Okay… Who stole my railroad tracks?

Where do Sri Lankan Lieutenants live?

Well, in ISBUs in Sri Lanka… of course!

A Holiday Cabana at Maduru Oya sits on an army training camp surrounded by jungle and faces onto a lake with mountains beyond.

Sounds like paradise, huh?

It was designed by a Sri Lankan architect named Damith Prematikake.

I LIKE this guy! He supervised the cabin construction after he scoured the site for building materials. Everything used to construct this cabin was “found goods”.

As in, the Lieutenant barked at his grunts and they gathered and assembled…  everything they could carry off when nobody was looking.

It was entirely constructed using unskilled labor.

(That means that even your knucklehead brother-in-law can help you do it.)

The architect noted that it was designed to be a place to relax.

Because anyone who has ever been in the military knows how much relaxation a lieutenant needs after kicking butts and shuffling papers all day, right? 

The architect says:

“The Client was advised to find the material such as timber strips form the old bunkers and weapon boxes, old used ‘H’ irons, rods, used railway sleepers for the interior and exteriors. The idea was to create the space using the available resources within the surrounding environment.”

Which translates to that age old Military mystery; “%*&#@!! Who freakin’ stole my railroad tracks?”

Remember, there were no trained construction teams undertaking the project to make it a reality except the poor soldiers’ who were in the camp. The architect had to ensure that the soldiers were able to transform the imagined abstraction into reality.

How’d he do it? The same way I would, I bet…

Gunpoint. 

Enjoy.

Image credits to: Logan MacDougall Pope
You need to check this guy out. He has some beautiful residential and Commercial photography on his site. Just looking at it gave me several ISBU ideas…

Thanks to Michael Janzen for the heads up!

But they OUTLAWED growing grass…

While you’re sitting there in your Turkey Day stupor, here’s some entertainment:

From “Stupid Bath Tricks”…

Subtitled; “Things NOT to include in your ISBU Home budget”;

[snip]

Jungle Grass Shower

Designers Jun Yasumoto, Vincent Vandenbrouk, Olivier Pigasse, and Alban Le Henry came up with the concept when looking for new ways to recycle precious H2O. After you have washed your turkey saturated butt in the special eco-shower they’ve built…

… the water passes down into a series of physical filters and is treated by plants such as reeds and rushes growing around your feet.

Who am I? Freakin’ Moses? I’m surrounded by bulrushes? Oy!

They say (at least one of them did… );

“These plants have been proven to be able to remove the chemicals from your shampoo. Using a natural filtering principle called phyto-purification, the bathroom becomes a mini-eco-system by recycling and regenerating the waste water. With this project, we tried to combine the pleasure of taking a shower with the satisfaction of recycling water. We wanted the recycling process to actually interact with the use of shower.”

[snip]

Great! Now I need a freakin’ Machete to get into the shower!

Look, I don’t even like to mow the lawn. That’s what goats are for…

Now, I know all those guys  (with exotic and even impressive four syllable last names) worked hard on this, but for crying out loud… think of what they could have done with that energy if they’d applied it to something that actually made some sense.

I mean… there’s world peace and starving people and homeless gerbils, and … goldfish just waiting to be flushed to “fishy heaven”.

Wait! It’s just a thought, but… If you’re crazy enough to actually “want” this, aren’t you already using ORGANIC shampoos?

Ummm… You didn’t think of that, did you? Man, I have to do everything around here! I bet Organic Shampoos are WAY cheaper than this “bathroom beast”!

And you won’t even need a plumber… unless of course, (cover your eyes… wait for it… wait for it…) you like some crack with your grass…

The price you ask?

I’m told that if you have to ask… you’d better see a cardiologist before they whisper it into your ear.

YES. I’m shaking my head.
YES. I’m rolling my eyes.

Look, anyone with two brain cells (except TED ) knows that Ronin likes recycling, big-time!

But this? This is for the person who “craves attention at Olympian levels” and has money to burn.

If you’re REALLY that concerned, why not just build an “outside shower”?

I mean, it worked for “the Skipper, Gilligan and MaryAnne”…

Via [Trendsnow ] & [The Daily Mail- ] & [HDF -]

Happy Thanksgiving!

And be kind to Indians, huh?

Introducing Jeremiah Russell!

You all know that I “go off like freakin’ tea kettle” when I see these “Pie in the Sky – impossible to build – ISBU monstrosities” that are “posterboarded” to get media attention, Internet applause, claps on the back… and NOT to get families into homes.

Some Architects, Tradesmen and Associations just don’t “get” it.

They think that Cable TV is going to carry “pseudo-ISBU tech” right into their wallets, in spite of a dying economy and rampant unemployment.

