Channel Title: Building Roots - Alternative living Channel Description: A couple with 4 kids building a straw bale house with our own two hands on a family farm in North Dakota. Making our dreams become a reality. <video> Earthen Floor Part 2 | Straw Bale House Build Description: In this video we laid our second coat of earthen floor which also happens to be our final layer. We have 2-3" of concrete as our sub floor, we then poured around 1" of earthen mix on top of the concrete, and for our final coat we went with a 1/2" thickness of earthen materials. We had a few set backs along the way during this process which was a huge bummer for us but a person just has to go with the flow and trust that it will all work out. We will be posting our next video of oiling the floor so stay tuned! #strawbalehouse #earthenfloor #dirtfloor #passivesolar #radiantfloor </video> <video> Oiling the Earthen Floor Part 3 | Straw Bale House Build Description: After allowing the floors to dry thoroughly and getting our range hood installed (previous video), we were ready to oil the floors! This is the last (and a crucial) step to earthen floors. We used healthy linseed oil from Tried and True that we mixed with 100% natural citrus solvent to thin the oil. We started with the perimeter then the remaining areas. We did 4 coats total, each one right after the other. We do plan to do another coat or two before we move into the house to give it one final 'seal'. Thanks again for watching our channel! #earthenfloor #dirtfloor #strawbalehouseconstruction #passivesolar #radiantfloorheat </video> <video> Refinishing/Installing Kitchen Cabinets on Straw Bale House Walls! Description: We spent many weeks working on getting all of the kitchen cabinets sanded down and coated with AcryLacq by AFM. We had high hopes the baking soda blaster would make this project go quicker but it was more of a hassle than anything. A large air compressor is needed for it to work smoothly (even with the 15lb tank). We maybe weren't patient enough with this step, but the soda was almost too powerful resulting in deep gouges in the wood. And lastly, the baking soda reacted with the tannins in the wood causing the wood to turn green in all the areas where the baking soda was still present. At this point there was already 1 coat of lacquer on but thankfully lemon juice still pulled most of the green out! ...We purchased these cabinets used a few years ago and designed our kitchen layout based on these cabinets. Thank you for watching - please like and subscribe if you haven't done so yet to follow the journey of getting this straw bale house completed! #strawbalehouse #passivesolar #sodablaster </video> <video> Repurposed Loft Railing | Straw Bale House Build Description: We were able to build our loft railing from redwood posts that were saved from getting thrown in the dumpster and 1" rebar that our neighbor had a pile of which was from a leftover city water project. We burned the posts and brushed the rusted rebar with *several* wire brushes leaving us with a beautiful railing system that adds a lot of character and ties right into our unique straw bale house. We also have water to our kitchen sink, toilet installed, and our bathroom ceiling is finished! ...We have really been slacking with getting videos published!!!... Thank you all for watching! Please subscribe and follow our journey if you haven't done so! #rebarrailing #earthenfloor #strawbalehome #radiantfloorheat #passivesolar </video> <video> Adding Color to the Interior! | Straw Bale House Build Description: We primed and painted our sheetrock walls and the kids finally get to see what their rooms will look like with their favorite colors! We still have three more rooms to finish for accent walls, but for now we are moving on to the living room/kitchen ceiling! Thank you all for following our journey. #strawbalehouseconstruction #passivesolar </video> <video> Earthen Floor In Our Straw Bale Home | Part 1 Description: We finished the first layer of earthen floors in our house and couldn't be happier with how it turned out! We mixed clay-soil, sand, straw, and water together and poured this over our concrete slab for a sustainable, earth friendly, non toxic flooring system in our house. We will be doing a topcoat once this is all dry followed by linseed oil to create a durable finish! Most people think the concept is strange but they also have never heard nor seen it done before. We want to show you the beauty of it all - stay tuned for future videos of the finished product! #earthenfloor #dirtfloor #strawbalehouse #passivesolar </video> <video> Finishing Touches | Straw Bale House Build Description: It has been a while since our last video and have since moved in! We are doing well; we just took time off away from the computer and camera while working on outside projects as well as small projects inside. This video is showing the larger projects that were completed before moving in, such as refinishing the earthen floors and staircase, painting the island, adding shelves into the pantry and waxing the rebar. The appliances and bathroom vanities are all in as well! While there are still a few more projects left to finish in the house, it was time to finally get in there! We will be posting a walk-through of the finished house in the near future as well as another time lapse so keep your eye out for them! Hope