The most attention-getting natural homes are often small and topped with a turf roof. Here, natural building expert Michael G. Smith shows us a 3,000-sq-ft earth building and dispels the myths that all natural building needs to be tiny and covered with an green roof.

Natural building myths: tiny homes and green roofs

| Green Roofs | 20 Comments
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20 Comments

  • Barskor1

    Contrary to popular belief you can collect rainwater from a green roof as long as you don't use artificial fertilizers and pesticides on it just as you can drink water that is filtered by the earth the drainage you get from the roof is the same.?

  • Jozef Fekia?

    I agree with everything but green roofs have one more advantage – they are not only cooling your house a little but help cooling the surroundings of your house, so they could cool cities maybe 2-3 C down. And that is another aspect of natural building I think. Not only think how the building materials and technologies affect me, but how they affect my local area.

  • manhoosnick

    Damn, there are some really close minded and psycho rigid people here, english is not even my mother tongue and I have no problem understanding the Gentleman in the video, offcourse if you have a problem that means you lack the necessary tools to 'communicate' with others. Anyways, great video,i want to build a house in Kashmir and thinking of natural stufff.

  • RebLin51

    No its not. Clay and sand and manure are free or very low cost. The only thing a cob building needs is structural support beams in a few key places and then support for the roof. Way cheaper. I could build a teeny tiny cabin for 22,000 and for a lot of loving labor on my part I can get a cob house that is bigger and room for my crafting workshop for half that. 50,000 for a mini house type trailer and a workshop one so I can support myself or pay 1/4 and have it nicer.

  • Link Knight

    you get used to voices like that after a while. my best mate at school used to stutter all the time, but coz I knew him well I knew what he was gonna say/where the conversation was going anyway.

  • deaconblue9038

    A cob built home for instance uses natural chemical free building materials that come from the site. Is cheaper by the sq. foot. It needs no finishing ,has a much higher R value since it's walls are typically about 2' thick and can be built rather quickly under the right circumstances. Your idea is far from good…..period!!!!

  • deaconblue9038

    The cost for a single 8' X8' wall would be approx. $240.00 ,not accounting for framing materials or nails. So a homes shell that was 40' long 8' high and 16',or the size of a small mobile home,would be approx $3360.00 . Also not counting nails and framing,just the wood. Cob is less expensive,and working at a rate of approx 2 1/2 ft of wall per day,just about as fast. The difference also being YOU end up with 4" thick walls that still need to be insulated because of such a low R value.

  • bryncomeaux

    do the math prove me wrong. my building ide is best . lowest cost, fastest time least amount of work. stacked 2×4 wall. there thats it. just stack 2×4's flat and nail them ontop of each other until you have a wall. add some old vynil windows and doors. use a pressure treatred built up 2×10 posts as a foundation. build floor and roof with 2×4 stacked on edge. no siding drywalll roofing flooring needed. im getting a 24×24 building for 8-10 usd per sq ft. and its faster than adobe

  • Armchair Builder

    Good stuff Michael. I like seeing different ways of building. We offer free help for anyone wanting to build their own home (the more traditional kind). visit us at our youtube channel ArmchairBuilder

  • vizard00001

    there is a better way of making em. it stays warm in the winter and cold in the summer I lived in one till i.was 14. its nice the only thing we worried about was severe rain in monsoon. cuz the dry weather conditions before monsoon kills the little plants growing on the roof and the rain starts to wash away a layer. depends on the how many days of rain.

  • David W. Reed

    @jpenneyatyahoodotcom you might want to re read my post as I said nothing negative about Micheal as I know him well, so I leave you with that and wish you also well.

  • jpenneyatyahoodotcom

    @TheDudeRulez09 Actually the reason you feel uncomfortable when he speaks is because our nervous system automatically makes us feel the things that the people around us are feeling. So when he makes the sound that sounds like his throat is tightening up, our throats tighten up. It has nothing to do with our ability to accept him. It's a physical sensation. Still not Michael's problem, and still rude to insult the guy but it's not as simple as "learn to accept".

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