I'd like to propose a new housing construction technique I came up with today which combines a few different construction principles to achieve perhaps the cheapest and fastest method for constructing a dwelling.
Essentially, instead of earth bags or cob or other labor intensive methods, what if a house were to use the form of the natural earth as walls and structural support?
- Remove the moist and organic filled top soil from the room and 5-10 feet surrounding it.
- Dig down (or into a hill) the size of the room desired (a bit deeper than the planned room so you can place a few inches of gravel for moisture management).
- Go out 5-10 feet from the room and dig a generous rubble trench (a foot or two deeper than the room depth). Line the side closest to the room with water proof material and make sure there is adequate drainage paths away from your structure (and the trench is built with a grade for drainage).
- To reinforce the walls of the room, run long horizontal supports into the walls (these don't need to be steel) leaving a bit sticking out.
- Plaster a generous amount of lime or other earthen plaster onto the walls, using the reinforcement bits sticking out as support.
- Construct a generous water-proof roof that reaches out past the rubble trench ((this could actually be as simple as a pool liner, since this would be placed on the ground....in fact, afterwards, you could place soil back on top if you desire).
Overall this method is taking a step back and managing the moisture of the entire area around the house to create a large water-free zone for the natural earth walls. That frees the walls of the typical earth bermed moisture problems....while skipping entirely the need for load bearing wall construction or trying to handle moisture inches away from the structure with gravel back fills and concrete moisture repelling coatings.
Of course, you can install sewage and other drainage measures (such as connecting drainage outlets out to the rubble trench from the house rooms). Or you could build up another story on top of this foundation (though then you begin needing to deal with walls again, increasing costs).
Alternatively, you could use posts in the natural earth walls as supports and lift the roof up further to create an open air space above your house, still sheltered from rain / moisture.
Anyhow, there are lots of ways you can take the basic concept. But at the core this seems like a method to construct extremely low cost and extremely fast housing....needing really just some digging equipment, gravel, and an adequate roofing solution.
Thoughts?
Submitted August 25, 2018 at 12:09PM by Sophic_Group https://ift.tt/2LmLfTG
