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"Green" Building

PureCountry

Well-known member
Hey all, just curious if anyone lives in, or knows someone who lives in a 'green' home, be it straw-bale construction, solar-powered, etc. Just looking for ideas.(And pics :wink: )
 

jigs

Well-known member
I knew of a guy near Hutchinson Kansas trying to build an igloo type home out of big square straw bales.... colapsed three times and last I knew he was looking for a type of "plaster" to cover the straw with....
 

Big Muddy rancher

Well-known member
Our house is foam form construction filled with poured concrete. Very quiet and quite energy efficent.
At Brandon Manitoba I know of some barns made with big square bales for walls with truss type roofs. Inside and outside walls were stuccoed.
 

Mrs.Greg

Well-known member
PureCountry said:
Hey all, just curious if anyone lives in, or knows someone who lives in a 'green' home, be it straw-bale construction, solar-powered, etc. Just looking for ideas.(And pics :wink: )
Not too far from our pasture is a home thats all "green" built into a hill,its only one sided and solar heated,has quite a few other Green perks to it,I'm not too sure of all the details,Les maybe able to tell you more about the Fetaz home.
 

Northern Rancher

Well-known member
Dylan and Colleen Biggs live in a straw bale house at Coronation not real far from your place. Dylan and Colleen are a great couple -pretty much the pioneers of direct marketing up here. I've stayed in that house a few times-I'd have no trouble building one like it. Actually come to think of it I've stayed at BMR's too and his is a real nice home also-there's actually a contractor builds those cement form houses up here. Bryce burnett at Swift Current has a hillside house with infloor radiant heating that is pretty darn cozy when there's a blizzard going on outside.
 

Goodpasture

Well-known member
PureCountry said:
Hey all, just curious if anyone lives in, or knows someone who lives in a 'green' home, be it straw-bale construction, solar-powered, etc. Just looking for ideas.(And pics :wink: )
When I lived in the Taos area, I appraised quite a few unusual houses, most of them green in some way. The Reynolds Earthships were interesting, and were some of the more creative usages of recycled materials. I recall one southern facing wall that was constructed of longneck been bottles. the bottom of the bottles were facing the outside, with them mortared in place. A line of mortar was placed so the bottles and mortar were smooth and flush with each other. they put some vermiculite around the bottle and did a second mortar on the inside around the neck of the bottle. this allowed the bottle to receive light an heat and the open end allowed the heat to circulate through convection. I do NOT know how they handled dusting and spiders etc. Reynolds also used tires as a structural component in the rear of a berm house. lay tires on the ground, fill with soil (preferably adobe/caleche) then stack them further until you have a fairly high wall, then plaster over the entire wall. It is structurally sound and will provide a good, unmovable interior wall. I am not sure how well it works if you have a lot of subsurface water, but in New Mexico that was not a concern.

You might also search/google for a cordwood house. Those are really good as well, and if you have wood, easy to build. There are some cordwood houses around that are several centuries old.
 

PureCountry

Well-known member
The Michael Reynolds "earthship" designs are fascinating: www.earthship.net
We've spent a few hours watching all the videos and such on his site. That's the basic idea of what we want to build. Like Dylan & Colleen's house - built into a hillside to take advantage of the insulating value of the earth, with one exposed south-facing wall of glass. We're just not sure which might be the best construction medium. Some say straw-bale is better than the tires, because they're just so light and easy to work with. And tamping tires full of clay is very labor intensive. But others maintain that the stucco usually cracks on straw bales and allows loisture in to cause mold, mildew and rot.

I've found some research papers by the Canadian Gov't on this theory, and the concluded that if the stucco is applied properly, there isn't a problem, and that the key is good overhangs on rooflines to keep the majority of driving rains off of the stucco. Common sense really.

Here's some other neat sites I've found, if anyone's interested:

www.touchtheearthranch.com

www.greenershelter.org

www.earthships.com

www.harvesthomes.ca

www.livinginpaper.com
 

alabama

Well-known member
PureCountry said:
Hey all, just curious if anyone lives in, or knows someone who lives in a 'green' home, be it straw-bale construction, solar-powered, etc. Just looking for ideas.(And pics :wink: )

My house is brown to red brick but the eves are painted a green. Does that count?
 

