Building Archives - Backwoods Home Magazine

Build a compost tumbler

By Joe Mooney Issue #151 • January/February, 2015 A few years back, I caught myself becoming a bit frustrated with my compost pile. It seemed that I just couldn't produce compost as easily as I'd seen...

Install rafters alone the easy way

By Robert L. Williams Issue #35 • September/October, 1995 Anyone who has ever worked on roof framing knows that nailing up rafters is a two-man job at the very best. At worst, the task requires the...

A recycled dresser makes a useful bathroom vanity

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #152 • March/April, 2015 Here's the finished vanity with our unfinished dresser that will store our extra towels and linens. We've had our log home built for more than eight years now, but until...

Building Eric’s house

By Dorothy Ainsworth Issue #112 • July/August, 2009 This is the first in a series of several articles documenting the building of a stud-frame house from start to finish by an amateur owner/builder, using the pay-as-you-go...

A house a tornado helped build

By Robert L. Williams Issue #16 • July/August, 1992 On May 5, 1989, tornadoes ripped through parts of three western North Carolina counties, including ours, and left piles of debris where houses, also including ours, once...

Free pallet wood and birdhouses add up to big country dollars

By Rick Brentlinger Issue #53 • September/October, 1998 If I could show you how to manufacture a product anywhere in the country and if I offered to find you the raw materials free, would you be...

Build a holz hausen to dry firewood

By Doug Fluckiger Issue #132 • November/December, 2011 My secret passion is tall, dark, and handsome. I may find her lying luxuriantly among a dark grove of firs. She may be standing proudly on a sunny...

Build a cold smoker so you can make delicious squaw candy

By Jane Duquette Issue #148 • July/August, 2014 For delicious squaw candy, start with the freshest fish. One fresh July evening at our summer cabin in Soldotna, Alaska, my husband, Tom, and I sat with friends around...

Build an all-purpose ladder

By Robert L. Williams Issue #45 • May/June, 1997 Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 The story never varies. If I am doing outside work and need a ladder, I spend nearly as much...

Build a log crib

By Dorothy Ainsworth Issue #69 • May/June, 2001 Baby Zane is probably the only newborn in Hollywood sleeping in a log crib made by his grandmother in Oregon, but it was inevitable. The finished log crib. Dorothy uses...

Build your own repeating mouse trap

By Allen Easterly Issue #110 • March/April, 2008 Safety note: Because of drowning danger, 5-gallon buckets with any amount of water in them should never be placed where children under the age of 5 will be...

How to build a good fence for your homestead

By Charles Sanders Issue #103 • January/February, 2007 One of the basic fixtures on a homestead is fencing. Fences are used to keep animals in, or...

Composite lumber helps outdoor projects resist water, weather, and sun

By Steve Maxwell How many times have you built an outdoor project out of wood, only to be disappointed by the deterioration that hit after just a few years? Solving this problem is why I...

Build a Concrete Root Cellar

By Dorothy Ainsworth Issue #168 • November/December, 2017 I should have been a mole — it feels so safe and cool and quiet to be underground. So when my house burned down 20 years ago and...

Make a fully functional cold storage pit/mound and enjoy your garden’s production all winter

By Armand O. Deblois Issue #47 • September/October, 1997 Cold stored fruits and vegetables are the next best thing to fresh-picked. Flavor and texture change little and nutritional value remains high. They keep for an amazingly...

Build a cistern out of corrugated road culvert

By Joe Mooney Issue #146 • March/April, 2014 Using a corrugated road culvert as a cistern is an economical way to add to your water storage. Here is the finished tank with PVC pipe directing water...