For anyone seeking to build a home the choices can be daunting and the process stressful. It is therefore encouraging to find how much can be achieved through philosophy.

Built to sound principles - the de Vere's solid home. Photo Crispin Caldicott.

John and Angelika de Vere set out to build an ‘eco-friendly’ home in every sense. What they have achieved is a benchmark.

Considering their home is nearly 20 years old, it also demonstrates that ‘alternative’ building need in no sense result in under-par construction. Today their house is as solid and resilient as the day it was built.

Many contemporary houses built today contain materials that give off gas such as benzene or formaldehyde when warmed.

There are queries in medical circles regarding the correlations between these gases and the decline in male fertility.

John set out to build a home that avoided all such potential hazards and the result is one built of entirely natural and untreated materials – earth, timber and stone.

It has been sited sympathetically with the planet’s ley lines, and all steel reinforcing has been earthed to bring the natural global resonance frequencies (Schumann Resonance) inside.

The electrical system is designed to avoid completing a circuit within the home, (the Faraday Effect) and thereby potentially detrimental magnetic fields. 

“Some people put up a wind turbine and say they have an eco-friendly home.”

It is not that simple, and in this case virtually every ounce of material used went through a rigorous process of checking first.

All the skirting is of a very unsustainable timber – Totara. But it fell over in a Northland forest fifty years ago and was ‘rescued’ by John.

Matai makes a wonderful hard flooring material which is why there is a lot of it around in old villas.

However this tree takes 800 years to mature and is a no-no in eco building unless it is recycled.

John used an available alternative in Eucalyptus Saligna – extremely durable hardwood of which this house was one of the first in NZ to make use. He notes that there is not “one ounce” of Pinus Radiata used in his house as it needs to be chemically treated.

Eucalyptus has a variety for all uses and in John’s opinion is the unsung hero of timbers.

With so much wood around it is rather a surprise to find that this house was the first in Rodney to have rammed earth walls.

“We had a running battle with the council on that one, but they gave in when we agreed to put in a post and beam structure of massive macrocarpa slabs. That gave the strength they were worried it didn’t have.”

“Our clothes are our second skin, and a healthy home is like our third skin. Both have to be able to breathe.”

“There is no aluminium joinery in this house because it is too efficient at sealing a home,  a problem wooden joinery does not have. 

Using breathable paints is vital too.

So there is no condensation – helped by the earth walls which act like a sponge. They absorb moisture, and release it and they act as a huge heat sink, helping to keep the temperature very even throughout.

Kiwi homes mostly have thin internal walls which are extremely energy inefficient.

“For other insulation we were among the first to use the woollen thermo fleece.

“The artificial insulating materials are carcinogenic, and certainly release tiny bits of glass fibre which get lodged forever in the lungs.

“As for the polystyrene versions, they release odourless gas when the sun heats them, and just talk to a fireman about what happens when they catch alight.”

One beneficial gas is the citronella like smell that emanates from Lawson cypress. Insects hate it, so all the wardrobes are built of it and the family’s clothes have remained moth-free.

The roof of any house is potentially vulnerable, but here again John has found a way to be eco-friendly and efficient.

The shingles with which the roof is clad are actually cedar ‘shakes’ – split naturally and not machine sawn.

They are irregular, but thicker and stronger and in trials have lasted a lot longer.

They did come from Canada, but as John pointed out that company only mills 2% of their forest per annum.

The de Vere’s house was built to the teachings of the Building Biology and Ecology Institute using bio-harmonic building materials, bio-harmonic architectural principles and ecologically sound practices.

It is solid and warm, and it should last forever. It will probably be an inspiration for just as long.