They think that “ego” is more important than the families they serve.

They think that their next project will carry them to glory.

I have news for them. Contrary to what we were taught in the hallowed halls of those Architectural Schools we attended, the economy has killed most “opportunities for monument building” glory and fame.

In fact, many architects are just trying to hang on by their fingernails as the entire building industry caves in on itself.

I’ve been saying for a while that the building market peaked in April and plummeted off the cliff as the tax incentives for buyers expired. I said it wasn’t picking up. I said it was going to get a lot worse before it got better.

And, ahem… I was right.

I read this in the Wall Street Journal just yesterday;

From: Housing Starts Plunge: Market’s ‘Pulse is Faint’ – By Jeff Bater and Alan Zibel

“Home construction in the U.S. plunged to the lowest level in 18 months during October, an indication that the moribund industry’s recovery is sluggish.

U.S. housing starts fell 11.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 519,000, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Building permits, a gauge of future construction, increased 0.5% to 550,000.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expected overall housing starts to fall by 1.6% to 600,000. Starts in October fell to the lowest since 477,000 in April 2009.

The results were driven by a 43.5% decline in multifamily construction, a volatile part of the market.

Single-family home construction, which represents more than 80% of all starts, dipped by 1.1% to 436,000, after rising a revised 2.1% in September.

The mood is glum among home builders, who face a litany of troubles. While mortgage rates are very low, unemployment is elevated, scaring off would-be buyers. Sales of new homes in September were down 21.5% compared with a year earlier, the latest government data say…”

Um… the times we currently live in hardly look like they’ll support a marketplace where guys like Brad Pitt are falling out of the sky, to prostrate themselves at Architects feet, offering up fat wallets in exchange for “Cool Corten Greenness.”

Bah!

Anyone who thinks that ISBUs are anything more than potential affordable housing is gonna get taught a hard lesson in the current housing situation we all face.

In a market getting handed it’s butt daily, how many of those new homes (that might get built by contractors) are gonna be ISBUs?

I bet none.

I said before, and I’ll say it again…

The majority of ISBU based housing built GLOBALLY is built “out of wallet” by families looking to break free of the mortgage prison that ensnares most homeowners.

But like an Administration that I won’t mention (because it will require me to take more blood pressure medication) the guys in the building biz just don’t get it. They just do the same old things, the same old way and time stands still.

We need some new blood. We need young guns who get it… guys like Jeremiah Russell.

So, without further adieu, I give you the world according to someone besides me, for a change.  Enjoy.

I give you Jeremiah Russell.

But you’ll have to give him back. He has his own kids to raise!

Budget – $74,000

Square footage – 700 (approx.)

Recycling old shipping containers and using them in the construction of affordable housing is a concept that has been around, so I have found out, for many decades.  Since the 1970′s in fact, people have been using shipping containers for all manner of residential and even some commercial projects.  In recent years, the idea has gained considerable momentum and has received worldwide attention.  For lack of a better term, I have “jumped on the bandwagon”.

Housing is an important issue.  And affordable housing is even more important.

The container-3 house is what some might call “tiny living”.  The usable space inside is kept to a minimum.
Discussions had to take place about “what is really necessary in a modern home”.  The conclusion is that we, as Americans especially, waste a tremendous amount of space on our homes.  Storage for the sake of storage, large rooms that could be made much smaller, bedrooms with amenities that are completely unnecessary, the list goes on.

In our floor plan, emphasis is put on function, comfort and economy while still providing all the modern creature comforts that many expect.

Planters were added at the front to create “action” in the front yard without going to the trouble of providing a front porch.  Gardening or planting can now happen in the front as opposed to the back yard.

The exterior materials, colors and even the roof structure become the areas where exploration in design can really take place.

Since the shipping container is both form and structure on all 6 sides, the opportunities to explore new ways of shading and cladding are nearly limitless.  For this design, the exterior was kept simple and straightforward.

[snip]

Now, if you’re a regular reader of RR, think about what I’ve taught you and then think about how this home actually gets built. This is an affordable, efficient ISBU-based home that you could build yourself without a lot of drama.

And you could do it for about half what a contractor would try to get you to agree to.

(I bet I could beat Jeremiah’s project budget numbers, too…)

Next time we talk about Jeremiah, he’ll be giving us his views on where housing is headed.

(Do you hear that flushing sound? Like water falling over a cliff? Or is it just me?)

In the meantime, you can learn all about him on his websites;

R|One Studio

He rants about architecture, HERE.

And, you can contact him here;

r.one.studio@gmail.com

Tell him I sent ya… he probably won’t hold it against you… much.

I want it… But WHERE do I put it?

