Underhill House will be hosting an open house Friday October 26 from 4 to 6 p.m. 3487 County Road H, Ridgeway WI 53582 Underhill House in July. We’ve made a lot of progress since our last open house when the timbers had just been put in place last July. Unfortunately […]
According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, properly insulated homes use half the energy of those without insulation. Underhill House is a blend of old and new ways to insulate. Over half the house’s walls is insulated with straw bales with an R-value of 30-45. The other half – that […]
Saturday morning the air was brisk morning with cloudy skies and a bit of wind. I was keeping my hands in my pockets as much as possible at the farmers’ market underneath the water tower at the highest spot in Mineral Point (about 3 blocks from our temporary digs). I’ll […]
The stucco finish on Underhill House has turned into quite a testing ground. The prep work and first coats began in July (See my post Underhill House Gets Plastered part one ). Finally in October is the end in sight. It usually doesn’t take so long to stucco a house. […]
We are going to get between our two floors on a winder staircase that Della designed. I was going to blog about the wonderful winder stairway at Underhill House today because the basic framing in was completed yesterday. Winders are nice because they minimize how much space the stairs take […]
Using clay, sand, straw and sawdust from our land, plus a few fire bricks and some discarded wine bottles, we are building a cob oven a few steps from Underhill House — and we will soon be baking wood-fired crusty breads, sizzling pizza and soft-centered, crunchy veggies for ourselves and […]
The health care industry uses enormous amount of energy and generates a vast amount of waste. What is going to turn this power-hungry, polluting ship around? Hopefully the next generation of medical care providers. If you would like to follow the progress of a new medical student who is focused […]
Underhill House got a thorough once-over last week. Scott Godfrey, Director of the Iowa County Office of Planning and Development in Dodgeville, had asked if he and a group of other regional zoning/planning colleagues from surrounding counties, all members of the SW District of the Wisconsin County Code Administrators, could […]
We are determined to make a sustainable home for ourselves and those who live there after us, but as much as we have focused on this goal during this intense building year, we need to step back periodically and remind ourselves that this structure is not just a shelter – […]
Doug and I participated in a 6-day straw bale workshop a few years ago, and I loved every minute of it, but though that was also a round timber home designed by Whole Tree Architecture and Structures, it was a single story building, and the ceiling was pretty level all […]
Digging in the Driftless 