Earthships and Tire Homes

Americans discard an estimated 253 million automobile tires every year. Nearly half of them end up in stock-piles or in landfills. - Scarp Tire Management Council.

The Nest takes the Earthship "Self-sufficient with ecological awareness" concept and combines it with the Volkswagen "economically available with limitations" concept. - Michael Reynolds, The Nest Concept.

In the words of Michael Reynolds, originator of the Earthship Idea, the earthship "is a completely independent globally oriented dwelling unit made of materials readily available in most parts of the world."
Let's see what Earth-Ship is. Webster dictionary defines it as "A registered trademark name for houses built with tires, aluminum cans, and earth".
these are passive solar homes made with indigenous readily available materials and waste products.
These are the structures made from automobile tires packed with dirt and stacked on one another like huge bricks, and are made in U-shaped rooms. The curving walls are covered with stucco or earthen plaster, which hides the evidence of tires and gives the look of adobe structures. The Front face usually consists of sloping glass that gathers up the sun to heat the house. Sunlight also supplies the indoor planters that provide food and purify waste water.
earthships are equipped with photovoltaics to generate heat and electricity. The Earthship sports a unique roof design that collects the rainwater or melted snow, which can be stored in the flanking two cisterns, big size water-storage tanks that collectively can hold up to 10,000 gallons of water. This is purified in a series of filters, this water supplies all domestic needs.
Earthship consists of two parts :- the U shaped living spaces and the environmentally interface corridor.

Advantages :-

1. One of the most environmentally sustainable forms of housing available in the industrial nations of the world, especially given the independent living systems that they incorporate.
2. Use of waste (discarded automobile tires) reducing the demand of natural resources.
3. Use of indigenous materials available near the building site such as vigas, mud plaster and packing dirt.
4. Materials required can be found worldwide in abundance.
5. Reduces stockpiles of tires that can catch fire and smolder for months on end.
6. relies on Passive solar heating and photovoltaics for electricity, reducing the demand of fossil fuel energy to light and heat the house.
7. reduces resource demand and pollution
8. decrease the dependance on utility power, saving money on energy bills
9. capture rainwater and melted snow, recycle wastewater and grow food
10. recycling of greywater protects groundwater and surface water supplies from depletion and pollution.
11. Earthships are resistant to fire, termites, earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes.
12. protect the inhabitants from outside noise.
13. Easy to build on one's own if the detailing is ready.
14. Durable form of housing than conventional housing giving the array of other benefits.
15. Could be used in developing countries to promote self-sufficiency.
16. Interiors are relatively humid and easy on nasal passage ways.
17. a proven technology often accepted by building departments.
18. compete well economically with other forms of earth-friendly housing.

Disadvantages :-

1. Getting approval for Earthship construction varies by state.
2. although earthships tend to be warm when the sun is down, it can be cold during cloudy periods, because the mass is situated too far back in the housing to absorb incoming solar radiation directly, so backup heating system is required.
3. Even though tire walls are easy to build, costly mistakes can occur with no or less experience.
4. tire walls are labour intensive and labour is costly in most of the parts of world.
5. Slanted glass designs can overheat, especially in the fall. Curtains or window shades required to avoid this.
6. as in any solar home, sunlight can be intense during much of the day, creating eye-straining glare on computer screens.
7. Due to planters and 'u'shaped walls, the effective livable space is lesser compared to conventional homes
8. lack of storages and closets as lesser niches so care has to be taken to incorporate that in design
9. Humidity can be problematic due to plants so a vapor barrier between ceiling and insulation is necessary.
10. the open design that gives good air flow, can be problematic for privacy and noise problems.
11. If growing vegetables in planters, insects like white flies and aphids can be a big problem.

Source :- The Natural House by Daniel D. Chiras

Adobe Homes

Today, it is estimated that nearly half of the world's population live in earthen structures, adobe, rammed earth, and other more primitive structures. - Daniel Chiras The Natural House

Adobe is the ideal material for the beginner. It is a warm, kind material that is forgivingcurved brickes. of mistakes, and amenable to change. If you don't like what you have wrought, it is a simple matter to take it down and try again. - Paul Graham McHenry Jr. Adobe: Build it Yourself

Traditional adobe bricks are not as vulnerable to moisture as one might assume, and rainfall have a negligible effect on fully cured bricks. Clay will limit moisture penetration, only the surface will be wet. Concentrated streams of water, however must be kept off bricks. - Paul Graham McHenry Jr. Adobe and Rammed Earth Buildings

The walls of a 2,000 sq.ft. ranch house built with a wooden frame weigh about 10 tons. The walls of an adobe home the same size would weigh nearly 340 tons. - Daniel Chiras The Natural House

Slaked lime (hydrated building lime) is also a valuable additive to adobe. It stabilizes adobe bricks and reduces the absorption of moisture. It also increases the compression strength of adobe bricks. - Steve Berlant, The Natural Builder, Vol. 1, Creating Architecture from Earth.

