Shelter can be as basic as an overhanging tree limb or as complex as a mansion in Beverly Hills. Most owner-built homes are somewhere in between. Shelter is a basic necessity and can be a true source of happiness for a family. It is where we build our family memories, and building the shelter to begin with adds a whole new dimension to those memories. Homes can be made from a variety of materials, and our focus is also on durability, maintenance, cost and strength.

Site Preparation
Every house project begins with a site and planning. Preparing the site is the first stage of construction and can be the most important stage in the entire project. Get this part wrong, and the rest will fail as well.

Each building material has its own methods and tools required.

Rock
Rock is a very forgiving and popular material for construction, as it is strong and cheap if sourced locally.

Adobe
Earth is an excellent material to build with and is usually very easy on the pocketbook. For guides on how an owner can build an earth house, look to the developing world. Most of the shelter in these countries is built by the dweller, and the vast majority are built out of an earth material. In fact, the most common and the oldest material used in construction is earth.

There are lots of ways to use earth. By simply mixing a bit of mud with water and letting it dry in forms will make adobe blocks, one of the most basic and widely used forms of earth buildings.

Compressed Earth Blocks
The next step up is Compressed Earth Blocks, or CEBs that use pressure, instead of water to form the brick.

Concrete
Of course you can process stone and earth even further to make concretes and cements that are even more durable that simple earth bricks.

Surface Bonding
Surface bonding is a technique used to make dry stacked bricks extremely strong, by sandwiching them in between foundations, bond beams and concrete-filled cores, and then coating it all with a special fiber-reinforced tensile stucco.

Forms
Forming systems allow you the ability to create complex shapes and faster construction times.

Floors
Floors are a side note to an overall house, but have an enormous importance to the home, and without them, a home is not quite a home at all.

Selecting your material is important, and knowing how to use it will save a lot of heartache and money during the construction process. Keep in mind that a home is an extension of those who live in it, it is a part of them and they of it. With this and a little hard work, anyone can make a home out of a cave.