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Category: Natural Building

T-Brick Shed: Sub-Floor

March 5, 2017
Natural Building, T-Brick Shed

While I have quite a list of future extensions to the T-Brick shed (including but not limited to, rain water […]

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Community Table: First Bents Go Up

February 26, 2017
Community Table, Natural Building

Lots of visible progress on the Community Table today. We installed the first four bents and beams to tie them […]

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T-Brick Shed: Wrapping up Interior Plaster

February 11, 2017
Natural Building, T-Brick Shed

I haven’t been slacking off the past few weeks. It’s just I haven’t had the most interesting pictures to post. […]

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Community Table: Beginning Floor Installation

January 21, 2017
Community Table, Natural Building

After months of sawing and chiseling mortise and tenons the time has finally come for some assembly. We had all […]

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T-Brick Shed: Exterior Shelving

December 31, 2016
Natural Building, T-Brick Shed

In case your wondering I have not finished/given up on the shed. It’s been a bit cold and rainy, weather […]

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T-Brick Shed: Wrapping up the Exterior Plaster

November 27, 2016
Natural Building, T-Brick Shed

Shredded Paper The exterior plaster work is drawing to a close. Well, for now at least. We’ll see how it […]

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Community Table: Finishing the sill plates

October 30, 2016
Community Table, Natural Building

I’ve become a regular at the Community Table project. This Saturday I was able to rope in Jean and some […]

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T-Brick Shed: Doors and Plaster

October 29, 2016
Natural Building, T-Brick Shed

Wall plastered a week before Work goes on in the plastering department. Sifting out the bigger lumps makes a huge […]

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Community Table

October 1, 2016
Community Table, Natural Building

I came across the volunteer opportunity in one of my natural building forums to build a pavillion that will serve […]

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T-Brick Shed: Wall Leveling

October 1, 2016
Natural Building, T-Brick Shed

We had a relatively cool August which gave me false hope that September would be more fallish rather than summerish. […]

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offgridburbia

It's been three years since we started our suburba It's been three years since we started our suburban off-grid experiment. With the end of this Texas heat wave hopefully in sight and with rain in the forecast I wrote an article about how we kept our electricity and and water flowing this summer.

https://offgridburbia.com/off-grid-living-during-a-texas-heat-wave/
My mini-split evaporator started leaking condensat My mini-split evaporator started leaking condensate earlier this week so I had to tear it down for a deep cleaning. With its soul exposed it has kind of a neat industrial look.
What a beautiful day to mulch the roof What a beautiful day to mulch the roof
Retaining wall on the low side of the building is Retaining wall on the low side of the building is almost complete
After two days of building the cottage berm we hav After two days of building the cottage berm we have most of the gravel drainage later installed and the back close to finished. I'm building some small retaining walls today.
Building the berm part of our earth berm cottage s Building the berm part of our earth berm cottage started yesterday.
I finally got all the pieces to install a wood sto I finally got all the pieces to install a wood stove in the cottage. However, it's back to 70 degrees in central Texas.
We finished the interior plaster of the Earth Berm We finished the interior plaster of the Earth Berm Cottage this weekend. Here's a short video. I'll post a more in depth video about earthen plaster after we finish the exterior.

#naturalbuilding #earthenplaster
We got a lot done during our first plastering part We got a lot done during our first plastering party yesterday! More to follow. 

Also I just posted a blog/video about framing and infilling the cottage interior walls, installing the ceiling and building and elevated platform for the bed (sleeping nook)

https://offgridburbia.com/ebc-interior-finishing-walls-ceiling-and-trim/
I put down the final layer of the earthen floor in I put down the final layer of the earthen floor in the Earth Berm Cottage yesterday. I'll put up a full video of the install in a few weeks.

#naturalbuilding #earthenfloor #tinyhouse
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  1. Mudplasterer on Off-grid Living during a Texas Heat WaveSeptember 22, 2023

    Oops got that wrong. In June we averaged 25 Kwh per day.

  2. Mudplasterer on Off-grid Living during a Texas Heat WaveSeptember 21, 2023

    Certainly agree with enhancing your Solar panels. During June we averaged 16KWh per day from our 14 panels. We had…

  3. Mudplasterer on Off-grid Living during a Texas Heat WaveSeptember 19, 2023

    Loved the comment that the pipe to your neighbours was "with permission". Just in case anyone was thinking of litigation???

  4. Aaron on Building a Light Clay Straw TumblerSeptember 13, 2023

    Thanks! My inspiration to build a tumbler came from a video made by a Canadian. It is a huge labor…

  5. Aaron on It’s only a model: Planning Framing DaySeptember 13, 2023

    Sure, here's a link to the SketchUp model: app.sketchup.com/app?3dwid=5d943b20-0c6a-48dd-a98e-66cf848d8f6e The roof has an 18 degree pitch and ~18 feet from…

  6. Aaron on Off-grid Living during a Texas Heat WaveSeptember 13, 2023

    Oh! highs in the low to mid-nineties would be glorious.

  7. Aaron on “Living” Roof InstallSeptember 13, 2023

    That's a 275 Gallon IBC tote. I have four that I eventually use to collect rain water from the cottage…

  8. Sheryl Yarbrough on Off-grid Living during a Texas Heat WaveSeptember 12, 2023

    We are all dreaming of that day! Looking forward to a fair chance of rain in a few days and…

  9. Mudplasterer on “Living” Roof InstallAugust 31, 2023

    Is that a water container I see by the side of the cottage? Does it take outflow from the roof?…

  10. Mudplasterer on “Living” Roof InstallAugust 31, 2023

    Great project. Such success. Great idea about the perforated pipe and gravel along the edge. Has anybody else done that?…

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