The Temas Blog » “Ecological Bricksâ€
New post about building with PET bottles/product waste at the Temas blog. Keith as always has a good writeup with links to other sources (mainly in spanish but google or babel fish translate fairly well) and info.
I’m thinking of trying a wall section (or two) of PET 2 liter bottles in the roundhouse I am building. Been wondering how they would work with cobb as a binding agent. No time like the present to find out.
If you are thinking conventional construction check elsewhere. This is old style mixed with some new stuff. I use a tractor and chain saw. But I also have T augers to make big holes and use an axe and hatchet a lot in my building. A lot of things get put together with sheetrock screws but a lot of things get wood peg fasteners too. Some of my joints are mortise and tenion held together with rock screws. Tis whatever works easiest and best at the time.
Url for the album is:
http://www.technoprimitive.org/roundHouseConstruction/index.html .
The pix are commented to some extent. For discussion post here.
Comments, questions, helpfull hints go here or email me at depatty@fake-gmail.com just remove the “fake-“.
Flames and attacks please address to nobody@/dev/null
To be more accurate, the 12 foot 2 inch long 14 inch by 16 inch cedar tree trunk has been placed in an upright position and braced. 4 layers of black 4 mill plastic were placed below on the ground to prevent at least some contact. Should last 20 years or so anyway.
Building is going to be 24 feet in diameter with a 8 foot outside wall height. That will give a 4 foot drop in 12 feet which with a shake (wood shingle) roof should give good water runoff. This diameter will give us about 450 square feet to work with.
Rafters will be young trees with a 4 to 5 inch bottom diameter and a 1 1/2 to 2 inch top diameter. I’m thinking about using umbrella style bracing from about 8 feet up on the center pole to the mid point on the rafters to remove any remaining sway or flex. Rafters every 24 inches at the outside of the header will mean we will need 38 pieces 15 feet long. Cross pieces can be anything from limbs to boards. Will probably use a lot of the scrap from the 3 dump truck loads of old lumber for these.
Side support posts will be every 6 feet so we will need 12 posts. The opening at the main door will be a bit over 7 feet wide to make up for an inch here and there. This will also let me put windows on the sides of the door for light.
Side support posts will rest on rock. Have already got all but 3 pieces of limestone in place. Got a lot of digging and filling to do yet but should be a lot easier with the rain we are getting at the moment. Will fill in between these post supports with other rock and broken cement to a height of about 18 inches where we’ll put a sill board to attach the bottom of the canvas to.
Side walls will start out as canvas. Have two pieces that Mihel brought over to use for spawn points but it was too heavy for the rope they had so he donated them to the cause. They are 6.5 feet wide and one is about 35 feet long and the other is around 50 or so. Should be plenty to cover the sides of the building. Alternating red and white canvas strips sewn together. Will be hard to miss.
More as I get it together. Trying to get pix as it goes up. This should be the first of many of these buildings. 😉
The Temas Blog » More Construction with PET Bottles
Good idea! Fill the bottles with sand and use as bricks or blocks using cement as the binding agent.
Good blog too. Now on my feedreader.
Translated version of http://www.schlafstelle.blogspot.com/
A sleep place for the beach or where ever. Interesting concept but why not a small camper instead?
Guedelon
One hell of a project! Building a castle (full size) using only indignious materials and human labor. Many years will be invested in this little effort…
Wish it was on this side of the pond so I could visit…
Over did it the last few days and am paying today. May post a bit but for the most part am going to try to recoop(?).
Guess it was all the drill use. Don’t have quite this much problem with hands and arms when I use the modified remote battery drill vs the heavy as hell 18 volt sucker.
Downtime is partually due to the last two days spent with the heavy as hell unit in hand putting gutters on one side of the 12×60 and getting metal canopys put up over the doors on the other side before the rain hit.
Trying to cut down on the amount of water that runs down the walls, behind the scrap I have against the sides at the bottom to keep the cats out, under the length of the trailer and then under the end wall of the unfinished rear addition to the q-hut and into the floor.
The flood inside wasn’t quite as bad this time. Of course I ended up putting the last piece of metal up in pouring rain. Put the drill in a large baggie with the bit sticking out one corner and finished up or we would have had a lot more inside. I think this one was a 12 towel leak.
Got a new one at the other end in the bedroom floor. Or that’s where it ends up. Ceiling center 3 feed from the end. Course that is the first seam in the ceilotex so could be from the end to 6 feed or so from it. We were up there a couple of months ago with roof coating so may have caused one then. Tis always something new.
I hope to get metal cut to underpen the trailer and stop the water from getting under in the first place. But I also need to finish with gutters or extended metal water sheads/eaves or something to keep it from getting on what walls are left.  Plan to redo the walls with some cans/bottles/rocks/concrete combo and be done with it fer-ever. One of these days…
Hands are giving out so will close till later…
Tube Lines – Any old iron? Disused tube carriages being turned into studio space
Very good reuse of old rail cars. Would like to see more pictures of the process as they modify them into studio and work space.
Treehugger: Is it Art Or an Environmental Statement?
It’s called shelter. The most basic of human needs. While I admire the art in the work/building he is doing, I think admire folks that live that way more.
Treehugger: Living Like a Hobbit. Small House, Travel & Adventures
I’ve read about Dan Price before but there is a lot more available now. Lynette Chlang has written an article on meeting him and visiting his place in the woods. Good stuff and sound like really good people.
Treehugger: Minkas: Japanese Recycled Houses
Minka houses are Japan’s equivalent of our log cabins. Until the middle of the twentieth century, most ordinary country people lived in them. They were built using local materials such as wood and paper, and techniques such as thatch and no nails, that were suited to the local climate and lifestyles. The mud-plastered walls and thatched roof structure were resistant to earthquakes and easy to rebuild. In northern Japan, they had steep roofs and small windows to cope with the long snowy winters; in the hot south, they were small and low with raised floors– well-ventilated and typhoon resistant. Today, many minkas are being demolished and the craftsmen disappearing. But people are beginning to realize that they are the ideal recycleable house, sympathetic to the environment and using local sustainable materials.
Cool! Â Â Glad to see that they are starting to save some of them.
Boing Boing: Costco’s pirate treehouse
Totally awsome! Makes me want to build one for big folks! Like me… 😉
Nomadic Research Labs
Been here and posted about it before but another link can’t hurt. Neat stuff!
Treehugger: Fortified Houses as Hurricane Bait
I’ve seen 4 to 6 foot thick walls of rebar enforced concrete broken and mangled by a hurricane so I really doubt that a row of houses on concrete stilts are gonna do much for anyone but line a few pockets. But what the hell do I know.
Treehugger: Pallet-House System – Triangular and Cubic Dwelllings
Shelter using pallets. Interesting idea but the highly structured designs don’t seem to me to be practical.
Lots & Lots of Housetrucks
LOVE these things! Makes me want to start building NOW!
Tumbleweed Tiny House Company | Links
And links to building sites. Mostly mobile it looks like.
NPR : Tiny Houses Find a Friend on the Gulf Coast
Bill was telling me about these the other day. Look interesting for someone without several tractror trailer loads of crap that needs to be inside like me… 😉
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