Natural Building Materials and Biomass Roofing

Sustainable Build of UK is a great source for construction material and techniques that advance the concept of autonomy and sustainability.  This post serves as an example of the great information one may find there directly, instead of us borrowing this information.  Hopefully it will remain available for time to come, but if you have any plans of using this information soon on a project it is advised to store and reproduce such information as we can not conclude it will always be available and free.

http://www.sustainablebuild.co.uk 

 Natural Building Materials and Biomass Roofing

Biomass roofing is the use of plant materials to build roofs. People from around the world have always used whatever vegetation was locally available and abundant to build their roofs. This cultural and environmental diversity has led to a wide range of roofing materials and styles, from the simple and ephemeral to the more durable and complex.

The Different Types of Biomass Roofing

Although hundreds of different plants have been used to roof houses, these can be classified into two main types: thatch and wood tiles.

Simplified Sewage Community System (or Sewerage as the Brits call it)

Good public information doesn't come easy these days and many utilize it for profit and often find a way to eliminate it from public eye.  Quite often this happens with information published with public money funding academic studies for which industry later purchases the rights and patents.  For this reason when we find good information we copy it and preserve it before it vanishes.

Sewage systems and clean water access has for centuries been the largest by far source of health improvement to urban populations.  Medicine is quite overstated as a significant component of health, not coming even close to clean water and safe sewage systems, food, shelter, and working conditions.

http://youtu.be/7rD0bd5WlFk

Simplified Sewerage

This web site is aimed at giving support for the publication PC-Based Simplified Sewerage Design and it accompanying Windows based design program. Links are also given to publications on this and other low cost sewerage systems NOW AVAILABLE IN SPANISH AND IN PORTUGUESE AND IN FRENCH (as of 19 Jan 2011) see the download page 

 

Introduction

How to get the manual and Program

Simplified Sewerage Description

PC-Based Design Program

 

Introduction PC-Based Simplified Sewerage Design was published by the School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds, UK, in January 2001. It is a manual and windows based design program for use in the design of the simplified sewerage system. It was published with the aim of promoting the use of simplified sewerage throughout the developing world. To quote the preface of the manual:

"Simplified sewerage is an important sanitation option in peri-urban areas of developing countries, especially as it is often the only technically feasible solution in these high-density areas. It is a sanitation technology widely known in Latin America, but it is much less well known in Africa and Asia. It is the purpose of this Manual to disseminate this technology more widely in the developing world, so that it can be used in peri-urban sanitation programmes and project to improve the health of poor communities. However, simplified sewerage is not just for peri-urban areas - it can be successfully and appropriately used in middle-and upper-income areas as well. We hope that this Manual serves its purpose of making simplified sewerage better known throughout the developing world, and that the PC-based design program contained herein facilitates the hydraulic design calculations."

How To Get The Manual and Program The manual and program are both available to be downloaded from this site.

1. The manual in .pdf format can be viewed or downloaded here and
2. Details of how to download the design program can be found here.

If you require a copy of the manual and program on CD please send a request either via e-mail to Professor Duncan Mara <D.D.Mara@leeds.ac.uk> or via post to this address:

Prof. D Mara School of Civil Engineering University of Leeds Woodhouse Lane Leeds LS2 9JT UK

Note that there is a limited supply of printed manuals and CDs. Simplified Sewerage Description Simplified sewerage is an off-site sanitation technology that removes all wastewater from the household environment. Conceptually it is the same as conventional sewerage, but with conscious efforts made to eliminate unnecessarily conservative design features and to match design standards to the local situation.

Building a Home with the Earthbag Technique

Step-by-Step Earthbag Building
by Owen Geiger http://www.instructables.com/id/Step-by-Step-Earthbag-Building/

This Instructable explains each main step of construction for building vertical earthbag walls. Videos on my Earthbag Natural Building YouTube channel demonstrate the process.

For those who don’t know, earthbag building uses polypropylene rice bags or feed bags filled with soil or insulation that are stacked like masonry and tamped flat. Barbed wire between courses keeps bags from slipping and adds tensile strength. The final plastered walls look just like adobe structures. Thousands of people are now building with bags to create their dream homes, home offices, shops, resorts, rootcellars, storm cellars and survival shelters. Non-profit organizations are building schools, orphanages, emergency shelters and other structures.

I got involved with earthbag building when the Indian Ocean tsunami hit Southeast Asia in December, 2004. As the director of Builders Without Borders at that time, I searched all available affordable, sustainable building methods and decided building with bags was the most practical. They’re flood resistant (used for flood control), earthquake resistant (passed an ICBO shake table test), bullet and blast resistant (used for military bunkers), and now engineer and code approved plans are available. Just search for earthbag house plans on the Internet.