R Johnson

Thanks all! I out a bit about bajareque and it looks interesting. I may need to save that for a tool shed though, as I doubt it would pass inspection for a house. Jay, I appreciate the welcome, the links, and the referral to Jennifer's thread. I've got some reading to do.

Thanks Andrew.

Thanks everyone! Thanks for the tip on tabby. I don't think I'd be able to use it since sea shells aren't too readily available here, but it's amazing that structures built with it have lasted as long as they have. I hadn't really looked at French colonial type architecture but will start doing so now. Wouldn't a house built off the ground rather cold in the winter time though? I looked at the climate data for Washington, LA (where the rice hull house is) and it doesn't seem to be too far off my climate in terms of winter lows, so maybe it could work after all.

Hi all, I'm so excited to have stumbled across this forum! I had no idea there were so many other like minded people out there. I'm interested in building a home and live in a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) in the southern part of the United States - hot (high nineties), humid summers, and cool winters which can get down into the low thirties. I love the look of adobe brick houses, but fear this wouldn't work in my climate, at least not without substantial insulation and maybe not even then. Rather than (poorly) reinventing the wheel, is there an established architectural style that I could investigate for my climate?