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Fastest natural building options

 
Posts: 26
Location: South Dakota
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Hello!

My husband and I are possibly entering into a transition of a farm in Northern MN of over 100 acres. The owners will stay on the land till they can't anymore in their own current home. We will need to build a home for our two toddlers and ourselves.

The land is very flat. It has mostly sandy soil, with patches of pure sand. The water table is fairly high but no flooding that I know of--just a bog nearby. There are quite a few trees, including oak and pine. There are sawmills nearby.

There is a manufactured home on a lot adjacent but it has bad mold issues and we are sensitive to mold so it's not a long term solution. Thinking we will stay in it over summer with air purifiers and/or windows open. Then hopefully move into our new home ASAP.

We are currently thinking to build a small home that can be expanded upon. Perhaps a 15x25foot or so. Would love to add bedrooms for all, a sunroom/seed starting room, large pantry, mud room, etc. Ideally, I'd love to just encase it in a greenhouse basically to allow us to have plenty of room midwinter and if course save on energy costs.

We just built a conventional house over the last three years so I'm confident we have the skills.... it's just time and labor that's a limiting factor.

Any advice welcome.

So my question is: site specific setbacks aside, what is the fastest method of natural building? In thinking possibly rammed earth but i know very little about it, and I'm also thinking sandy soil is not a good option.  
 
steward
Posts: 16098
Location: USDA Zone 8a
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Have you establish a Land Trust for this situation?



 
Bridget Vandel
Posts: 26
Location: South Dakota
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Oh goodness. Anne, I'm afraid you may have sleep in your eyes still
 
pollinator
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With the specifics you have given, if I were in your place I think I would check availability of straw bales.  Straw bale buildings are very comfortable and have a nice, warm feel.  They are super quiet and straw bales are nice to work with.  I'm not certain if they save a lot of money over conventional building.  You still have to build your frame conventionally.  Same with the floor and roof.  If time and labor are the main factors, I think rammed earth would be a mistake.  It seems to be pretty labor intensive, as well as slow.  As you said, you have sand, so you would have to bring material in.  On the other hand, earth bags may work for you.  Still labor intensive, but much faster and very cheap.  I hope whatever you decide, you keep the forum up to date with your progress.  I love watching people's projects.  Best of luck to you.
 
gardener
Posts: 302
Location: Austin, Texas
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Straw bale is probably the fastest and best suited for your (very cold) climate. Rammed earth can be fast too but provides very little insulation. Hempcrete and light clay straw are slower than straw bale because the walls have to be packed and allowed to dry out before plastering. Cob and earthbag are probably the slowest.

If you've already built a conventional house straw bale, hempcrete and light clay straw are fairly easy transitions.

Regarding the sandy soil, it probably won't be an issue unless the ground is all sand to below frost depth.
 

 
 
gardener
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Hi Bridget,
I can sympathize with reacting to mold. The amount of houses with water damage that leads to some level of mold indoors is crazy... but is made worse by the modern building techniques that seal you up in a plastic bag.

There are tons of ways to build naturally. I am personally a fan of hempcrete and plan to go that route if I every get around to building my own house.

Having said that, given your situation, I'd like to throw out something a little different than what has been suggested before. How about a stick built house using natural materials? Which is different than say a cob, rammed earth, straw bale, cordwood etc. Build your typical 2x6 or 2x8 walls, put pine v-match on the inside. Use something like rockwool for insulation (fairly innocuous), add the rockwool boards on the outside, top it off with wooden clapboard siding. You could use metal or cedar shingles for the roof. Inside use wood or tile flooring and milk paint on the walls. It might not go up as fast as plywood on the walls, but it will still go up faster than some other methods, and you will have the materials readily available at building supply stores. It sounds like you already have all the skills, so there no need to learn new techniques right now. If you do not need a basement it will go up even faster.

Do you have a well and septic available? Those can be expensive and take a lot of time. There are some good threads on here about composting toilets which could reduce the plumbing you need.
 
Rocket Scientist
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With trees on hand and sawmills nearby, a stick framed house as described seems like a good option. I bet oak siding (clapboard or board and batten) would last a long time and look beautiful. Interior oak paneling and flooring would be amazing.
 
