- #1
Blokle
- 22
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- TL;DR Summary
- House building idea: earth filled walls made of corrugated galvanised iron and reinforcing bars
There are lot of people on the Internet trying to build a cheap and sustainable house. Inspired by them I came with the idea of building external walls of Corrugated galvanised iron (CGI) and rebars and fill them with earth / sand. The basic element of the wall structure is this rebar trapeze with hooks on the inner side:
Both its legs are placed fully into the ground up to the horizontal bottom bar (base). The above the ground height of the trapeze is 3 meter, the base - 1m and the top 0.5m Many such trapezes are placed at the perimeter of the future house and welded together into the following structure:
Next CGI sheets are perforated and hanged on both sides of the trapezes (on the inner hooks) starting from the bottom. Once they are filled with earth, next level of CGI sheets is added upon the lower level and also filled. During the filling, once the earth reaches their level - opposite hooks can be connected with metal wire to reduce chances of trapeze deformation. And so on until everything is filled up. Inner space can be divided into rooms using metal rods and drywall (gypsum panels). Ceiling and the roof will be supported by a separate metal rods structure of appropriate size. Some of those metal rods might be buried inside the earth of the walls. Now my primary questions...
1. Do you think such a construction is stable enough (on its own and in case of an earthquake)? If not, how long should the base and the top be, if the height should stay 3m?
2. What kind of rebars - radius, type, etc. should I use in such a case?
There are also some secondary questions, but they are less important...
3. Should I try to hermetically seal the holes of the CGI sheets or will the rainwater drain through the inner filling further to the ground?
4. What kind of ceiling would you recommend? The material should provide good thermal insulation (preferably also acoustic, be inflammable and not cause health problems).
5. How would you recommend to seal the connection between CGI sheets on the bottom and the ground?
6. What kind of CGI sheets would you recommend for the walls and which for the roof? (at the end the structure should be as cheap as possible, but not cheaper - safety first!)
Both its legs are placed fully into the ground up to the horizontal bottom bar (base). The above the ground height of the trapeze is 3 meter, the base - 1m and the top 0.5m Many such trapezes are placed at the perimeter of the future house and welded together into the following structure:
Next CGI sheets are perforated and hanged on both sides of the trapezes (on the inner hooks) starting from the bottom. Once they are filled with earth, next level of CGI sheets is added upon the lower level and also filled. During the filling, once the earth reaches their level - opposite hooks can be connected with metal wire to reduce chances of trapeze deformation. And so on until everything is filled up. Inner space can be divided into rooms using metal rods and drywall (gypsum panels). Ceiling and the roof will be supported by a separate metal rods structure of appropriate size. Some of those metal rods might be buried inside the earth of the walls. Now my primary questions...
1. Do you think such a construction is stable enough (on its own and in case of an earthquake)? If not, how long should the base and the top be, if the height should stay 3m?
2. What kind of rebars - radius, type, etc. should I use in such a case?
There are also some secondary questions, but they are less important...
3. Should I try to hermetically seal the holes of the CGI sheets or will the rainwater drain through the inner filling further to the ground?
4. What kind of ceiling would you recommend? The material should provide good thermal insulation (preferably also acoustic, be inflammable and not cause health problems).
5. How would you recommend to seal the connection between CGI sheets on the bottom and the ground?
6. What kind of CGI sheets would you recommend for the walls and which for the roof? (at the end the structure should be as cheap as possible, but not cheaper - safety first!)