Bill christensen wrote:
>To my knowledge, fastwall is just cement. You may want to check with the
>manufacturer. Their website is at http://www.faswall.com.
Bill, i don't know if this previous email of yours made it to the
list. here is another copy. Sorry if this is a duplicate posting.. jeff
----
I would probably avoid the cinder block method, myself. For one thing, I don't
know what they're actually made of, or if there may be some contaminants from
the firing process. If you're interested in going with a preformed block, I'd
suggest looking into something like Faswall, which is like a cinder block
except that the "aggregate" is wood chips. They're usually dry-stacked and
then filled with concrete. They get a pretty good R value, and additional
insulation can be inserted in the holes before the concrete. Also, they do
breathe, so with a lime plaster on either side, you'd still get some breathing
through your walls, at the same time that you have the thermal mass of the
concrete and the insulation value.
The post I got didn't say where you're located, and that would influence my
recommendations to a fair extent... If you're in Adobe country, by all means
build with that. If you're in wheat or rice country, strawbale or a
light-clay might be better. Light clay is a method of wetting straw with a
clay slip, or "soup" of clay, and then packing it between forms. It's usually
plastered on both sides, and is also quite breatheable/insulating and holds a
fair bit of thermal mass. Packing the forms can be fairly labor intensive, so
it's good that you only need a small place to sleep.
I concur with Mark on the rubble trench foundation.
Some places to look for additional info:
Our website, at http://www.greenbuilder.com, has a lot of info on alternative
building methods. The Sustainable Building Sourcebook is there in it's
entirety, and though it leans a little toward the mainstream, there are a ton
of good resource leads.
See also the Black Range site at http://www.zianet.com/blackrange/ . It's a
little disconnected right now, as Mark is in the process of rebuilding it...
Some of the better examples are at
http://www.zianet.com/blackrange/cq_collo_intro/whatsit.html. The newer stuff
can be found at
http://www2.networkearth.org/networks/natural_building/colloquium.html
While you're surfing, check out http://www.naturalbuilder.com/. Steve gives a
good overview of a number of building methods, many of which are applicable to
MCS.
That ought to keep you busy for a while!
--
http://www.greenbuilder.com
modem: 512.288.3903
--
Green Building Professionals Directory at
http://www.greenbuilder.com/directory/
