Homesteading

All my stuff: - In order to discuss what we do to make posts last, we need to skip quickly over the techniques that we don’t do. (we don’t do this #1) Charring the end of a post works. I think it adds about 10% lifespan to the post, but it is a huge amount of work. (we don’t do this #2) Mike Oehler would wrap the bottom of posts with several garbage bags - the idea is to keep the water out. But if the post contains any water (which it does) the bag would hold that water in and cause rot. On the other hand, Mike’s original PSP house had no issues at 45 years old. (we don’t do this #3 #4... #5) I have a strong aversion to concrete for a lot of reasons, but the real reasons are that some concrete mixes are water tight - so they hold the moisture in. And some mixes are not water tight - so they will wick water to the wood. (image of a concrete footer, concrete wrap and concrete collar) Our four part recipe starts with a big, five foot eave. The water that lands five feet away t

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