This is a documentary movie by John Neeman Tools uncovering the process of building a wooden house with hand tools from local materials starting from forest till the living space.
“Our house has been built using timber we felled and extracted from our own forest. We built it using mostly hand tools and human energy. It is timber frame construction with log walls.
The main construction holds together with wood joints – there are no nails or screws used.
Walls are insulated with pine and larch shavings. Overall wall thickness is 50 centimeters.
The frame posts, sills, top beams and final cladding boards are preserved using Japanese traditional wood preservation technique – Shou Sugi Ban 焼杉板 ,
Roofing is 3 layer white oak shingles layed in two directional technique. Roof is insulated with wood fibre wool and has natural clay and lime plaster finish on the interior walls.
My aim was to build a natural wooden house, a nest for my family that would be thermo and energy efficient. As Richard Pronneke would say: It was a hard work but I enjoyed it!” – Jacob, carpenter, craftsman and founder of John Neeman Tools.
