Boogga

Other than Timber (lumber), steel, aluminium, fibreboard, and glass, what other materials do you incorporate into your building design projects?

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"It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees"

Norrrrrrrrrrrrm

There is a product used for concrete. It does the same thing but it is a bi-product.There is no harm in using it. There was a good article i read on this in "fine home building" magazine a coupleof months back. You can also use native plants to the area. They will not need excessive watering and they support native species and habitat. The "foreign" plants tend to be invasive at times also, the birds and the bees dont usually dont care them as well. I will try and do some more research if you want. I am well connected to some green building people.

Boogga

Yes please tell us more about this product used for concrete.

Using native plants uses less water as you say. Especially when an area is in full drought, especially in the last 6 years.

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"It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees"

Milhaus

I haven't used this product yet, but I'm proud to say I have a little 3x4 chunk of it sitting in my office. Google 'greenkrete'. It's essentially a concrete block that is made form a non toxic mix of cement and hemp. Yep, hemp. Not the kind you smoke either. I'm sure someone will ask it. They are also experimenting with using switchgrass as well. Sooner or later, us Americans will catch on!

My brother and I went down to visit this cat. They have built a couple homes with it. Something like an R-40 insulating value, constant 50-60% humidity inside as the walls are breathable-no mold concerns. You can screw right into the block for siding, or stucco/plaster. You can use it to build your walls, flooring, roof, etc. etc. He's got it figured out to have radiant heat in the walls, rather than the floor. We sat and talked with this guy for about three hours. Every single aspect of home building he had covered with an alternative that presented much less harmful and more efficient methods than standard building practices here in the states. He doens't incorporate them all into his building design, but talk about a guy that has done some research. It was impressive to say the least.

Boogga

Just looked at GreenKrete website and looks interesting. I never seen this before. Is it popular in the USA? It's obviously better than what it looks (like cork). Is it expensive to purchase? What is the square foot price?

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"It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees"

Milhaus

No, I can't say its popular. When I spoke with the owner, he was just in the process of getting off the ground. He has made numerous updates to the website, and what he offers as a building design. So he's making some progress.

Hemp is a tough sell here in the US, everyone is pretty well brainwashed that you are going to get high while you use the product, which is assinine, but it is what it is. I give him credit for sticking his neck out. We should be growing hemp here in the US to. I've spoken with a couple local lumber yards about it, and all I got was a joke about getting high. People around here are pretty unwilling to stray from the standard.

His prices are a bit high, I think mainly because he has to import the hemp from Canada. If transportation prices could be reduced, he could lower the price. I'm not sure what he is charging per block these days. Back when I talked with him, I did some figuring, and it was on the high end when compared to standard building practice. But, it's been quite a while since then.

Boogga

Yep, People and Builders oppose change. They are scared to move from the center away from "Normal" building practice. Also if prices are higher than standard building materials, then people would rather spend money on the old bricks and mortar. It comes down to this, if people are prepared to pay for this new idea which is more expensive then they will, if they don't believe in the new idea qualities, then they won't. With such new ideas coming on the market, it takes a while for it to sink in. This is usually many years. Probably the same with "Hebel", aerated concrete.

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"It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees"

gregj

I don't get it. What is so "ungreen" about concrete? How would hempcrete be more environmentally friendly? And why would you add an organic material that will decompose to something that now lasts many lifetimes?

Bob Kovacs

The amount of energy expended to produce portland cement is incredible, and that's what makes it "ungreen". In order to make concrete more "green", most green building specs require you to use high levels of fly ash and other additives, which reduce the amount of portland needed per CY.

Bob

Rollo

My neighbor is a sales rep for Lehigh White Cement. I asked him why concrete took 3 price increases last year and he quickly repsonded "natural gas." A lot of it goes into producing portland as well.

concretemasonry

China has an interesting concept of green construction and materials and has been very active in carrying it out while other just talk. - They prefer to preserve the green and the land that provides it.

The concept involves the efficiency, quality, life, durability and practical construction of buildings. It also addresses the materials used, energy to produce them, depletion of resources, pollution and the effect on the use of valuable land. The Chinese recognize that the use of land for commercial purposes is not green and they prefer to use the land for human purposes.

