Primitive Semi-Permanent Homes

Found a good "Primitive Semi-Permanent Homes" link? Let Us Know!

USING PRAIRIE SOD to BUILD A HOME: On the prairies, away from the streams which provided logs and timber for cabins, the settler turned to materials furnished by his environment to build his home. Like the Indian who had constructed lodges of earth, the pioneer found most of his building materials in the native soil. Bricks made of sod, which some jokingly called "Nebraska marble," made a satisfactory and reasonably comfortable home.

Tipis & Yurts [Mother Earth News] Nomadic people have used portable tipis and yurts for thousands of years. These simple, circular structures provide snug, low-cost shelter. If you're looking for a spacious "tent" for family camping trips, temporary housing for weekend breaks from the rat race, or even a unique studio or guest quarters for your own back yard, these easily constructed, Earth-friendly structures may be the perfect shelter.

Images of Wikkiups (Google image search) Tipis, Yurts, sod house

Habitat For Humanity Discusses Semi-Permanent Shelter With UN ... The A-frame house design covers 40-50 sq. m., large enough for housing people and farm animals in inclement weather. The walls are made of sandbags and the roof of up to 16 sheets of galvanized iron. Timber is used for the roof frame support.

SEMI-PERMANENT Shelter [PDF] Shipping container bungalows.

Long(er) Term Shelters Should you find yourself in a situation from which there is little hope of being rescued or indeed from which you don't care to be "rescued" you're going to have to look at making a more comfortable long term abode. Just as with the expedient shelters discussed in a previous file you'll have to take into account the conditions that you're likely to face and the materials you have to hand

MAKING A MEDIEVAL SINGLE POLE PAVILION --by Master Dafydd ap Gwystl--spoked wheel design. Cheesy, but understandable graphics and excellent text. The erected single-pole pavilion is very stable, with excellent wind-shedding characteristics. The splayed walls give the pavilion a streamlined shape that is largely immune to the effects of winds that would knock down a straight-walled pavilion. A single person could put up the whole pavilion (nearly 20' diameter at the base) alone. With two or three people, the pavilion went up and came down very quickly indeed -- five minutes or so, once the edge is staked out.

GLENN-SHA'S GHER PAGE--Shows how he built his own traditional gher This page is intended to give out information that we have gathered on our quest for a Yurt, and is not intended to be historically accurate. Where possible I try to note the historical method (Historical), the way we did it (We Did), the way other people did it (Other People Did), and what did not work (Don't).

LARS' YURT PAGE--Construction of a contemporary yurt. Very nicely constructed page uses thumbnails for series of detailed photos. A Yurt may be better than you think, and this page may be the one to convince you.

Yurt FAQ Yurt is the name commonly used to refer to a Mongolian Felt Tent or Ger. Mongolians do not usually appreciate the term because it is most often used by Western invaders. So, in spite of this page's title, we will attempt to use Ger where ever possible...

The Construction of a Yurt. By Ellisif Fkakkari (Monica Cellio). Lengthy & highly detailed with a few graphics for clarity. this article is also available in postscript and as a Microsoft Word document

"Houses & Furniture" Lengthy article by b. Levick on Viking construction of shelters & homes. Though primitive, some of the info may well serve the survivalist in some situations.

Custom Pavilion Pattern Generator. VERY interesting OnLine program for designing tents resembling a double-pole Second King Rene Tent. However, you can choose a single pole, or three poles, etc. if you wish. Fill in the measurements and receive individualized instructions on building a pavilion similar to above, including total fabric area, total floor area, total length of guy lines, etc. Pretty neat resource.

Domestic Architecture at the Comanche Village on Medicine Creek, Indian Territory, Winter 1873 by Thomas Kavanagh, Curator of Collections, Mathers Museum - Indiana University. A scholarly text, highly informative, with numerous period photos. Very interesting. All the photos take a while to load, but worth the wait.

TIPIS--NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PRECONTACT HOUSING Okay site to browse. The rest of the site is pretty interesting too, covering a wide range of topics.

Sod House on the Prairie Many settlers in Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas built their houses out of sod, or dirt with grass growing in it. The strong grass roots held the dirt together, even after it was dug up. Because plant roots were left in the sod, new growth sprouted each spring and summer. Women even sent away for new flower seeds to plant on their roofs.

THE SOD HOUSE On the prairies, away from the streams which provided logs and timber for cabins, the settler turned to materials furnished by his environment to build his home. Like the Indian who had constructed lodges of earth, the pioneer found most of his building materials in the native soil. Bricks made of sod, which some jokingly called "Nebraska marble," made a satisfactory and reasonably comfortable home.

Yurt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The word yurt (or yurta, e.g., in Russian) is originally from the Turkic word meaning "dwelling place" in the sense of "homeland"; the term came to be used in reference to the physical structures only in other languages, such as Russian and English. In Kazakh the term for the structure is kiyiz üy (киіз үй—lit. "felt home") and in Mongolian they're called gers (гэр). In Russian, a yurt is called "yurta" (юрта), and there is an obsolete term "kibitka" (кибитка). Afghans call them "Kherga" or "ooee". In classic forms of the Gaelic, a yurt is called an "elaine" or, in the common dialectic, a "higgins".

Please Read The Website Disclaimer!
Copyright 1986-2012, The Survival & Self-Reliance Studies Institute (SSRsi), All Rights Reserved
Site conceptualized, designed, created & maintained by MEG Raven
Snail Mail: SSRsi, PO Box 2572 Dillon, CO. 80435-2572