you enjoy this video, as always thanks for watching! #strawbale #earthenfloor #passivesolar #radiantfloor #spiralstaircase #anniesloan #walkinpantry </video> <video> Range Hood Install + Finishing beams and porch ceiling | Straw Bale House Build Description: While waiting for our earthen floors to dry we tidied up loose ends - we finished our porch ceiling with Shou Sugi Ban tongue and groove, we burned and wrapped our LVL beams with pine, and with the help of family - we installed our range hood! The floors were dry but not yet oiled and they held up really well to the ladders and all the foot traffic inside! Thanks again for watching - if you haven't yet subscribed, please do so to help our channel grow! </video> <video> Shou Sugi Ban on the CEILING | Straw Bale House Build Description: In today's video we finished our tongue and groove ceiling in our living room. We went with the shou sugi ban technique. To achieve this effect, the boards are burned, brushed down, then washed off. Completely charring the boards will make for water proof, insect/rot resistant boards for the outdoor elements which is a great way to go if you don't want to be using any harsh chemicals to seal your boards. We have a few more projects where we will be using this technique as well. I hope you enjoy this video and please be sure to like and subscribe to our channel to watch our modern straw bale house build journey! #shousugiban #modernhouseconstruction #strawbalehome #passivesolar </video> <video> A little bit of everything | Straw Bale House Build Description: This video is showing all the small tasks that we have been doing in between all the larger projects. Enjoy! #strawbalehousebuild #passivesolar #earthenfloor #radiantfloorheat #sheepswoolinsulation #sustainablehome </video> <video> Cork Flooring in the loft! | Straw Bale House Build Description: We are ready to lay the cork flooring upstairs on the second floor! The loft is the kid's area, so they have been eagerly waiting for this time to come; hence all the excitement while working! We chose wicanders GO cork flooring and so far, have been very satisfied with the product - it is soft, warm, has a little grip, and looks lovely! Thank you all for continuing to watch our straw bale house build journey - if you haven't liked and subscribed, please do so to help us out! #Strawbalehouse #Corkfloor #Passivesolar </video> <video> TIMELAPSE phase 2 | Straw Bale House Build Description: Here is the second phase of our straw bale house build! From dirt work to moving in, it took us exactly 2 years to build. ENJOY! If you are new to the channel, please join our journey by checking out our other videos of our progress along the way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSRUBLb6Kbg&list=PLZyRNGGQu16AZ3UAZy4uakyYprhIcpac7 Thank you from the bottom of our heart to all those who helped us along the way, whether it was advice through a phone call or a helping hand when we needed it! We plan to have a few more videos out in the future of updates/tour...thank you all for your support of our channel! #strawbalehouse #sustainable #passivesolar #earthenfloor #limeplaster </video> <video> FINISH coat of Lime Plaster on exterior | Modern Straw Bale Home Description: We textured our drywall inside using the knockdown finish and the exterior of the house finally received the last coat of natural hydraulic lime plaster - the finish coat! The day went pretty smoothly, taking about 15 1/2 hours with the help of friends and family - thanks to each one of you for all your help (you know who you are)! We are happy to be completely done with plastering inside and out... for now anyhow ;) Thanks to all who continue to watch the progress of our house, we sure do appreciate the support! I should note that it is fully recommended to put up tarp for all sides of the house to protect the walls from the wind and sun. Also, we didn't mention in the video but we did keep our walls wet for 3 days after plastering (the longer the better) - constantly misting every part of the house EVERY hour. #naturalhydrauliclime #strawbalehouse #passivesolarhome #modernstucco </video> <video> Installing Knotty Alder Doors | Straw Bale House Description: In today's video we put in a large cabinet for our bathroom upstairs and we also stained and installed 7 of our doors. We still have 4 barn doors that we need to buy and install as well in the future. As always, thank you for watching! Be sure to check out our other videos and subscribe to help our channel grow! #KnottyAlderDoors #Passivesolar #Earthenfloor #StrawBaleHouse #HouseConstruction </video> <video> Finishing our shower walls with sealed lime plaster | Straw Bale House Build Description: We have two shower surrounds that need to be finished with our polished/sealed plaster method. We did the best we could with what we had, we learned a lot and also had a few errors along the way. I love how the first shower turned out but the second one is another story. We know it doesn't look very good, but it is what it is now and at least we can somewhat 'hide' it with a shower curtain 🤣. Thanks for watching! </video>

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A couple with 4 kids building a straw bale house with our own two hands on a family farm in North Dakota. Making our dreams become a reality.

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