Alternative & Natural Building Design
The stick frame stucture is not the only option available for your modern home. Although not as popular in the mainstream building trades, the alternative built or natural built home is often built with natural materials such as strawbales, light-concrete, cob, adobe, rammed earth, used tires (earthships), earthbag and then there is the earth sheltered home. Not only are these designs generally less expensive than using traditional designs and materials, these unique materials also match the strength and durability of many manistream materials. Also in this category we will include different designs of small homes and greenhouses.
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Strawbale Homes - Straw bale construction uses baled straw from wheat, oats, barley, rye, rice and others in walls covered by stucco. |
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Cob, Adobe & Rammed Earth Construction - Homes made from soil based materials have been called various names; adobe and cob are terms often used to describe sun dried clay materials. Rammed earth and soil-cement brick refer to a popular method used today, with a cement additive and pressure to mold the blocks or brick |
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Earthbag Construction - Earthbag construction is a very strong, very cheap way of creating structures. Polypropylene or burlap bags are filled with earth, or crushed volcanic rock. They are then stacked on top of each other, inter-tied with barbed wire or rebar, and tamped until hard. The materials cost for earthbag buildings is very low. |
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Earth Shelter Structures - Earth sheltered, or underground, houses lie mostly beneath the ground surface. The surrounding soil provides natural insulation, making these houses inexpensive to heat and cool. The best location for an earth sheltered house is on a well-drained hillside. Windows facing the south or an overhead skylight will fill the interior with sunshine. |
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Earthship |
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General Alternative Building Info |