Welcome to another exciting adventure in the “Chronicles Corten”…

I knew it was going to bite me on the butt.

Ryan (from Milwaukee WISCONSIN… ) shared a post with me recently that talked about places where they’ll give you a hunk of land to build on, providing you play nice.

I passed it on to the “congregation” and lo and behold, my worst fears were realized…

I got 28 emails in two days asking me to further qualify WHERE someone should put an ISBU home.

There was more than one suggestion about where I should put them, but they were “anatomically impossible.”

So, thanks Ryan… for getting me into this mess!

But seriously folks…

I recently read an email forwarded to me,  where a guy was talking about “things RV” and I was amazed at how pertinent that same information was, when applied to settling down in a Hulking Metal Homestead.

So, I’ll paraphrase his post and interject some sarcasm of my own. After all, it’s what I do, huh?

I have no idea who the original author was, but he’s on the right track… so, I’m gonna throw in a few left turns, just to keep you on your toes.

Here’s some things to think about when you start considering the big move;

Where should I live?

1. Are you cold where you live now?

Okay, so move to the low country of Arizona. San Diego County, CA… No, wait… that State is about to fall into the financial ocean…

2. Are you too  hot?

What? Vegas isn’t your idea of “paradise”? Drive to the cool mountains. Colorado is nice and you can build with ISBUs without getting an aneurysm in most places.  (Unless there is a HOA near you, as one of my ISBU families discovered. It set them back months and they had to get a lawyer. Me? I’d have just used a handgun…)

3. Does noise bother you?

Go live in the hills or the peace and quiet of the high desert desert. Or invest in EARPLUGS.

4. Do people bug you?

You CAN find places located within Bureau of Land Management (BLM) parcels where you can build affordably. I have three families that did exactly that. They act as caretakers for Park land, and in return they get free land and access to existing utilities. Their duties basically revolve around driving an electric cart around the perimeter once a day or so and snapping a few photographs…

Incidentally, their teenagers are doing the patrols now…  while the parents usually sit on the porch drinking “lemonade”…   The kids love it and the parents… love it more.

5. Afraid of the neighbors or (gasp!) the neighborhood?

Embrace the mystery of life and move to the woods. I’ll take bears, deer, or squirrels over nosy neighbors, every time.

6. Are you sick, or even worse, dying?

Then “Die with some courage” – don’t be a burden to your family and friends. You can do this by moving to a place where you can really LIVE until time brings you to that door.

I can’t tell you how many people I know who were always in poor health until they moved to a place where they had to participate in life at a higher level. They garden, raise chickens, goats, and even bunnies. They tend their own tools, carry their own wood, and even spend time with their loved ones. And amazingly, they lived with less stress (in spite of the increased responsibilities) and they got BETTER.

Note that I’m not saying that “moving to the boonies cures cancer”. Heaven knows, if that was true, my family would be there now.

It’s different for everyone and there is no “universal answer.” You build a home where it works best for YOUR own family. Because in the end, that’s all you have, like it or not.

Scour the classifieds. Fly through cyberspace on a regular basis. Poll your relatives. The key is finding that space that is the “perfect fit” for YOU.

You CAN find “County land” that is located near “City jobs”… that is if you’re still lucky enough to have one.

You can find ways to circumvent the hustle and bustle of city life, by replacing it with “outdoor activities and home schooling. It worked for the pioneers, and I’m betting, after researching the horrible (and consistent) decline of national public school test scores, your children might be better for it.

And, you’ll be closer to them. After all, you’ll be sitting right across the table from them, helping them with “New Math.”

And moving to the “Outland” has other benefits. You’re beyond the immediate grasp of “City Congestion” and “National Torment” (Government). That’s gotta be worth a few long months of toil, building your castle.

Being self-reliant has it’s benefits.

Wherever you drop those pilings, wherever you drag those boxes to, know that we, the Corten Cavalry will welcome you to the ranks…

… and we’ll even share our secrets with you.

You’ll be the better for it. And, so will we.

STOP! How far is “TOO far”?

Dear Readers,

From time to time (mostly when I’m getting hammered by several ISBU projects all at once!) I “share” email with you to give you insight into how ISBUs work.

Well, today is your lucky day!

It’s…. da-da-da-daaaaaah!  (wait for it… wait for it…)  “Mailbag time”:

Dear “Reverend” Ronin,

I love the idea of building an affordable home with shipping containers. It’s “uber-cool”!

After reading your book, I’m more enthused than ever to get my butt to the local Community College, so I can learn how to weld and use a plasma cutter!

And when you say that using the ISBUs (shipping containers) to actually create space, by placing them a distance from each other and then reclaiming the space between them, it just gets better!

