Dream Monastery

[Darlica]

Digging the latrines is fine, as long there isn't any latrine in them yet...

As far as I've heard, a good idea if trying to build an eco sustainable building with out building material that has been pumped with of chemical preservatives, is to use as much local timber as usual as it's more resistant (used to) to the local environment. 

When it comes to time and weather resistance very few materials beat Oak wood, Larch is a good runner up especially when it comes outside to constructions like porches and decks.
That said I've seen pine and spruce constructions that have been standing +200 years. So if treated right (or rather, not mistreated*) durability isn't a problem.

*The worst one can do to wood, the thing that surely make it mould and rot is to paint it with a plastic like paint or anything else that seals it in completely, it's actually far worse than leaving it untreated!

[Opsa]

I'm partial to Tung Oil, but I don't know if it's used on exteriors.

[ivor]

I think it would be interesting to make a little eco-friendly model community or maybe timeshares based on tiny houses like so:

http://www.designboom.com/contemporary/tiny_houses.html

I wonder if there's a market for this?  Maybe set it up like a corporation and sell shares.  Everybody gets to vote their shares.  Licenses for convenience stores, public transportation, water and power generation are sold.  When I say power I mean, say there is a hilltop that's wind turbine suitable.  There could be options for storm shelters, storage space, garages, sewage treatment and a community center.  When there's enough money you can build your community.

I'd also like to do an eco-friendly salvaged building materials site.  Kinda like if you have some material that you don't need or want you can put it on the site and people could trade or buy salvaged materials.  Like eBay I suppose but without bidding?  A virtual junkyard?  Doesn't look like there's anything like this on the web.  I looked at GoDaddy for salvage.com but it's taken.  Anybody have a good idea for a domain name for this?  iSalvaged.com is available...


Edit:

I like the EarthBag construction thing.  I wonder if you could get some kind of continuous tubing, spray expanding foam in it and stake it together before it hardens?  Then you could cut your openings out after you have everything built?  That foam is expensive isn't it?

[Darlica]

 

Right now it feels like I'm on the wrong continent...

[Opsa]

Fantastic thoughts, MB. I just read an article about someone around here who built an Eco-shed (page two on your link, near the bottom) and it looked so neat! So you're saying we could make a small town.

[ivor]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.  If you planned it well in advance then you could have a put it together quickly.  Once you get all the licenses sold and the stock value gets high enough to build it should be self-sustaining.

I like the idea of the net-zero tiny houses.  That should make it fairly cheap to put in power generation if it's not readily available and/or cheap.  Of course you might put in a bigger generator than you need and sell that power back to the power company and use that to pay for your recurring expenses.

We might even be able to do almost net-zero with water using a shared cistern and some recycling technology.  Of course you're not gonna be able to sell water back but if you recycle it, even if it's just for flush water and irrigation, it should be far cheaper than an ordinary community.

If we did this sort of thing, setting up eco-communities, we could make some profit off management and setup, and have money for a real monastery.

I dunno.  Just thinking out loud...   

[Aggie]

I've thought of the prospect of leasing out semiprivate on-Monastery-grounds little cabins for rental to resident artists or visitors who want to live there a few weeks of the year.  Sort of like a timeshare - if they weren't there, they'd be rented out for guest rooms by the Monastery, but they could book it for whenever they wanted.

[ivor]

Oh!  Absolutely!

[Lindorm]

There's quite a few companies here in Sweden that specialze in recycled building materials. Most of it is in the historical/semi-antique segment, taking dismantled window frames, roof shingles, parquet boards and similar stuff, reconditioning it and then selling it on to those who are renovating a period home and want to keep the original look and feel of the house or flat. Quite a few of these also make modern replicas of old stuff, including cable that looks like old linen or lead-covered cable and porcelain light switches, but with modern stuff cleverly disguised inside, so it conforms to modern legal and safety requirements.

There are also those who handle more modern materials, as a general "second hand"-store. One problem is that lots of semi-modern (1970'ies and onwards) building materials was hardly designed to be recyclable, and is almost impossible to re-use, such as various sorts of fibreboard and laminates.
Actually, I do know that this was raised as a concern at a recent meeting of architectural historians and modern archeologists here in Sweden -it might be nigh impossible to preserve a early seventies vintage flat in original condition!

Anyhow, considering how well it works here in Sweden, I am a bit surprised that no-one has set up anything similar in the US, or at least not as a webstore/exchange. I suppose that bulding materials often being large, bulky and heavy might have something to do with it. Likewise, I suppose the US has different building traditions than Sweden, with perhaps less material available for recycling, or less thought given to the idea of recycling. A friend of mine who visited the US was quite surprised at the amount of fibreboard and pasteboard used in US houses, so there might be quite a bit of cultural differences at play, too.

Still, a web-based building materials exchange sounds like a very do-able ide in my ears! 

[ivor]

Yeah, I think it would be good too.   There are lots of web sites that do the salvage thing but I was thinking why not make a Joomla component for salvage materials so all the sites would be the same.  Then they could share records.  We could store them all in a central database, then anybody anywhere could locate materials even though the data is on 50,000 one-off sites.

[Opsa]

 MB Duje, I think you've hit on something, there. Please let me know if I can be of any help to you.

Lindorm, the US is so huge that there is really no 'typical', here. There's a wide range of fantastic homes and cheapo homes. As MB mentioned, we have loads of salvage resources. I have several friends who have built nearby using recycled and salvaged building materials and interior features such as doorways and mantlepieces.

I like the idea of a little self-sufficient town retreat. Here's an article about a little place in Idaho. Hmmm...

[ivor]

LOL!  I've been so busy lately.  If somebody wants to take this idea and run with it feel free to take it.  I'd do everything I could to help but there's no way I could do it alone.

[Aggie]

Hmmm... 40 acres, under 100K, near Castlegar, which has a reasonable airport.  This one hasn`t been logged, so there will be timber to use for building, and forest to manage.

http://www.landquest.com/detailmain2.asp?prop=09377&curpage=4&search=price100

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I read somewhere about some guy building using empty glass bottles. Apparently those are very efficient keeping a stable temperature.

[pieces o nine]

^ except for the motivation to keep building and building... bigger and bigger...