A natural building?

James:- ' Our challenge has been how to construct a relatively toxin free, strawbale and timber dwelling with clay and lime wall plasters and a clay floor within our budget and within the planning framework. The ethos was always to spend time on the research/design phase so that our final plans might be of help to others wishing to follow a natural building path through the present consents system. Thats not to say that we are turning our back on all modern building materials or techniques; it's just that we think certain unadulerated natural materials, and their respective well proven applications, have a place alongside certain synthetic materials in a modern house.

However, there are still areas that are causing us to reconsider constantly; as to whether we should use natural or synthetic. Insulation and foundations design are good examples . Forums are full of the pros and cons of the range of products available so won't go down that path. But here are a few thoughts:-what if certain companies have achieved the evironmental standard ISO 14001 for their whole production process and their product satisfies our most important requirements yet it is synthetic? How natural is natural..................what if a 'natural product' includes synthetics too or a company hasn't achieved ISO 14001?

Should sub-slab insulation in central Otago be no more than dry earth (apparently a very poor conductor of heat) , or possibly the ultimate in XPS poly..........or even wine bottles on their sides?

How far should one follow their preferred foundation design of, for instance, a rubble trench (a natural building 'must-have') through the buidling regs; considering the seismic issues involved, the potential cost of finding supporting expertise outside of NZ; should that energy be spent on investigating the potential of crushed glass aggregate or fibreglass rebars within a bog standard concrete footing? Or neither?

Is ridding a house of treated timber, through very careful design, really worth the the time expended on it? Or should time have been spent on researching 'untreated' aussie hardwood poles, that I now find to be treated with 'Dieldrin' prior to being imported to NZ many years ago? (Google it..........its pretty potent stuff.)

I could continue for hours along similar lines but i just wanted to share a few conumdrums i've experienced.

Over and out

to post or not to post

James:- 'My ideas for this blog are to keep both friends and family as well as other interested parties informed of our progress (or seemingly lack of it at times) and to record our journey of building the home of our dreams within the the NZ planning regulations. There will be photos at times as well.

Presently though i've got a couple of months to catch up on and rather than bore everybody with vague recollections of what we might have done on 06/06, i thought i'd fill in the picture by doing themed posts; to provide a background of many of the issues we have faced and the decisions we have made. I'll try to keep them interesting and informative so if anyone is embarking on a similar journey they might be able to save a few dollars by not making the same mistakes!