Winter Blues

Listen to the Falling Rain… The Western Cape winter can give you the winter blues. But it can also be a wonderful time to sit by the fire and sip a glorious pinotage from one of the local vineyards, relax and love the sound of pouring rain. Think of the dams...

The Sad Reality

Poor Quality Workmanship It did not take long for the sad reality of the poor, sub-standard workmanship to dawn on us. The disappointment in the build quality and lack of attention to detail was shocking. We had such high hopes for our eco house (see our post How We...

Realising the Concept

Going Up… The Building Phase One spends months in the planning phase of a new house, tweaking plans to get the ideal home. Realising the concept had to wait till the actual build. The building phase of our eco home was really fast. From one photo to the next the...

Super Structure

Light steel frame rising up “Hey ho and up she rises….”. From nothing all of a sudden a gable went up. The light steel frame super structure was rising, seemingly out of nowhere, to the shock of the neighbours and the building inspector! Light steel...

Cast in Stone

Well…. not quite cast in stone, but rather laying the foundation in concrete. Concrete Foundation Making certain the foundations are right is key to preventing future structural issues. It’s the engineer’s job to specify the concrete foundation...

Earthworks

Foundation of an eco build The foundation of an eco build should not only be the physical foundations but also in the ethos of an eco build. An eco estate should encompass as many sustainable, green-living and socially responsible ideals as is economically possible....