A Twelve-inch adobe block wall has an R-value of about 4.0. Although adobe walls offer little resistance to heat, loss, their ability to store heat helps offset the low R-value. Direct solar gain on walls also helps compensate for their low insulation value.

The sense of creating shelter out of mud and earth is as primal as what must have been the first potter's amazement in creating an earthen vase; as the clay is manipulated, the potter gives it life and shape, resulting in a natural beauty that no straight line can offer. - Orlando Romero and David Larkin, Adobe: Building and Living with Earth.

An Adobe structure, properly built, is in that earthen comfort zone that tempers the harshest of climates; it is efficient shellter in the searing desert heat of Arizona or Saudi Arabia, the windy reaches of East Anglia, or the snowy mountain regions of Asia. - Orlando Romero and David Larkin, Adobe: Building and Living with Earth.

The softly flowing walls and rounded corners create a gentle, comforting, and secure feeling space.

Adobe homes:-
Advantages :-

1. Adobe is widely and locally available inexpensive resource and could provide housing for millions, specially in impoverished nations.
2. Adobe codes have been adopted by many building departments.
3. adobe has low embodied energy.
4. Adobe bricks can be made on site by hand or by machine, reducing the transportation demand ultimately cutting energy use and pollution. Its also commercially available.
5. making adobe bricks requires minimal skill and are fairly inexpensive. Its one of the easiest of all natural materials to work with.
6. Adobe walls are fairly easy to build, requiring little skill and few tools.
7. Adobe's thermal properties make it an ideal building materials for homes heated by passive solar energy.
8. Adobe building stay warm in winter and cool in summer in arid climates with cool nights.
9. Its a great sound insulator, and living in an adobe home is quiet and peaceful.
10. Cab be easily recyclable. broken bricks can be used with mud while intact bricks form demolished structures can be used to build new walls.
11. Adobe can be used to build houses of a wide variety of architectural designs, even Victorian.
12. Adobe building lends itself to artistic expression.
13. Adobe walls are fireproof.

Disadvantages :-

1. Building adobe bricks and walls is labour intensive and can be costly if hired people to do that.
2. Adobe wall construction is hard work.
3. Traditional adobe bricks making is limited by weather and climate. It is unsuitable to cold or wet areas.
4. Adobe bricks cannot be made during freezing or wet weather.
5. Squirrels and insects, notably termites, can burrow through adobe walls, weakening them though plaster reduces this problem.

Building with Earth

Think of rammed earth as a sort of "instant rock". The natural process of creating sedimentary rock occurs over a span of thousands and millions of years. An earth rammer, on the other hand, creates it in a matter of minutes. - David Easton - The Rammed Earth House.

Working with earth is simple in one sense, but very complex in another. Soil is so diverse, its properties and reactions so widely variable, that to fully understand its uses and limitations, and to build with it successfully, takes years of study and experience. - David Easton - The Rammed Earth House.
Rammed Earth homes
Advantages:-

1. uses local materials, reducing our impact on the planet.
2. Reduces the demand for lumber, protecting the Forests.
3. Rammed Earth homes can be extremely attractive cue to flexibility of shapes.
4. lend themselves to passive solar design.
5. These are energy efficient - reducing our dependance on fossil fuels, which reduces air pollution and other impacts associated with fossil fuels.
6. Can be built with wide variety of styles, contemporary, classical, southwestern etc
7. Walls are very strong and capable of resisting earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes
8. walls are resistant to decay and are safe in fires. In fact, fire hardens and strengthens the exterior walls.
9. Thick Walls of rammed earth are soundproof, a benefit of immense value in today's noisy world.
   
10. Walls are also impenetrable to insects and rodents.
11. Less expensive technology than brick, stone, adobe or even ferro-cement construction.

Disadvantages :-

1. Fairly labor intensive construction and can be costly than other types where the labor charges are high.
2. building walls, takes a long time and is a hard work.
3. Requires careful analysis of soil, without that costly errors can occur.
4. On-site mixing, wetting and compacting of soil requires proper attention. Error made will be irreversible once the walls are hardened.
5. Requires special skills.
6. Lot of wood required for form work, although some can be reused.

