Hi all,

 

Hope the summer and now fall have found you well.

 

I wanted to let you know about a project we currently have underway that really represents the kind of work we love to do.

 

We're in the process of building a small strawbale home near Wausau, WI where we have put a new state law to use that allows a small sawmill like myself to "self-grade" my own construction lumber sawn from local materials.  

 

In this particular project, we are using a combination of quickly maturing aspen trees from the property itself for a timberframed structural core.

 

For 99% of the rest of the wood, we are using salvage white pine provided by the City of Wausau out of their central Marathon Park.  These trees were previously landfilled or chipped, but we have them trucked 30 miles to our building site and I "treecycle" them on the spot with my portable sawmill.

 

With these mature salvaged pine logs we are making construction lumber, wood siding, interior wood panelling, interior visible beams, and most of the finished trim, and doors.  We will use treecycled maple from this city for the cabinets, countertops, and staircase.

 

In addition all of the locally-sourced wood, we are using local strawbales for the wall insulation, and clay harvested nearby for the strawbale plaster "skin."

 

Also, the passive solar design will incorporate a vegetated, "living roof", to provide an aesthetic, long-lasting, and well insulated roof.

 

All in all we are building a very energy-efficient, economical, and aesthetic structure using materials with a very low embodied energy.  We believe that this kind of project represents a new school of thought when it comes to design and construction that will increasingly dominate the field as Americans move forward with less disposable cash and increased awareness of their environmental impact.

 

This project is currently underway in Mosinee, Wisconsin and anyone interested would certainly be welcome to to come visit and see the construction in action.

 

Signing off,

Alex

 

p.s. See photos under Selected Projects - Local Wood Strawbale Cottage - sorry, no editing yet and there are a LOT of photos.