Natural Building in the Appalachians, info resources needed

Looking for suggestions on where I could learn to build a natural structure durable for a temperate rainforest. I'm currently taking construction 1&2, carpentry and millworking, I love it, but its also shown me how wasteful and toxic our stick built homes are and quite frankly , I'm disgusted,  greatly. I can't consciously build my own home with any of the materials we are using in class. Even my professors are alarmed at new building codes saying people have to use certain brands of materials and restrictions on building from resources on your own land.
I'm shying away from rammed earth simply because of the cement that is still added as part of the mixture, unless im unaware of ways without it?
I'm leaning towards a mix of cob/strawbale or cord wood... and looking into the more recent hempcrete. I've done a bit of ceramics and was even thinking of making my own ceramic blocks...
I'm just beginning my research, so I'm hoping people could share some educational resources...in person preferably, hopefully in North Carolina, but can travel to another area with similar climate like Washington state to learn. I'm 7a climate zoned, in the mountains here the average frost line is 18 inches.
I'm on the outskirts of Asheville NC and plan on buying land within 2 years, hopefully sooner, and contemplating building a walipini greenhouse for winter, small home and  an art studio that will most likely be bigger than my living space where I can hold workshops for children- another reason I want to use safe materials only.

Any links to your favorite, videos, articles, books, contact info to anyone who has already built in a humid rainy environment that is comfortable letting me see their creation...or workshops would be greatly appreciated.
Really glad I found this site, I've had quite a few rabbit hole nights reading info here.

stone and log homes have been built in the Appalachians for centuries and there are still some standing.

keeping rain off of the structure is the most important thing i think, even though you don't traditionally see large overhangs on historical appalacian cabins it seems like there would be more left standing if they had used them.

noah bradley on youtube talks a lot about trad appalacian log cabins and gives out a fair amount of into gratis.

i worry about straw bale in any area that is high moisture/rain or humidity.  maybe unwarranted and I really dont know much about that type of constrution but i have seen how gross straw gets when its wet even for short periods of time.

I don't know how similar his climate is, but I believe Mr. Chickadee, the youtuber is from Southern Virginia or Northern North Carolina area.

He does a lot of natural building on his channel. I was just referring to one video last night thinking about how to do some interior paneling.

This is the one I watched I believe, there are many others, mostly about timber framing:  

I wish I could give you more resources, but I do wish you luck. It's a beautiful area you're talking about building in.

Rose, welcome to the forum!

You might enjoy this book and the videos:

https://permies.com/wiki/87449/Mudgirls-Manifesto-Handbuilt-Homes-Handcrafted

This workshop is happening right in your neighborhood:

https://permies.com/t/188257/Uncle-Mud-Party-Rocket-Pizza

Something you also might want to research is having a Rocket Mass Heater to heat your home and Uncle Mud can help you with that:

https://permies.com/t/191801/Building-Ultimate-Rocket-Mass-Heater

https://www.unclemud.com
https://www.youtube.com/unclemud
https://permies.com/u/164246/Chris-McClellan

L. Johnson wrote:I don't know how similar his climate is, but I believe Mr. Chickadee, the youtuber is from Southern Virginia or Northern North Carolina area.

He does a lot of natural building on his channel. I was just referring to one video last night thinking about how to do some interior paneling.

This is the one I watched I believe, there are many others, mostly about timber framing:  

I wish I could give you more resources, but I do wish you luck. It's a beautiful area you're talking about building in.

Yes! Mr Chickadee!! Love his videos, and thanks haven't watched this one yet and for some reason I didn't realize how close he is to my area! His hand work of non electric tools is beyond fascinating.

Anne Miller wrote:Rose, welcome to the forum!

You might enjoy this book and the videos:

https://permies.com/wiki/87449/Mudgirls-Manifesto-Handbuilt-Homes-Handcrafted

This workshop is happening right in your neighborhood:

https://permies.com/t/188257/Uncle-Mud-Party-Rocket-Pizza

Something you also might want to research is having a Rocket Mass Heater to heat your home and Uncle Mud can help you with that:

https://permies.com/t/191801/Building-Ultimate-Rocket-Mass-Heater

https://www.unclemud.com
https://www.youtube.com/unclemud
https://permies.com/u/164246/Chris-McClellan

Thank you so much!! Definitely checking out the workshop at the end of the month and with share the info with classmates that would be interested! Thank you for the other links as well!! Beautiful!

