- - The original note follows - -
From: sherwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Sherwood Botsford)
Subject: Re: Geodisk / Dome Houses (Low cost)
Date: 10 Apr 1994 00:52:31 GMT
Jean van Eeden (jve@xxxxxxxxxxx) wrote:
: Hi All
: I'm interested in low cost housing for people that can be made out of
: cheap, durable and (if possible) recycled material. Would dome homes
: fall into this catagory, if so, where can I find information on similar
: projects.
Geodesic domes do NOT fall in this category. They are finicky to
constuct, have enormous amounts of waste, and have a bad tendency to
leak. Once constructed you have to deal with no straight walls so every
storage unit has to be custom made. They are cheap to heat.
A much better alternative would be to go with straw bale construction.
Assuming that S.A. has some sort of grain crop, straw is cheap, and very
fast. Combine this with a stabilized earth floor, and a steel roof, and
you have a method of house construction that costs about 10% of the cost
of conventional structures, and doesn't require much in the way of
special tools to build.
The straw is coated on the inside with plaster, and on the outside with
stucco. There are alternative coatings which may be used to further
reduce the price, but increase the amount of local labour. (E.g. use a
mix of clay, sand, blood for the inside coating.
Considering the climate there, you may want to make the roof overhangs
very large, and also build high ceilings.
By using a metal roof, you have a convenient system for collecting rain
water, which may be useful. A shiny galvanized roof doesn't heat up
much either.
When I first heard of straw houses I was concerned about vermin.
Apparently there are very few critters that will eat dry straw. It's
nearly pure cellulose, and only bacteria will touch the stuff. I
suppose there may be a termite that will eat it...
--
=> Sherwood Botsford sherwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <=
=> University of Alberta Lab Manager, Space Physics Group <=
=> tel:403 492-3713 fax: 403 492-4256 <=
From: sherwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Sherwood Botsford)
Subject: Re: Geodisk / Dome Houses (Low cost)
Date: 10 Apr 1994 00:52:31 GMT
Jean van Eeden (jve@xxxxxxxxxxx) wrote:
: Hi All
: I'm interested in low cost housing for people that can be made out of
: cheap, durable and (if possible) recycled material. Would dome homes
: fall into this catagory, if so, where can I find information on similar
: projects.
Geodesic domes do NOT fall in this category. They are finicky to
constuct, have enormous amounts of waste, and have a bad tendency to
leak. Once constructed you have to deal with no straight walls so every
storage unit has to be custom made. They are cheap to heat.
A much better alternative would be to go with straw bale construction.
Assuming that S.A. has some sort of grain crop, straw is cheap, and very
fast. Combine this with a stabilized earth floor, and a steel roof, and
you have a method of house construction that costs about 10% of the cost
of conventional structures, and doesn't require much in the way of
special tools to build.
The straw is coated on the inside with plaster, and on the outside with
stucco. There are alternative coatings which may be used to further
reduce the price, but increase the amount of local labour. (E.g. use a
mix of clay, sand, blood for the inside coating.
Considering the climate there, you may want to make the roof overhangs
very large, and also build high ceilings.
By using a metal roof, you have a convenient system for collecting rain
water, which may be useful. A shiny galvanized roof doesn't heat up
much either.
When I first heard of straw houses I was concerned about vermin.
Apparently there are very few critters that will eat dry straw. It's
nearly pure cellulose, and only bacteria will touch the stuff. I
suppose there may be a termite that will eat it...
--
=> Sherwood Botsford sherwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <=
=> University of Alberta Lab Manager, Space Physics Group <=
=> tel:403 492-3713 fax: 403 492-4256 <=