Building a Beautiful Inexpensive Stone House

There are many reasons to start building a beautiful inexpensive stone house, but we'll list seven here. To build a stone house from scratch is to create a sustainable home that can last for centuries to come.

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by AdobeStock/yolfran

There are many reasons to start building a beautiful inexpensive stone house, but we’ll list seven here. To build a stone house from scratch is to create a sustainable home that can last for centuries to come.

After spending eight years in our $2,000, self-built stone house in southern Idaho, Sharon and I sometimes wonder whether–were we somehow forced to start construction all over again–we would still build our home with natural stone. After all, the owner-builder can now select from many intriguing low-cost shelter possibilities including log, cordwood, wood frame, pole, adobe, and earth-sheltered homes … plus yurts, domes, tipis, houseboats, and an endless variety of innovative salvage-material structures.

two story stone house

Of course, it would be absurd to suggest that any building material or type of structure is “best” for all people under every circumstance, and certainly each one has its own outstanding advantages. Still, we can’t help concluding that building with stone– aka “plain old rocks”–has more to recommend it for more people in more building situations than does an owner-built home made with any other material. Here’s why:

Reason Number One

  • Updated on Feb 14, 2023
  • Originally Published on Nov 1, 1981
Tagged with: building, labor, masonry, stone, stonemason, structure
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