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["Lynn Wigglesworth" <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com>]

I noticed that he uses metal roofing. I saw an interesting show the other 
day; PEX is used under a metal roof. It snaps into metal channels, like it 
does for underfloor heating, and the metal roof is installed on top of the 
channels. The metal roof collects a lot of heat, and the PEX acts like the 
'solar water heaters', but is invisible and has a much larger surface area. 
I assume it has sensors to turn the pump on and off, and uses antifreeze in 
cold climates. The PEX is all routed to one hole through the roof to a 
storage tank (through a heat exchanger) in the basement. From there the hot 
water can run through existing radiators, PEX subfloor heating, or just for 
hot water.

Lynn Wigglesworth
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "bobf" <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>
To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 28, 2009 9:34 AM
Subject: [Homestead] Another DIY inexpensive house or cabin from MEN


> For anyone looking to build a guesthouse or whatever, this looks like 
> another good, realistic idea.    Rob , I formatted the cut&paste the way 
> you asked.  There is a good image gallery at the link.
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
> Build a Home for $10,000 in 10 Days!
>
> By Chris McClellan
>
> For half a century, William Castle has been building bridges, cabins and 
> shanties of all shapes and sizes. His favorite projects are right in his 
> own yard. Woodland areas such as that of his native Belmont, N.Y., often 
> have an abundance of “junk” timber that has little commercial value 
> because of its small diameter, twisted grain or other imperfections. The 
> modified timber-framing method Castle has developed lets him quickly and 
> easily turn this low-cost, local resource into beautiful houses, such as 
> his daughter’s cabin (see the Image Gallery). The shell of the 
> 1,000-square-foot house was built over an existing foundation by a crew of 
> three to four adults and two children in less than 10 days — for less than 
> $10,000!
>
> If You Build It …
>
> Thirty years ago “Pollywogg Hollër,” as Bill and Barb Castle call their 30 
> acres surrounded by forest, began as a project to bring the family 
> together. Bill had his own bridge building company, a seven-day-a-week 
> work ethic and almost no connection to his growing children.
>
> At Barb’s insistence, Bill began taking time off, and over the course of 
> three summers, they and their three teenage children built a 
> 20-foot-by-30-foot log cabin in their back woods. They dug the well and 
> foundation by hand, dragged logs out of the woods with an old tractor, 
> peeled the logs with a drawknife and placed them with the help of a 
> homemade crane.
>
> Other than mortar, hardware and roofing, all the materials in that cabin 
> came from the land. Over time it became their home. Now, it’s a rustic bed 
> and breakfast “eco-retreat” that they run with their son Mikael — complete 
> with solar power, a sauna, bathhouse, picnic pavilion, wine bar and 
> wood-fired pizza oven. There’s even a stage for weddings and concerts. 
> Most importantly, that cabin brought their family together.
>
> As we walk through the enchanted village Castle has built, he points out 
> the different local woods and the uses he puts them to: There are 
> footbridges of larch (aka tamarack), which he calls “the poor man’s 
>  cedar.” Fence posts are rot-resistant black locust. Hemlock is used for 
> sheathing; red oak, for floors; and fir, for log cabin walls.
>
> Castle has used cedar for roof shakes in the past, but sustainably 
> harvested cedar is getting harder to find at any price. These days Castle 
> prefers to build low maintenance metal roofs or “living roofs” with a 
> rubber membrane covered with moss and wildflowers.
>
> A Simpler Timber-framing Technique
>
> Castle’s building technique has evolved to allow him to do more with less. 
> Hand building a log cabin over three summers is a great way to spend 
> quality time with your children, but the process uses more time and 
> material than timber framing a similar space. Also, while Castle prefers 
> to work with round timber, the natural curves and variations in tree 
> formation that give round pole construction its beauty also make it 
> difficult and time consuming, with complex cutting and matching. So using 
> low-cost material only partially makes up for the extra effort.
