Since reading Marsha's thread on Straw-Bale Building I have been spending a little time reading up on Alternative Housing. My question is how many of you folks live in an Alternative Home or have in the past? What type and why? I guess living in a Camper could be considered Alternative, but I was thinking more on the line of Owner built. Thanks!!!

-- Mark NC Fla (deadgoatman@webtv.net), November 07, 2000

Answers

There's the yurt; our step daughter has one that she lives in. It's here right now awaiting repairs. The house we live in is built largely of two by four mill ends stacked and nailed together for a very solid wall that the mice cannot get into! Labor intensive but cheap. I'd like to come up with a goat yurt that is easy to move- just disassemble it when the manure builds up instead of moving the manure.Instant compost pile with no hauling or piling! My husband also has the foundation built for a straw bale shop.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), November 08, 2000.

Does our dome count? We originally wanted a cordwood house, so we built an outhouse first. Decided that cordwood took too long, so here we are, still building our dome for 4 years....

-- Teresa in TN (otgonz@bellsouth.net), November 08, 2000.

collection of buildings that i consider home ("commune" if you're Leftist, "compound" if you're Righty!) contaIns on standard issue 1950 rural shack which we use as the "main house", a small falling-down barn, a converted 8x12 construction trailer (12VDC power) that my brother lives in and my river house, which is built of entirely salvaged materials. it's 8 feet off the ground next to the river up on old utility pole pilings driven down to bedrock. old shag carpeting used for insulation in the walls, passive solar heat, tiny woodstove, rain catchment system. the challenge with building with salvage is the nonstandard dimensions of the materials. also it was built entirely without electricity. I want to build a yurt next summer. don't like the petrochemical ingredients of the readymade yurt kits...or the price! we're also going to build a cordwood structure which will probably become a sauna/laundry-house. we have a thick grove of young cedars which need thinning, and will use this for the cordwood masonry part. Rob Roy's Sauna book is very inspirational and practical about the process. i love building. don't thnk strawbale, rammed earth, adobe or cob is very good here with 100+ inches of rain a year. when in doubt, look at what the indeginous people used to build with. here, it was cedar planks. home is where you build it!

-- juno redleaf (gofish@presys.com), November 10, 2000.