I fully “get” that the interior you create this way will cost just concrete for the floor and a roof system to keep the rain out!

Here’s what I’m thinking;

First, I live in coastal Alabama. We don’t get snow, but we do get high winds and rain.

I’m also being told that building codes here are pretty easy to work with.

I want to use (2) 40′ High Cube ISBUs to create a three bedroom – 2 bath home. I need it to be on one floor, as my mother will live with me and she’s handicapped.

In fact, there is a design in your book that is almost exactly what I wanted and even more.

I want to use solar panels to create hot water and also install photovoltaic panels to contribute electricity to the house, to keep my month-to month costs as low as possible.

I don’t plan to be up on the roof. I like to keep my feet on the ground. So don’t try to talk me into a “green roof” or some “uber-cool” rooftop oasis, okay? I just want the “Walmart” ISBU version.

I’m building this with (my mother’s and my own) “saved” money. No frills. Just nice, livable space, please.

But I have a worry… rather, there is something that I don’t really understand.

How FAR apart can you place the containers when you are creating that “reclaimed” interior space?

How much is enough? How far is TOO far?

And can I use the floorplan in the book as a starting point? How do I do that? Do you work with families “directly”? Do I need to buy the floorplan from you first?

And hey, since I’m asking questions… WHEN is the BIG BOOK going to be finished? I am so anxious to read it!

Thanks for all you do!

A devoted member of the Corten Church.

[snip]

Dear Parishioner,

Thanks for the comments about the book. It’s great to actually hear from people who like it. After all, I did write it to inspire people to want to learn even more about ISBUs.

So, I tip my big ole’ church hat to you… (it’s a “popey lookin thing” which, by the way, I wear to hide the fact that I have a pointed head…)

Once you figure out what you want in your ISBU design, you have to figure out how to enclose it.

Otherwise, it’s just retaining walls, right?

Remembering that most (if not all) of my residential ISBU builds are “self-financed and self-built”, the idea is to keep things as low-tech as possible. I don’t really get client families that have money to burn on really sophisticated spanning systems, or expensive “high-tech” materials.

When building ISBU homes in “Ronin World”, cost-effectiveness and energy efficiency rule the day.

That said;

There are two things that determine how FAR you can place your containers apart, the way I see it.

(a) How do you carry that roof structure safely and affordably?, and

(b) How to you illuminate that cave you’re creating?

While I like the idea of “really vaulted – cathedral like” common spaces in homes (from a visual perspective), I suggest you quench that thirst by heading for your local church or coliseum. It’s just not practical from an “I’m gonna do this myself” kind of perspective.

First, you have to enclose and glaze the “ends” you create between those boxes. All that glass is going to be incredibly expensive and it’s going to bring with it other problems – like figuring out how to heat and cool that volume of space you just created.

Not only that, you’re going to create “space” that has to be conditioned that you can’t actually use. You know the space I’m talking about, right? It’s the space up by the top of that vault.

Hello? Energy Vampire.

And the wider “your cavern” gets, the more support that energy stealing ceiling and roofing system will require.

So, here’s what I suggest;

First, use SIPs to build the roof.

It’s fast, it’s easy, it’s about the best insulation/roof system that anyone ever got, right out of the box in my opinion.  Better still, those SIP sheets will lock together. This means that they form continuous roof systems that support themselves, if you stay within the guidelines.

Attaching them to the roof is easy. You start by building a “tray” for them to fit into, using angle iron and a welder. I’ve talked about this before and you can find “SIP assembly instructions” in the archives.

The thickness of the SIP will determine how large a “roof plane” you can construct without adding any additional support.

Where insulation is concerned, I believe that you should “go big or stay home”.  I’m a big advocate of using the biggest r-value SIP you can afford.

In your case, building a one story home simplifies things dramatically. You’re not concerned with using that roof surface for things like a terrace or an “uber-cool” roof garden. So, all you need to do is support the roof and the solar and photovoltaic panels that you’ll mount to it.

Now, all you really need to do is ask your local SIP manufacturer about span/run requirements. He has a table that will tell you precisely how much roof you can build (by connecting those wonderful SIPs together), without having to add rafters or trusses.

Don’t misunderstand me… You can’t just slap SIPs together and then drop them as one huge lid without any support of any kind, across large spans. That won’t work. SIPs are great, but not quite THAT great!

You’ll quickly find out that after you get past about 24′ feet in width, the “run” starts to take on a mind of it’s own and things start getting tricky. Beyond that width, you start needing serious beams, or rafters, or trusses to help fly that roof along it’s “run”.

