ALL POSTS

Our Sustainable Utopia

Sustainability and ecological friendliness have always been interests of mine. In High School I wanted to be an architect who designed...

John

Dec 31, 20212 min read

Climate Data for Design

I am looking into the ways to get climate data to inform my design for a home in Sullivan County, NY. One simple source is this Bing...

John

Jun 13, 20211 min read

Misc. Structural Information

Basic Frame Building Information NFBA Post Frame Building Design Manual, Second Edition (2016) Introduction to Post-Frame Buildings...

John

May 30, 20211 min read

European Shutters and Bifold Doors

European Shutters As a teenager I did a study abroad program and lived with a French family in a contemporary house that had exterior...

John

Mar 10, 20211 min read

Landscaping Ideas

We would like to landscape our property with planting native to the Catskills. Currently, it has a healthy crop of ragweed, which we...

John

Dec 26, 20202 min read

Pricing our Dream Home

So starting to design our dream home as we close on our property in Neversink in the Catskills. Below are resources used for preliminary...

John

Dec 23, 20201 min read

Metal Buildings

My current building design is based on using a prefab metal building as the structure. It has become clear to me that for a variety of...

John

Dec 5, 20202 min read

Dry Stack Wall Construction

Dry Stack Wall Construction may be the DIYer's way to create a home with thermal mass. Apart from Standard CMU, the following are...

John

Nov 26, 20202 min read

Passive Solar: Trombe Walls

Since I was a teenager I have been fascinated by the concept of passive solar Trombe walls. It seems such an elemental, obvious, low...

John

Oct 11, 20201 min read

Land!

We have a signed offer on property in the Catskills and will hire a professional surveyor for defining the locations of the property...

John

Oct 5, 20201 min read

Inspirational Structures

From the NYTimes article Pavilions Inhabit the Space Between Art and Architecture

John

Sep 29, 20201 min read

Sustainable Building Information

General Green Building Advisor The Natural Home (includes passive solar, composting toilets, septic & greywater systems, & geotextile...

John

Sep 28, 20201 min read

Tiny Home Inspiration

I started designing a tiny home for our potential lot in the Catskills (have not yet put down the deposit, but we are dreaming!) because...

John

Sep 27, 20201 min read

Does the Pope s#!t in the woods?

So we have found a property we love, but have limited funds to develop it. We were hoping the town would allow us to put in a septic...

John

Sep 22, 20204 min read

Buying a Fixer-Upper with Cash

So we found 5 acres in the Catskills with an "as-is" building on it for $70K. Too good to be true? So now we are researching what to...

John

Sep 12, 20201 min read

Prefab Steel Building Instructions

This video is not flashy, but gives good details on all steps in creation of a prefab steel building!

John

Sep 8, 20201 min read

Bridges aren't so simple

We fell in love with a property in the Catskills that has a one-acre lot next to a road and a six-acre lot across a small stream from the...

John

Aug 29, 20201 min read

Buying Property

Here are some resources for buying property, with a focus on New York and New Jersey: Buying Land How to Negotiate a Land Deal (Inc) The...

John

Aug 22, 20201 min read

The Long House: Inspiration for our new home

Our son has found a beautiful house for inspiration for our new home. It is the Daylesford Longhouse in Victoria, Australia. More great...

John

Aug 16, 20201 min read

Quonset Hut Pricing

I got some pricing on Quonset huts. See below.

John

Aug 8, 20201 min read