I have a new building material that is green

[Brian Tellinghuisen]

It is pretty impressive. It is an compressed earth brick. It is water proof and interlocking. I would love to discuss more about it.

[Rob Beckers]

Brian, this forum is not meant for gratuitous advertising, promoting your own products is frowned upon here. I'll let it stand for now as long as there is some content to what you are posting. Just saying "we have the best brick" obviously doesn't make it so. So, what is it made off (sounds like a composite), and why would it be better than what's out there?

By the way, using an R value for thermal mass doesn't work; R values are a measure of heat resistance (look at the units). Not sure what is used to express thermal mass, probably specific heat of a material.

-RoB-

[Brian Tellinghuisen]

It is insulates with an R-45 thermal mass and an R-20 heat resistance coating. If that answers your question. I'm not selling anything. Just wanted to talk about it and see what others think. I'm pretty excited about the advantages and how it is going to help build better homes in the long run.

What is it made of? clay,dirt, 10%cement and the chemical that makes it waterresistent. How's it better? It is cheaper than cement block, it is water proof, sound proof, fire proof and quite a few other things better than what is being used today. The thing I love most about it is the wind tests we've done: We built a 4ft wide by 8ft tall wall and put it into a wind tunnel and it stood up to 240mph winds.

[Clara Gebel]

Speaking of green building material, there are so many 'green gadgets', architects just applied them on building and call themselves green, but being green is a lot more complex than that. In Japan, architect Jo Nagasaka comes up with a totally unique building design by condensing his home into 3-meter-cubed space, he names it the Paco House (http://www.puttles.com/Paco-House-from-Japan_77_0_1)!

[Rob Beckers]

Neat Clara!
Why do I have the feeling that the average US citizen is not going to get exited about a 10 ft x 10 ft house..... :usa: Average house size is still climbing over there; 800 sq. ft. in 1950, 1400 sq. ft. in 1970, 2300 sq. ft. in 2004, 2500 sq. ft. in 2007. Still rising.

-RoB-

[Chuck Morrison]

I'd like to know more about the original product that started this thread. What makes this block material more "green" than others ? Does it contain recycled materials ? Is it mined somewhere and how ? Is it an actual product for sale or is it just under development ? Is this an ICF ?

The wind tunnel test is interesting but as most folks put roofs on their houses and it's generally the wind pressure (and lift) on roofs that put the stress on the walls, not to mention windows blowing in etc., a wall tested by itself doesn't tell me much. Also, the design of a building has a great deal to do with how it survives high winds, not just the wall material, although it's a good start. There is some very interesting video of houses and tornados; YouTube - Raw Video: EF5 tornado rips apart house that show how it happens.

I know there is interest in small houses. I share that to some extent. However, after spending 2+ years living in a travel trailer (240 sq. ft.) while building a 1254 sq. ft. house, I'll chose the more solidly built house, both for security against aforementioned winds and a less cramped existence. I believe there is a "right size" for the specific people and situation involved rather than some arbitrary best area that we all need to fit into. So I guess I'd like to see every house a "custom" house.

Having said that, I applaud Jay Shafer and his work at http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com . Fascinating stuff even if I don't want to live in one.

Chuck

[Tim McMurran]

It is insulates with an R-45 thermal mass and an R-20 heat resistance coating. If that answers your question. I'm not selling anything. Just wanted to talk about it and see what others think. I'm pretty excited about the advantages and how it is going to help build better homes in the long run.

What is it made of? clay,dirt, 10%cement and the chemical that makes it waterresistent. How's it better? It is cheaper than cement block, it is water proof, sound proof, fire proof and quite a few other things better than what is being used today. The thing I love most about it is the wind tests we've done: We built a 4ft wide by 8ft tall wall and put it into a wind tunnel and it stood up to 240mph winds.

Looks good on paper, but what is this "chemical" that bonds it all together? I doubt that it is organic and breaks down over a few years, but rather much longer. Do you happen to know the amount of energy required to produce just a single block? Does the energy expended to create said block justify the use?

I think that to be called a "green" product we really need to see a little more. Companies use the "green" wording far too often to gain sales, when in fact the amount of energy required to produce an object far out weighs it's desired effects. We have next to none 100% green man made products, only truly natural building material in a raw form should be called "Green"

Just my 2.5 cents.