In most cases, we’re only going to add a few simple “engineered” beams across that 24′ width (to cut the “run” up into manageable sections) and they’ll be as much for “roof run support” as they will be for “creating atmosphere” and connecting overhead fixtures like ceiling fans and lighting.

And that 24′ width is important for “Part B” of the program, too.

You need to illuminate that cave. By using ISBUs to create that common space, you essentially end up with fewer surfaces that can be used for glazing (to bring light in).

In most cases, I urge people to keep the ISBUs as “original and container-like” as possible.

The less fabrication you do, the cheaper your build will be!

So, you’ll probably dedicate the ISBUs to bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, mechanical,  or utility space (and they are made of steel) so any holes you put in them are going to be labor intensive and more expensive.

I bet you’re thinking that you can just put some windows in the end walls that connect the ISBUs, and be done with it, right?

Nope.

NOW, we are talking about the real MEAT of using ISBUs. Let’s assume that you have an “interior” room (between those ISBUs)  that measures 24′ x 40′, and we’ll assume that it’s 9’6″ high at the edges along the interior container “walls”.

You ARE paying attention to my ramblings on the blog, right? You DID use HIGH CUBE containers, right?

That means that you have a pair of  “end walls” that you can essentially plug windows into, to light up that interior space.

Yes, you CAN add “sidelights” to your building space by punching up the roof to allow them to be inserted along the sides. Is it cool? Absolutely. But, it doesn’t come without a price. It requires a lot more work and money.

And you wanted the “WALMART” version, right?

No sidelights or clerestory roofs. Too much money!

Okay… We’re back to the end walls.

How far do you think the sunlight passing through the windows in those end walls will travel?

Math time; (pay attention because there’s going to be a pop-quiz at the end)

As a very rough rule of thumb, the light from vertical windows will penetrate about 12 feet into the interior of a building and still provide enough illumination to work by (you’re going to get roughly 5% of what is available “outside in the daylight”).

If your building is any “deeper” (I’m talking about the measurement from “front” to “back”) than 12 feet (and it IS), you will need some kind of supplemental light source to light the interior space, and that will cost you energy.

Ever look at old factory buildings?

You’ll find that they have usually one thing in common. Old factories, particularly those built during the Industrial Revolution,  are usually around 24 feet wide. The builders knew how far the sunlight would travel (even – gasp! -  then) and the owners of these buildings wanted to rely on daylight (negating the requirement for additional artificial lighting, creating an additional drain on cash-flow) which is “free” -  to give workers enough light to toil by.

And like those old factories, the interior of your home will be very dark, and some might even say “cave-like”. You may prefer a dark house, but I sure don’t. When people tell me that a little dark is okay, I urge them to try it out for themselves by finding a big parking garage and asking themselves what it would be like to live inside it 40′ feet from the entrance.

They usually get it, or, in one case, they actually went off looking for something to simulate the conditions I described. When they returned, we started thinking about “solutions”.

Think: Skylights.

A quartet of well placed skylights or even Solatubes (placed two by two) will brighten up that cave and turn it into an airy, bright abode that will welcome anyone who enters it.

Image Credit to REI - Round Rock

And before you spit at your monitor, please know that ‘skylight tech” has gotten better and combined with standing seam metal roofing, it’s almost unbeatable. You get a high efficiency light source, with little in  the way of “long-term” maintenance drama.

And even better, skylight and Solatube prices have dropped dramatically in the last few years.

The caveat is that you’re going to have your roofers involved in installing them, to protect your roofing warranties. This is NOT something that you do after the fact. If you do and you have a problem, your roof warranty will usually be null and void.

To address your other questions;

The book is “in progress”. “War and Peace” didn’t get written in a day and my book won’t be either. First, I have to learn how to actually read and write…

And, I’m old. That “Old Dog/New Tricks” thing can be a real pain…

The floorplans in my book: “Introduction to Container Homes and Buildings” are there as examples, but if you find something that works for you, by all means, use them!

And I work with building families “directly” all the time. It’s a “part of the ministry”.

You can contact me for more details.

Good luck with your project.

May Peace be with you. Amen.

Haitian Families get injection of STEEL!

Man, you guys are great!

While I toil and slave over a hot keyboard, trying to get a couple of ISBU fires put out…

John over at the UmBlog comes thru for us (once again – atta boy John!) and points his flashlight into the darkness to illuminate yet another ISBU Success Story waiting to happen.

And it’s one dear to my heart as the benefactors are Haitian families recovering from the terrible earthquake that claimed hundreds of thousands of victims.

While “high profile” agencies and organizations posed for cameras and “played politics”, it seems like the only tangible help in Haiti is coming from “common – everyday” people like you and me.

