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natural building

a small change in drinking container shape -> cheap housing

paul wheaton

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Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)

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posted 17 years ago

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This is smart. Damn smart!

http://www.red-dot.sg/Concept/porfolio/06/07ha/B017UB.htm

Marilyn Queiroz

steward

Posts: 60

posted 17 years ago

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Would you care to describe it? I'm getting
HTTP Status 404 - /Concept/porfolio/06/07ha/B017UB.htm

Leah Sattler

Posts: 2603

posted 17 years ago

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my curiosity is getting the better of me! the link does not work for me either! is this about the milk jug changes? not sure how that would apply to housing...

[img]http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n52/havlik1/permie%20pics2/permiepotrait3pdd.jpg[/img]

"One cannot help an involuntary process. The point is not to disturb it. - Dr. Michel Odent

paul wheaton

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Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)

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posted 17 years ago

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I think this is the same stuff: http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2008-04/house-built-bottles

Leah Sattler

Posts: 2603

posted 17 years ago

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wow! the leggo idea is really calling out to me now. I don't know about using it for housing though. I would have trouble wtih being surrounded by all that plastic and would wonder about its affect on the air quality in the home. but their would certainly be many other uses for them.

[img]http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n52/havlik1/permie%20pics2/permiepotrait3pdd.jpg[/img]

"One cannot help an involuntary process. The point is not to disturb it. - Dr. Michel Odent

paul wheaton

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Posts: 55452

Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)

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posted 17 years ago

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I think having a home made of plastic is really great if your current home is made of cardboard and has recently been rained on.

Other than that, yeah, I agree, I would rather not have a plastic home.

Leah Sattler

Posts: 2603

posted 17 years ago

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not a home but...

raised beds

fencing/noise barriers

well ventilated barns/sheds/storage

filled with water they would make great alternatives to wall-o-waters for early starts

and I guess there are people in the world who do have homes made of cardboard that just got rained on so......

[img]http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n52/havlik1/permie%20pics2/permiepotrait3pdd.jpg[/img]

"One cannot help an involuntary process. The point is not to disturb it. - Dr. Michel Odent

Susan Monroe

Posts: 1093

Location: Western WA

posted 16 years ago

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The problem is that the material is not UV-stabilized and will break down in a year or less. And the insulative value probably isn't much.

I would rather use straw bales as my waste material.

sue

paul wheaton

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Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)

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posted 15 years ago

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Leah,

Is this what you were looking for?

Joel Hollingsworth

pollinator

Posts: 2103

Location: Oakland, CA

posted 15 years ago

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This was done with glass bottles many years ago: the Heineken WOBO. (Efforts usuing standard bottles also pictured in the link.)

http://www.boxvox.net/2009/02/glass-bottle-houses.html

I also think the new Wal*Mart milk gallons show promise for structural and other uses. Imagine a thermal mass wall in the center of your house, filled with these:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/business/30milk.html

One big downside would be where your money goes if you buy them full of milk, but presumably they are being thrown away. And I realize condnesation on such a wall has to be dealt with, etc.

"the qualities of these bacteria, like the heat of the sun, electricity, or the qualities of metals, are part of the storehouse of knowledge of all men. They are manifestations of the laws of nature, free to all men and reserved exclusively to none." SCOTUS, Funk Bros. Seed Co. v. Kale Inoculant Co.

paul wheaton

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Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)

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posted 15 years ago

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The first link is a bit different because then you are mixing cement with the bottles. I think the interesting thing with the suggested invention is the idea that a structure could be built without any kind of mortar.

Although, I have to admit, all of the bottle houses I have seen have been really cool looking. And the big advantage of them over, say, a cordwood structure, is that bottles don't shrink!

In your second link: it wanted me to sign up and I elected to not sign up ...

Joel Hollingsworth

pollinator

Posts: 2103

Location: Oakland, CA

posted 15 years ago

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paul wheaton wrote:it wanted me to sign up and I elected to not sign up ...

Oh, sorry about that. Oddities with my internet situation mean I don't notice that sort of thing.

The important thing was the image, not the article, and there's a better image here:

They're designed to stack several deep, while full, and without other support. They don't interlock, but I think that's fine.

BugMeNot is good for registration walls at NYT and other places: there are a rotating group of communal accounts you can use, and the site keeps tabs on which ones still work.

http://www.bugmenot.com/view/nytimes.com

We shouldn't have to use that sort of service, but hopefully using it will cut down publishers' incentive to require registration.

Brenda Groth

pollinator

Posts: 4437

Location: North Central Michigan

posted 15 years ago

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uv stabililzed would be a real need..as i have attempted to pick up milk cartons that have been left outside for a few months..they totally disintegrate !! a lot of plastics are made now so that they will break down with exposure..esp milk cartons..they do really fast..

i know we all see the commercials about 100 years in a landfill..but that is only a few plastics..most of them actually are made to break down faster now..and who wants their house to fall down in a couple of years?

Brenda

Bloom where you are planted.
http://restfultrailsfoodforestgarden.blogspot.com/

Joel Hollingsworth

pollinator

Posts: 2103

Location: Oakland, CA

posted 15 years ago

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UV is among the many reasons I think mortar (even just local mud) is a good idea.

Posts: 250

Location: Marrakai Northern Territory Australia

posted 15 years ago

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not a house but i have seen a garage made of beer cans filled with sand, long time ago but cant remember what was used ar morter

Bird

Anyone who has never made a mistake
has never tried anything new
-ALBERT EINSTEIN-

Posts: 94

Location: Colorado

posted 15 years ago

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I read about a bottle house one time and they put the top of the bottle out, and the house nearly drove the pioneer crazy, by the wind whistle on the bottles,

and for some reason I have always wanted to build a whistling tower, some thing 6 to 10 feet tall with the bottles pointing out so the wind would make it sing, but put is some where not near the house, so it would not drive me nuts hearing it all the time,

Kathleen Sanderson

pollinator

Posts: 1565

Location: Zone 6b

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posted 15 years ago

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Maybe just have a few strategically-placed bottles left pointing out to whistle? Personally, while I like some sounds, such as the sound of running water, and even wind-chimes, too much noise causes stress and headaches. The noise of large ventilation systems actually makes me physically ill if I'm in it for too long. So I'd be pretty conservative with the whistling bottles, I think.

Kathleen

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