Posts: 579
Location: Sierra Nevada foothills, 350 m, USDA 8b, sunset zone 7
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"Fast" and "natural" are rather opposite terms, so it will not be easy.
Regarding strawbale I would recommend to read:

Straw Bale What They Don't Tell You

If you consider rammed earth I'm pretty sure that you would find a proper soil for cob on your 100 ac property even if the top is sandy. Probably you will also find good clay somewhere - after all Minnesota is post-glacial territory. However rammed earth will not be fast, but would give you solid wall and I can not imagine cavity walls in the country side where insects and rodents are plenty (and I live in extremely arid summer climate and insects are still unbearable).

Double wythe concrete block (with between block cavity filled with perlite concrete) would give you total security, lasting solidity and quality, but is rather not considered natural. It would still have to be plastered.

With trees around and a mill nearby I would really consider post and beam with cordwood infill and using light perlite/vermiculite based mortar for better insulation.








 
pollinator
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I guess your objectives might need to be better defined.  I'm tempted to give the standard "that depends" answer, because your intended lifespan and immediate and long term use of the structure probably all inform your choices.  In other words, your "cost function" or "loss function" needs to be better defined, or at least more clearly articulated.  Many times, this measure of what is "optimal" changes as you plan and scheme and reconsider, so it, too, may be a moving target.

For example, if "fastest" is the only thing that matters, a big wall tent might suffice.  But, that's probably not really what you want, no matter if it can be set up in an afternoon.

If your "optimal" solution is more like "quickest to set up in the spring when the weather breaks, structurally substantial, and easily modified for future use", then maybe something like a timber framed structure would be a good choice.  You could probably cut the frame this winter, possibly even assemble bents before the weather breaks, then raise the frame as soon as the foundation (whether concrete footer, dry laid stone, or a frost protected thickened edge slab) can bear the load in the spring.  Infill choices abound: SIP (not very permie, at least if made with plastic foam, but quick), cordwood, leichtlehm/clay-straw, wattle and daub (with or without additional insulation), compressed earth block (high strength adobe, Cinva ram style), true adobe, etc., etc.  Temporarily, tarp in the sides, once the roof sheds water (even if just tar paper, synthetic roofing membrane or a blue tarp, until you can add the "real" roof).  You can then work on infill out of the weather.  You might be able to hasten the drying or curing schedule considerably for cob or daub and wattle infill early in the building season if the rain can be kept off, or work on making adobes out of the spring rains, or whatever.  If you don't have access to lots of straight timbers for the frame, a cruck frame might be possible - this seems to have been a pretty common approach in Medieval England, though whether the crucks were preferentially selected or were the only timbers that people were permitted to use is an open question.  Whatever the case, a few cruck frames built 700-800 years ago are still extant, and many more recently constructed, as well.

A lot of sand with a bit of clay sounds like a good recipe for rammed earth, compressed earth block, adobe or cob.  If you have the sand, the lesser amount of clay might not be cost prohibitive, even if trucked in.  Fast?  Probably not the fastest, though the bricks (whether compressed or simply air/sun dried) could possibly be made up ahead of time (say, set up a greenhouse to work in, which then becomes a true green house when the building project is complete).

A yurt would go up pretty quickly, could be worked on over the winter (sew the cover, build the roof structure and outer wall lattice, maybe even put floor pieces together), and be warmer and more substantial than the wall tent.

A tipi probably doesn't meet your size requirements, but if speed of setup is the only objective, still might be a reasonable solution for a wintry climate.  Though, I think it's in the Laubin book on tipis that they mention a large ceremonial double tipi with an oval floor plan.  So, with an ozan (canvas partial ceiling), even that might work for you.  I'll try to track down my copy and see if my "rememberer" is working properly!

A soddy is quite labor intensive, but might be climatically appropriate.  There were (a few) two story sod houses built, and some rather impressive single story residences, as well.  Done well, they lasted.  Done poorly and in haste, they didn't endure very well.  But, it is a natural building method, and with ample historical precedent.  Lots of soddies were added on to, after the fact.  I have some good documentation on soddy construction, also, especially as practiced historically in the Sandhills area of what is today Nebraska.  Let me know if you are interested, I'll see if I can corral some of my resources.
 
pioneer
Posts: 111
Location: in the Middle Earth of France (18), zone 8a-8b
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As I was reading Kevin's reply, the image of a yurt/ger popped up in my mind - it would be a very cozy home (with a wood stove in the middle) and a lovely adventurous surroundings to begin with for all of you to remember.

Later it could function as a visitor lodging.

Then I saw that Eric had included a yurt in his abundant reply as well.

I think a yurt would be the fastest and most cozy solution for now, giving you the time and space to reflect and build 'at your leisure' = with an unforced flow.

Good luck and yes, do keep us posted!
 
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