NATURAL HOUSE CATALOG: Where to Get Everything You Need to Create an Environmentally Friendly Home - Softcover

Chapter 1

BUILDING

This chapter is about the whole house, its materials and construction, its siting and planning. When faced with creating a house that is environmentally sound and healthy, there is a confusing array of choices. Where should I site the house? Do I use this or that material? What would be the best type of home to build -- should it be brick or timber construction, and what about earth and straw-bale? Where can I source the right materials and advice? Should I build a new house or retrofit an older property?

Starting with the home site, this chapter gives you introductory guidance on how to analyze the basic local conditions you will need to work with -- climate, soil, and water. Via Permaculture, you can transform your garden and backyard into a productive and sustainable asset. Other, less well understood aspects of the site include being sensitive to the subtle ground energies beneath your home, and being aware of the ancient principles of Feng Shui and how they help to orient, lay out, and furnish your home.

Your natural home design should balance the environment, health, and spirit. If you neglect any of these or give undue emphasis to any one over another your home cannot be expected to reach its full potential as a healthy, harmonious, and ecologically sound environment. To reach a balanced approach, follow the practical advice on creating healthy homes plus the inspiring options for organic and spiritual designs.

The choice of building materials and construction methods is very diverse and much will depend on the vernacular traditions of your area, as well as on your budget. Older traditions have often been replaced with newer nationwide anonymous alternatives: a house on the East Coast may be built of much the same materials as one on the West Coast. It is always worth finding out if some of the rediscovered methods such as earth building or straw bales could be used. These may make a more sensible, affordable, and sustainable alternative for you. There can be pitfalls in using natural materials, just as there are with synthetic conventional materials, but proper advice and the latest environment-friendly technology can help you use natural materials wisely.

The growing use of reclaimed materials represents one positive step forward. Rehabbing or retrofitting an older property (rather than building new), combined with the reuse of as many locally salvaged and recycled materials as possible, is both resource-efficient and affordable. Before buying new products, even if they are billed "green", first look for reclaimed products locally. Every time you do this you will be taking pressure off the environment and saving energy and pollution at the same time.

When you walk into a well-designed natural home, you are immediately aware of something different and special. You feel more alive and positive. The air is refreshing and you can breathe freely; there is plenty of natural daylight and you feel awake; colors, forms, and spaces invigorate and relax you. A natural house is a home fit for all the senses, and a home in complete harmony with you and with the environment.

FENG SHUI

Meaning literally "wind water", Feng Shui is the ancient Chinese art, and science of placement. Akin to geomancy, which is known in many cultures, it aims to bring human an beings into a harmonious relationship with the universe through appropriate siting, landscaping, architecture, and interior design. Taoism, on which it is based, seeks harmony by following the "natural" way. Feng Shui locates places of harmony with good ch'i, the vital life force or cosmic breath, and avoids sha, or "noxious vapors". It is an extension of oriental healing practices such as acupuncture, tai chi and meditation, all of which help to balance female Yin and male Yang elements and revitalize the ch'i of body and soul.

Using Feng Shui

Feng Shui is increasingly relevant today. In Hong Kong designers and occupants of public buildings, offices, and homes make use of a Feng Shui consultant to advice on proposals for new buildings and changes to those in use. In fact, without Feng Shui no business or home in the area would expect to have health, prosperity, or good luck. Many of today's Feng Shui skills are devoted to curing modern ills such as noise polution, overshadowing, and lack of light -- the "noxions rapers" of urban apartments and offices. Among devices used to fend these off are plantings, water features, mirrors, flower arrangements, mobiles, and crystals. Fundamental changes may also be recommended, such as reorienting a room's layout and furniture, adapting rooms to have a greater harmony and symmetry of shape and form, or re-siting various activities in different locations altogether.

Various introductory books and courses are available or you may wish to contact a trained Feng Shui consultant.

