simple and cheap eco-housing.....

does anyone know of any resources such as books/websites/people/groups for basic and cheap/free house design and construction? strawbale and rammed earth and stone etc all look great - but i'm wondering more about quick and easy, probably more primitive structures. houses that may not necessarily last forever, but can be assembled quite easily and quickly from basic earth materials. bamboo and other found timbers, grasses, mud/clay etc.

bamboo yurts and thatched roof structures look quite good, but i really have no idea where to start. i reckon if i let the lantana get a bit bigger i could probably live under that..... it's got a pretty solid roof and an inbuilt security system with spikes.

there have to be options for eco housing that cost very little if not nothing, and can be assembled quickly and easily with little skill. i'd like to know more........

 

Might be something here to get ideas from makehumus.

 

Try this on for size.


https://www.formblock.com.au/

Looks sound and practical to me.

Cheers Mike

 

My friend Gary tried to email me the instructions for building a capsule, which is a bamboo and thatch temporary dwelling type thing from Auroville in INdia. Unfortunately Gary's photo was blurry such that I can't really read the instructions. But it sounds something like what you are thinking of there humus. Maybe I can put up this link to a photo that will suggest the idea, and maybe be a miracle of the internet someone cruisising by will have a better copy!

 

Oh my that is very small!

 

I goggled "capsule dwelling" and all I could find were those tiny cubicles that the Japanese have learned to hate in a hurry.

I've seen a site on those cardboard houses, but they seem awfully expensive for something that might last one year. They start about $1500 USD for an 8’x8’ box (about 2.5x2.5m). Plus shipping, of course.

Some ideas:

B.E.L.L. Housing:
https://www.geocities.com/newlibertyvill ... r/BELL.htm

Tipis: (a friend of mine lived in one of these and loved it)
https://www.wikwemikongtipicompany.com/

The Indian Tipi by Gladys Laubin, et al

Yurts – how to build:
The Complete Yurt Handbook by Paul King

Shelter by Bob Easton & Lloyd Kahn

Home Work: Handbuilt Shelter
by Lloyd Kahn Mostly for ideas, I think.

Rustic Retreats by David Stiles

And there is an idea that I have thinking about. I have recently discovered a cement-based material called Quikwall (from the Quikcrete Company, which I think is Canadian). It is much stronger than regular concrete even when it is very thin (VERY thin!). It can be a bit difficult to find, even here. I am visualizing a simple dome shape like Linda Woodrow’s chook dome (and approx. that size) made of flexible sticks or even bamboo. I would cover the entire thing in plastic (temporary) and pin it down, then apply a layer of poultry wire all over it, marking the door & windows but not removing the wire there until coating is completed. Then spread a thin coat of Quikwall over the whole thing and let it set, then apply a heavier layer to provide more strength. On the inside, I would remove the plastic and apply another layer (or two) of the Quikwall to embed the wire entirely. Another, heavier coating on the outside would make it stronger. I would like to try this someday, but there may be some huge flaw in the idea.

Sue

 

Um, check this out. Looks super cheap:

https://www.calearth.org

Been meaning to build one, but too busy for now... hopefully next year (right next to the aquaponics :wav: system...)

C

 

I forgot to add that one! Those sandbag domes are also very earthquake stable, they say.

Sue

 

thanks HEAPS everyone for so many links and ideas - i wasn't expecting so many options but was pleasantly surprised. after looking at some of these buildings i can't help but wonder why people still need a three-storey six-bedroom four-car-garage reverse cycle air conditioned concrete monstrosity with about three square metres of yard space - especially with only a couple living there - for the 3 or 4 hours they're not away at work trying to pay for the place.

i'm currently living in a tent while i was to renovate and repair an old shed which became a termite sanctuary. there's no walls left just a roof, and i had all these plans to do this and that and it started getting quite involved. but since living with very little around me for a while something's changed and now i don't want to go back; i don't want to make any changes or go elaborate or spend money. if anything, i want to get simpler and closer to the earth so i've got more time to go and chat with the trees. it really is amazing how much we don't need.

 

Christopher,

do you (or anyone else) know what the calearth bags are made of? Is it the same material as the stripey bags?

 

I dare say they are the same material as feed bags,/ wheat bags etc etc, as on the calearth site they state the the bags need to be stored in shade out off direct sunlight as they will breakdown .

I have written an email to them to see if they have a supplier in Asutralia.. Failing that, you could use wheat bags I would think... There no shortage of those around here........

 

Re: simple and cheap eco-housing.....

Also have you thought about using old shipping containers. Have seen acouple of place do some great things with those... you have 2 side by side then anoth 2 stacked on top. then go to town on them, bit of a blank peice of canvas to do with as you please then...

