Mold was the last straw for this 'innovative' house

Minneapolis Star-Tribune ^ | May 10, 2003 | Steve Brandt

[sarcasm]

What makes it heartbreaking, people say, is how eagerly Sherri Simmons looked forward to moving into the new farmhouse-style house just off Lake Street in Minneapolis.

"I've been excited from beginning to end," she said in 1998 as the house neared completion.

[Mamzelle]

If you can find some inexpensive vacation/rural property, putting up a getaway cabin yourself can be fun. Small in scale, it's an opportunity to work off a lot of fantasies. I'd also think that this straw-bale technique might be suitable for a barn or kennel or other livestock shelter in the southwest.

[mongrel]

I live in a house with vaulted ceilings up to 20 ft., lots of glass, and it's very comfortable and easy to clean. The key is the design, the overhangs, placement on the lot, and trees. We also used SIPs (structural insulated panels) which are simply OSB panels sandwiched around styrofoam. An economical way to build and heat, and few 2x's in the external shell to cause heat loss.