Building passive solar houses with natural materials tie in beautifully with the ambitions of a permaculture design on a farm. There are a wide range of natural materials and techniques to choose from and it is up to the designer to pick those most appropriate to the environmental conditions of their site with resources that are most abundant and easily accessed in their region.
"Natural building" is an umbrella term than connotes any sort of building that is accomplished with the use of natural materials primarily, as opposed to the use of man-made or industrial materials.
Naturally built homes use local, minimally processed, abundant and/or renewable natural materials. They are designed to suit their climate and geography, providing a modest shelter that can last for many centuries. Ideally they, and the way they are lived in, are in balance and harmony with the environment.
The resources used to build them are either so abundant that the impact of their use is not significant or they are easily replenished within the lifetime of the building. Exciting design possibilities exist for combining passive solar house design, with small houses and use of natural and sustainable materials.
Many of the natural materials allow a designer / builder to fashion a living space that reflects their unique character to create a home of unique beauty that nurtures their creative spirit which they can express in the work they do in the world.
Some of the main types of natural buildings are:
"Natural building" is an umbrella term than connotes any sort of building that is accomplished with the use of natural materials primarily, as opposed to the use of man-made or industrial materials.
Naturally built homes use local, minimally processed, abundant and/or renewable natural materials. They are designed to suit their climate and geography, providing a modest shelter that can last for many centuries. Ideally they, and the way they are lived in, are in balance and harmony with the environment.
The resources used to build them are either so abundant that the impact of their use is not significant or they are easily replenished within the lifetime of the building. Exciting design possibilities exist for combining passive solar house design, with small houses and use of natural and sustainable materials.
Many of the natural materials allow a designer / builder to fashion a living space that reflects their unique character to create a home of unique beauty that nurtures their creative spirit which they can express in the work they do in the world.
Some of the main types of natural buildings are:
- Adobe: Adobe is a mixture of clay, sand and straw formed into blocks which are left to dry in the sun before being used to build with. Adobe bricks are only sun-dried, not kiln-fired. When used for construction they are laid up into a wall using an earth mortar. Before drying out, the finished walls are smoothed down. Often a clay render is applied as a surface coating.
- Cordwood: Also known as stackwall, is a type of building whereby the walls of the house are built out of fire-wood type logs cut into various lengths and set into mortar or concrete. They're known as cordwood because they resemble fire wood. The wood is set up horizontally, with the cut ends exposed.
- Roundwood: Roundwood timber framing uses whole poles, or whole trees for posts, beams, and other framing members. There are a number of advantages to this construction approach, versus the alternative option of milling and squaring timbers for a similar frame.
- Bamboo: Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plant species in the world and has a strength to weight ratio similar to timber. While normally used for short-term structure - when treated it can be a durable building material.
- Rammed Earth: Rammed earth (or pise) is an ancient technique that has been dated back to at least 7000 BC in Pakistan. It has been used in many structures around the world, most notably in parts of the Great Wall of China. Although most earth buildings are single or two-storied, a five-storey hotel was recently completed in Corralben, Australia.
- Cob: Cob building gets its name from the Old English term for “lump,” which refers to the lumps of clay-rich soil that were mixed with straw and then stomped into place to create monolithic earthen walls. Before coal and oil made transportation cheap, houses were built from whatever materials were close at hand. In places where timber was scarce, the building material most available was often the soil underfoot.
- Turf: The walls of barns for livestock wee most often built out of turf and stones, at least halfway up. Cow barns or horse stables were built out of turf and stones to their full height.
- Straw Bale: Straw-bale building came out of a vernacular tradition. When the baling machine was invented in 1820, the people of Nebraska, who lived where there were insufficient trees to provide timber, turned to what was available locally – bales of straw – and began to build with those, incorporating the new structure of bales into the age-old method of using straw and mud to build shelter.
- Dry Stone: The most basic element of dry stone construction is a wall. To build a wall, begin with the bottom layer of large flat stones, called the footing. Then, add layers of flat or angled rocks in even, horizontal layers, or courses. When the wall is to the desired height, add the top layer, which is called the coping.
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