Natural Homes #101 is a companion manual used in teaching the Smart Shelter Network introductory course for natural building in Western Colorado. It is also used as the companion text for those who purchase the course on video tape for home study.

The introduction to natural building is intended for people with little or no experience in the building world who are thinking about building something ( a home, a shop, a garage, a school...maybe a workplace) and are interested in learning how to do that with the least damage to the environment.

Professionals in the fields of design, building and subcontracting can also benifit from the material, although some of it may seem mundane or repetitive in light of their existing experience.

The text is intended to cover the gamut of information needed to conceive, plan, finance, insure, permit, construct(or remodel) and inhabit a natural-built home...that is, one which is built using materials from the site, the earth or agriculture...as opposed to forest or river originated products such as dimensional framing lumber and gravel.

The text, as of this writing, is not complete. In the future, more detailed information about the specific building systems will be added, along with drawings and pictures. At that time, the introductory course will be 6 sessions long (instead of the current 4) and necessitate an increased enrollment fee.

The text and video are being released in their current form now because of the number of requests from people who can't wait for future editions to start their projects. This is an interim stop-gap. Please forgive the incompleteness and some of the remaining glitches still to be worked out.

Your comments and input will help immensely in finishing this monumental task.

There is such an abundance of projects, techniques, successes and failures in this aspect of building in Western Colorado it is impossible to keep up with it all, much less document and publish it.

The video was recorded on a little Sony cam corder and apologies are due for the quality of the images. Once again, we did this to at least provide a stop-gap tool for those who need this information now.

We trust you will find the course material comprehensive and insightful. It is all based on what we have seen actually working(and failing) in this region.

It is intended as an introduction to give you a comprehensive feel for the gamut of considerations you may find applicable to your project. It is not intended to supply all the information necessary for you to complete a design or build a structure. The Smart Shelter Reports, individual consulting and the services of Smart Shelter Business members, along with the education afforded in the remainder of the Smart Shelter Course Series can supply the information not included here.

We trust that the information and the leads to further education presented here will help you produce a safe, comfortable, superbly performing, affordable, attractive building with vastly reduced impacts to your health and wellbeing as well as that of the gorgeous environment in which we live.

Good Luck.

Gary Duncan- Director

Smart Shelter Network