How it was Built
Building a Low Impact Roundhouse
If you want any more details of how specific bits were made, reciprocal roof
construction, plumbing, solar panels etc, plus the story and ideas behind it, may I refer you to my book "Building a
Low Impact Roundhouse", published by Permanent Publications, now in a new updated 2007 edition at £12.95,
and available from them by phoning
(UK)01730 823 311. You can access their
website by clicking here.
I have had some good feedback about this book. The new edition includes new photos plus chapters on a Straw Bale hut and ten-year feedback, including some comments on the planning saga. You can also order the book direct from me by sending £14 (UK) or 20 euros (eurozone), incl p&p, to Tony Wrench, Brithdir Mawr, Newport, Pembs, UK, SA42 0QJ.
Or the very easiest way to pay is send me £14 by Paypal (to tony@thatroundhouse.info ) and I'll send it asap. Add a bit for extra postage if you live outside the UK.
BUT WAIT! EBOOK NOW RELEASED SHOCK!
Building a Low Impact Roundhouse was released on Feb 21st 2013 as an ebook and is now available to be downloaded on several formats for only £8.50!
Click here for details and to download. I was going to say hurry hurry hurry while stocks last, but now they are more or less infinite, so take your time.
You've probably been thinking 'If the book is that good, it's probably been translated into Norwegian', and you'd be right! Here's what it looks like:
It is available from this email address.
OK, commercial over. Back to a few more facts about the roundhouse, where we still live. (Spring 2012).
This is designed to be, and works well as, a simple ecohome for two workers on a communally run farm. Living without our own car, earning our income by music and by adding value to the products of the land, using wood for heat, water from the mountain well and lighting by photovoltaic cells linked to a battery. It has a compost toilet for solid wastes and a reed bed for sink and bath water. The design is based on the Celtic Roundhouse, of which there are reconstructions three miles away and traces on the mountain behind us. It also owes some design aspects to the roundhouses of the Miwok, Pomo and Mandan peoples of north America - particularly the turf-covered roof, using 150 straw bales as insulation rather than 18" or so of pine needles. The idea for cordwood and cob walls came from the early Swedish settlers to north America, mentioned by Ken Kern in his book 'The Owner-Built Home'. The rubber roof membrane, the reciprocal frame design for the rafters and the secondhand double-glazing are all more recent inventions. More pics of the interior in page 'how we live', and full details of its construction in the book 'Building a Low Impact Roundhouse'.
The most frequently asked questions about this house are:
How long did it take to build?
The wood for walls and roof
totalled approx. 200 thinned Douglas Fir trees from a piece of forestry Jane and
I bought adjacent to our smallholding in Cwm Cych. One winter - about four
months - we spent cutting these trees to size and stacking them, with the aid of
two wwoofers (Willing Workers on Organic Farms). The second winter, 1997/8, we
built the house in another four months, usually working as one or two people but
sometimes with a large gang working together, as on the roof completion day.
How much did it cost?
The most expensive item was the single
sheet of rubber pond liner that forms the waterproof roof membrane, which cost
£650. Next was the woodstove with back boiler at £420. Then electrics, wood
transport, windows, nails etc. The grand total is £3,000! We paid for the items
as we went along, so did not go into debt, for which we are thankful. Here is a
short series of pictures of the construction:
