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It’s cold!

Tuesday 21 March 2006.

The new moon of december has passed and the winter has definitely settled in Britany. The hours are expanding in front of the fire.
Sadly, in Europe there are still people who die because they don’t have a refuge where they can be protected from the coldness. There is also a high number of people who, even though they have a home, don’t have the resources to warm properly.

In fact, nowadays it is very difficult to find a home at a price adapted to the possibilities of most of the population. If, further, you wish to live in a healthy house that respects the environment, the list is reduced to... zero.
In this article I would like to share with you the solution we have put in practice to have an ecological house for a small budget.

After few days of intense coldness at the beginning of autumn, in which we used to wake up with the windows of the caravane frozen, we understood that we had to find the resources to build a small annex where we would be able to install a fireplace or wood stove that would allow us to get warm and avoid the humidity, which was starting to be a serious problem.

We thought a lot, we looked around us to collect the highest possible amount of materials, we have had some contacts and here are the results:

Building an ecological cabin

Budjet:
50 € (30 € for a tarp and 20€ for nails)

Dimensions:
3 metres by 2’50 metres

Materials:
Wood (some trees from the forest)
Earth (taken a few meters from the caravan)
Bamboo (it grows near the stream in the forest)
Straw (gift)
Plastic tarp (bought)
Nails (bought)
Two windows (gift)

Tools:
Chainsaw
Nail
Drawknife
Spade

Team:
Two people

Time spent building:
One month

The plastic tarp is the only non ecological material in the building. It was used to make the roof rainproof. For this purpose, we could have used a special clay or metal roofing. Our budjet forced us to choose plastic, but I am against using this material and I hope to change it as soon as possible.

Except for this inconvenient, the rest of the building is 100% natural. We feel differently in this part of our home. We use it as kitchen, but it doesn’t stop it from being our guests’ favorite room. In fact, It is where I spend most of my time when I’m at home. If you are thinking about building a house, do not hesitate to use natural materials, you will feel much better and be healthier too.

Futhermore, when we decide to move, we will just remove the tarp and the windows and the cabane will be 100% biodegradable. With some help, it can disappear in a few months. In this way, our stay in the forest will go unheeded, and our kitchen will feed millions or little animals and micro-organisms. There are only advantages in ecological construction.

The steps to do it

Here are a few photos where I try to show schematically how we built this annex to our caravan. If you wish to obtain more information, do not hesitate to contact us

You can click on the photos to see them in higher resolution.

Installing the roof structure.

The wood we chose is chesnut due to it’s resistance and durability. It was debarked using a drawknife to prevent rot. As it is green, we have to take it’s shrinking into account, as it dries.

The uprights are set 70 cm deep in the earth.

We built the roof before the walls to be able to work sheltered from the rain.

On the main structure we layed bamboo to hold the tarp that will be used to rainproof the roof. We started installing them one by one, but afterwards we used an african technique where they are tied together before they are put on the roof, so that they are closer together and therefore hold the tarp better. The result is also more aesthetically pleasing with this method.

For the walls, we used birch. Most of them weren’t debarked to save time. They were nailed directly to the uprights.

To cover the spaces between the pieces of wood and insulate the walls, we used a mix of earth, straw and water.

This mix was applied to the walls while it was still humid. Normally, you have to apply three coats to get a good finish. It is useful to force down the last coat with a flat rock to obtain a smooth surface without cracks.

Here is a wall almost finished.

I don’t have any pictures of the floor to show you the technique we used. It consists of "slices" of log, about 5-10 cm thick, layed down like tiles, with earth between them.