>
> Many timber framers mill timbers flat and square on all sides. Timbers 
> trimmed square and straight are easier to work with, especially when it 
> comes to cutting joints or attaching sheathing to the outside of the 
> timber frame. The downside is that square-timber framing usually requires 
> expensive woods, such as white oak, that are dimensionally stable and don’t 
> tend to twist as they dry.
>
> Castle has found a compromise that gives him the benefits of both 
> techniques — a kind of “three-quarter-round timber frame.” He simplifies 
> his cutting and fitting by milling one or two sides of each log flat, but 
> he leaves the other sides “in the round,” which keeps the wood stronger 
> and less likely to twist. This allows him to use smaller trees of 
> non-premium species, even with minimal drying.
>
> A three-quarter-round timber-frame is assembled with flat sides of the 
> wood facing out, making it easy to square and plumb the sides of the 
> building. Milling only the surfaces of the wood that will be covered by 
> the building sheathing also saves one-half to three-quarters of the 
> milling time, while retaining the rustic beauty of the round wood where 
> you can see it on the interior walls.
>
> The system of joinery Castle has developed to work with his 
> three-quarter-round timbers is quick, easy and forgiving. He starts by 
> squaring the round wood at the location of the joint with a radial arm saw 
> and a chisel. A chain saw will do the job a lot quicker, but the visual 
> quality of the joint suffers.
>
> Squaring the timber at the joints makes it easier to lay out cross pieces 
> and knee braces. The resulting edge between the round and square portions 
> of the timber also wedges the wood together in a way that adds strength to 
> the joint. The connection is secured by countersinking one or two 
> half-inch lag screws through the “meat” of both timbers. (See the Image 
> Gallery.)
>
> The flat surfaces of the three-quarter-round timber frame also make it 
> easier to attach sheathing and roofing with a minimum of cutting and 
> fitting. Castle usually sheathes his buildings with a “sandwich” of 
> rough-sawn boards around a core of 2 inches to 4 inches of foam 
> insulation, making these buildings extremely tight and well-insulated. 
> (See Castle House Diagram.)
>
> More Tips for the Technique
>
> It is worth noting that designing a building on a 4-foot-by-8-foot module 
> (open space between timbers of 4-feet-by-8-feet on center) has a number of 
> benefits. First, the timber frame will cover most, if not all, of the 
> joints if you choose to use drywall as the interior layer of your 
> sheathing sandwich, saving time in the finishing process. The drywall even 
> can be painted before it is hung, with no taping or masking!
>
> Not one to waste anything, Castle’s workshop is actually sheathed with 
> “log siding” made from the cut-offs or “slab wood” left over from milling 
> the frame and interior sheathing for the building.
>
> The wood in all of Castle’s buildings was selectively cut from his 
> property or within a few miles. Compared to clear-cutting the forests of 
> Canada and trucking in the lumber, local wood has a significantly smaller 
> ecological footprint. The practice also supports the local economy.
>
> If you use a lot of wood like Castle does, it can even make sense to 
> purchase your own mill. Because Castle also carves large tables from 
> single slabs of wood, he has a custom-made mill that can turn a 
> 5-foot-diameter tree into lumber.
>
> The Castle family has built two houses and a wood shop using Castle’s 
> three-quarter round timber frame method. It took a small crew a little 
> under 10 days to rough in each building. And each of these house shells 
> was completed for less than $10,000, which comes out to about $10 per 
> square foot!
>
> Using the same technique, Castle and a helper are building a workshop 
> where he can build his trademark rustic furniture. Construction has been 
> more time consuming, as the workshop is something of a showpiece with more 
> fancy joinery in the stairs and porches, but even with temporary Styrofoam 
> doors it is easily heated with a small, electric space heater.
>
> But it may be a while before Castle gets back to his furniture: Before he 
> disappears into the workshop, he has promised his wife a retirement cabin 
> built along the same lines.
>
> http://www.motherearthnews.com/Green-Homes/Timber-Frame-Homes.aspx
>
>
>
>
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