How to Build with Grid Beam: A Fast, Easy, and Affordable System for Constructing Almost Anything
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Overview
Grid beam is a modular, reusable building system that is fast, easy, affordable and virtually goof-proof. Ordinary people, with few skills and even fewer tools (all you need is a wrench!) can tackle projects ranging from furniture and shop benches to more ambitious projects like wind turbines, truck racks, small buildings--even electric vehicles.
Grid beam’s modular pieces and bolt-together construction make the system fast and straightforward to work with. It has all the advantages of an industrial building system: standard, modular sizes; uniform materials; and interchangeable parts. Projects knock flat and are easy to transport. Since the pieces can be used over and over again, grid beam is easy both on your wallet and on the environment -- the authors have been using some of their components for over 30 years.
How to Build with Grid Beam includes hundreds of photos of real projects built over a 60-year period, showing the many uses of grid beam, from shelves for college students to projects involving alternative energy. The versatility of grid beam is inspiring, for beginners, more experienced do-it-yourselfers, and innovators who will develop their own designs. Even school-age children can use grid beam to build simple projects.
"Grid beam is a revolutionary building system that enables anyone to build a variety of structures without expensive wood shop services or equipment. Flexibility in design is yours! The photos and diagrams make it so simple. You can even make your own grid beam if you want. Now that’s local sustainability at it’s finest!"
— JOHN SCHAEFFER, founder and president of Real Goods and the Solar Living Institute
"I have been a grid beam builder for over a dozen years. Reusability and modularity are keys to good design. Making grid beam provides students with experience in material selection, measurement, toolwork and finishing. Grid beam allows for rapid prototyping, flexabilty for changes, easy documentation with camera and sketches. Projects can be dismantled, components put away, ready for the next project. Artifacts are stored in the computer as photographs, diagrams and materials list. We are rarely more than a day away from resurrecting a former project."
— DR. JACK MARTIN, Appropriate Technology, Appalachian State University
"The Jergenson Brothers are the masters of grid beam construction. Their amaz- ing technology is the stuff that rigid, rectilinear, realistic dreams are made from."
— RICHARD PEREZ, publisher of Home Power magazine
- Title: How to Build with Grid Beam: A Fast, Easy, and Affordable System for Constructing Almost Anything
- Authors: Phil Jergenson, Richard Jergenson, Wilma Keppel
- Series: Mother Earth News Books for Wiser Living
- Publisher: New Society Publishers
- Print Publication Date: 2023
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Pages: 289
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781550923926, 9780865716131, 0865716137, 1550923927
- Resource ID: LLS:9781550923926
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-21T12:40:08Z
Phil Jergenson is an artist and systems designer who enjoys building solar powered machines."I enjoy chasing dreams and testing new ideas. I am a trained model maker and self-taught machinist and metal fabricator. I have lived off-grid for 30 years, and spent 15 of those years building and living in micro-houses in remote locations. I have scratch built more than a dozen small solar-powered vehicles, some which are tractors and work vehicles." Phil is a co-founder of the Renewable Energy Development Institute (REDI), a 19-year- old nonprofit in Willits, California.
A 30-year resident of Willits, California, Richard Jergenson started a number of successful businesses in the 70s and 80s, including his favorite, running the local cinema. The Whole Earth Catalog and Mother Earth News fueled his life-long interests in technology, energy, transporta- tion (especially railroads), and alternative lifestyles. A cultural archivist and 20-year member/officer of the Mendocino County Railway Society, he is a member of Roots of Motive Power and active in the Little Lake Grange. One of the builders of the world's first solar-electric rail vehicle, the Sol Train, Richard has been grid beaming since 1977.
A professional welder and metal fabri- cator in the mid-1980s, Wilma Keppel switched to grid beam in 1995."I am interested in anything that works exceptionally well — whether grid beam, regenerative land management, or mental performance." She writes on environmental topics and is a site editor for ManagingWholes.com. Since 2003 Wilma has done research in practical psychology — real things we ordinary people can do to improve our lives. She teaches life enhancement and mental per- formance skills through Peak Performance Preparation in Oakland, California (PeakPerformancePreparation.com).