Cast earth Construction :- This is an alternative to rammed earth. In this, a slurry of sand, gypsum and water are poured into concrete forms. This accelerates the wall-building process reducing the time and cost factors.

According to Cast Earth affiliates :- Cast Earth has been demonstrated successfully in actual residences. It is a true "breakthrough technology", providing a product with all of the properties of traditional earth construction, augmented by superior aesthetics, rapid construction, and affordable cost.


Wall strength usually ranges from 600 to 700 pounds per sq. inch same as high quality adobe & rammed earth but has almost 1/2 to 3/4 of their labor cost.

Since its free flowing slurry and quick to set up, the forms can be lightweight and flexible in shape. Gypsum counteracts the clay tendency to expand and contract depending on moisture level, thus reducing the cracking.

These Thick mass walls are ideal for passive solar heating and passive cooling, thus reducing the lifetime cost for maintenance and energy.

Cast earth is more resistant to rain than rammed earth and adobe. If unprotected, it will absorb rain but will retain its original wet strength. r proofing can be added to the slurry or applied to outer wall. Like rammed earth, cast earth walls can be insulated. Rigid insulation can be inserted in forms prior to pouring the slurry.

Since the technology is machinery intensive and requires extensive form work, this lends itself to mass production.

Cob Construction

Cob is nothing but the earthen construction, known by different names in different cultures. The word 'COB' meaning 'a lump or loaf' in old English, refers to the mud building system common in old Britain and former English colonies like Australia and New Zealand, which uses no form-work, no wooden supports and no bricks.

Cob is made from sand, straw and clay based subsoil mixed with water to produce moist and malleable building material. It is quite similar to adobe but here higher straw percentage is mixed in. Instead of creating the uniform blocks, cob is normally applied by hand in large gobs where it can tossed by one person to another during the building process. Traditionally cob was mixed by stamping the ingredients together bare feet, but it can also be combined by hand or mechanically by using the backhoe for mixing. This stiff mud is then built up into walls while still wet in courses. Each of the course was sewn into the prior one while both are still pliable. As the bottom of the wall becomes firm and dry, more cob is added on top until desired height is reached taking along the windows, doors, elect. conduits, plumbing, cabinet anchors etc.
This gives a strong, hard and monolithic earthen wall reinforced with interwoven high tensile strength straw fibers.
Advantages :-
1. Durable, resulting in buildings that will last for 100s of years.
2. weather resistant even in harsh climate of Britain coastal line.
3. more resistant to earthquakes as no mortar joints.
4. walls don't burn, rot or get eaten by insects
5. enormous thermal storage capacity, making it ideally suited to passive solar designs.
6. extreme fluidity of forms, cob can be shaped into expressive sculptural forms.
7. Made entirely form natural and recyclable materials, consuming virtually no energy and producing no pollution in manufacture.

Disadvantages :-
1. Extremely thick walls, impractical for smaller plots or tight corners.
2. slow to build with since each layer of 450-600 millimeters takes 3 to 4 days to dry.
3. Variability of applicable soil types requires slightly different ratios of mix ingredients.
4. Cob is susceptible to water damage.
5. Must be built on a masonry foundation to protect against rising damp, and gutters, drainpipes and an overhang roof must be properly maintained to prevent excessive moisture penetrating the walls.

Bamboo Videos...

In colombia bambusa guadua that grows there is often referred as organic steel, need little maintanance over the years and grows everywhere so its pretty cheap (not to say almost free). Abundancy has made them to use it creatively for the construction, also considering its properties.




Here is another great video of a Bamboo house designed by Nick Oosterveen, Sustainable designer.


Here is another link to get a tour in Hawaiian Bamboo house.

Bamboo

Bamboo is one of the most amazingly versatile and sustainable building materials available.

Botanically classified as a grass Bambusa guadua, bamboo is one of the fastest growing and easy to harvest plant on the earth. It grows remarkably fast and in a wide range of climates. It is exceedingly strong for its weight (stronger, in fact, than steel) and can be used both structurally and as a finish material. Bamboo is alternately flexible or stiff (depending on the application) both functional and decorative. The dried stems are extremely sturdy and lend themselves to a multitude of uses. The canes are beautiful when exposed and because of this it enhances appeal of building (with natural material) for the modern eye. And they can be cut in such a way as to be re-combined into useful products such as flooring, lining the ceilings or walls.

There is a long vernacular tradition to the use of bamboo in structures in many parts of the world, especially in more tropical climates, where it grows into larger diameter canes. One tricky aspect to the use of bamboo is in the joinery; since its strength comes from its integral structure, it cannot be joined with many of the traditional techniques used with wood. This is where the old ways of building with bamboo can be especially informative. In Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, and Colombia, this product has been used as a traditional construction material for centuries.

