We couldn’t be more pleased with our experience with this dynamic team of professionals. We hired them to build out our unfinished 1000 sq. ft. basement. Ben put together a comprehensive estimate, finding competitive bids for the electrical, heating, plumbing, and drywall portions, plus concrete floor stain & polish. We were pleasantly surprised to find that incorporating natural building practices didn’t mean the cost was any more than a conventional approach. The scope of their work included framing, insulation, plastering gorgeous natural clay & lime walls, building an incredible tadelakt shower, putting in a ventilation system, installing multiple materials, and staying on top of all the subcontractors. They gave us great recommendations for locations to find materials. Over the course of several months, we were witness to their positive energy and obvious pride in their craft. Having had countless bad experiences with home improvement projects, we are thrilled to have found these honest, reliable, gifted artisans.
The Philosophy of Natural Building
What is Natural Building?
This is a hard question to answer, and has been the topic of many classroom and late night bonfire discussions. For us, it breaks down to a few basic principles:
Local
We try to use materials that are found or produced locally and have as little embodied energy as possible. We want to support the local economy and the people within it. I would love to use bamboo, but if I have to ship it across the Pacific, it’s probably not the best material to use.
Non-Toxic
We use materials that are not harmful to the people producing, installing, or living among them.
Healthy
Not only do we want the inhabitants and the environment to be healthy, but also the building itself. Too many of our new homes are riddled with moisture issues and bad air quality. By creating a vapor permeable wall system, we don’t trap moisture where it doesn’t belong. Instead, we allow it escape harmlessly, without negatively impacting the performance or longevity of the building.
Low Impact
Low embodied energy, with the least extractive methods possible. This allows an efficient building to begin immediately having a positive effect on slowing down climate change, rather than having to “pay back” the energy that went into and emissions that were produced while creating the materials.
Sustainable
This term gets thrown around a lot, and seems to have lost some of it’s true meaning. There are three tiers of sustainability: Economy, People and the Environment.
Economy
We want to use products that are literally dirt cheap. With cheaper materials, the customer saves money. Sometimes these materials require a little more labor, which puts more money into the pockets of local tradesmen instead of going to the large corporation.
People
We prioritize the use of local materials that help support people in our community. We also try to make sure these materials are non-toxic to anyone who comes in contact with them.
Environment
Our focus is on finding and incorporating into our design the materials with the lowest embodied energy possible. We also try to think in a cradle-to-cradle mindset. We want our buildings to last forever, but at the point it reaches its end of life, it shouldn’t contribute to the waste stream. With natural materials like clay, hemp, and straw, much of the building is compostable or can be put back into the natural environment after its disassembled.
