Youtube A Twenty First Century Goldrush!

We are standing at the doorway to the largest transfer of information in the history of mankind. Our access to the web provides an audience of several billion people. Who or what ever we decide to share, we can now share with the entire world. And more importantly the only filter is our willingness to deliver. Gone are the days of some executive deciding what is good or current or marketable. In true democratic fashion the audience it’s self will decide to share or forward. And unlike TV the work is on 24-7, not just this weeks episode, all of the work. For many years I wanted to be a part of the national discussion of cooking in the Southwest in the world of Television food. For me that has all changed, I’m now convinced that I need to focus on all the things that make up our life here in this beautiful Sonoran Desert, the food, the cactus, the tequila, mesquite grilling, our music, the town of Cave Creek, green building, wood fired ovens, adobe building, our cooking school, the list goes on and on!

We will be taping cooking demonstrations but we will also be doing videos on everything else that we are involved with. With the net there is no cost to add another video to the list. Before we had to buy film or tape, today’s cameras cost about 10% of what they cost when I was first on TV and basic editing can be done on a Mac. A friend recently said to me, “I feel like we are living at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and own a mechanic’s shop!” So start a blog, or start doing Youtube videos, twitter, facebook, my space, become someone or something that you’ve always wanted to be. Write a book or poetry or music and launch it. Trust me, sooner or later, someone will figure a way to be the gate keeper to this amazing internet, but for the next few years the doors are wide open… now is the time and this your chance. Don’t miss this centuries gold rush!

Shipping Container Building

Shipping Container Building

One of the goals we have in building our campus is to use our different buildings as individual labs, the buildings themselves. The goal being to discover ways for the average person on the street to build their own home or what ever other buildings they may need, at the lowest possible cost, and with the greatest future savings of energy.

What we’re studying is Shipping Container (Connex Box), Straw Bale, Cast in Place earth, and super insulated frame, Construction. Along with this we are implementing photovoltaic electric and passive solar hot water.

I am currently working on the utility building that will house our art studio, mechanical workshop, storage and potting shed. Its frame is a shipping container. Known as a “High Cube” it is forty feet long, nine and a half feet tall and eight feet wide.

These come with utility grade, hard wood floors and are strong enough to stack eight high fully loaded. What that means to us is they can handle almost any load that the average builder might want to place on top of their building.

These Connex boxes are made out a product called “Corten” also known as weather resistant steel. There are several builders worldwide thinking up new and unusual ways to stack these structures. After looking at several boxes, our criteria being; straight, without major holes or dents, minimal corrosion, floors in good shape, doors with good seals and in good working order and weather tight, we bought ours for $2700 delivered. A friend moved it into place with a backhoe and I leveled it with a 6-ton jack. I cut in the window for light and placed a vent on the roof. Our future plans include adding thermal mass with poured in place, reinforced adobe, wrapping the finished box with two inches of insulation and a living roof that will serve as an herb garden and possible second story office. This is one or most requested blog subjects we receive. Please let us know what you’re building needs and plans are. And if we can lab something or help answer any questions that you may have. I just grabbed these pics of the net as examples of box construction.

Warmly,

Mad Coyote Joe

The Garage Sale King

Being the reigning Garage Sale King has its responsibilities. One to be King you need to score treasures along with a constant flow of hot deals in whatever area you might be interested. This is my modes operandi upon arrival at a yard sale I find the owner or who ever is in charge. I ask if they have tools, building materials, musical instruments, guns, kitchen equipment, and coins. If no, I take a quick look and then move on.

If they have any of what I’m looking for I assign a price that it’s worth to me and then look for anything else that I may want. Then I ask what they want for it. If they want more that I want to pay I ask if they are willing to come down on the price. If no I leave if yes I offer the lowest price that I think they can live with. When the price is lower than I was thinking I still go lower quite often they will take the price. Where I really make money is when I will add other items in often a whole group. At one sale there was a weaving that I liked they wanted $5 I added in a table full of chisels and screwdrivers, a knife an eight-foot level and three boxes of nails one had about 40 lbs of nails inside. I offered $10. He came back with “How about $15?” These items at his prices were over $80 and at retail over $200. I gave the $15 and left.

My big Scores are tools at less than 10% of retail, I have found a nice Salvador Dali Serigraph $40, 2 Rembrandt Etchings $5, A 60 year old mandolin$20, A Gibson B25 12 string guitar$25, Building Materials for 5% of retail.

