Still out of all the alternative housing, strawbale is my favorite.
Here's a video on the pluses of building a cob home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WbUUSq6jc4
The do-it-yourself crowd and many Cultural Creatives love the cob or strawbale house. With any type of house, there are pluses and minuses. Building a cob house is labor intensive, but less expensive than building a wood frame or standard home. Upkeep can be bothersome, especially checking for cracks in the plaster where mold spores can breed. Strawbale homes also don't fare well in wet or marshy climates, despite the fact that builders have built strawbale homes on the San Juan Islands in Washington State and Canadians have built strawbale homes on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia.
Still out of all the alternative housing, strawbale is my favorite. Here's a video on the pluses of building a cob home. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WbUUSq6jc4
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I found this tour of a Micro Cube home on YouTube. One way to keep building and housing cost down is to go small. While I thought 550 square feet was the ideal size for a home for a single person or a couple, houses keep shrinking in square footage and the inhabitants don't seem to mind the coziness of the smaller size. Now, this will seem strange to anyone still thinking that the mac mansion is the way to go. And the micro houses have evolved into more sophisticated models since the return of the yurt.
Even in Bellingham, Washington where I reside, I have seen Craig's List posts for 250 and 300 square foot apartments and one-bedroom or studio houses. I've even visited a few of these smaller spaces. While smaller does mean smaller energy bills and easier upkeep, these spaces can also seem cramped when not built with windows peering into the outer world (usually a natural setting) and for some people it will feel like sharing a dorm room. So think twice before going small, but if you follow the small house trend, then you'll love this video of a micro cube home in Anjou, France. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM0vpsP-Bmg French with English subtitles Thank s to the age of YouTube, each week I can feature a different type of alternative housing to inspire, excite, and bring about change in the way we reside on the planet. The first video features a retired Frenchman who bought and now resides in a house built in a cave in the Loire region of France. Throughout this video, (thanks the English subtitles), we learn about the history of this structure and its former occupants. I guess "caveman" takes on a new meaning here. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSbQ3t-j41Y Image of cave house from Google images This is not the house in the video. |
AuthorEco-journalist and Cultural Creative, Patricia Herlevi lends her green communication skills to sustainable businesses. Archives
December 2015
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