The Sustainable Home

About The Sustainable Home

I’ve been trying to figure out what sustainable building is – what kind of buildings are we making that we can say are sustainable for the next few hundred years, at least? I’ve traveled across North America meeting with builders and homeowners, and when I have time I write about superinsulation and air sealing, small homes, passive solar homes, natural building, eco-communities, and other things I’ve learned along the way.

Other posts on this website are based on my roughly eight years experience working in straw bale construction and plastering with Camel’s Back Construction. Here I offer lots of technical information about some aspects of natural building, including straw bale construction details, and working with natural plasters.

As a bonus feature I’ll share some of what I learned while building a simple, load-bearing, earth-plastered, 12’x16′ cabin. When I built this I wanted to test some techniques and building styles that I haven’t had a chance to try before, such as dipped bales and earth floor.

This website was first published in October 2012.

About Michael Henry

I’m a natural builder, freelance writer and educator, and author of Ontario’s Old-Growth Forests. I have been studying, writing about, and working actively to address problems related to our environment since the 1990’s.

Since 2004 I’ve been working as a natural builder and plasterer with Camel’s Back Construction, Straworks, and as an independent plaster artisan. I also work as an occasional instructor at The Endeavour Centre in Peterborough Ontario.

I am co-author with Tina Therrien of the book Essential Natural Plasters. This was our effort to make the detailed, thorough plaster book we always wanted, with loads of practical info about materials and techniques, and natural plaster recipes contributed by a number of professional natural builders.

8 comments

  1. Hi, I am about to reference the site but cant find date or year anywhere, doesnt it have the copyright or something else??

    1. Hi Harry, I have not been a fan of dates on web posts, but that is one good reason to rethink it. Meanwhile, I’ve added the date on this about page for you (the site went online in Oct 2012). Hope that helps

  2. Michael,
    Would you be willing to give permission to the Green Building Advisor web site to reprint your blog on the Dumont house as a guest blog? I would be grateful if you said yes.

  3. Hi, Michael. You\’re amazing, and we are lucky to have you.
    What is your opinion of a plaster that is one-third lime, one-third gypsum, and one-third clay?
    How would it perform?

    1. With sand I assume. In theory could work? I would post this question to the I love natural plaster Facebook group to see if someone has done it, and let me know if you try it.

  4. Hey Michael. Shirley and Tim from North Bay here. Just stumbled across your site and have enjoyed reading your posts. Keeping busy this winter with researching and planning for our strawbale house construction , likely starting next year (just re-read your excellent Natural Plasters book) …. looking forward to moving up from the “garage” in the next few years. Hope all’s well with you.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *