Author Topic: A very cool way to build a very cool house.  (Read 1232 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Xavier_Onassis

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 27916
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
A very cool way to build a very cool house.
« on: July 31, 2015, 12:49:18 PM »
This is a super adobe house built near Córdoba, Argentina.  The materials used are cheap and available, the construction is solid and attractive. The only problem is that it seems very time consuming. Among the notes there is a description in English about how to build using super adobe and plastic tubes. I particularly like the circular design. 

http://www.taringa.net/posts/hazlo-tu-mismo/18827138/Amplie-mi-casa-de-Adobe-super.html
"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana."

Plane

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 26993
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: A very cool way to build a very cool house.
« Reply #1 on: July 31, 2015, 08:36:22 PM »
   What is super adobe made of?

    The plastic tubes look like a good innovation, I bet the process could be more automated.

     Have you ever heard about Dennis Weavers adobe and tire house?


Quote
.... the tires are never visible. Laid in courses of dense “tire bricks”—tires each rammed full of 400 pounds of earth in a labor-intensive process—the finished structure is covered with adobe to create lusciously tactile curvilinear walls two and a half feet thick.

http://www.motherearthliving.com/green-living/a-visit-with-environmentor-dennis-weaver.aspx

Xavier_Onassis

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 27916
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: A very cool way to build a very cool house.
« Reply #2 on: July 31, 2015, 09:02:48 PM »
I have seen the houses made of tires as well.  Using tires is ingenious, because recycling them is difficult and hard in the environment. I think you can actually get people to pay you to recycle tires.   Tires filled with sand and dirt are ideal insulators, and the house can be warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. The only bad part of this sort of building is the state and country laws on zoning. The house will look strange compared to the usual CBS and wooden boxes of most suburbs, so you would probably have to locate it out in the country. My guess is that you would have a hard time building anything like this in Miami-Dade or Broward Counties.

The main problem is that building this way is labor intensive. It would be ideal as a family or group or community project. Hiring outside labor might be cost prohibitive.

The process mentioned talks about laying down one or two strands of galvanized barbed wire between the rammed earth tubes to hold them in place, but the house shown did not do this. When the tubes or tires are finished, then the whole surface is plastered over to keep the Sun from damaging the plastic and also to give a more finished surface.

One of the Taringa commentators mentions that the thatch roof could be a nest for Chagas beetles, which can give people an incurable nasty disease, but I see that he has plywood under the thatched roof. Also, it gets too cold near Mendoza for these tropical bugs. They prefer places like Panama and Honduras.

This method could give every builder a chance to have his very own oval office.   
"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana."