If you’re a Northern California builder, I highly recommend you stop in at Heritage Salvage in Petaluma. They have tons of used wood, hardwood slabs, and all manner of recycled and soulful building materials.
Shown here is a walnut slab that is 8′3″ long, and 60″ at one end and 43″ at the other. Think of the walnut tree that this came from.
If you’re a Northern California builder, I highly recommend you stop in at Heritage Salvage in Petaluma. They have tons of used wood, hardwood slabs, and all manner of recycled and soulful building materials.
Underhill is an incredible hobbit-home eco-cave house built into a hillside. The off-the-grid house is cleverly constructed to resemble a cave. With no electricity in the house, the stone, wood and rustic features truly make you feel like you’re stepping back in time.
One of the most common questions we get asked is “How do I learn how to build a tiny home?” A very superior answer would be the Yestermorrow School in Waitsfield, Vermont offering over 100 hands-on courses per year in design, construction, woodworking, and architectural craft including a variety of courses concentrating in sustainable design and green building. Yestermorrow is one of the only design/build schools in the country, teaching both design and construction skills. Hands-on courses are taught by top architects, builders, and craftspeople from across the country. Read More …
Jay Nelson is a gifted artist/builder. His mobile designs were featured in Tiny Homes and Tiny Homes on the Move: an electric car on bike wheels; an 8′ dinghy that you can sleep inside (and carry a surfboard on the roof); a motor scooter with surfboard rack.
Just completed another bridge project. This was constructed using a hybrid of laminated plywood, steel, and oak. It’s the first time I’ve experimented with such large laminations!
This reminds me of homes designed by Bernard Maybeck and Julia Morgan during the Arts and Crafts Movement in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1900s. Note the fine lava rock masonry work of the fireplace, the gentle curves at the ends of the rafters. Well designed, well built.
I recently spent three weeks on the island of Kaua‘i. I shot a lot of photographs of small homes that seemed simple, well-designed, and suitable for the climate. In general I thought that construction on Kaua‘i was of pretty good quality: good carpentry. I’m going to put up photographs as I get the time. Some of these are more upscale than others, but overall, the shapes seem functional.
When people ask me what I think they should build, I generally suggest that they look around at what’s been built in the neighborhood (or surroundings). I think this is generally a better place to start than with an architect. Read More …
To build a reciprocal roof, we first install a temporary central pillar on which the first chevron is placed. The height of this pillar depends on the roof pitch.The following rafters are then placed to support the one on the other. The last chevron place above the penultimate and below the first one. They are then attached to each other and the central pillar is removed. If only one of the rafters breaks, the whole structure collapses. Read More …
In 2007, we got an email from Yogan, a young carpenter in France. He said he’d started out with a Volkswagen van, worked alone, and was following in the footsteps of old carpenters, using “…noble wood.” He had a large Mercedes van that contained his portable tools, as well as a bed and kitchen for working away from his home territory. He’d seen our book Home Work: Handbuilt Shelter, and wanted us to see the treehouse he was living in. We featured Yogan in both Tiny Homes and Tiny Homes on the Move. Here’s a new creation from Yogan, a ship-shape elevated 450 sq. ft. tiny home located in France, with a deck shaped like the prow of a ship. Read More …
In 1973 we published Shelter, which turned out to be station central for people interested in creating their own homes. Now, in the 21st century, we continue this dialog here online on shelter, carpentry, homesteading, gardening, and the home arts with this blog. We hope you will join us and contribute.
