I think the contractors up here recommend that, but, of course, I would be the guy doing the work, just have a truck come in and pour...lol
Saw a show on the boobtube where this couple in either central or Southern Montana built an EarthBag (filled with scoria) then used a grain bin roof on it... They were running quickly out of Fall so they decided to build the roof on the ground then have a crane lift it up (the wheel way) - and I was quite surprised to see that it didn't work well for them at all! I had thought it would have just been cake, but they eventually and ultimately decided, Nope, they had to un-assemble it and re-do it topside (bummer)! Now I can surmise lifting a whole bin that way would be much better since the structure of "Le Cirque" would help to hold it together.
A few ideas rolled into my head while I was thinking of this... What to use as alternate insulation. Fiberglass (yuk), simply shredded paper (untreated), foam packing peanuts (I'd think that would be super environmentally friendly), like before mentioned Rammed Earth (I likened the idea of R.E. to a regular ol' block-n-mortar building sans insulation up here and trying to heat it...haha), or just plain ol' store bought cellulose....... The packing peanuts I think is cool cause they're virtually free, but I've read several places where they allow a lot of air movement. Now once again in a pretty-much airtight (relatively) situation as this, you'd almost have to think that even just an air space between skins would act as somewhat of an insulator.. ....Argon? LOL....
I keep thinking of those horribly overpriced beer coolers (Think the Himalayan version of Bigfoot) which are essentially doubly insulated "grain bins"... If ya got well-sealed pneumonia holes, chances of retaining heat *either inside or outside* are way gooder.
I like to think a lot, and usually when I build something I do far better without a plan, so I'm quite afraid to make any plans per se.. Only problem there is if I wanted to wire or plumb or anything like that, You'd think running all that along the outside of the inside wall would be tidy..The plain utilitarian side of me would say that conduit and plumbing mounted to the inside tho could be made attractive too, as... well look... It's a corrugated metal BIN. Haha..
The whole neatness of the idea sounds too enticing not to do! Pour a pad, bolt a bin down to it, then set another bin on top and bolt it down, too...open the top hatch and essentially blow in insulation. Done. More or less...
-Jeff