Big Muddy rancher

Well-known member
We were considering an earth shelter house but my wife laughs every moring when I get up and look out the upstairs window to see what the weather is like. She's sure i would go stir crazy living in a cave.
 

kolanuraven

Well-known member
Mrs.Greg said:
PureCountry said:
Hey all, just curious if anyone lives in, or knows someone who lives in a 'green' home, be it straw-bale construction, solar-powered, etc. Just looking for ideas.(And pics :wink: )
Not too far from our pasture is a home thats all "green" built into a hill,its only one sided and solar heated,has quite a few other Green perks to it,I'm not too sure of all the details,Les maybe able to tell you more about the Fetaz home.


Somebody around here did that a few yrs ago and then had to move out because of radon gas was making everyone sick. Wasn't such a good idea afterall!!


Mu house is greenish with black shutters and I've even got rocks and stone around the bottom floor....that's earth-ish like! :lol:
 

PureCountry

Well-known member
That's why I like the design of some of these ones on earthships.net, where there's basically a greenhouse all across the front wall. You could sit with your morning coffee, enjoying the view and breathing the freshest air possible, provided by your own indoor garden. The wife's all for it for sure.
 

Goodpasture

Well-known member
PureCountry said:
Some say straw-bale is better than the tires, because they're just so light and easy to work with. And tamping tires full of clay is very labor intensive. But others maintain that the stucco usually cracks on straw bales and allows moisture in to cause mold, mildew and rot.
Organic material should never have ground contact. Regardless of what it is you are using, if it is organic, it will wick moisture into the walls, causing mold, rot, etc. It is also an avenue for termites. And termites will attack adobe as well as wood. Termites are even noted for living off manure in the fields. And remember, straw is not a structural material. You still have to build in accordance with post and beam structural guidelines, with straw filling the voids.

For the berm house, tires, being petroleum based, will contain the soil really well, are virtually impervious to rot and infestation, and can be stuccoed or plastered with minimal fuss......albeit a tremendous amount of labor.

If you have a front end loader and a tiller on a tractor, and provided you have a good mixture of clay and sandy soils available, you might try doing a rammed earth house. They will be equal too or better than adobe, if you place them on a heavy enough slab/footing, you should keep the ground from contacting it, and when they are cured adequately you can use a Portland based stucco to finish it.
 

PureCountry

Well-known member
Goodpasture said:
PureCountry said:
Some say straw-bale is better than the tires, because they're just so light and easy to work with. And tamping tires full of clay is very labor intensive. But others maintain that the stucco usually cracks on straw bales and allows moisture in to cause mold, mildew and rot.
Organic material should never have ground contact. Regardless of what it is you are using, if it is organic, it will wick moisture into the walls, causing mold, rot, etc. It is also an avenue for termites. And termites will attack adobe as well as wood. Termites are even noted for living off manure in the fields. And remember, straw is not a structural material. You still have to build in accordance with post and beam structural guidelines, with straw filling the voids.

For the berm house, tires, being petroleum based, will contain the soil really well, are virtually impervious to rot and infestation, and can be stuccoed or plastered with minimal fuss......albeit a tremendous amount of labor.

If you have a front end loader and a tiller on a tractor, and provided you have a good mixture of clay and sandy soils available, you might try doing a rammed earth house. They will be equal too or better than adobe, if you place them on a heavy enough slab/footing, you should keep the ground from contacting it, and when they are cured adequately you can use a Portland based stucco to finish it.

I realize ground contact is a no-no. Had no intention of doing it that way. Any straw bale house I've seen is usually set on a concrete/adobe brick foundation, or a foundation of the rammed tires.

I really like the straw bale concept for weight and workability, but I like the advantage the tires have of being alot more stable and no risk of rot or breakdown for a few hundred years.
 

nr

Well-known member
We've met a couple who built a green house (Maryland) which has a roof of plants, radiant heat etc. They give tours of it and I'm sure they'd enjoy emailing you or talking with you on the phone about it. PM me if interested and I'll get their number.
 
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