"Bonjour"

[opera]

Hello, I'm actually English Canadian but have lived in France for almost ten years. Happy to find this forum. I will probably be more of a "lurker" since my home construction is still 100% in the planning stages. The given is that I want to build sustainably, so it is either a cabin or straw bale. So I can't wait to read about others' experiences. :)

[rockinlog]

welcome opera! im fairly new also and have yet to take the class enjoy the site the people here are more than willing to give you advice if needed :)

[Blondie]

Hello Opera,
Welcome! Good morning Rockinlog, how is everyone this morning. Do you have any questions for us?

Blondie

[sdart]

Hi Opera,
Are you planning on building in France? Whereabouts are you?

Sarah

[opera]

Hi Opera,
Are you planning on building in France? Whereabouts are you?

Sarah

Thanks for the welcome, Rockinlog, Blondie and Sdart. I currently live in Normandy, but am investigating the possibility of building in southern Ontario or western Quebec (within 1 hour radius of Ottawa/Hull) within the next five years. It will depend on where a) I can afford land and b) building permits allow for the smaller size of home and alternative building method I'm aiming for. I have no real questions so far, am working my way through your website and even chatted with a LHBA rep (the live chat is a nice feature).

In Canada, it seems like unorganised townships might be the place to look for land, since building is not so highly codified in them. So far where I looked (Lanark county), there was a compulsory minimum of 1,000 sq feet (I'd be happy with 800) and I would not be allowed to build with lumber I cut down on my own property.

Perhaps one compound question: is this style of log cabin building warm enough for a Canadian winter? I saw that the chinking includes cement over insulation - can green insulations be used, like lime, cellulose or straw? Thanks :)

[Blondie]

Oh Yes! Big logs in cabin walls are warm in Alaska winters. That is where I got hooked at 86 below. I am not kidding!

Blondie

[opera]

Ah yes, the classic Alaskan log cabin. The worst I saw when I lived in NW Ontario was -45C (-49F), so you win with that story. :) The more I look into sustainable construction, the less I understand why other materials became so widely adopted.

[Blondie]

When it gets cold, very cold in Fairbanks the wind does not blow. The air is too cold to move. You can go out and start your car to warm it up. You let the car run for say fifteen minutes. There will be a solid cloud of mist from the gas combustion in the engine sitting at the rear end of your car. You must check out all traffic before getting back in your car because you can't see thru it. It takes the cloud about 45 minutes to slowly dissipate. It is rather odd to look out over an empty parking lot to just see large dense mist clouds sitting where all the cars were a half hour before. Car tires become flat on the pavement side and it takes them along time before the movement on the pavement produces enough heat to make them round again. The car moves forward a foot or two and then hits the flat side "whap" the the car requires more gas to move past flat again. The most interesting thing happens when you go around the corner and the tires no longer "whap" in unison. Needless to say car travel at minus 86 is not fast. 20 miles an hour is speeding! Lololo

[rreidnauer]

Keep it up Blondie. Ya just about got me talked into moving there. :rolleyes:

[Blondie]

Oh Rod, if you only new. I had an MD friend that ordered in a fancy sports car. It took months to arrive. We heard nothing but this car for eons. It arrived, he drove it home at minus 86 and slammed the driver's side door and the hinges broke and the door fell to the garage floor. Farley Mowat writes about "stiff legged pizerinctums." I am sure that his went on for quite a while that evening. He was not a man rebound for his long patience under stress.

Blondie