Open source homes

Most people will probably have heard of "barn raising".  A phenomenon that occurred throughout, at least, more civilized times, when the community would get

together to help put up a neighbour’s barn.  Of course, that used to happen with houses, as well.  And we still see this happening in developing countries when groups of people will build homes for the needy, or habitat for humanity will get together to help build houses for the impoverished.

But that's different than an open source house.  At the very root of the idea, is that a house design and method of construction should, of itself, be free to produce, duplicate, and modify as necessary to provide at least general, safe shelter for the future occupants.

Is this a ridiculous idea, or is our idea about our very shelter in some ways contrary to our very liberty?  Could it be our comfort and security, especially with new technologies and methods of creating smart and efficient homes, is held in a situation that ensures these things will remain costly, even though they promote cost savings?  The surprising answer is, "yes".  But why?  And what can we do about it?

It might seem like a strange idea, but the point of contention remains copyright, patent and IP law.  A house is at least a drawing, called a blueprint.  That blueprint is

just one type of copyright that is encapsulated in a home.  A house can also contain a number of patents, which might be the method of building the foundation, a type of staircase, or the stringing of data cables for a specific purpose, within the home.  There are many things we don't realize can actually be legal nightmares, if we haven't properly looked into it.

An Open Source House is about creating either public domain or creative commons architectures which are either patent and copyright free, or that contain IP rights that are transferred to the home owner.

As mentioned above, the foundation of a building can have patents which could prevent certain methods or materials from being used to build a foundation.  Things

like adjustable flooring, was once patented.  And the Styrofoam blocks that are now common to build the outer walls of the foundation, are patented.  And certain methods for stringing beams, or the method for making the beams, were once patented.  But we would never know it.  And we haven't even left the basement, yet.

The reason why we don't even think about these things is because for the most part, these copyrights and patents are incorporated into the blueprints or materials that the home owners or builders acquire from their sources.  The architect, the building supply company, or the contractor who actually puts the building up, are in control of managing these things.  So we are completely unaware that this is even an issue.

But what if you tried to build a house from scratch?  What if you built materials and a house, based on ideas and methods you had seen used in current home construction?  Chances are, you would infringe on many copyrights and patents and, if your house was investigated and found infringing, you could face a costly court case and fines, or even be forced to destroy your house.

Again, that might sound ridiculous, but keep in mind that patents can last as many as at least 25 years, in current law.  And copyrights generally extend upwards of 70 years, or more.  So a building method from the late 1900s could still be covered by a patent, and a blueprint from before 1950 could still be covered by copyright.  Is this likely?  Well, it all comes down to buyer, or in this case builder, beware.  Ignorance is not a defence in the laws.  A person would have to be completely certain, by doing appropriate due diligence.

The Open Source House movement seeks to provide that certainty, by having done the research and ensuring that the house you might build, is clear from any possible future lawsuit.  As well as, of course, providing someone with clear instructions on creating the home of their dreams, with all the comfort and security we might come to expect.



In future articles, we will be taking a look at a number of different Open Source House initiatives. They range from simple homes that are constructed and designed from public domain knowledge and methods, to state of the art, smart homes.

So as the usual disclaimer of these types of articles go, there is nothing that should prevent someone from going the more popular method of getting a blueprint from a certified architect and hiring a contractor for putting up a building that provides the best shelter that works for us. But if you want to look at what you can do to be more involved and in control of putting up a house that works for you, in a way that is mindful of the things that are most important to you, you might want to take a look at what is happening in the Open Source House movements.