Learn sustainable building tips from a life-long expert in self-sufficiency.
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6 Tips to Getting Started with Sustainable Building Techniques
Updated on Jan. 09, 2024
Richard Flatau, a cordwood house and sustainable building expert from Merrill, Wisconsin, is a man of the 60s, born into a time when he says people were “questioning just about everything in society”
Like many of his peers, he was drawn to being self-sufficient. After getting married, he and his wife decided to dive into building a sustainable home made from local materials that would help them live mortgage free.
After purchasing 40 acres of land in northern Wisconsin, inspiration struck when they came across an article in Mother Earth’s News about Jack Henstridge, who had rediscovered a method for building cordwood homes in New Brunswick, Canada. Henstridge’s story immediately got the couple thinking.
After some deep research into how they could make it happen, they hand-built their cordwood home through summer heat and winter storms. This was just the beginning of their sustainability journey. All of their knowledge and experience quickly went into teaching others. Before long the Flatau’s were leading workshops and building cordwood structures all over the U.S. and Canada.
By now they’ve truly honed in on best practices through years of experience and collaboration with other cordwood builders. The Flataus have experimented with living roofs as well as other forms of sustainable building like earthen plaster, cobwood, adobe, and strawbale— just to name a few.
A simple desire to go back to the land in the 60s has spawned a life-long interest and helped so many others on their path toward self-sufficiency.
If the idea of sustainability inspires you, but you feel intimidated by the grandeur of building your own home, Flatau recommends starting small, building skills, and deep diving into research.
Here are his tips for getting started.
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Build Your DIY Skills
Learning sustainable skills is a great place to begin. Start by upgrading your current home. Learn to change a light fixture or fix a leaky faucet. Build something small to get used to basic DIY tools like nail guns and reciprocating saws. Flatau himself was not initially a carpenter or construction worker, but he gained his skills through trial and error. He helped finish basements and build garages, practicing things that he thought he’d need to know in order to build his own home.
When leading sustainability workshops, Flatau found that a lot of people didn’t know how to use basic tools, so they’d pause what they were doing and get into how to use the tools properly. Starting with smaller DIY projects provides experience, develops your building skills and helps you develop the confidence needed to take on larger sustainability projects.
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Go to a Workshop
Every experience is worth your time and money, even if you discover this technique isn’t for you. Too often, people start building a cordwood home or a straw bale home, realize it was too much work and just stop mid-build.
By participating in sustainability workshops or helping with smaller builds, you can try out different techniques like strawbale, cordwood, and earthen plaster to find the one that’s right for you.
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Do a Small Build
Make a chicken coop or small shed using the various types of walls you are interested in building. Have one wall be cordwood, one of earthen plaster, one of cob, and one of strawbale. See which works for you. A small build will also let you experiment with things like a living roof or solar panels to power a small light or heater for your chickens. Essentially, get some experience and experiment!
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Do Your Research
According to Flatau, there have been around 500 cordwood homes and buildings, chicken coops and garages built in Wisconsin. That doesn’t mean you can build whatever you want in your own home or backyard. When planning a project, dig into your local building codes to see what is allowed and what expectations your build needs to adhere to. Always make sure that your plans are up to code before you break ground.
There are a lot of ways to work within the system. Flatau says that in Wisconsin, there is a Uniform Dwelling Code that says if you are allowed to build a dwelling in one county, “it should be given serious consideration” in neighboring counties. But there are also specific building codes that have to be met. Knowing what is needed and how your alternative home can work under those codes will be essential to your success.
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Gather and Store Materials
Knowing the materials you want to work with ahead of time will allow you to get them for much cheaper.
“I went to a local forestry agent, and I asked, ‘Do you know of anyone that’s cutting cedar in there?’” says Flatau. The agent was able to help him find cedar logs. He also put an ad in the paper and would inquire about logs he saw when driving by people’s homes. With the availability of online tools like Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, it’s easier than ever to find the things you need. Repurposing and reusing materials is key to sustainable building.
Sustainability can also require hoarding things away until you’re ready to use them. You just have to be ready to gather the materials when they’re available. Once Flatau got 1000 free paving bricks because an old railway depot was redoing its walkway. He put them around his chimney, solar room, and flooring.
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Know That It Takes Time— and That’s Okay
Building in a sustainable way takes an extra commitment of time and work. Whether it’s a small sustainability build or a full house, research and planning is important. Developing floor plans, making a materials list, and making sure you know exactly what to order is important.
Knowing your materials and what needs to happen before starting to build will be crucial to your success. Materials like cordwood take time to dry, Then building the walls and each section takes time. Just make sure not to rush through any process, and remember not to give up! Start out small and build those skills, and before long you’ll feel ready for a larger undertaking.
“Working for Habitat for Humanity is another way to improve your building skills or get building skills if you don’t have it,” says Flatau.
If you want to learn more about Richard and his sustainability journey, check out his website and Facebook page.
