MEN Fair 2012- Ordinary Tools Extraordinary Results

Ordinary Tools, Extraordinary Results
Presented by Laurie Freeman and Jim Strickland

I feel that it is worth reiterating, this workshop was, without question, the most inspiring workshop of the fair for me.

The presentation began with a description of the timeline for building their home. In 1997 they began clearing the land. By 1998 they were able to start digging the foundation, using only shovels and other hand tools. They live in up-state New York, so to get the foundation below the frost line required a minimum depth of 4 feet. One side of the house was going to be built into a hillside, however, so on that side they had to dig the footers to a depth of 13 feet. The process took four years to complete, and included, at one point, digging a larger hole in which they could bury a rock that was too big to be removed without the aid of machinery.

Once the footers were dug, the began pouring the concrete foundations using slip forms. The barn required 800 wheel barrow loads of concrete, which was all mixed by hand. The house was going to required 3 times as much, so they decided to use a cement mixer instead. They removed the motor and adapted it to be powered by a bicycle, then proceeded to ride the equivalent of 400 miles on the bicycle while mixing enough cement to pour the foundation and the 28' chimney, which was also created using the slip form method.

The barn and house were both framed out of timbers, cut from their woods. They used a small rip saw, powered by a chainsaw engine, to cut the trees into timbers. Once the timbers were cut they drug them to the building side over the snow, or during times where no snow was present, had friends help them carry the timbers. The timber frame was assembled with no nails or screws. They hand cut wooden pegs, which were used to hold the timbers together. The book Timber Frame Construction: All About Post and Beam Building by Jack Sobon was recommended as a good source of information on the process.

Once the timber frame of the house was completed, they infilled with straw bales. They also recommended a book on this topic, The Straw Bale House by Athena and Bill Steen. I ran across this book for half price, so went ahead and picked it up since we plan to experiment with straw bale building. In addition to the book they also suggested the website The Last Straw, as a good resource for straw bale building. Their straw bale walls were covered with a natural plaster, which they based on a recipe they found in one of Dan Chiras' books, which I assume to be The Natural Plaster Book: Earth, Lime, and Gypsum Plasters for Natural Homes.

I'm even impressed by the windows and doors that the couple used in their home. Rather than buy new ones, or even ones reclaimed from old houses, they opted to make their own. The glass used was reclaimed from old windows and doors, but they hand cut to the dimensions they wanted. The frames were made, either from the wood left over after cutting the timbers, or in a few cases, from trees they cut specifically for the purpose. Since creating double paned windows requires filling the air space with an inert gas, and ensuring an air tight seal to be effective, they chose to just use single pane windows with storm windows.

In the end, however, they chose not to build the storm windows as the house was performing well without them. They say that on a cold January day, the temperature will usually dip down to around 64 degrees, but will then increase to approximately 72 degrees after a full day of sun. The hottest temperature they have recorded inside the home was 77 degrees, which was on a day when the outside temperature was 98 degrees. These numbers are impressive, especially since they are being achieved without supplemental heating or cooling. This home is a fantastic example of what can be achieved by combining passive solar design, good insulation, and thermal mass.