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John
Dec 31, 20212 min read
Our Sustainable Utopia
Sustainability and ecological friendliness have always been interests of mine. In High School I wanted to be an architect who designed...
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John
Jun 13, 20211 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...
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John
May 30, 20211 min read
Misc. Structural Information
Basic Frame Building Information NFBA Post Frame Building Design Manual, Second Edition (2016) Introduction to Post-Frame Buildings...
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John
Mar 10, 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...
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John
Dec 25, 20202 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...
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John
Dec 23, 20201 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...
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John
Dec 5, 20202 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...
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John
Nov 26, 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...
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John
Oct 11, 20201 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...
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John
Oct 5, 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...
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John
Sep 29, 20201 min read
Inspirational Structures
From the NYTimes article Pavilions Inhabit the Space Between Art and Architecture
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John
Sep 28, 20201 min read
Sustainable Building Information
General Green Building Advisor The Natural Home (includes passive solar, composting toilets, septic & greywater systems, & geotextile...
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John
Sep 27, 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...
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John
Sep 22, 20204 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...
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John
Sep 12, 20201 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...
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John
Sep 8, 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!
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John
Aug 29, 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...
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John
Aug 22, 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...
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John
Aug 16, 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...
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John
Aug 8, 20201 min read
Quonset Hut Pricing
I got some pricing on Quonset huts. See below.
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