Construction Informer

So, it’s Christmas Eve and your building project, whatever it is, is probably on hold until after the holiday. You’re already tired of the egg nog, there aren’t any bicycles to put together, and your household “to-fix” list is complete. What to do?

Well, there are all kinds of opportunities in building if you use the right material. And on Christmas Eve there’s no more appropriate material than, you guessed it…gingerbread.

Just to make sure you get started off right you might visit this site where none other than Bob Villa will take you through the making of the classic gingerbread house. Bob’s is no little cottage in the woods, it is a two story with lots of sweet victorian accents.

If you’d like to be a bit more ambitious, or, say you’re more into commercial construction, you might check out the winners of the Gingerbread House competition. This dates to 2005 but it could be instructional as far as giving you some ideas of the kinds of structures some people have put together. There are high rises here, a bridge, and even an entry with a built-in damping system to minimize earthquake damage.

But, how important is it for the gingerbread building to be sustainable. After all, it is made from edible parts, it is assembled with edible components, and it can be eaten when it has lived its useful life. That seems pretty sustainable. But nooo, some people have taken sustainability in gingerbread structures to the next level, by holding a Sustainable Gingerbread House Contest. Things incorporated into these buildings include solar arrays, pellet stoves and skylights. But at least one commenter on the blog where this was featured took a whimsical exception to the fact that it had been baked, thereby contributing to global warming and thusly, not really so sustainable after all.

Putting all these gingerbread structures together might get interesting, especially if someone comes up with a nail gun that uses clipped-head, 4d gingerbread nails.