As you know, the Corten Cavalry sent 20′ ISBU Medical Stations to Haiti. Staffed by volunteer doctors, nurses and aid workers, they help the population as they can.

BUT, projects like this one are the FUTURE of Haiti.

Each family housed helps secure Haiti’s healing. THAT is “Goodness at Olympian Levels”.

From www.HaitiGreenHome.org;

Building Back Better Communities

Building Back Better Communities has been initiated by the Government of Haiti to investigate alternative forms of permanent housing for displaced citizens.

We look forward to participating in the dialogue about housing in Haiti, and helping Haitians imagine new and innovative housing forms. We are prepared to make a long-term commitment and have the experience and financial support to do so.

We have carefully considered how to best serve the needs of the Haitian people in this effort, how to provide immediate relief, a long-term solution and a path to self-sufficiency. What we have devised is a housing initiative, not simply a housing product. In Phase 1 of our initiative, our team will deliver a self-start housing kit that will provide immediate housing for thousands of families.

The kits include a recycled, donated, and cleaned shipping container, divided in half for two families that provides a compact, protected area for living, sleeping, cooking, and secure, dry storage. Aluminum struts for a rigid structural frame are also part of the kit so that, in Phase 2, permanent walls and a roof can be applied using local materials such as compressed earth bricks or blocks with an additive of crushed rubble and reinforced with bamboo poles acting as natural “rebar.” These permanent elements will be designed to resist earthquake and hurricane forces.

Our initiative responds to the immediate crisis by providing housing for thousands. The beauty of the solution is that these self-start housing kits evolve to become permanent homes, in vibrant, livable communities that express and reflect the fullness of Haitian culture.

Further, our initiative includes a training program to teach Haitians to fabricate the self-start housing kits locally. Once we achieve a reliable production level, all manufacturing will be done in Haiti, which will mean skills transfer, economic opportunity, jobs, and better lives.

Our response describes our initiative and expert international team (HaitiGreenHome.org) that has worked together on various projects since 9/11 in New York at Ground Zero, in New Orleans and India, and other post-disaster sites including Haiti. Each firm contributes critical skills, proven experience, and the commitment and compassion to make this initiative a resounding success. Our team is multi-cultural and multi-generational, and includes Haitians and French speakers.

Throughout our proposal we have stressed that our team offers a housing initiative, not simply a housing product. While our self-start housing kit addresses the desperate need for housing in the short-term, our initiative contemplates the mid- and long-term need of the Haitian people for skills, jobs, and stability. To ensure success, we intend to establish a community design and business incubator that will partner local residents and businesses with US companies and universities.

We are making a ten-year commitment to supply this center with the staff and resources to bring real, lasting change to Haiti.

[snip]

Okay campers, what have we learned?

This construction technique is almost exactly like things we’ve been teaching for years.

In fact, we’ve built THIS very structure (and a few nearly identical too), several times, on several continents.

Start SMALL. Begin with what you NEED.

Use a roofing system to “reclaim the outdoors” and allow you to live “larger”.

As time and money allow, build “out” to encompass that reclaimed space, enlarging the dwelling.

But Haiti poses problems. Materials are pretty scarce.

What if they used EARTHBAGS to build those new walls?

They have DIRT  (which could easily be stabilized with cement or even clay) and bags are cheap and could be easily supplied. They come palletized or in huge rolls that could be shipped in. A roll of bag material equals about 3,000 bags, if I remember correctly.

(And I recently learned from a very reliable source that they already have a factory IN HAITI that produces bags that would work just fine. Thanks, OWEN!)

Plaster over those walls (you can learn ALL you ever wanted to know HERE)  and you have the makings of a very affordable, durable, weather resistant dwelling, for pennies on the dollar.

A family here in America (and elsewhere) could do the same thing, to provide a small vacation cabin, “rural home” or even (gasp!) a “fall-back ” home using 20′ High Cube (because they are TALLER) ISBUs as the starting point.

If you’re looking for a place to help, or you just have a few bucks to spare, I bet that HaitiGreen Home.org could sure use the assistance.

And, from what I’ve learned about them, any financial assistance they receive goes straight to families and not big, multi-layered organizations.

And you all know how Ronin feels about FAMILIES, right?

Now, I gotta write an email to Owen over at the Earthbag Building Blog to see if I can hook these two guys up. Together, they could probably rebuild Haiti by themselves!

Stay tuned.

Image and the “stolen blurb” are credited to: “HaitiGreenHome.org“

JOHN is credited as being a fine example of “The Corten Cavalry Fellowship”… sans ring or trip to Mordor…

Owen gets the “Good Lookin Out” award.

Blame ME for the rest.

Thank YOU!

There really aren’t words.

