From The Independent: How I built my house for £4,000. When he’s expecting visitors, Steve James watches out the windows so he can catch the look on their faces when they see his house for the first time. It’s always the same, he say. There’s an intense stare and total mystification, as if they can’t [...]
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Here’s what People for a Healthy Community sent along today: People for a Healthy Community and the Housing Task Force are working towards the development of an Affordable Housing Strategy for Gabriola. Although surveys have been done in the past this one is focusing on filling gaps and updating the information previously gathered for the [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island 29 Comments so far
I want to share the results of my recent independent study on the availability of rental housing on Gabriola Island. It should be good news for those in search of more ‘affordable’ housing. It took me close to three years and involved visiting over 1000 properties on the island. The most startling finding was the [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island 14 Comments so far
You’ve seen some of the huge trees in the Elder Cedar (S’ul-hween X’pey) Nature Reserve, and perhaps elsewhere on the island, too. Maybe you’ve crowded inside one of Gabriola’s hollow old trees or stumps with your friends while someone snapped a photo. Did it ever occur to you that the base of some old-growth trees [...]
Filed in history 2 Comments so far
Sometimes in the summer I see three or four talented skateboarders on North Road, heading down towards Folklife Village. And then there are the kids who skate at Huxley Park, and elsewhere on the island. This is the house I imagine they’d love to live in: A House Built for Skateboarding. So cool!
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How many straw bale houses do we have on Gabriola? There’s one on Oyster Way. Others, too? Anyway. Here’s a NYT article about a guy who builds straw bale houses, and about the houses he builds. Meticulously and gorgeously wrought, the structures are calling cards for the man and the material, a renewable and inexpensive [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island 3 Comments so far
It’s been an unusually cold spring on Gabriola. When a morning walk can require a hat and gloves in May, one wonders what the world is coming to. Have you had the fire on in the mornings? If you have, perhaps this idea of heating your home with a hair dryer will appeal.
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About to build a house on Gabriola? Please build something like this passive solar dome house so the rest of us can stop by and have a look.
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When I see lots for sale on Gabriola, I daydream about the sort of houses I might build on them. How am I to resist, especially considering my interest in alternative housing? So I send you, my dears, to consider the earthship. Could you live in one? Would this kind of design be just the [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island 2 Comments so far
A while ago I watched one of Gabriola’s newest houses being built (well, you know: moments here and there. It’s not like I sat and watched the whole time). A lot of commercial insulation went into that building, and I wondered about what people used for inuslation before all that stuff came along. Now I [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island 2 Comments so far
Innovative houses fascinate me, especially if I can imagine them perched on a nice wooded lot somewhere on Gabriola. Here’s an interesting one: Grid Positive Home Powers EVs, Recycles. Like it?
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From the Daily News: Gabriola construction value booms. The value of new construction on Gabriola Island is already 80% higher this year than it was for all of 2009, statistics from the Regional District of Nanaimo show. (…) The spike in construction value is indicative of the high-end homes being built on Gabriola, said Sheila [...]
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You know I’m interested in housing, and I’ve got a soft spot for small houses, houses made of recycled materials, portable houses, and related odditites. When I heard that somebody (in the US) is having a house made out of a Boeing 747, I imagined an ugly little shack. But this thing… well, it’s serious. [...]
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Thinking of building a small house on Gabriola? You might be interested in the 10 square design competition, which asks: How much space do we really need? In an era of ballooning house sizes and constricting rental markets, it can sometimes be difficult to envision opportunities for change or innovation. 102 is a design competition [...]
Filed in environment,Gabriola Island 2 Comments so far
These days there’s a lot of talk about affordable housing on Gabriola. Considering that, I thought you might like to hear what Salt Spring Island is doing about affordable housing: they’ve got an organization called Salt Spring Island Land Bank. An Islands Trust press release, Stage set for new affordable housing on Salt Spring Island, [...]
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Do you have property on Gabriola, but no house upon it? Here’s an interesting possibility, then: Ecopods. Operating with an 80 watt solar panel and minimal electrical needs there is no need to run power lines or trench power cables to the unit, it’s ready to use minutes after setup. [continue]
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It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about houses and such, but of course I’m always on the lookout for interesting small house designs — houses I can imagine seeing on Gabriola, and houses that are appealing enough to make me think I could live there! Here’s today’s cool little house: timberframe prefab cabin. Rather [...]
Filed in environment One Response so far
Here’s a shelter that could help homeless Haitians (or, um, homeless people on Gabriola). It’s cheap to build, and you can make one yourself. It’s a hexayurt. Wired.com explains. With just $100 worth of plywood and screws, almost anyone can build a shelter known as a Hexayurt that can last three years and possibly even [...]
Filed in Gabriola people 4 Comments so far