 

Calearth uses polypropylene bags, but FOR SURE you could find someone making them in Australia, and then get them to make you tubes. I had shipping bags made to specifications for exporting cacao. I dictated size, height, colour, printing, etc..., so I am sure I could have them make tubes...

My friend has a very narrow lot on the ocean, and I want to buy some shipping containers and build a few houses for rent, but we can't afford it right now....

I have seen a few houses here built from them, really nice!

Got to run make tea. More later,

C

 

https://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/01 ... contai.php
https://www.archpaper.com/feature_articl ... _news.html
https://home.comcast.net/~plutarch/
https://www.escapeartist.com/unique_life ... tures.html
https://search.ebay.com.au/shipping-cont ... QQfromZR41

 

In the beginning, CalEarth was using sandbags (for flooding), then they went to these tubes. But I have a problem with the filling of the tubes. After you shovel some soil into the tube, it seems a lot of extra work to then shift it down to the end of the tube. Or am I missing something here? It just seems that bags would be simpler than those tubes.

Another web board person said he found a site that would sell sandbags for $0.17 USD (.23158 AUD).

At the CalEarth site, the way the small units are set up seems to be a bit deceiving. The photos indicate that they are just sitting on level ground. In reality, you're supposed to mark out a circle in the soil using a stick & string. Then you start digging out the circle, and the soil you remove is put into the sandbags, and the sandbags are stacked as you go, with two lines of barbed wire between them so they don't shift. You can even carve out platforms for sitting or sleeping as you go.

Due to the heavy UV issues you have there, the bags will rot if left exposed. A fairly thin coating of concrete or a thicker covering of soil would stop that, and make the huts waterproof. In the parts of the US that are subject to tornados, I would think that they could cover the hut with enough soil to make a shallow mound that more or less blends in with the surrounding country, then plant it with clover or some other ground cover with a tenacious root system, and use it as a tornado shelter.

In other areas, it could be a fire shelter.

Sue

 

Hi Sue,

There are a few books on the subject and they describe pre rolling or "scrunching" up the roll on a 5 gallon bucket with the bottom cut out. This makes filling it sort of, um , well, like pitting a condom on... for lack of an easier and more acceptable metaphor.

The UV issue would mean that prpositioning and rapid building would be the key (along with covering portions that have been filled but not plastered).

We would like to build one here for either student housing (although we already have space for up to 28 right now), or for a mushroom growroom or additional hurricane shelter (our house is stone on first floor for hurricane shelter).

Our neighbor across the river, Ignacio (he's on the PDC page on our web site) is hoping to build one, and we may hold a workshop with people if we can get an "expert" who has done it before to teach it. He lives in a small thatch house, but would like a strong house for the next hurricane... (he is also on our projects board of directors)

I think for remote sites, like ours and Ignacios, with three kilometers of distance to bring in materials (and not by motorized anything), this system, while labour intensive, would offer significant advantages in terms of material to be brought in. The minimal expense of the bags would in part cover some of the expense of the labour.... maybe... (our key would be to host a workshop with lots of willing hands, or get some WWOOFers!)

Anyway, we might never get around to it, but hope to... I would love to live vicariously through others if they do it...

 

I've seen some of those sea container houses as well, they look surprisingly good considering their simplicity.. Tipis are a great cheap form of accomodation that can be moved when you grow bored of the view.

 

Chris, it was suggested at another site (re: the CalEarth domes) that in refugee areas, helicopters could drop bales of sandbags, rolls of barbed wire and a few shovels, and people could build themselves shelters.

I would like to put one on my property just to do it!

Sue

 

Sue,

Yes, that is part of why I keep considering it... it looks transport easy!

For our dorms, most of which we built using purchased lumber, it cost us %20 of the lumber cost just to get it from the road to our place... about USD.10 a board foot. The cost of shipping is always a factor in building anything here.

We'd need some other roof design because of the high levels of rain we get, though.

If I could get a helicopter to drop the bales it would be even more exciting.

Joel, containers are great. I know a guy in Belmopan who sells Birkenstocks out of a 20 foot contaner. There is a small room, with a back room (smaller) for the shoes.. He has big glass doors where the doors open... and the doors close over it to make the whole thing lock up securely. He is a sort of eccentric German (via Tanzania, I think) guy who is also an architect who has built dozens of settlements in Africa with the containers. He raves about them. He says in a hurricane he had one container slide all over a parking lot... but no damage to the container or the contents (didn't roll).

I have seen a few other container houses/offices in Belize. Red Cross has one in PG, and there is an interesting complex of stacked containers on the Western Highway right outside of Belize City....

Anyway, Merry Christmas to you both.

Christopher