"You must be the change you want to see in the world." "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." --Mahatma Gandhi
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"Family farms work when the whole family works the farm." -- Adam Klaus
http://www.cloud9farms.com/ - Southern Colorado - Zone 5 (-19*f) - 5300ft elevation - 12in rainfall plus irrigation rights
Dairy cows, "hair" sheep, Kune Kune pigs, chickens, guineas and turkeys
Peter Ellis wrote:Compressed earth blocks are used for masonry construction. Rammed earth walls are monolithic.
That is a massive difference in mechanical characteristics. You do not achieve the same thing by two different paths.
Mike Cantrell wrote:the outcome (the wall you build) is the same. The route to get there is completely different.
Cement improves the material allowable and ability to react loads,
A “monolithic” load path has a much better chance of operating in “limit loads” material properties.
Is there an earth build method that is not labor intensive?
Most of what I have seen is labor intensive but the materials cost is dirt cheap!
If you handle the labor properly I believe you can come out ahead of purchasing less labor intensive materials at the big box stores.
One thing good about blocks is if you wanted to get out of weather you can make them in your warehouse, RE is site built although I saw some make some big sections in their warehouse and site ship them locally.
1) For earth blocks, you need a press. If you want to build with block, but acquiring a press is impractical for you, traditional adobe can be a reasonable alternative. If using a hand operated press you'll need a crew of at least six hearty individuals to mix soil, operate the press, move and stack blocks, etc. BTW, pulling the lever on a hand press all day long is also one hell of a workout! Rammed earth or cob can be achieved with as few as one or two people.
2) Any building done in place, such a rammed earth or cob, will be more efficient from the standpoint of not having to stack, and move blocks. When you consider moving hundreds or even thousands of 25-40 pound blocks to from the press to and from the drying field, the total extra energy expended can be significant!
I am in opposition to OPC too, I am just not sure what else has the same properties?
Kevin EarthSoul (real, legal name)
Omaha, NE
wrote:Loads are loads, stress is stress, there are no modality that will transfer structural loads better than a mono period, BIG difference there.
wrote: It is VERY clear to me monolithic (and what I mean by that is NO bond lines wins), although I would entertain a test report showing otherwise?
wrote:I am in opposition to OPC too, I am just not sure what else has the same properties?
Kevin EarthSoul wrote:
Terry Lee wrote:
I am in opposition to OPC too, I am just not sure what else has the same properties?
Though they are trickier to work with, pazzolans and lime stabilization. Adobe (clay) is also a stabilizer.
I am hoping for industrial hemp to be grown in the US again (and it is already starting up in Colorado). Hemp hurds mixed into a hydraulic lime slurry makes "hempcrete", which is much better than OPC from a CO2 perspective. Hempcrete requires no rebar, is flexible (much better seismic tolerance), and has a higher R-value. Poured hempcrete floors are actually comfortable to walk on. It's easy to make walls, too, with a slip-form.
I do know wood would never be approved today as a robust building materials. Wood is entirely unpredictable, if someone invented it today it never be approved as a building material.
....it shrinks and expands along the grain differently than perpendicular, shrinks and expands more at a right angle to the grain than along the grain, studs get shorter or longer, do not get thinner or thicker...
There are far better material choices, better strength-to-weight ratios, and combinations that work well together.
And there is probably a good reason for that we know better. I am not sure if anyone has followed these designs that have 'lasted for centuries'” to capture all the maintenance required. We westerners have, we understand that structure is only as good as its weakest link.
Terry Lee wrote:
I do know wood would never be approved today as a robust building materials.
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