Modern Green Home - Page 2 - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

MALCO.New.York · 12-13-2008, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by critter

I built my home with 20 inch thick monolithic adobe (cob) walls. The recipe was, using my 580C: a scoop of clay, a scoop of sand, 15 new holland bales of straw, and two 55 gallon barrels of water. I mixed the ingredients in a hole in the ground, using the back hoe. I then scooped out what I could VERY HEAVY and drove up to my forms and hand-forked it in so I could trample it into place. The forms were simple 4 x 8 OSB panels, studded 16 OC and drilled 16OC starting 8 inches from the ends. 1/2 inch all thread with washer welded on one end shoved through holes, spaced by 3/4 inch pvc conduit spreaders. When mud set in about two days, unbolt and move up to still overlap to top row of spreaders and re-bolt in place. (slip-form variation) PVC is driven out later and holes filled with mud/straw mix. Walls sat for several years with out any damage from weather before I plastered them with plain old type s mortar worked into the wall surface with a mag float, then a D/A. The walls are only about R1 per inch, but at 20 inches thick they are warm and totally quiet. The rafters are home-made 16 inch deep with rough cut 1x4s applied flat to create a sort of I-joist. Steel roofing.

Final-Freakin-Ly............A REAL Green poster!!!!!!

critter · 12-13-2008, 11:47 PM

The roof on the home is 12 inch batt and I do have some condensation under the steel, despite vapor retardant primer. Upon further reading, I should have applied 3 or four coats to achieve the recommended mil thickness, but I only did two. THat is probably some of the problem. Walls took about two years to dry - another part of the problem. Home is now five years old and seems to be much less condensate under the steel, which I unscrew to spot check from time to time during cold weather. The wiring was all done in pvc conduit and boxes in the mud walls. Boxes were located by screwing through the forms, then stayed in place courtesy of the conduit anchorage in the mud. Interior surfaces were finished by working floor leveler into the straw/mud surface. It is hard, durable, and naturally attractive. Holes for windows were simply boxed out and a few pieces of rebar and hardware cloth thrown across the top to carry weight. Floors are 3" concrete, pex tubing on 9 inch centers, then 3 more inches of concrete. A partial basement houses a timberline wood stove and an oil-fired water heater (32 gal) which provides domestic and heat in an open loop system. Mud walls alone weigh in at over 192 tons and the floors are approximately another 100 tons in this 4,000 sq. ft. house. Insulation is all outside the footings, so there is another 600 tons of earth involved. Needless to say, if the heat stops, It takes a couple of weeks for the house to cool down to uncomfortable, unless doors are open a lot.

critter · 12-13-2008, 11:51 PM

Thanks Malco man! I wanted to do underground with bentonite barrier and 6 foot burial, but my building site slopes north. Poop! So this whole house has been a big plan B, but I'm really happy with it. Sod roof would have cost major support materials and I wasn't sure how the bearing on the walls would be. THey feel like concrete, but....

MALCO.New.York · 12-14-2008, 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by critter

Thanks Malco man! I wanted to do underground with bentonite barrier and 6 foot burial, but my building site slopes north. Poop! So this whole house has been a big plan B, but I'm really happy with it. Sod roof would have cost major support materials and I wasn't sure how the bearing on the walls would be. THey feel like concrete, but....

I only say this because I am a RABID opponent of the "Green" movement as America and the Media present it.

Go Green, do it RIGHT.

I get tired of persons saying that "x" flooring is "Green" or thinner sheet rock is "Green". It is all about using old or "out of the ground" materials that makes something Green!

Reduce, Reuse is Green. Recycle, not so much!!!!

critter · 01-02-2009, 11:50 PM

HE he! Then you'll like that even my stonework is salvaged from the fallen barn that used to be here!

MALCO.New.York · 01-02-2009, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by critter

HE he! Then you'll like that even my stonework is salvaged from the fallen barn that used to be here!

mickeyco · 01-03-2009, 12:18 AM

2 Story Green House.

Modern Green House

MattCoops · 01-03-2009, 06:03 AM

Obscure reference:
As a painter, I don't like the term "green". I prefer blue-yellow instead.
Hey, is there such a thing as green-colored travertine? It seems a lot of LEED certified houses around here have travertine flooring. I myself rather have unglazed ceramic in a propaganda-green home and of course be of blue-yellow in tonal shade.