Cob house
Waste Water Reed Bed
Convenience or freedom? As off-gridders we have to deal with our own shit, quite literally, as well as waste and grey water. There are many systems out there, but every system I researched seemed overly complicated, labour intensive and expensive.…
Eco-house build
This is our organic home. It’s an ecological house built of cob and stone. The cob was made from clay dug from our land and straw cut from our fields and the stone came from the ruined house that was…
Windows and Doors
The windows and doors were made by a carpenter in a nearby village who specialises in windows. They are made out of local chestnut and are incredibly beautiful, as well as super-efficient. There are chestnut shutters on some of the…
Our Cob House
We bought this place in March 2013. No one had lived here for many years and the old house was falling down, which was just what we wanted. Our plan was to build an eco-house, using local, natural materials and…
Chestnut pillars
Today was a big day, putting in one of the main supporting pillars of the house. They are local chestnut and Mateu selected the trees from the wood yard and debarked and sanded them here,then cut them to size with…
House Project One Year Milestone
We started work on the house last August, with clearing and preparation and yesterday we achieved a major milestone in getting the main roof beams in place. Mateu has earned his holiday. Putting in the roof beams: And…
Drainage and Waterproofing
Drainage and waterproofing for the house was always going to be a challenge. The house is 500M down an unpaved track which was a knee-deep river when we bought the place. One of the first things we did was to…
Laying the Foundation for the Cob House
We have finally started on our house renovation and hoping to get enough done before the rain sets in. We’ve done lots of clearing, laid foundations and dug a huge pile of clay for the cob. It will be mixed…
Outdoor Shower Construction
We made an outdoor shower because it’s such a lovely thing to do – showering in nature! We looked at lots of options for outdoor shower construction, but the key issue is location and access to water. We decided to…
Tree Bog Construction
A tree bog is essentially a small shed raised over a hole with trees around. The trees eat the ‘humanure’, so it is a very ecological solution. Our tree bog is mounted on a frame and keyed into flat stones. …
