Category: Building Materials

Timber Framing and Thatching — Upcoming Work Days — Saturdays & Sundays June–July, Free (Space is Limited)

May 12, 2021

This year we’ll be building a timber-frame compost and garden hutch, and we’d like to invite you to come join us to get some hands-on experience. Timber framing was the dominant wood-based building method for hundreds of years before modern stick framing was developed to take advantage of smaller, cheaper pieces of wood. Instead of … More Timber Framing and Thatching — Upcoming Work Days — Saturdays & Sundays June–July, Free (Space is Limited)

New Video: No. 23 — Walipini: In-Ground Greenhouse

February 19, 2021

In this video, we put together photos, video, and other information about our in-ground Walipini greenhouse. We started this project in 2017. You can see some blog posts about this topic to read more: Design (https://lowtechinstitute.org/2017/11/07/walipini-earthbag-greenhouse-design/)Siting (https://lowtechinstitute.org/2017/10/12/walipini-earth-bag-greenhouse-siting-and-bags/)Foundation (https://lowtechinstitute.org/2017/11/06/walipini-earthbag-greenhouse-foundation-and-bags/)Update (https://lowtechinstitute.org/2019/12/18/walipini-update/) Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube Channel! You can find all of our videos under … More New Video: No. 23 — Walipini: In-Ground Greenhouse

Walipini Update

December 18, 2019

It has been a while since I’ve written about the walipini, but it has been getting steady work over the last year. A walipini is an in-ground greenhouse. It uses the thermal mass of the earth to help keep its internal temperature from fluctuating too quickly in the winter. It is essentially a pit with … More Walipini Update

New Video: No. 16 — Timer Frame Chicken Coop, Part II

December 17, 2018

This week’s video shows the second half of our timber-frame, chicken-coop build. The first half was put in out a video a few months ago and can be seen here. I discuss some ratios for plaster and daub, and you can find that information at two previous blog posts (here and here). Please remember to … More New Video: No. 16 — Timer Frame Chicken Coop, Part II

New Video: No. 13 — Timberframe Chicken Coop, Part I

August 20, 2018

I’ve been working on a chicken coop over the last year, first felling the trees and then hewing the timbers. In this video, I show the process through erection of the coop’s frame. In the next video, I’ll show the roofing and wall construction. Please remember to subscribe to our YouTube Channel! You can find … More New Video: No. 13 — Timberframe Chicken Coop, Part I

Chicken Coop Update

July 23, 2018

Many of you will remember that I’m building a timber-frame chicken coop from dying spruce trees downed on the institute grounds, shown in the video below. After felling, these trees were turned into timbers and put together into a boxy 6-×-6-ft coop. The roof was covered with scavenged cedar shingles. Right after getting the structure … More Chicken Coop Update