Posted on 08/02/2013 11:34:14 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
You can buy a house in Detroit for cheep.You may not like your neighbors however.
My personal preference would be for a timber framed house with straw bale in-fill. Despite all the naysayers, those houses have been built everywhere - starting in Nebraska in the 1800s. There's one in Georgia that was built in the 30s that looks neoclassical - you wouldn't know it was straw bale construction, and it's still there, despite the humid, hot, damp climate.
Water is the primary concern, so your foundation would need to be several inches above ground for the first row of bales. The eaves should extend out to maximize the protection of the walls. Having said that, the walls can handle typical wet / dry cycles.
The walls are reputed to have an insulation value of R35. Straw bales will not burn easily because of the low oxygen content within the bales. If you use concrete stucco within and without you have a serious building.
You might also consider "rammed earth" construction - there are houses in Europe that are hundreds of years old that were built this way. You mix sand, a little clay, a little water and maybe a little cement as a stabilizer, and shovel it in thin layers into a form where you pound on it with a rammer. You repeat this process until you fill the form and then you reposition the form; repeat the entire process again and do it until you reach your final wall height. You are basically making sandstone walls. Parts of the Great Wall of China were built using this process too.
The major expense is not the walls of the house. It is what goes inside, under, and over it: kitchens, baths, flooring, electric, plumbing, land, foundations, roofing, etc.
What intrigued me was that for those in the third world these types of housing could be built by families and could provide very inexpensive a safe shelters.
Treating the bales with boric acid should help with insects and give some level of fire retardation too.
I wonder what the R factor is on a hay bale.
"Earthships" - I think the original idea was to do something about the thousands and thousands of tires that were just being thrown away when earthships were first designed in the late 70s, or early 80s. I believe they've since come up with all sorts of ways to recycle old tires today.
"What intrigued me was that for those in the third world these types of housing could be built by families and could provide very inexpensive a safe shelters."
There was talk about using straw bales to quickly provide shelter in disaster situations, but I don't think anything ever came of it.
Somehow it's “green” to heat with wood from the surrounding forest and to pile poop in a pit. I wonder where they are giving away free forest land with convenient nearby stream?
I don’t know about $35,000 but I just built a 4 room, 25X25 foot concrete block house reinforced with rebar for less than $15,000.
Check out a “Cinva Ram” ... I built one for 16 x 8 x 4 engineered soil blocks ...no cement should be used only lime as it “breathes” and that is true for straw bales as well
This is a fascinating video. I recommend it.
Was that a complete house or just the outside shell.
By the way, when I was a child , I watched my father and brother build a cinderblock house from the foundation up. He did everything. It took him about a year working on it weekends and during his 2 week vacation.
Think about it 3600 blocks stacked English bond with 32 inches of coverage will get you a fire proof and bullet proof [well most bullets] wall 16 inches thick x 8 feet high and 100 feet long [8 x 100 = 800 sq. feet times 144 sq. inches in a square foot divided by 32 sq. inches = 3600 blocks, if you went to an 8 inch wall it would double the length to 200 feet.
I think I’ve been in the house in the second picture. Is it the one in Goodsprings, NV built (IIRC) by a Vegas Dentist?
The straw bales are treated with fireproofing, stacked on a foundation, covered with heavy hardware cloth and covered with sprayed on concrete and painted. The roofs are timber framed.
You do not cut the cost of the foundation, roof, fixtures, cabinets, appliances, etc. so the overall price is not effected as much as one would think.
They are / can be VERY energy efficient with the right roofing and windows. The walls have an R factor of over 30 IIRC.
A do-it-yourself home needs trade-offs to get you the best value for your money.
For example, in the desert southwest, you need air conditioning, but can save hundreds of dollars in the dry summer with a swamp cooler. Likewise a passive water heater on the roof can slash the cost of heating water, and solar cells are quite efficient for *marginal* power needs, like an attic fan to blow out the hot air, and perhaps soon, electrolysis of water into hydrogen and oxygen.
But this means a slightly more expensive steel frame is better than a wooden frame, to hold that heavy stuff, and more, on your roof. Wood just can’t take it.
You also need to think beyond air convection for cooling and heating. Building can have top of the line a/c, turned down as far as it can be, but still feel warm or hot inside because of all the invisible infrared light bouncing around. That is, the air temperature can be 75F, but it feels like 80F because of the IR. So exterior surfaces that reflect IR are a must.
Instead of feet of fiberglass insulation, thin sheet aerogel insulates much better. 3mm instead of 3 feet. It should also be used to insulate your oven and refrigerator, making them much more energy efficient. Unfortunately it is still somewhat expensive and hard to get, though demand is huge.
As far as less IR is better in summer, IR heating in winter is also more efficient than doing it with air convection.
Oven stoves or masonry heaters are very popular in northern Europe and Russia, because they provide IR heating for 18-24 hours with minimal fuel that is thoroughly combusted, so there is little smoke pollution or ash. Unfortunately they can be heavy and a house needs to be designed around them.
(more traditional, elaborate ones)
http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2008/12/tile-stoves.html
(more modern ones)
http://www.inspirationgreen.com/masonry-heaters.html
Other things that should be taken into account with a do it yourself house are ease of maintenance, cost of maintenance, conduits for utilities and technology, basements and attics, storage and security, and durability.
I’m taking a different tact...
There is a place close to me that cuts rail road ties. I can but the short drop pieces for $20 for a 16’ trailer load (they sell it as firewood). I’m doing a concrete and concrete block perimeter and center beams. Then deck out the flooring and raise the walls as solid block to look like split logs, the timber frame the roof.
There is a metal roofing product that has two layers of metal with insulation bonded in the middle that I’m looking at as roofing.
I’m looking to built two of these about 20x32 with loft as guest houses. I’m thinking of extending the roof between the two as a cover outdoor area.
If I was single and did not have a wife and kids, I would probably choose to live in a tiny house or apartment. Give me a strong internet connection and through my laptop, Kindle, tablet and smartphone, I would have access to all the books, music and entertainment I could ever consume in a lifetime.
Like a typical guy, I wouldn't even have curtains on the windows. Just a plain bed and a reading chair are all the furniture I need. I will go outdoors for fresh air more often. I will have a dog who will be loyal and always happy to see me come home. My dog will not care that I do not have a lot of space inside the home. The dog will curl by my feet while I read my Kindle, smoke my pipe and sip my bourbon.
The picture below is of a lady who is doing just that. Now I read the corresponding article and she's a bit of a nutjob but that's separate from the fact that she chooses to live in a simple, spartan home like this. I think it's a good idea, except I'd have more digital appliances in it and way less pillows.
in So. California $35k woundn’t cover the up front fees before you even pay for a building permit!
They took ugly and turned it into something quiet nice.
However, I notice it’s a ‘Socially Conscious’ program or some such, so it probably cost around a million dollars and by now it’s been so neglected that it looks like a bunch of broken and stacked shipping containers.
BM
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