Drying In

Last year about this time, the extremely efficient, thorough, and excellent builder, Callon Ratliff, agreed to finish the inside of our earthen house. Before Callon could start installing windows and framing inside walls, my efficient, thorough, and excellent family...

Bond Beams

The southern wall is the longest earthen wall in our house, so my friend Rachel and I were happy to lay its last brick in September 2012. My brother Van and our cousin Jerry came as quickly as they could, to begin work on the bond beam. They set up frame boards and...

Kitchen Lintel

Building a house can play games with your mind. It’s about space and defining space. It’s about seeing the trees over the wall one week, and barely seeing the tops of the trees over the much taller wall a couple of weeks later. I like the game of opening...

House Building Update

In Summer 2012, my daughter Eva and her friends Beth and Tim worked with me to build walls for our Compressed Earth Block house. We finished the wall with four windows in it: two windows for each daughter’s bedroom. Then we moved on to the kitchen wall, which we...