[Strawbale] Tire footing

[Derek Roff]

Hi, Juan Manuel,

I'm glad to hear that you have lots of experience in conventional construction, and I agree that most foundation questions and options are similar for different construction modalities.  I salute your desire to decrease the use of concrete.  For those who aren't aware, rubble trench foundations have been used as part of the foundation in western, engineered structures for more than a hundred years, and there are plenty of building science studies and articles on how to do them properly.  Tires are a more recent experiment, and there isn't as much testing around proper methods.  

One of the reasons that I favor the rubble trench over tires, is that the nature of the gravel used is quite different.  A rubble trench uses fairly large, irregular stones, which can be compacted into a matrix that resists shifting and sliding, while having lots of large air spaces.  The gravel used in tire foundations must be much smaller, and the stones must be able to slip and slide past each other, in order for the tire filling and compaction to take place.  I don't know how important the difference is, but it seems significant to me.  

Derek

http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-041-rubble-foundations
http://buildnaturally.blogspot.com/2011/01/what-is-rubble-trench-foundation.html
http://users.humboldt.edu/abartholomew/RubbleTrenchFoundation.pdf
http://www.buildnaturally.com/EDucate/Articles/RubbleTrench.htm
http://www.ogdenpubs.com/uploadedFiles/Media_Library/2010/MEN/MISC/TRIFOLD-RT.pdf
http://www.buildingwithawareness.com/house1.html



On Aug 15, 2012, at 4:56 AM, JUAN MANUEL SUAREZ RIVAS wrote:

> Derek Friend!
> 
> First, thank you for answering and give your opinion, I want to get going with the house of tools, but the questions you pose are practically also come from the traditional construction industry, I have had before the crisis three construction companies, the change in philosophy of not using concrete and have always built on a good foundation base houses still me as it is a trauma to see if it really works constructed on a compacted gravel base and drainage ... I'm still not security I need to start the project.
> 
> Thanks again
> Juan Manuel
> 


Derek Roff
derek at unm.edu