Monthly Archives

June 2013

Jun 28
Love0

Something For Your Weekend

By Photos, Living Sod Roof

Cob House - Living Green Roof

Could it nearly be July already? Good gracious. Half the year is gone. Well, so it goes. Here’s a photo of Gobcobatron as of a couple weeks ago, during one of my favorite times of year for the little cob house — right at that time when mud is not so prevalent, and the sky begins to get a little bluer, and the grass on the living roof really comes into its own. The garden, though not mature at this point, shows signs of abundance to come. Ah yes… these are the little moments during the year that I enjoy the most.

Well, have a good weekend, doing whatever you may do.

Jun 26
Love0

Building the Light Clay Straw Porch

By Strawtron, Light Clay Straw
Light Clay Straw (Slipstraw) Walls

Our light clay straw (slipstraw) porch walls are on the way

The north porch of our straw bale house has been occupying most of our construction time these days. As of only a couple of weeks ago, the porch was still largely open, with only framing and a few windows installed.

We decided to go the wall & windows route, instead of just screening the space in, because of how exposed this part of the home is to the north and west weather. Also, the space is much more versatile this way, too. We decided to do light clay straw (a.k.a., slipstraw) infill walls.

It’s been an enjoyable process thus far.

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Jun 20
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Now It’s On (Or About To Be): Live Edge Siding Arrives

By Strawtron
Live Edge Wood Siding

Live edge siding from white oak… mmm…

Wow, our Amish sawyer really pulled through. He gave us a call a whole three days after our visit to let us know he had completed sawing up the white oak live edge siding we had requested. Amazing! And he did quite the job, too. The wood looks great. The quality of the material is high, the sawing is very clean and accurate, and I am super jazzed to finally have the material in my possession.

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Jun 13
Love0

To Great Lengths, and Beyond

By Strawtron

Am I picky, or stubborn, or just in a really impoverished area? Maybe all of the above. It’s somewhat crazy what I have had to go through to try to get a particular type of wood siding sawn up for me. It started off simple, I thought — calling a mill I’ve used before to see if I could have some live edge siding sawn up out of white oak. I slowly learned that this would be harder than I thought. Well… many weeks later, I think I finally may have someone both willing to do it, and with access to the materials.

Is it normal to go to these great lengths for a building project, or what? Please do chime in, and please tell me.

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Jun 07
Love0

Using Reclaimed Wood Flooring

By Strawtron
Reclaimed wood flooring

Unfinished reclaimed wood flooring

There is nothing terribly easy about using reclaimed wood flooring, or reclaimed wood in general. Though I really do like it. New lumber is nice and all, sometimes, (and certainly really easy to work with, primarily), but when experiencing or working with new wood, sometimes I get that feeling similar to when I have a new pair of shoes or boots on — something just doesn’t seem right. The brightness, the lack of wear and that really perfect/clean feeling, the lack of a history or story embedded in there… that doesn’t appeal to me. The imperfections and wear, scratches and dings, the colors of reclaimed wood all tell a story, I think, and I like that. Also, older wood is often higher quality material, too.

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