[Strawbale] concrete footings

[Mark Bigland-Pritchard]

Thanks Paul.
Tyres are not acceptable on this site - fear of leaching of toxins 
(whether legitimately or not, I'm not sure, but that is the position 
taken by the people responsible for the site).  Lime concrete is 
something I will look at - any suggestions for where I can find data on 
structural strength / acceptable loadings?
atb,
Mark




paul sheraton wrote:

>
>
> Hi  Mark,
>
> I know you are asking about concrete footings but I was wondering if 
> you had thought about using tyres filled with earth/rubble?
>
> a trench with a low tyre wall as footings, the tyres filled out with 
> earth (possibly with some lime mixed into the earth). With a wooden 
> sole plate/plank pinned down onto the footings for the wall to be 
> built on.
>
> Have you thought about using lime concrete in place of cement 
> concrete? It has half the embodied energy of cement.
>
> Just some ideas, all the  best for your project
>
> Paul
>
>> From: Mark Bigland-Pritchard <mark at lowenergydesign...>
>> Reply-To: European strawbale building discussions 
>> <strawbale at amper....muni.cz>
>> To: "SB (Europe)" <Strawbale at amper....muni.cz>,        "SB (repp)" 
>> <STRAWBALE at LISTSERV...REPP.ORG>,        "SB (yahoo)" 
>> <SB-r-us at yahoogroups...>,        "SB (bale-on)" 
>> <bale-on at yahoogroups...>
>> Subject: [Strawbale] concrete footings
>> Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 01:12:31 -0600
>>
>> Hi folks.
>>
>> I'm organising the building of a small (30 m2) sb structure this 
>> spring, on an environmentally sensitive site.  We need to minimise 
>> the amount of concrete going into the ground (to minimise embodied 
>> energy, to minimise local ecological impact through changed soil 
>> chemistry, and to minimise transportation costs).  So I've ruled out 
>> a concrete pad.  A rubble trench foundation is ruled out because 
>> there is no suitable rubble locally.  I'm therefore looking at some 
>> sort of pile foundation.  Treated timber below ground level wouldn't 
>> meet the ecological criteria set by the site managers, and I don't 
>> want to take the risk with untreated timber; my previous experience 
>> of using boulders is that it's not the best way to do this because 
>> the timbers on top of them have to be individually shaped to fit 
>> (time-consuming, and not suitable for the mostly unskilled volunteer 
>> labour which we will have).  So I'm looking at using concrete piles, 
>> probably arranged in something like a 2m grid, to support the building.
>>
>> My question is this: does anyone have experience they are willing to 
>> share of using proprietary systems for shaping the concrete such as 
>> that at www.bigfootsystems.com ?  (Bigfoot make a bell-shaped footing 
>> out of recycled plastic, into which the concrete may be poured.)
>>
>> My second, more tenative question is:  can this sort of system be 
>> used with rammed earth instead of concrete?  (I don't think I have 
>> the time to learn everything I'd need to know to do this this time 
>> round, but it would be good to know what's possible for future work.)
>>
>> atb,
>> Mark
>> Borden, SK, Canada
>>
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>
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