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What’s the best way to build a cheap home that doesn’t harm the planet? Most of the materials, such as concrete and steel, are highly processed and transported over long distances, making them impossible to afford for the millions of people who need a home. These high-tech materials also cause a lot of environmental damage. The answer is to use locally available natural building materials with a low impact, such as earth, stone, straw and small diameter wood. This article explores several ways to use land and sustainably sourced timber to bring housing costs down to the lowest prices. And because the techniques are user-friendly, they are perfect for DIY enthusiasts.
Building Earth Bags: Like other methods of building soil, building earth bags is easy to learn and extremely cheap. It evolved from the military’s use of heavy-duty, blast-resistant, bullet-proof sandbag structures for 100 years. Modern builders use the same basic bag filling and stacking process to build beautiful homes, offices, shops, schools, and orphanages. Earthbag buildings are resistant to mold, fire, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, insects and rodents.
Since the main building material is land, which is often free or very cheap if provided, structures can literally be built cheaply. No expensive equipment is needed. Most people already have the basic tools at home – shovels, buckets, a garden hose, and a ladder. The construction process is so simple that unskilled workers can learn each construction step just by watching for a minute. The Earthbag building is extremely flexible and can be used to build almost any shape imaginable, including domes, vaults, round houses, or more typical square or rectangular designs.
Small Diameter Wood: US forests are currently overcrowded and prone to fires. Millions of acres are destroyed each year by fires and disease. The sustainable collection of small trees from the forest actually improves forest health and reduces forest fires. With an inexpensive firewood permit (around $ 20), anyone can get firewood to build a house. Most of this wood usually ends up in the chimney to warm homes, but is much more valuable when transformed into useful long-life products. All wood for your home can be obtained this way at a much lower cost than buying dimensional wood from a construction procurement center.
One option is to detach the bark and use it in a round for columnar frames. Round timber is much stronger than sawn timber and requires less processing. With a portable cutter or chainsaw attachment, DIY enthusiasts can also mill their own wood into beams, joists, dowels, trusses, purlins, window and door frames, finishes, cabinets and furniture. Where I live, builders cut down standing dead trees (healthy wood) from the forest to avoid the time and effort of seasoning the wood. In addition, the use of sustainably sourced timber as described here is more aesthetically pleasing than traditional drywall cladding. The beauty of the wood remains exposed, honoring the tree it comes from.
Compacted Ground Flooring: Traditional poured ground flooring can last for many centuries, thus saving a small fortune in framing wood floors and replacing carpeting and linoleum every 15 years. When finished, Earth floors look like leather and are extremely beautiful. (They are used in trendy custom homes.) However, poured earthen floors take a long time to dry, making them impractical in all but hot, dry climates.
Compact earth floors use less water and dry much faster. These floors can usually be walked on one or two days after installation. The construction process involves screening the roadbed or other suitable soil through a 3/8 “mesh. This mix is ??spread in 2” layers and tamped down horizontally. The process repeats until the desired height is reached. The topsheet material is re-sieved through a 1/8 inch screen. The top coat mixture is hand rubbed and polished using only enough water to bind well. After the floor has dried thoroughly, seal with several layers of linseed oil diluted with turpentine.
Earthen plaster: The most beautiful wall finish I have ever seen is earthen plaster. If you’ve never seen earth plaster before, you can think of the gloomy brown walls. Do a search on the Internet for “clay plaster” and you will see amazing results. As there are many types of clay, there are no restrictions on colors, textures, and special effects. One popular method uses mica in plaster to create shiny, glossy walls.
Clay plaster is probably the most user-friendly wall finish. In many cultures, women, children and the elderly have been making plaster work for centuries using only their hands and basic tools. The key to durable clay plaster is the wide roof overhangs that are approximately 36 inches long. Protect your walls from rain and snow and it will last a long time with only minor touch-ups.
These are just a few ideas to help you start thinking about using natural building materials. Thanks to the Internet, it is now very easy to learn about these and other low-cost building methods. Additional articles on the above topics are available free of charge on the author’s website.
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Source by Owen Geiger