Right now we are working on researching slipform stone masonry as a possible building method for our house. We are attracted by its relative ease but even more by its permanency. A stone house lasts, and lasts, and lasts. You don’t have to paint it, carpenter ants won’t be interested and various critters have a tough time tunneling in your walls. It is also nicely fireproof and the material for building is just lying around. One downside is that it is fairly concrete intensive, however it should last centuries, which may partially make up for that. We still really like straw bale but I think we have decided that in our climate it may not be worth the risks.
Right now I am a bit hung up on the floor plan. A small house that lives big is not an easy thing to design, and it doesn’t help that I am not any architect, I don’t even have a very good spacial sense. How do we fit everything we want into a relatively small square footage and keep the form compact and inexpensive to build?
I have been a bit remiss in not keeping up with this site, if nothing else it keeps me thinking about it and helps keep us on track. Since my last post we have started debating whether we might rather build a slipform stone house with a living roof rather than a straw bale. We love everything about straw bale, except it’s moisture sensitivity. In our micro climate with driving rains and long periods with out sun to dry things out we have some concerns. We know it is possible to do a good straw bale in those sorts of conditions but we are not sure if we are up to it or not. One natural resource that our site has in plenty is rocks. Right now I am reading through a book of my sister’s “The Big Book of Small House Designs”. All of the designs in this book are 1,200 sq ft or less, making it the perfect resource. My sister is in the planning stages of her own, super small house on wheels. Seeing her plans can’t help but make a person rethink how big is big enough, and how small is too small?
Our plans also need some work because we decided that, although it is not the most efficient way, we need to keep everything on one level. My knees are poorly designed and already hurt from time to time, it will only get worse as time goes on. The plus side is we won’t be hoisting beams as high in the air and with no living space on the second floor we can consider a low pitch living roof.
