Healthy, zero carbon accessory dwelling unit
In 2018, we undertook an urban renovation project in downtown Peterborough, Ontario. The city had just adjusted its by-laws to allow for secondary suites on residential properties. Our client had an empty, 100 year old garage attached to her home and wanted to...
Round straw bale columns
Round straw bale columns Many people use small, square straw bales to make buildings, but we used the big round bales as load-bearing columns in a building! The big rounds are incredibly dense and uniform, and we lab tested them to 120,000 pounds of load! They are...
Zero House Goals – Zero Toxin Living Space
The toxicity of buildings is a subject that is not much discussed, but it is definitely one worth thinking about. Most homeowners seem to assume that some form of government regulation is at work to make sure the building products in their homes are not toxic, but...
What Makes Zero House – Applegate Cellulose Insulation
This is one in a series of blog posts about the materials we’ve chosen to build our Zero House project… What is Applegate Cellulose Insulation? Cellulose insulation is a high performance blown-in insulation for wall, roof and floor cavities that is...