We are grateful to you, for your service.

Ronin

FREE Land! Get Yer FREE Land!

I have this pal in Michigan… wait that’s not it… Um… Wisconsin.

Hard to believe, but yeah, I have a few “friends”.

This particular miscreant spends most of his time keeping the peace and keeping “all the Indians on the Reservation” but when he’s not being “a boy in blue”, he’s trying to actually plant “the seeds of ISBU Goodness” everywhere he goes.

And Milwaukee is better for having him, let me tell you. They could use a few more like him.

Recently, he sent me this article and I thought I’d share with the tribe.

You see, I get asked almost DAILY about “where a good place to put an ISBU Home is”.

And I’m constantly telling people that one of the first considerations is land COST.

Ryan evidently (actually) listens to me preach, because he’s here to “testify”, lemme tell you…

So, thanks to Ryan, I give you…

6 Places Where Land is FREE

via Curbly Recent Posts – - on 10/26/10

Credit: www.freelandinmaine.org

Yes. You read that right. There are STILL places in the U.S. where land is free. And, yes, there is a catch. You have to agree to build a house (or plop a mobile home or, sometimes, a business) on the land. The concept of giving away free land isn’t new, as back in the day the government used it as a means to settle the far corners of the country. So what far corners are we talking about today? Here ya go:

1. Marquette, Kansas – - will give you a lot if you agree to erect a 1,000 s.f. house upon it. If you dream of having a house with a BIG garden, the city will throw in an adjacent lot if you ask nicely.

2. Atwood, Kansas -  – and the surrounding environs of Herndon and McDonald are offering 4 – 110′ x 130′ lots for free.

3. Elwood, Nebraska -  – have lots available for ‘a minimal fee’.

4. Marne, Iowa -  – is offering up some lovely lots for, yes, free.

5. Muskegon, Michigan – - is giving way land to businesses who are willing to set up shop in their community. The size of the acreage depends upon how many employees the business foresees hiring.

6. Camden, Maine – - is offering up 3.5 acres for ‘the right business that can create good jobs’.

For more information about these land freebies, check out Wallet Pop. And if you have heard tell of municipalities willing to give away land, please post your findings below!

Thanks, Ryan… Good looking out!

Stay tuned!

Coming soon: New Designs and NEW Voices!

Ain’t I a stinker?

Miserly Meat Loaf and other horrors…

I keep using terms like “Energy Efficient”.

I keep preaching  (I know, I know… stop rolling your eyes. Your face could freeze like that,and then where would you be, huh?) “affordable lifestyles”.

I want you to save money out of each and every paycheck.

WHY?

Well, because I want you to send it to ME! Wait, I’m not a (gasp!) Democrat…

Seriously, I know that deep in your heart of hearts, you lust after a big block of Corten Coolness.

You want, you desire, you dream… about living in an ISBU Home that you built by using guilt to make all your friends and relatives gather (straining backs and IQ’s) as they stand alongside you and build your house of steel.

But, you can’t do that until you save some cash, right?

A while back, I told you about a refrigerator that was on sale at Home Depot.

It was/is an extremely energy efficient model, perfect for a small family (especially if you’re living off-grid).

I read the following commentary recently, written by a friend of mine (“Internet Friend”, not “drinking buddy”) about that same refrigerator and I thought I’d share it, with his permission, of course;

I’ve talked about this guy before. He’s a “Little House” Expert, musician, author, lecturer, and all around SMART guy.  I’ve learned a lot just paying attention to his thread comments.

(The words are his, the formatting is mine.)

Laren Corie says:

“I have had my new refrigerator (16.6ft³ 30% more efficient than Energy Star, HotPoint HTH17CBT2RBB, from Home Depot $404, Sale price $359, after rebate cost $229) for a couple of months.

I did not immediately run it through my Kill-A-Watt meter, because I had lent that to my neighbors.

However, I recently got it back, and plugged the fridge into it. That was followed by these crazy wind storms, which occasionally knocked out the power for a few seconds, which reset the meter to zero. I now have a 2½ day reading from it.

In this cool weather, when I keep my cabin in the mid sixties, and it can drop down to sixty at night, the refrigerator is using less than 300Wh/day, which is like burning a 12 Watt light bulb, continually.

(Hang on, folks – Laren is about to go all “statistician” on your butts… nothing like clouding the issue with facts!)

The yellow tag energy usage estimate was 887Wh/day, but as I have pointed out, many times, those numbers are based on placing the unit inside of a 90°F test box. Its current energy usage is around 1- (289/887) = 67% less, while the current temperature differential is about 1- ((63-38)/(90-38)) = 52% less (refrigerator, not freezer).

