Alternative Housing Materials

I was watching FOX news this morning and they had a story about people in, I think it was, Florida that are using steel storage containers for housing material. These storage containers have sat at the harbor and were not being used. Builders are finding the steel to be an excellent material to use in these new houses. Very strong. The houses look "normal" on the outside, but inside all the walls are made from the steel. I told Scott, "Look! They are using steel! Our metal house idea is not so weird." Actually, if you look on the net there are a lot of companies that make metal buildings. Using metal/steel buildings for homes is becoming more and more popular.

Another alternative house was in my December Country Home magazine. A couple bought a 22 acre farm in Wisconsin and instead of living in the house on the property (which was older), they chose to remodel and live in the huge Scandinavian-style barn. Wow! It is absolutely gorgeous. Wide spaces, airy, warm wood everywhere....yet it still looks like a house. I was curious as to how they insulated such a large area. I found out that they insulated with a sprayed-in-place foam from the outside (then residing), which preserved the interior woodwork.

In This Old House magazine a couple remodeled an industrial building that used to be used for making eye glasses. It was interesting because they chose to leave a lot of the industrial/architectural details. It was a lot of work to fix it up, but now they have this really cool loft home.

Scott and I have been looking over house plans for the past few days. We've been discussing options. It is exciting to think about building our own house. There are so many interesting products/materials out there.