HOBBIT HOUSE

Even a great grandmother can build a hobbit house! This is the ultimate dream for a kid who loved playing in the dirt. I never imagined a house could be built of earth. Come discover what can be done.

We needed round posts for the Hobbit House frame. The challenge: where to get them? The building supply store sells treated posts, but given the ecological nature of a hobbit home we are avoiding wood that can outgas toxins. The salesman suggests talking to a forestry company to buy whole trees (that we could debark), but the local plantations contain only the fast-growing pine Pinus radiata, which is not durable unless treated. Our efforts to obtain the more rot-resistant douglas fir comes to naught. This post details how we resolve the dilemna.

Search small cob houses on google, and you'll find a variety of foundations. Some earthen buildings set atop a rubble-filled trench. Others perch on a mortared stone wall. Some rest on gravel or concrete. This post, and accompanying video, details our chosen method for our hobbit home to be.

An international team of helpers joins in debarking the eucalyptus logs with a draw knife, and readying for use in the post-and-beam hobbit house frame.