Papercrete

Now papercrete really is a good idea for recycling paper that goes to the landfill. I used to work at a recycling company, and many people don't know that the paper you carefully separate and put at the curb is often sent to the landfill with the other garbage, because its economical value is so low. It's not clean enough and/or the transportation costs make it not worth the trip to the paper mill.

Here and here are some good articles and also one from Mother Earth News. This would be feasible to build just with a couple of people. The only thing that is costly is the Portland Cement, but you don't use so much of it. Although I still am partial to stone.

More on stone houses

Here is another old article from Mother Earth News about building your own stone house, further to my post on slipforming.

Houses should always have at least 2 floors

It's a more economical use of space, and unless you are an invalid (I'd better say disabled), you need the exercise.

Since I've moved into a 3 story house, I've have gotten into much better shape and have not gained back some weight I lost.

Straw bale houses

Straw bale houses look easy to construct and look nice too.

There are a lot of books about straw bale houses. I think that would be a good option if I lived in a place where there were not lots of rocks. Has anyone else noticed that there are none of those small rectangular bales anymore in the fields? They are all those huge round bales. I wonder if it is increasingly hard to find the small bales to build a house? I haven't seen this problem addressed anywhere. If farmers aren't using those old balers, they will disappear.

Here's an article from Mother Earth News. Has anyone noticed that on the Mother Earth News website you can't find old articles, but they come on google searches?

A scam builder?

I started this blog in part to promote a building material made from recycled waste wood and coal ash, but after investigating a little it looks like it might be a scam. Too bad it seemed like such a good idea. I worked at a commercial waste disposal site once, and they threw away enough wood in a week to make a house.

In any case, alternative building materials is one of my passions, so I will carry on anyway.

Slipform stone building

If I have more time than money, I will want to build using slipform stone building. This would take a lot of time but maybe when I'm old, I'll have more time like the Nearings. It really looks beautiful.

My beautiful house

Someday I will build a house. I'm 56 years old and have no financial assets (well maybe a car counts, but it's 6 years old), but I still have the dream of building my own house.