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Anybody familiar with the book “A Pattern Language” by Christopher Alexander? I’m interested in one of his construction techniques that uses a post and beam frame with “ultralight concrete” as insulation/wall. The concrete is meant to have vermiculite or cellulose as an aggregate. Can be cut and drilled with normal tools. Sounds great, does it work?
Jerry
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No, Jerry, but it sure has some glowing reviews. Sounds like a keeper! Hope you get some responses, and will keep us posted.
One quote I particularly liked was "An underlying theme of all the patterns is that architecture, at its best, can be used to foster meaningful human interaction, and the authors urge us to be aware of how the houses we build can help us balance needs for intimacy and privacy."
*That's right kai,When building your dream home (like many of us), and you decide to move in before it's really finished. At least hang the doors and install the casing on at least one side of the bath and bedrooms. Your quote from the book sums this up nicely.Sorry Jerry, no exp. with that wall system.Best of luck.
*No, haven't used it for walls, but I'm about to do a sculpture base using perlite in place of the stone aggregate. I was tipped to this by Mongo (who will hopefully sound in with real expertise), who has done a lot of experimenting with it (if you look for a post called "Looking for Concrete advice" under my name farther down the board, you will find some of mongos recommendations). Basically, he reckons 30 to 35% weight reduction, with no loss of strength.
*Jerry - I really like this book, have read it enough to the point it is worn looking, but don't believe that it provides construction techniques. It's really about design with some references (author's preferences?) for techniques that work for a particular design feature.
*Jerry,I'm a real fan of Alexander's. He's an emeritus prof. at UCB, and Bob Theis, an architect who has worked with him, has a practice in Berkeley. You may get some info on the technique from him. Here's his company website through which you can email him. http://www.dsaarch.com/The company specializes in straw bale construction, has many interesting projects to its credit, and will probably be current on lightweight block applications, too. Let us know what you find out.
*Thanks for that link, Barbara. I'm now recalling the TV personality (whom I referenced in some other thread) who made foundation walls/whatever out of tires/bales of hay/whatever: Dennis Weaver. Can anyone verify if, in fact, he did that? My recollection is that he built it in a Southwestern state. TIA
*tires, colorado
*Thanks, John. Do you know where I can follow-up on that in terms of satisfaction re the architect/structure/insulation, etc.?
*it's in an old fine homebuilding - maybe 5 years ago - the years are starting to go by faster than i can keep track of. cant remember what it looked like. just off the road on the way in to telluride.
*Thanks, John. Maybe it's time to Ask Andy :)
*Don't know about the one in Colorado, but Dennis Weaver had a home built out of tires and hay bales in Santa Fe, New Mexico.About 5 years ago, I was on vacation and actually got to visit the house and the ranch. They wouldn't let us inside, and Dennis Weaver wasn't there. It looked pretty normal, actually. Only got to see it from a distance, but it was pretty impressive. They gave us a brochure about the construction and time frame. Don't remember a whole lot about the details. Maybe you can look and see if Santa Fe, New mexico has a website, and if they still list the house as a tourist attraction.James
*Thanks James, that is the one I was attempting to recall.
*I've seen the one in Colorado, north of Durango ... near Ridgeway, I think. It was years ago and I was visiting a next-door llama ranch (Dennis owned some of the llamas).
*Haven't had time to pursue the topic of lightweight concrete, but the following are a couple of sites that I hope to peruse:http://www.schundler.com/vermcon.htmhttp://www.buildex.com/http://ELCP.Com/Products/http://www.tiltupsystems.com/The following sites discuss using old tires in building construction and one even mentions the Weaver house, although no pictures of it - some other construction pictures though:http://www.earthship.org/pages/tirecode.htmhttp://monticello.avenue.org/Community/Environ/YellowMtn/constsite/http://www.worldguide.com/Tech/Materials/build.html#Rammed
*Here's an interesting article from Mother Earth News about green building that mentions some of the alternatives spoken of in this thread:
*Where is "That Gurl" when you need her? Try doing a search on "Earthships".JonC
*that's the one. on the road to telluride.