Design and Build Your Own Super Energy Efficient Home

Design Build Class May and August 2010
Building or renovating a home involves so many decisions, what to do? Don't do anything until after you've taken the Shelter Institute course. 20,000 women and men have taken this continually evolving course. Perfect, custom, green homes, building careers, and personal competence have been spawned by the exciting teaching of this three-college-credit program, called Thomas Jefferson's "prayer for schooling" by renowned educator John Gato. Taylor also suggested that Shelter's techniques be used as a standard for education. "They take the mystery out of building" - Time Magazine . This class is carefully crafted to teach building concepts from site planning through foundations, alternative energy, value, framing, wiring, plumbing, insulation, weatherization, roofing etc to foster the ability to make wise judgments about the myriad alternatives facing prospective homeowners today. Timber frame? Straw bale? Truss? Air Concrete? Foam? Stone? Steel? Photovoltaics? Stick frame? Which one, where and why? What works, what makes it work better, where does the truth lie? Slightly leaning toward personal involvement, the course creates the competence to assess the quality of hired work while attending to long-term building goals. An enjoyable time on the Maine coast, campfire socials, weekend estuarine canoeing, evening comraderie, learns to drive a 15-ton excavator!

For over 30 years, the Hennin Family has refined and perfected the art of teaching house construction to owner-builders from all walks of life. In two weeks, students learn to build a house in this intensive seminar - based on our fifteen-lecture core series (see syllabus). Shelter Institute's house building class has inspired thousands to build their own - you can too! You will come away with an intimate knowledge of the inner workings of a modern house as well as the Shelter Institute notebook and your own class notes.

Don't have time for the full two week course? Check out our other course offering on our website!