Bamboo is beautiful but not so delicate that it cannot be used in commercial structures. Bamboo is an extremely strong fiber; with twice the compressive strength of concrete and roughly the same strength-to-weight ratio of steel in tension. In addition, testing (Janssen '97) has shown that the hollow tube shape gives a strength factor of 1.9 over the equivalent solid. The reason is that, in a beam, the only fibers doing work are in the top (compression) and bottom (tension). The center is dead weight.

We see Bamboo bridges often made in north-east part of India and Asia to span the rivers or water-streams. The strongest of the Bamboo fibers have greater shear strength than structural woods and so Bamboo has a tendency to bend but not to break. And this is the quality which makes it very much useful for spanning the bridges. Automobile bridges with spans up to 150 feet have been built of bamboo by Jorg Stamm in Colombia. The auditorium-size pavilion (20,000 Sq. Ft.) was built for the Hannover Expo 2000 in Germany by architect Simon Velez. Here is the website that describes the pavilion, as well as the low-cost house Velez designed for the Grow Your Own House book http://www.zeri.org/projects/growyourownhouse.htm

Bamboo has been documented with over 1,500 different uses. In the area of building, that includes fences, gates, trellises, and every part of a structure. Bamboo tools, utensils, and buildings are an important part of life for half the world's population. In temperate climates around the world, bamboo supply can be maintained indefinitely while maintaining erosion control, watershed integrity, soil health.
I expect that the value of bamboo as a building material will only become more apparent as we move toward a time of wood scarcity and high costs of energy.


Read the link below for more details of Bamboo Construction :-
http://www.koolbamboo.com/Modern%20bamboo%20architecture.pdf

Strawbale Construction - 2

Watch the Strawbale house as one of the world's Greenest home. This was constructed in Scottsdale, Arizona, US by Architect Kevin Edwards where he himself stays with his family.




Watch the Strawbale Construction Benefits in the following video:-



Following Video is a time lapse of the creation of a straw bale geodesic dome. It is located in the newly created 'Bustan Neighborhood' on Kibbutz Lotan in the Arava Valley, Israel. The Neighborhood is designed to house the students of the Ecovillage/Permaculture Design course, The Green Apprenticeship.

Straw Bale Construction

Building with bales of straw has become almost mainstream in some parts of the country, especially in the Southwestern United States. Some says this technique we have been following since Palaeolithic period. Records shows this was pioneered in Nebraska. While reading the Nebraska settlers story – I thought as we know the Pauranic history of India, we know the Rishis and even our gods Rama and Krishna has also stayed in the huts made of grass and as they were staying in the jungle, keeping the Gaushala and horses, definitely this grass was not the food for the animals. Then it must be the straws which doesn’t have the delicious leafy parts for the animals.
Lets talk about the straw bale construction advantages and disadvantages, short comings and techniques.

Straw is a renewable resource that acts as excellent insulation, super energy efficient, environmentally friendly, attractive, and can be designed to match the builder's personal space needs, aesthetics and budget. It is a cheap and easy-to build option for self-builders, and even large-scale structures can be erected using timber framework filled with straw. The thick walls provide excellent insulation and are about 75 percent more energy efficient than conventional homes [source: Morrison]

There are two major categories of building with strawbales: load-bearing and non-load bearing. A post and beam framework that supports the basic structure of the building, with the bales of straw used as infill, is the most common non-load bearing approach. This is also the only way that many building authorities will allow. While there are many load-bearing strawbale buildings that are standing just fine, care must be taken to consider the possible settling of the strawbales as the weight of the roof, etc. compresses them.
Erecting bale walls can go amazingly quickly, and does not take a lot of skill, but then the rest of the creation of the building is similar to any other wood framed house. In fact strawbale houses typically only save about 15% of the wood used in a conventionally framed house. The cost of finishing a strawbale house can often exceed that of standard construction, because of the specialized work that goes into plastering both sides of the walls. The result is often worth it though, because of the superior insulation and wall depth that is achieved.

This kind of construction is gaining attention as a natural building method. In 2001, a British firm estimated that about 1,000 new straw bale structures were being built each year around the world

With the rising price and decreasing availability of lumber, straw has gained attention as a renewable resource that is regularly available as the byproduct of growing grains. Farmers use a little straw to fertilize the ground, but most straw otherwise goes to waste. Each year, 200 million tons of straw go unused in the United States [source: U.S. Department of Energy]. Straw is available in most parts of the country, which reduces transportation costs of construction. With more than 50 percent of all greenhouse gases produced by the construction industry and the transportation associated with it, these savings can be significant [source: Amazon Nails].

