Building Archives - Backwoods Home Magazine

Build an attached solar greenhouse

By David Lee Issue #125 • September/October, 2010 We planned it to be permanent, well built, and able to withstand the extremes of temperature, humidity, and weather a greenhouse must tolerate inside and out for many...

Building your chicken coop

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #139 • January/February, 2013 Here's a coop we built from pallets and scrap lumber. The goats lived in one end and the chickens lived in the other. It was free and worked...

For summertime baking needs, build yourself an outdoor horno

By Rev. J.D. Hooker Issue #57 • May/June, 1999 My family has always been big on birthdays and holidaysincluding Thanksgiving, Christmas, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, New Years, and so on. Every holiday is a major...

Build a graceful footbridge

By Harrison Stone Issue #77 • September/October, 2002 Tap your heels together three times and repeat after me, "There is no place like homeThere is no place like homeThere is no place like home, especially when...

Build a Trapper’s Tilt

By Robert Van Putten Issue #177 • July/August/September, 2019 For as long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted a rustic log cabin deep in the forest. I believe there is something unique about this simple,...

Turning a $10,000 House into a Home — Part 1: Salvaging the Wreck

By Claire Wolfe Issue #155 • September/October, 2015 December 2012. Welcome to my house as I first saw it. The door opens onto a dirt-floored room. It's not a garage, not a storeroom, not a laundry room,...

Install rafters alone the easy way

By Robert L. Williams Issue #35 • September/October, 1995 Anyone who has ever worked on roof framing knows that nailing up rafters is a two-man job at the very best. At worst, the task requires the...

The house that Dorothy built

By Dorothy Ainsworth Issue #86 • March/April, 2004 This isn't the first time we've had an article by and about Dorothy Ainsworth. Throughout the text are editor's notes refering you...

Free pallet wood and birdhouses add up to big country dollars

By Rick Brentlinger Issue #53 • September/October, 1998 If I could show you how to manufacture a product anywhere in the country and if I offered to find you the raw materials free, would you be...

Shelves and benches

By David Lee Issue #107 • September/October, 2007 Money doesn't buy happiness but it sure does buy a lot of stuff. If it is nice stuff then you need a place to display it. If it...

From triumph to tragedy to triumph again. Dorothy Ainsworth makes her valiant comeback

By Dorothy Ainsworth Issue #50 Mar/Apr 1998 BHM readers are familiar with Dorothy Ainsworth, the log home-building Ashland, Oregon, waitress who spent more than six years building a beautiful log home, only to have it burn...

Shake update

By David Lee Website Exclusive • January, 2005 Since my shake article was published in Backwoods Home Magazine, Issue #88, I have learned that some of the more ambitious and better-looking readers have gone out and...

Build your own home in two years — Get a PhD in homebuilding

By David Lee Issue #115 • January/February, 2009 There is an old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times." Curse or not, times are interesting. We have world crises, national troubles, state level problems, county...

Building David’s Cabin, Part One

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #172 • July/August, 2018 Like most young folks today, our son David graduated high school, got a job, and went to college (accumulating student loans in the process). After that, he worked...

Build Your Own Hoop House

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #171 • May/June, 2018 I’ve had my own garden for more than half a century, and I have learned a few things after all these years. One of the most valuable things...

Build a chicken tractor

By Connie Rabun Issue #127 • January/February, 2011 In the beginning we had chickens...and no coop! Any homesteader knows that the number one rule is to always have your animal housing prepared before you invest in...