Life Downshifting | A Journey Towards a Sustainable Life
Description: A chronicle of the experiences of a couple during the building of their own house.
construction (17097) house (12858) building (7246) plans (1046) owner builder (18)
This site was originally written as a journal of the construction of my owner built home in central Ontario. I updated the images and other documents found here as the project progressed. Our design incorporates passive solar (orientation and south facing windows) and superinsulation (double stud walls with 11" of insulation for R40). We used environmentally friendly products where feasible, and made all material choices with the environment in mind. On this site, if you click on the small images, a larger
I had long ago hoped to eventually build my own house. In about 2000 or so, my wife and I had made the decision to leave the city and move to a property in the country. First to be out of the city, but also to eventually build up a horse stable, as my wife works as a riding instructor. In 2002 we started looking for land and in October, 2002 we bought our property north of Stirling, Ontario. In the summer of 2003 we built a shed on the property, in May 2004 I took a year off work and started building the ho
In my mind an owner builder is someone who actually builds his or her home. Someone who actually pounds nails and cuts boards It is not someone who hires the contractors, does the scheduling and writes the cheques. That is being your own general contractor. Not that there is anything wrong with that, as you can save a considerable amount of money, but it is not and owner builder. I did hire contractors for some job that I could not do, such as the excavation and concrete work, others that I decided not to d
Life Downshifting | A Journey Towards a Sustainable Life