Minas Tursiops: Stone Walls

I have always wanted to have a home that has stone walls. I have never really liked wood houses that much. They're fine and all, but lack some romantic element. I'm not sure what. It's not really possible right now to build a home that meets code out of strictly large stone blocks. That means using some modern materials and I was hoping to build something that'd be around for a long, long time.

The people over at Castle Magic have some interesting designs and work they've done. Their techniques for building are interesting. They're not that different from the concrete forms that people are starting to use. However, their buildings that they do are all a fantasy version of western Europe during the Middle Ages. "Faerie Tale" Byzantine has similarities to SCA Middle Ages, but it has some strong points of departure. Worse yet, CM also has a three year backlog (and growing).

So it looks like a traditional contractor is more likely to be the builder this first go around. The material that I really like though is the arizona cinnamon sandstone. It strikes me that it'd be great in the style that I have in mind (think the churches of Byzantium rather than the fortresses or otherwise). The first house we build won't be as elaborate as I'd like, but it'll be interesting.