Owl Swamp Projects

 

Earthen Oven
This was the first project at Owl Swamp. I bought Kiko Denzer's book, "Build Your Own Earth Oven" and built it in two days. The roof, plaster, and walls were built later. You can find the book at Amazon.com if you're interested. I'll be adding more pictures in the future.
More Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/owlswamp/EarthenOven#

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Hobbit House Shed
This was the second project I worked on. It's a hybrid earthbag, cordwood, and papercrete roof shed with a reciprocal roof. The plaster over the earthbags is earthen, with a lime stablizer. All the wood, doors, and windows were salvaged. I paid five bucks for the dome skylight at a thrift store.
More Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/owlswamp/HobbitHouse#

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Chicken House Shed
Third project: This shed is called the chicken house because I found an old KFC sign on my property and decided to use it for the sheathing for my tool shed. All the wood in this shed is recycled. The windows are glass plates (embedded in papercrete) I bought from a local thirft store.
More Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/owlswamp/ChickenHouse#

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Outdoor Shower
Fourth project: I wanted to try my hand at wattle and daub, and have a nice place for a cool shower after working. I utilized an existing old telephone pole, to mound a salvaged 38 gallon water heater tank, built a basket of twigs and saplings, covered that with chichen wire, and then added a lime/earthen plaster. I put a white sand and lime plaster on top to keep some of the water out. Add PVC pipe and shed your inabitions.
More Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/owlswamp/OutdoorShowerl#

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Tire Wall
Fifth project: I wanted to rescue some tires that were going to the landfill so I decided to build a tire wall. The stem wall is urbanite and the 200 tires are covered in a lime/earthen plaster. I didn't cover the top with a roof so I could see how long the plaster would stay. After two years the plaster is slowly melting away.
More Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/owlswamp/TireWall#

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Summer Proch
At some point in time, living in the southern USA, it comes time to have a nice cool place to recline during the hot summer months. I decided to build myself a porch that incorporated a passive cooling design. As usual, I also used free, salvaged, recycled, and/or thriftily bought materials. This is still a work in progress.
More Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/owlswamp/SummerPorch#

 

If you'd like more information please contact me at:
gakayaker at yahoo.com