Yester day I took my Rembrandt Etchings down to a few galleries in Scottsdale with my good friend Rick Strole. After being helped out of the door by people that were better than the both of us we came upon a small Gallery. The owner was chatting with a friend and welcomed us. He took a look at the Rembrandt’s and told us they were struck from the original copper plates in the earily twentieth century. He could tell by the paper it was not from the 1600’s but still very old. He showed us a few of the etchings that he had in his gallery and suggested a retail price of my etchings of $125- $150 each.

Not bad for a $5 investment. A few years ago I found a nice lady selling coin rolls she had Washing silver quarters in $10 rolls she was asking $12 per roll. I took all she had 5 rolls for $60. I sold them a few months later when silver was up for $678.

Right now people are in need of bill money and selling anything that they are not using or in great need of. I wait until I need something. Like the other day I decided I needed a chainsaw for my Bread oven. So I started going to the sales. The second sale that I stopped at had a Remington electric Chainsaw. She was asking $12. It looked new, I plugged it in and it ran fine, plus the chain was very sharp. I said, “How about $8?” She agreed. I went home and checked the model number on line it was on sale at a reduced price of $87, so I got it for 10% of retail. The deals are out there go to the sales early, know what you want and what you will pay and you too can save some cash!

Who Are You?

Who Are You?

I was going through my Blog Stats. This tells me who is reading my blog and where they are. Below is the breakdown for the past few days. Historically most of my readers are from the good old USofA. Next it’s Germany then Canada, Australia, Russa, Iraq, Malaysia, Netherlands (I sure this is my friends Sabina and Roland), Japan then Thailand. These are rounded off but in correct order. Germany in number two was a big surprise, I would have thought England or Canada. This week I'm getting new readers from Asia and Eastern Europe.

Okay I’d like to know who you are and where you are from, so if you have the time and the desire to help. Please tell us a little about how you ended up at our site and where you are from. I write on everything from food to low cost building design, with crime stories and poetry thrown in, along with stories about our open mic. What drew you to our site? This will tell me where I’m serving you and not just practicing my writing. Just go to the bottom of this posting and click on comments.

United States 115

Canada 4

Singapore 4

United Kingdom 3

China 2

Slovenia 2

Australia 1

Spain 1

France 1

Spain 1

Historic Views by %

United States 87%

Germany 3%

Canada 2%

Australia 1%

Russia 1%

IIraq 1% Malaysia 1% Netherlands 1% Japan 1% Thailand 1%

Shipping Container Houses

Shipping Container houses

One of the areas of study that I have concerned my self with over the years is low cost housing. I’ve built with adobe and straw bale, and my friend Ed has used giant foam blocks and recycled lumber; always looking for a method that provides structure, insulation and an esthetic that one can enjoy.

Along the way I became aware of shipping containers also known as Connex boxes. They are strong, structural and best of all cheap.

Architects are using them in different arrangements to build houses and offices.

My interest was in building a second home for Kathy and myself or a home for one or both of our children. Drywall can be screwed to the interior walls and foam glued to the exterior providing a strong, well insulated structure. I wanted to add mass so I decided on using a system that I have been working on in my landscape for the past few years. I have been building walls out of cast in place adobe.

I use just plain old dirt out of my yard. I mix water into the dirt, in a wheelbarrow and pour it into a form. This is placed on a concrete foundation that comes above the ground by about five inches to create a break between the earth for reasons of termites and water. Once the mud sets up I remove the forms and move them up, for the next pour. The earth, dried in this Arizona sun, is rock hard. After the walls are finished I drive ring-shank nails into the adobe to hold stucco netting and then cover it with a coat of fiber-strengthened stucco. The end result is massive, bullet proof (literally) and very inexpensive.

In applying this to shipping container construction I am adding a two-inch layer of foam used both as a form and as future insulation.

As with my walls I’m placing a vertical layer of recycled chain link fencing to add both reinforcement and a structural diaphragm.

I’m tying this to the box along with running a nylon twine to the exterior of the foam for stucco wire connection. I chose the twine over tie wire as wire can both stretch and rust, twine will do neither. The end product will be a layer of insulation, which I run down below grade about eight inches to create a thermal break from the brutal Arizona sun.

Then I have one foot of adobe for mass and then the box it’s self. I plan on doing a living roof. Please ask any questions or leave any comments that you might have.