Rammed Earth

Petra Nielsen lives in a truly beautiful natural home in Grand Forks, British Columbia. Roland and Darcy Kopas of Boundary Earth Builders in Christina Lake did most of the work. I helped with the timber frame portion, the stair case and the balcony. The earth came from the building site and pigments were added to … Continue reading »

Community Shared Wood British Columbia (CSWBC) Beta version 1.0

Community Shared Wood British Columbia is designed to link woodworkers and wood consumers (home builders wanting real wood flooring, siding, moulding, furniture, timber frames etc.) with local woodlots in the province. Woodlots are small timber licenses managed by local foresters and families. Small timber licenses allow for better management of the forest and shifts the … Continue reading »

Walls of clay in colder climates

We now have many ways to protect ourselves from the elements without harming our environment. Straw bale, rammed earth, cob, log, hempcrete and light-clay. Clay has the highest negative ion charge of any building material and requires very little, if any, high-embodied industrial process. You just need to get it to your building site and … Continue reading »

Build a Meditation Station

Here it is! It’s a 4′ by 6’6″ platform with 16″ eaves. It is the smallest usable timber frame i could come up with. I’ve always wanted a place i could meditate in the garden when it’s raining. The guy in the drawings is a pretty big guy, about 7′ tall from the looks of … Continue reading »

An owner built home of logs and timber

Taking part in the actual building of your own home is something special. I can help you design your home using 3d design software, and I can help you build your home using power tools or hand tools or a bit of both. Barriers are broken. Comfort zones are left behind. A deeper connection is … Continue reading »

A strawbale house for Gary’s Garlic Farm

This is the third owner-built home I have helped with. It is hard to believe this wood is basically waste wood from our forest industry. Gary got it for a song from a truck operator he works on. Gary is a physio-therapist by day and garlic farmer/straw bale house builder by night and weekend. As … Continue reading »

All wood cabinets with milk paint

Real cabinets are made out of wood. Imposters are made out of plywood or, heaven forbid, mdf board. There are many good reasons for this: sheet goods (plywood, mdf, osb…) are high embodied energies meaning they require huge infrastructure/factories to produce their product this involves elevated carbon footprints that tax the local watershed and airshed … Continue reading »