From: Mark Bigland-Pritchard <mark@lowenergydesign...>
Reply-To: European strawbale building discussions
<strawbale@amper....muni.cz>
To: European strawbale building discussions <strawbale@amper....muni.cz>
Subject: Re: [Strawbale] concrete footings
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 02:59:50 -0600
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@lowenergydesign...>
Reply-To: European strawbale building discussions
<strawbale@amper....muni.cz>
To: "SB (Europe)" <Strawbale@amper....muni.cz>, "SB (repp)"
<STRAWBALE@LISTSERV...REPP.ORG>, "SB (yahoo)"
<SB-r-us@yahoogroups...>, "SB (bale-on)"
<bale-on@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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____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
European strawbale building discussion list
Send all messages to:
Strawbale@amper....muni.cz
Archives, subscription options, etc:
http://amper.ped.muni.cz/mailman/listinfo/strawbale
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
European strawbale building discussion list
Send all messages to:
Strawbale@amper....muni.cz
Archives, subscription options, etc:
http://amper.ped.muni.cz/mailman/listinfo/strawbale
____________________________________________________