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Use of Sustainably Harvested Wood The history of lumber harvest in the United States is long and complicated. On one hand, the relentless removal of the aboriginal forests built great cities and industries and made way for the agricultural abundance necessary for building a nation. On the other hand, the de­struction of the aboriginal forests […]

Oil Residue on Metals Expanded metal lath and other metal goods are often shipped to sites coated in rancid oil residues left over from the manufacturing process. Such residues will be odorous for a prolonged period of time unless the metal is cleaned. When these oils are left in metal duct­work, hot air blown through […]

Wood insulated concrete forms (WICFs) were invented of necessity in Europe follow­ing World War II. Massive rebuilding was required and there was a shortage of conven­tional building materials. Waste wood was plentiful, and insulating forms made by mix­ing mineralized (clay impregnated) wood chips with cement proved to be a good way to conserve both precious […]

Straw Bale Although straw has been an important com­ponent of natural building for centuries, straw bale is a relatively new form of alternative con­struction that appears to be an innovation of the early settlers of the Nebraska plains, where unsuitable soils and a scarcity of wood made necessity the mother of invention. The high insulative […]

For construction in colder climates, where higher insulation values are required than can be provided by mud alone, several methods that combine earth with lightweight natural aggregates have evolved. These include mixing mud with pumice, volcanic rock, straw, wood chips, expanded clay, or vermiculite. In the US, clay-straw construction has become the most well-known of […]

Throughout history, several methods for mud construction have evolved using wet mud fashioned into various shapes and stacked onto the wall while still plastic. The mud is then fused with the layers below it to create a monolithic wall. This type of construction has lent itself to laybuilders because it requires no formwork or special […]

Earth is widely available at little or no cost. It is nonflammable, is infinitely recyclable, is condensing. Even if water does condense, there is always an exit pathway for it. Natural building materials such as earth, cob, and masonry are es­pecially well suited for this task. To create a fully functional wall based on the […]

The breathing wall concept goes back to Max von Pettenkofer (1818-1901), one of the most accom­plished hygienists of his time and the pioneering founder of the occupational and environmental hygiene sciences as we know them today. He was instrumental in stopping the cholera epidemics in Munich, one of the largest cities in Germany, dur­ing the […]

Introduction Most code-approved building materials in North America are manufactured using in­dustrialized processes that create components of uniform size and form, with predictable performance characteristics such as fire resis­tance, permeability ratings, insulation values, and structural properties. Since the process of testing such materials for code approval is extremely expensive, only large manufactur­ers who intend to […]

Concrete can act as a wick for ground mois­ture, thereby promoting water damage and fungal growth in other materials through moisture transfer. A layer of coarse gravel under the slab with no fines smaller than half an inch will break capillary action. A layer of continuous, unpunctured polyethylene di­rectly under the slab will help prevent […]