber order once and for all. It’s quite exciting, and also a little nerve-wracking to think about putting in an order for such a large quantity of timber — over 6000 board feet of wood! I’ve never dealt with so much wood in my life. Whew. This is a little new to me.

Anyway, we want to take very good care of the wood for our timber frame home once it is delivered, and to that effect, we will be using Land Ark Liquid Wax End Sealer to help protect the wood.

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Jan 18
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2012 Natural Building Internship: Build a Straw Bale House

By Timber Framing, Straw Bale Building, Strawtron, Workshops, Work Exchange


The Year of Mud is happy to announce that we are seeking an intern during the 2012 building season. We are offering a rare natural building internship opportunity — the chance to help build a straw bale house from the ground up, and to participate in two complete natural building workshops in an inspiring ecovillage community.

Interns will help to organize and get full participation in our Timber Frame Workshop, and Straw Bale Workshop. Come experience what it is like to build a natural home from step one at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage!

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Jan 17
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Beautiful Rustic Swedish Cabins: Urnatur

By Living Sod Roof, Photos

urnatur rustic cottages 03

Sometimes I wonder if I wasn’t meant for Scandinavia. What with the region’s stunning living roofs, the old and beautiful traditions of timber construction, the forests… wow. This is my kind of aesthetic. These particular images are from Urnatur of Sweden. Urnatur is a so-called “eco lodge” and retreat, home to these lovely little rustic cottages. Inspirational stuff!

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Jan 14
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Photo: Cob House in Winter Landscape

By Heating, Photos, Winter

Wow, it finally feels like winter. We’ve had a ridiculous number of mild days thus far, and it decided to snow a couple days ago, but only immediately after a 60+ degree day. Hrmmm… for some reason, it’s hard to turn one’s mind from wandering to climate change…

We are faring much better this winter (in no doubt due to the warm days), but I actually want some cold to test all of the changes we’ve made to the house this summer!

By the way, click the panorama image for a larger version!

Jan 11
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Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter: Lloyd Kahn Book Review

By Media, Resources

Lloyd Kahn is an owner-builder’s best friend. His colorful books document owner-builders’ projects across the world, chock full of captivating, beautiful photographs and valuable information for both the aspiring and active builder folks among us.

Each announcement of his book releases come with a certain wave of excitement, and Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter rides on the wave that Lloyd has been stirring up for over 30 years since the release of Shelter, and delivers a unique look into the newly exploding popularity of tiny houses.

Read ahead for a book review of Lloyd Kahn’s latest.

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Jan 08
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Timber Frame Homes = Energy Efficient Houses

By Timber Framing

timber frame homeTimber frame homes have been around for a long, long time. And there’s good reason for that. Timber frame houses make efficient use of resources, optimize the use of locally-available materials, can be built using relatively simple tools, and especially nowadays, they are easily outfitted with a number of highly insulative materials such as straw bales.

Timber frame houses are ultimately very efficient, much moreso than the typical stick frame house prevalent in conventional construction.

Check out my article here for more about why — Timber Frame Homes are Energy Efficient Homes.

p.s. Did I mention they are just way cooler and more beautiful than stick frames, too?

(Image source.)