Category: Building

Our goal is to build an off-grid home in Northern Canada. Our project started in May 2014 and has been steadily progressing.

The home itself is timber framed using traditional joinery techniques. Straw bales will insulate the walls and a ‘living roof’ will be sit atop the home. Our power will primarily come from solar, a water well provides us with all the water we require and composting toilet and sand filter/branched drain will take care of the grey-water waste.

Where are we now? Well, we have the well installed and the foundation pilings in the ground. All we are awaiting on is the building inspector to give us the okay and we can start putting up the frame. 

The water well was the first to be put in and the timbers were next to arrive:

  

These timbers have been worked on using traditional joinery (but some modern tools) since July:

  

Vicki prepared the land for the screw-pilings which are our foundation and dug the septic area:

 

The screw pilings then arrived:

 

Straw bales were collected in September with a very arduous (but fun) 14 hour day which had everything, including a – minor – fire which was worrisome:

  

Rain has been regular since we collected them so a new shelter was bought to protect the finished timbers and some bales…

  

 At the end of September our labours were rewarded with the first hints of winter…

 

So the pressure is now on to get the frame up before winter sets in proper!