Your Green Dream Home: First Things To Consider

Image Gallery Doing thorough research and having frequent conversations with your contractor are important aspects of making your dream home a reality. STEVE MAXWELL

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In 12 years of home construction, I have never talked to anyone who had realistic expectations about building a house. We green building types usually are even worse because our goals are so high that we don't simply want a good house, we want to transform our lives and save the planet in the process. These are wonderful aspirations. I have no desire to denigrate them, but I would like to inoculate the dream with a bit of realism while also providing tips for grabbing that dream by the horns and dragging it into the light of day.

The first hard lesson is that you and only you are responsible for your house. You may need the help of professionals, but ultimately only you can figure out how to integrate your idiosyncratic personal needs with your exact spit of land.

The point is that a good house is the symbiosis between specific people and a specific place. If you agree with that sentiment, then you have no choice but to get involved in the creation of your house. The only question is, how far should you go? Build it yourself, or write checks and watch from the sidelines?To me, the only imperative is that the house comes from you. The number of people you get to help with the building is unimportant. Even the most rugged individualist with only a few hand tools and a pickup that hauls soil and straw (for making cob) has enlisted the help of hundreds of people: those who designed and built the truck, manufactured the tools or grew the straw. Enlisting the help of architects and builders is no different — we all need help. The important thing to realize is that the building buck stops with you. The house is your dream, and its your money.

Learn the Basics

None of us are indigenous builders with an intuitive understanding of the materials we'll be using and how they can come together to create a complete entity called a house. (If you are, then stop reading and start building!) Its not enough to say that youre going to build a house with straw, earth or wood. You have to understand how those materials will interact with your particular outside environment in a way that creates the inside environment that you need to be comfortable, happy and healthy. To do that, youll need to research four basic topics and how they relate to your particular situation. Whether you're going to build it yourself or just take responsibility for the process, you need to understand:

Structure. The manner in which your building will hold itself up.

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