Geomagnetic fields

The Earth has natural terrestrial magnetic fields to which all life has been attuned for eons. Known as the Schumann frequency, the Earth's natural beat is at a rate of 7.83 per second (7.83 Hz). Building biologists consider that it is essential for our health and well-being to maintain our exposure to this natural frequency. One problem occurs through the many artificial electromagnetic fields (EMFs) in today's homes created by the plethora of electrical circuits and equipment. These are mainly generated by alternating currents (AC) at a frequency in North America of 60 cycles a second (60 Hz), causing continual disturbance to the earth's natural rhythms. Subterranean geological features such as rock fissures, water courses, and variations in rock type and sub-soil also cause natural distortions to the Earth's magnetic field. Areas where these occur are called geopathic zones (geo=earth, pathic=disease). Long-term exposure to these zones (such as sleeping in a bed over them), plus exposure to artificial EMFs, microwaves, and other sources, is claimed to cause geopathic stress. This, added to the other stresses on our bodily systems caused by pollution, can increase the risk of disease, possibly even cancer.

Dowsers and building biologists offer ground surveys and house inspection services that help to locate geopathic zones. They can then advise on the best ways to avoid and protect against them.

CLIMATE AND SOIL

Wherever you decide to live, ask yourself some detailed questions about the site. As well as finding out about amenities, sources of pollution and noise, and plans and policies for the area, try to build up a profile of the geologic features, soil types, and microclimate. Understanding these factors will allow you to produce a responsive design that works for your particular environment.

The elevation and orientation of your site are important and the microclimate will be affected by its position (for example whether on a hillside or in a valley), by the direction and force of the prevailing winds, by seasonal temperatures, and average hours of sunshine. You must also analyze local vegetation, so that your landscape will be a natural part of its environment. Detailed soil analysis can provide vital information about the geology of your site, and it is important to know your local water courses.

Soil analysis

Whether you plan to use the site soil to construct a building, to grow food, or to develop into a natural garden, you need to know your soil.

Soil is a mixture of mineral particles, organic matter, air, water, and living organisms. The nature of the underlying rock largely determines the type of soil formed above it by the action of roots, animals, and the weather. Soils can be sandy, clay, or silty, depending on the type of particles.

The acid-alkaline balance, or pH, of the soil is important in allowing plants to absorb mineral nutrients. The lower the pH, the more acid the soil. The best pH for garden plants in temperate soils is 6.5, although 5.5 to 7.5 is adequate for most. Various sampling and testing kits are available to check your soil or you can use a consultant to provide an analysis of nutrients in your soil.

Water analysis

The position of a site in the watershed is of major concern whether you want to harness water for its energy, drink the water, or avoid adding pollutants to any watercourse. Knowing where your water comes from, and where it goes to, is fundamental in planning harmonious construction. You need to discover if there any underground watercourses, and analyze any groundwater problems. It is vital to ensure good drainage for your site.

If there is a water source nearby find out if is it constant, or if you will need to implement water conservation and rainwater collection. You need to test water quality to assess any need for filtration and purification.

Finding out

Neighbors are a good initial source of information about prevailing weather conditions locally. Local high schools and colleges will probably have weather records, or contact the local weather station for access to their records. Another good source is the local newspaper; find out where their weather information comes from.

PERMACULTURE

The need for small-scale, sustainable agriculture at the end of the twentieth century underlies the principles of permaculture. Pioneered in the 1970s by two Australians, David Holmgren and Bill Mollison, permaculture aims to design "an integrated, evolving system of perennial or self-perpetuating plant and animals species useful to man." Permaculture designs form complete, sustainable, low-energy, high-yield agricultural systems that can be adapted to suit any climate. The system is based on the idea that humans are stewards of the earth and must plan long-term solutions to feeding the population without further damage to the planet. Permaculture is closely related to the Edible Landscape movement.

Working with nature

The main principle of permaculture is one of working with, rather than against, nature. Permaculture systems are constructed to last as long as possible, with minimal maintenance. Systems are typically fueled by sun, wind, or water, and produce enough for their own needs and those of the humans controlling or creating them. In this way, they are sustainable. When designing and constructing a permaculture system, make sure the system will store or conserve more energy in its lifetime than you will use in its construction and maintenance.

Plants in a permaculture system should be as diverse as possible. This ensures that invasions of pests never reach epidemic proportions as they can do under mono-cultural systems. Where possible, maintain local diversity by choosing plants specifically suited to your particular bioregion, and make sure of maximum health and production by opting for companion planting.

Permaculture followers do not just take resources from the environment, they also put them back through positive interaction with nature.

Permaculture design principles

You must work with nature, rather than against it, for you are part of it. Rather than applying chemical pesticides, encourage natural predators. The more we try to fight nature and do things differently, the more nature will fight back. Permaculture believes you should see every problem as its own potential solution. Instead of trying to change something that looks like a problem, see it as a potential benefit and use it as such. If, for example, your site has strong cold winds, use a wind generator and channel the cold air into a cold storage room.

Often the smallest changes have the greatest possible effects. Pollarding and coppicing will produce much more timber than felling trees, and raised beds can be at least as productive as, and less disruptive than, deep digging. Another principle is that the yield of a system is limited only by your imagination and knowledge, not by other people's prescriptions.

You can use observations about other species' effects on habitats and systems to influence your own actions. A properly managed poultry system is a good example of permaculture in practice: the heat naturally produced by chickens might be used to heat a greenhouse to grow fruit and vegetables; chickens will peck out weeds, eat insect pests, and provide eggs and meat. Such a system can be self-fueling, self-regulating, and satisfying.

Forest gardening

The principles of forest gardening echo those of permaculture. Widespread in some upland areas of India, a forest garden is a sustainable mini-forest, requiring minimal maintenance and providing fruit, nuts, root and perennial vegetables, and herbs throughout the growing system. It is an intensive and sustainable land use, appropriate for urban or rural areas.

HOME AND ENVIRONMENT

We want our homes and household practices to be in harmony with the environment. Yet an average US household discards 1800 plastic items, 13,000 individual paper items, 500 aluminum cans, and 500 glass bottles annually. As for garbage -- calculated over a lifetime, an individual will throw away around 600 times their own weight! Worse, domestic consumption is a linear one-way process which takes from the environment without giving anything back. Clean tap water, used once, is polluted with chemicals and flushed down the drain to distant sewage treatment plants. Valuable energy generated from non-renewable fossil fuels (gas, coal and oil) is wasted powering inefficient lights and electrical equipment, and on heating and cooling under-insulated and poorly weatherproofed homes. Even the materials we use to build and maintain our homes take too much energy to make and transport. We must change from one-way to cyclic processes that reuse and recycle resources and use them with economy and efficiency.

Design for harmony with the planet

Site, orient, and shelter your home to make the best conservative use of renewable resources. Use the sun, wind, and water for all or most of your energy needs and rely less on supplementary, nonrenewable energy.

Use "green" materials and products. These should be non-toxic, non-polluting, sustainable and renewable, produced With low energy and low environmental and social costs, and biodegradable.

Use resources intelligently to complement natural mechanisms. Use sensitive and efficient control systems to regulate energy, heating, cooling, water, airflow, and lighting.

Integrate the house with the local ecosystem by planting indigenous tree and flower species. Compost organic wastes, always garden organically, and use natural pest control -- no pesticides. Recycle graywater and use low-flush or waterless toilets. Collect, store, and use rainwater (see Chapter Three).

Find out exactly how much energy and water you are using at present, and how much garbage you are throwing away. Survey each room (and the yard) to assess where these resources are being used. List and prioritize your ideas for reducing consumption and waste. Gain advice from utility companies, act on this, and monitor utility bills to check that reductions are being achieved. Remember at every stage to reuse, repair, and recycle.

What sort of house?

Domes and circular buildings may conserve the grea...