Many rural outbuildings need ventilation. Without it, houses and sheds become damp, cellars and basements get wet, and using an outdoor privy without a fan is, to put it mildly, uncomfortable. Of course, fitting a toilet or cellar with an electric supply or exhaust fan is not difficult, but many dacha buildings are far from Read more…
Designing internal stairs — for example, attic stairs — is often troublesome. For comfortable, large flights there is usually not enough room, and they end up very steep, which is quite dangerous, especially for older people. In one issue of an old Czechoslovak magazine, an interesting compromise design was proposed, which we offer to our Read more…
The so-called architecture of small forms is undeservedly forgotten on garden plots. For example, pergolas and trellises are light openwork structures, usually covered with plants and forming freestanding “green” walls, gazebos, or covered alleys. Blending organically into the surrounding plantings, they create cozy corners sheltered from direct sunlight. In this KDM issue we want to Read more…
No matter how small a rural plot may be, cultivating it takes a fair amount of work and daily chores. One moment you need to plant something, the next you need to loosen the soil or hill plants up. And all of this usually has to be done bent over or squatting, which makes your Read more…
After building a country house, we try to protect it from the destructive effects of fire: we use heat-resistant finishing materials, buy fire extinguishers, and install a fire alarm system. Yet lightning protection is often overlooked. One possible reason why our compatriots pay little attention to this issue is that building codes do not consider Read more…
If the layout of a country house or dacha is such that the largest room borders the kitchen, then instead of separated heat sources (an ordinary stove or fireplace in the “living room”, and the stove in the kitchen) it makes sense to build a stove-fireplace-stove complex. In our country house this is exactly how Read more…
The desire to build a house came to me at the same time as receiving, in the mid-1980s, a plot of land — the cherished six hundred square meters. The question of what kind of house to build — brick or wooden — caused no problems. Brick and concrete walls had already tired me in Read more…
There’s no need to prove how important it is to have a water reserve on a garden plot: if something happens to the irrigation system, flowerbeds and lawns will turn into hay in just a week of July heat. So when my old steel tank rusted through and started leaking, I urgently needed a replacement. Read more…
I have been a loyal reader of your magazine for more than 25 years. Responding to your call to subscribers to be not only readers but also active authors, I decided to share an interesting technology based on which I built my residential house: while erecting the walls, I widely used plastic bottle containers. I Read more…
A swimming pool, mind you, is too grand a name. In everyday speech, such tiny ponds for toddlers are usually called “frog ponds.” Building one will not take much time or strain your family budget, and on a hot summer day both your children and you will get plenty of joy from a dip like Read more…