Erik Krieg wrote:stone and log homes have been built in the Appalachians for centuries and there are still some standing.

keeping rain off of the structure is the most important thing i think, even though you don't traditionally see large overhangs on historical appalacian cabins it seems like there would be more left standing if they had used them.

noah bradley on youtube talks a lot about trad appalacian log cabins and gives out a fair amount of into gratis.

i worry about straw bale in any area that is high moisture/rain or humidity.  maybe unwarranted and I really dont know much about that type of constrution but i have seen how gross straw gets when its wet even for short periods of time.

I'll check out Noah Bradley! And yes, I share similar concerns about straw in our area and moisture issues. Im leaning more towards log/cord structures mixed with natural stone or clay bricks ill make. I'll end up finding out more of the strawbale techniques-im not familiar enough yet either, but I like the idea of building with it for an outdoor doghouse to test it out.
My mom grew up part of her life on a farm and every winter in the Appalachians northern into Pennsylvania, they would stack straw bales into basically an igloo for the two farm dogs and it was super warm & they loved it. Easy clean, they would just compost it every Spring. I'll just have to make sure I get straw from an organic farm.

Appalachia has the advantage that the rain comes straight down, at least it did when the house had trees all around it.

I would be careful of cordwood. All the log cabins that have survived were squared timber that has all the sap wood removed. Anything built with round logs rotted away. Only the heartwood is rot resistant in their weather and bug load.

if you do go log home i am interested in trying the butt and pass method but with squared off logs.  as the previous poster said, the sap wood isnt nearly as rot resistant.  the butt and pass pinned with epoxy coated or galvanized rebar should last a really long time.

i would want a full overhang all the way around 24'' or even better a trussed out 36-48'' overhang or wrap around porch on any wooden structure around here.   my house is painted cypress and the sides that don't have overhangs get beaten by the weather and need to be repainted every couple of years.  my siding covered by the front porch roof looks brand new.

bugs are no joke either, termites around here will demolish any wood in contact with the ground, carpenter ants can get up inside the house, powderpost beetles will even eat dry lumber.  Although i think you can treat wood with a borax solution to keep these things at bay and it is not a terrible chemical for us but you need to keep the wood dry or the borax washes out.

just a couple observations.

I kind of like stone myself.

Glad I found this thread.  I have been wanting to build with rammed earth for some time and now have the opportunity.  But I'm being told that rammed earth is not great in our warm climate and that we need to increase its r-value.   So I am looking at adding hemp or bamboo to the mix to do that.  Using lime as stabilizer - not cement.  If I can't make it load bearing then I will add cement stabilized pillars ever so often and infill with the hemp/earth.  If necessary i will add a hempcrete skin to the outside.  


For the second story I was thinking squared off logs stacked using the butt and pass method.  Log buildings have the same problem as rammed earth with low r value so might add the hempcrete to that as well.  

Then I got to thinking of not squaring the logs.  stacking poles using the butt and pass method - giving it time to dry and shrink and then adding hempcrete to the inside and outside.  I am looking for the solid construction - not the look of the earth or logs though I know that it can be beautiful.  I might side the second story with tin if I want fire resistance or wood siding if I want the look.

I'm also messing with biochar for agricultural purposes but curious about its use in building.  Ithaka institute in Europe is using it in a plaster.  Also adds insulation value.

If anyone can comment on the insulative value of adding fiber to rammed earth I would be grateful.

David White
Darlington SC

I'm shying away from rammed earth simply because of the cement that is still added as part of the mixture, unless im unaware of ways without it?

If you test your soils first, no cement or lime needs to be used.
Testing takes time.
Insulation is incorporated into rammed earth by inserting a panel of insulation within the wall as its being built.