The green policy is implemented by government policies and the activities of the construction companies that are partially state owned and who do all their own design work. While others have been talking to each other, China has been carrying out studies and implementation of green policies.

The basis is studies of critical problems and possible alternatives to improve buildings and make future construction "greener" by better use of energy and resources. The goal of constructing buildings with a long useful life has been popular for many years, contrary to the U.S. practice of temporary construction.

Despite its size, China does not have a great deal of arable soil capable of being used for agricultural or timber purposes. To compound this is the fact that most of this land is near the rivers and in areas with rainfall and good soil. Unfortunately, this is where the cities representing the exploding economy are located.

The most common material for construction is clay brick (slightly larger than the U.S. brick) that is made in the thousands of plants near the clay deposits. Currently, the ANNUAL brick production is about 525,000,000,000 (525 BILLION!!) brick. These brick are used for walls in most buildings ranging from 1 story to 20+ stories. There are many hundreds or thousands of small plants in each of the 100 cities with over 1,000,000 population.

The clay comes from shallow deposits that must be stripped of what top soil there is. The clay is removed and the abandoned pits fill with stagnant water (10' to 30' deep) and become useless since buildable fill is very difficult to bring in. The depth and location make land recyling very costly and counter-productive, but it is occuring. Compounding the problem is the need for more land for both agriculture and housing in and around the cities. On top of this, the production of these low quality brick uses substantial energy and causes pollution from burning coal.

The government has taken the position to phase out the use of clay brick and use materials that are better from a durability, energy, ecology, land use standpoint and on a life cycle cost basis. This has been a growing movement for the last few years as the production of brick has decreased, while construction of residential, commercial and industrial buildings has exploded.

Wood is not a viable green material because of the standards for strength, durability, fire resistance and useful life. It is also recognized as substandard construction just as it is thought of in many other countries. The most important factor is that wood takes valuable land that is best left for human needs and the environment. China imports wood at the present time despite the very small usage. This similar to India, the second most populous country in the world.

To my knowledge, at the present time, the government has made concrete block the only approved wall building material. The projected most common use is in the 4 to 20 story apartment buildings that the people live in. In and around the cities (where 75% of the people live) apartments are the rule and single family homes are the rare exception because of land values and transportation. In the smaller towns and rural areas, block is much "greener", where the land is too valuable to grow timber or other wasteful vegetation.

The studies revealed that concrete block use less raw material, have a minimal effect on land use, are more economical, fireproof, can be recycled and require less energy than other building materials. The aggregate for block comes from river deposits or quarries, which require less space/land because of the vertical nature of the deposits, as opposed to the vast areas required to strip clay. Quarries are also much easier to return to a more vaulable space such as lakes and parks. Although concrete block require cement, the amount of cement per square foot of wall constructed is less than for a clay brick or precast concrete wall. Concrete block requires little energy, by comparison, for production including the energu in the cement. Other building materials considered for walls required more energy and land to produce.

There has been little opposition to the implementation of this policy. China has the ability of just doing things without going through a political process. They do have to satisfy politicians that are just working for votes and T.V. networks that create/warp news when none exists.

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Dick

Tscarborough

Speaking of the brick in China, they are using a new type of kiln that is very energy efficent and simple. It is also somewhat pollution free, compared to older methods, anyway. It is called vertical tunnel kiln. Very interesting concept, and worth looking up to read about.

concretemasonry

Got dragged through a prototype. Definitely a big improvement from what was done and is currently being done. It also has to pollute less if the proper equipment is installed.

The biggest problem is the source of clay, quality of clay, location of clay and value of the land for other purposes.

Add to that the energy to produce, ship the fuel(coal) and ship the brick from the clay source. Unfortunately 100% of the brick is fired and only a small part of the concrete block is "fired"(the cement) and the rest is inert aggregate that is usually locally available.

We don't have the problems to the same degree as China, but there are more and more concrete brick plants being build by Hanson and others. - Has the plant in San Antonio(NE of town) gotten into making any good architectural brick?

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Dick

Tscarborough

No, they are still making junk (architecturally speaking), just like every concrete brick I have ever seen. On the other hand, there is a CMU being marketed that looks like brick that is pretty nice.