Yurt Magic — Building an Enchanting Instant House
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #76 • July/August, 2002
I awoke last night to a circle of moonlight reflected on a wall. It was so vivid I could almost see the dark-and-light patterns of the moonface in...
Gabion walls for form and function
By Joe Mooney
Issue #153 • May/June, 2015
I think there has to be something ingrained in the human brain that loves things built of stone. Maybe it's our desire for strength and safety or the...
PVC pipe in the home, garden, farm, and workshop
By Charles Sanders
Issue #94 • July/August, 2005
Perhaps one of the most important innovations in modern plumbing has been the development of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC), and related plastic pipe. These materials...
Rural Building
By Martin Harris
Issue #63 • May/June, 2000
From the architect's chair
Before beginning any building project, it is usually beneficial, from a time and cost perspective, to think through all the possible alternatives, weighing the pros...
A house a tornado helped build
By Robert L. Williams
Issue #16 • July/August, 1992
On May 5, 1989, tornadoes ripped through parts of three western North Carolina counties, including ours, and left piles of debris where houses, also including ours, once...
Build a stone wall
By Charles Sanders
Issue #70 • July/August, 2001
The natural beauty of a stone wall has been romanticized in poem and picture for hundreds of years. There is a soothing permanence that can be seen in...
A recycled dresser makes a useful bathroom vanity
By Jackie Clay-Atkinson
Issue #152 • March/April, 2015
Here's the finished vanity with our unfinished dresser
that will store our extra towels and linens.
We've had our log home built for more than eight years now, but until...
Build a cistern out of corrugated road culvert
By Joe Mooney
Issue #146 • March/April, 2014
Using a corrugated road culvert as a cistern is an economical way to add to your water storage. Here is the finished tank with PVC pipe directing water...
Build a Concrete Root Cellar
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #168 • November/December, 2017
I should have been a mole — it feels so safe and cool and quiet to be underground. So when my house burned down 20 years ago and...
Build a Trail
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Build a trail
By Claire Wolfe
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By Claire Wolfe
Standing near the top of the trail, looking down. The bright sunny spot in the middle distance will be the site of my future camping "pagoda;" it will...
Build your own repeating mouse trap
By Allen Easterly
Issue #110 • March/April, 2008
Safety note: Because of drowning danger, 5-gallon buckets with any amount of water in them should never be placed where children under the age of 5 will be...
Build your own portable forge
By Corcceigh Green
Issue #51 • May/June, 1998
Looking for a handy summer project while building skills, supplies, and knowledge to put away for a rainy future? Here's one to consider: try making your own forge....
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...
Installing a steel roof
By Norman Bennett
Issue #126 • November/December, 2010
One of the reasons steel roofs have become so popular is the simplicity and economy with which they can be placed over an old shingle roof. Still, despite...
This coop is for the birds
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #71 • September/October, 2001
You can buy a dozen eggs at the supermarket for 99 cents, or you can go out to the chicken coop you built and fetch a warm egg...
Radiant floor heating — Alternative to forced-air heating is solar-powered, too An interview with...
By Michael Hackleman
Issue #64 • July/August, 2000
Hydronic, or radiant floor heating is a method of heating a home, shop, or other building with the heat concentrated in the floor. It works by embedding special...































