These days I spend a lot of time thinking about low-impact housing, small houses, and also inexpensive houses. Sometimes those topics intersect, as they might with some kinds of yurts, for example. Sure, it’s expensive to buy a yurt from one of those specialist yurt companies, but there are cheaper alternatives. One is the Gertee, [...]
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Do you know about yurts? They’re round dwellings, made of fabric over a light wood frame. (See a variety of Yurts here on Google images.) Traditionally used by nomads in places like Mongolia, yurts can be set up or collapsed within a couple of hours — just the thing if you want to move around [...]
Filed in lifestyles 5 Comments so far
We get serious amounts of rain on Gabriola in the winter months, and we know people on the island whose basements and crawl-spaces flood every year. We also know some people whose Gabriola property is very swampy. With that in mind, I was fascinated by the land-locked floating house. (Go look!) How amazing is that? [...]
Filed in environment,Gabriola Island,weather One Response so far
If my property on Gabriola didn’t have a house on it, I’d be thinking seriously about small house designs. (Had you guessed?) Here’s an interesting one: …the Osprey is approximately 523 square feet of efficiently designed living space with one bedroom, one bath, a large great room and integrated decks that provide a generous living [...]
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In the galaxy of off-the-grid living, their pad is cooler than yours. Now, just from that sentence, what kind of accommodation are you imagining? Think of a place that: …sleeps six; contains a hot-water shower, kitchen, fridge and freezer; sports floor-to-ceiling wood paneling; and features a music studio with a stand-up piano. Have you imagined [...]
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Lots of people on Gabriola are interested in alternative building materials. (Did you go to the cob building workshop at the Gabriola Commons last year?) So, Gabriola house-builders, here’s something for you to consider: a house made from paper. From emagazine.com: Forget the old saying that people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. [...]
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Now here’s a fascinating article from the Times Online: Living without money. Twenty-two years ago Heidemarie Schwermer, a middle-aged secondary school teacher just emerging from a difficult marriage, moved with her two children from the village of Lueneburg to the city of Dortmund, in the Ruhr area of Germany, whose homeless population, she immediately noticed, [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island,lifestyles One Response so far
We keep hearing about the housing shortage on Gabriola, and I keep finding shelters like this hidden in the Gabriola woods. What would be the best way to solve the problem? One possibility is tiny little houses like this one: The builder explains:
Filed in Gabriola Island 2 Comments so far
From the Nanaimo Daily News: Gabriola Island housing needs under evaluation. A housing needs assessment that will soon be launched by the Gabriola Local Trust Committee aims to reveal how many people are struggling to find affordable housing. The assessment will also evaluate what kind of homes are needed in the community. Retirees have bought [...]
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I wish our house had been built like this one. From the New York Times: No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in ‘Passive Houses’. … these houses are part of a revolution in building design: There are no drafts, no cold tile floors, no snuggling under blankets until the furnace kicks in. There is, in fact, [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island 2 Comments so far
