build a sustainable house

A place for all my stuff!

I am a bricklayer who also teaches bricklaying to students at a local college and I really want to learn to build out of other materials that are a) Architectually Interesting b) Sustainable and c) Realistically affordable for all. Straw bale really interests me and the idea of cob but I am also intrigued by the modern materials out there as well. Any ideas or help to reach my goal would be great and maybe i can in turn give some tips of bricklaying

Went and saw our first Architect the other week. Someone who understands sustainable building and what our needs our to live in a climate like Stanthorpe.

The reality is building. (no pun intended)

I want to build a sustainable house because Mother Earth is getting very sick from we humans abusing it.

I also want to stop paying the industrial complex my hard earned, (and very small), income.

Sustainable homes are going to be necessary in a very few years and I want to be ready when the Earth’s resources are depleted.

I will do this myself with my own design. Including a greenhouse and renewable energy, (solar, wind), completely off the grid.

I have already built a Yurt to practice/play with solar power and such

I want to live by myself for a little while in a house I built by myself. Just like HD Thoreau.

went to a straw blae info night and definately believe straw bale is the building for me.. if the price is right

My dream is to build a sustainable house that will not need any energy input at all. It will be based on a roman courtyard style with limestone internal walls and steel clad outer wall with insulation in the middle. There will be lots of natural light and ventilation and ABSOLUTELY no airconditioning because I HATE it. I want to have a very impressive solar array and solar hot water heating. There will only be the absolute minimum requirement of rooms around two internal courtyards, with the kitchen / dining area as the central hub where everyone gathers. Probably will cost a bomb!

I guess my first step in this process is gaining some confidence. After all, just deciding to build a house is going to get me started but I need to feel that I have the ability to do things. So, in October 2004 I left my rather safe web development job in Plymouth and moved to London to help a friend who was doing some building renovation jobs. The move was more inspired by a need to do something new but, in any case, got me gettng my hands dirty on site, learning about how a house is put together.

1. Be careful – it’s dangerous being on a building site!
2. It’s also very satisfying. It’s incredibly rewarding to have put up a wall or re-levelled a floor. A tangible result.
3. There are always going to be things that will need doing by professionals. I wouldn’t want to fit the entire plumbing system of a house straight away, at least not until I’d learnt more about plumbing. The xtra money spent translates into time saved.
4. Money! Still need to get some of this together before I can build anywhere.