Hemloft: A sustainable house hidden among trees

It is in the tradition of the Tiny House that Joel Allen built a tree house on one of the slopes of Whistler Mountain in Canada. If today this durable house is one of the best known on the internet, in the beginning, it was a journey full of hurdles as reported by Ecohome.

Joel Allen had great dream

Joel Allen was a software developer. One day, he decided to leave his job in order to embark on a new professional adventure with the goal to become rich in no time. But this did not happen as planned and Joel found himself without any savings. At the same time, he discovered a passion and a gift for the work of wood … and became a carpenter. He decided to build a house.

He did not have a dollar in his pocket

But the land and the materials were expensive: so he opted for a treehouse in the middle of the Whistler Mountain and its sublime panorama. This idea seemed to him much more economical than the option of a classic house. But he quickly realized that even this project was beyond his financial means. Even though he saved on the land by illegally building on a government site, building the roof and frame of his egg-shaped home would cost him US 6,500 dollars. In 2009, he put his project on hold while waiting for a solution.

Craiglist was his savior

Some time later, he surfed the American site Craiglist to buy a sofa. Of all the ads and sales it offered, he discovered that the site contains materials at discounted prices- an ideal solution for him as he was able to save several thousand dollars. Little by little, he bought his wood, recovering an oak cabinet or a door in cedar before deboning the whole and composing his boards. After a few months of hunting for bargains, his apartment was filled with quality materials. He continued his project, which he finished in August 2010. The dwelling is named Hemloft following a contraction of the terms “hemlock” and “loft”.

He did everything to keep his house

But the issue of illegality continued to be a problem because the land did not belong to him and he did not have a building permit. Even if the risk was low, he did not want his loft to be demolished. He kept the place secret and one of his friends suggested taking pictures of his work and having them published so that once the house had become famous, the chances of it being demolished become practically nil. And that is exactly what happened.

The Hemloft is famous worldwide

After a publication in Dwell Magazine, the Hemloft has become famous in the world thanks to Internet sharing and became a subject of fascination for many Internet users. The exact location is still secret since the place is located in a part of the mountain truffled with luxury homes. Joel Allen is currently considering a camping project to conserve and multiply the Hemloft like the Treehotel in Sweden.

h/t: Eco Home