So, even though the occasional openings of the door will use a little extra energy (not the big deal that some try to claim, when arguing that chest refrigerators are the way to go) the efficiency increase (over its yellow tag number) is significantly greater than the simple reduction in the temperature differential, due to increased compressor efficiency at a lower differential.

In fact it is 1- (67/52) = 29% greater.

Anyway, the bottom line is that this fairly big, upright, combi refrigerator/freezer will only cost about $15/year to operate. This standard, low-cost, refrigerator is efficient enough for off-grid use.

[snip]

And I’ll point out for the record that this refrigerator IS being used “off-grid”. Several of my families bought one, for use in their ISBU Homesteads, and they are having great experiences with it.

Most of these homes are ONLY using an array of photovoltaic panels, or a back-up generator for primary power supply to the structures.

And, they are ALL thrilled at the way this refrigerator functions with such a miserly amount of power usage.

You don’t have to live in the woods, in a “Little House,” or a “Tiny House” or even an “ISBU Home” to use this refrigerator. Even if you’re just looking for an energy efficient refrigerator for your home use, this refrigerator should be high on your list.

While I don’t see it listed at Home Depot on-line right now (as of October 31, 2010), it’s still a GREAT bargain.

They DO list this one:

Hotpoint 16.6 Cu. Ft. Top Freezer Refrigerator

Model # HTH17CBTWW     Internet # 202049965
Store SO SKU # 423392

$404.10/EA-Each  Free Shipping Online Special

When I made an inquiry, Home Depot sent me an email telling me that this was the same refrigerator as the previously mentioned one. Part numbers had changed. And they said that the Free Shipping Special was being extended.

And, looking at it, I think it is the same refrigerator.

Stay tuned.

The Wagon is Broken…

Today we begin to rebuild America.

The voters have spoken and new courses are being charted. Time will determine if the right choices were made…

…but in the meantime a lot of us are still flapping from the handlebars trying to figure out what to do next.

Me? I believe in doing what I can for myself and mine – without waiting for “Uncle” to come in and screw it all up.

Yeah… others are a little less “antagonistic” about their views of Big Government. So sue me.

In America, anyone with half a brain knows that “the wagon is broken and it needs new axles”.

So, the smart family just “rebuilds the wagon” using whatever will work, when times are hard.

On a blog I read religiously (um… okay, perhaps “spiritually” is a better word) a “blog buddy” of mine made the same point I make when talking to new families looking to live an “unchained life”.

I don’t know Owen personally, but we’ve exchanged emails several times. He’s a smart guy and it’s clear that he CARES about his people.

I’ve mentioned him several times here on RR. For those of you who read the blog, Owen is an “Earthbag guy” and he’s a sharp pencil in a box full of broken crayons, to be sure.

Owen says:

“Thousands of families who have built affordable homes, cash up front, made of earthbags, straw bales, cordwood, cob and rammed tires are not in danger of losing their homes in the current mortgage crisis.”

(Editor’s note: He left out ISBU housing, but I won’t hold it against him. The conditions he so aptly describes still hold true.)

“And if you include affordable adobe, bamboo and thatch homes built worldwide, over a third of the world’s houses have avoided the mortgage crisis.

In general, the people who build these low cost, alternative homes are often the same people who garden and grow fruit trees, raise small livestock and/or live on farms and, in many cases, utilize renewable energy. This includes many millions of homes with passive solar design, earth-bermed and underground homes, wind and water generators, and photovoltaics. Less obvious, but just as important, are the countless homes who utilize rocket stoves, Lorena stoves, methane digesters, vegetable oil, rice hull stoves or one of the other myriad low cost, sustainable cooking and heating systems.”

Owen points out that you can read the entire article for free at the  Mother Earth News Blog.

You see, Owen has “mainstreamed”. I just hope all that “fame and fortune” doesn’t go to his head.

Building an affordable home is just a PART of the program.

By investing in your family (starting in your own yard) you invest in the future. And not just the future for YOU and yours, you enhance the future for everyone.  I believe this, and I know that Owen does too.

Go read his post. It’s a good one.

I’m cutting this short, I have to write Owen some “hate-mail” about neglecting to mention Corten Castles when he gets up on that soapbox of his!!

Stay tuned.

Today is my Birthday. Usually, it’s a “cursed” day. I don’t know why, my luck just runs that way, I guess, but:

This is the best birthday present I ever, ever received:

From the luckiest-girl-alive department, the BBC is reporting today that an 18 month old toddler fell from a 6 story building, bounced off an awning and was caught… wait for it… by a doctor who was passing by.

She was completely unharmed, she shed a little tear and then she quickly calmed down.

G-d is good.