Although straw is cheaper than building materials, such as brick or lumber, constructing a straw bale home will usually cost the same as a conventional home because the wall budget is only about 10 percent to 15 percent of the total building budget [source: Magwood, Mack, Therrien]. When you factor in other expenses, such as the foundation, the roof, and the doors and windows, the price of straw bale houses rises in line with more traditional houses.

However, you can squeeze out some cost savings depending on who builds the house. Straw bale raising parties, similar to barn raising parties, are a chance for a bunch of people to stack bales like building blocks. Little experience is needed to participate in building a straw bale home, and it can go fast. Many Web sites and DVDs are available to teach you how to build your own straw bale house, but it's important to realize what you can do on your own and where you might need a contractor's help.

The real cost savings of straw bale building relate to energy efficiency. The straw bales, finished by plaster, have a high R-value. The R-value measures the insulation resistance of the wall; straw bale walls provide an incredible insulation that can easily keep heat in or out, depending on your needs. A straw bale home can save up to 75 percent on heating and cooling costs annually [source: Morrison, Amazon Nails]. This represents a huge savings over the life of the house. These thick walls also provide excellent soundproofing. Straw bale building has been used for recording studios and for homes near busy highways.

It might seem like straw bale houses pose a tremendous fire hazard, but they provide roughly three times the fire resistance of conventional homes [source: Morrison]. Loose straw is indeed flammable, but the bales are so tightly packed that they actually increase fire resistance. In a tightly packed bale, there's no oxygen, which reduces the chance for combustion. The plaster coating of the walls adds an additional fire-resistant seal. The National Research Council of Canada conducted testing where straw bale walls withstood temperatures up to 1,850 degrees Fahrenheit (1,010 degrees Celsius) for two hours [source: Magwood, Mack, Therrien].
¬The main threat to straw bale homes is moisture, as it is for many homes. Moisture in the bales causes mold, which causes the straw to rot. You have to take precautions from the moment you buy the bales. A rainy day of construction could ruin exposed bales, so it has to be stored off the ground and under tarps.

During design and construction, special care has to be taken to keep water out of the home. Just as the toe-ups on the foundation provide protection from moisture below, roof designs that incorporate overhangs will provide protection from above. Windowsills and joints must be carefully sealed. These methods will keep out the liquid dangers posed by rain or snow, while using the natural, breathable plasters. Cracks in these plasters are the primary maintenance issue for straw bale homes so that moisture doesn't accumulate in the walls.
Other possible concerns with straw-bale walls are infestation of rodents or insects, so the skin on the straw should resist these critters.

Many localities have specific codes for strawbale construction, In an area in which they're not common, one might have to work more closely with building officials to get plans that will meet codes and pass inspection. and though some banks now a days are willing to lend on this technique.

As for reselling a straw bale home, little data exist, maybe because straw bale owners don't leave them. Some evidence suggests that straw bale homes might receive a lower resale value estimate than conventionally built homes [source: Magwood, Mack, Therrien]. However explaining to a potential buyer the value of a well-insulated home may help someone decide to pay more than the appraised value.

Like in the story of the little pig who threw some straw together and called it a house, only to have the big, bad wolf huff and puff and blow the structure down. But applying the plaster techniques makes this house sturdy to even be unaware of tornado raging outside.[source: Hammett].

Rocks

Rock structures have existed for as long as history can recall. It is the longest lasting building material, and is usually readily available. There are many types of rock throughout the world all with differing attributes that make them better or worse for particular uses.

Rock is a very dense material so it gives a lot of protection, its main draw-back as a material is its weight and awkwardness. Rock walls have very good thermal mass, which means that they absorb the outside temperature, hold it in and then radiate it through the home. Thermal mass is best used in desert climates because of the difference in day and night temperatures, and the release of heat is cyclical. During a hot day, walls with thermal mass will absorb and store the sun's heat while the inside of the house remains cool. At night, when outside temperatures drop, the daytime heat stored in the walls radiates inward to warm the home. Thermal mass can be energy efficient since the house heats and cools itself, instead of relying on a furnace or air conditioner.

It's much easier to build with perfectly shaped bricks or slabs of concrete, but it's possible to build beautiful homes with locally available rocks. Dry-stone walls have been built for as long as humans have put one stone on top of another. The rocks can be mortared with earthen plasters such as sand and clay or lime. Eventually different forms of mortar were used to hold the stones together, cement being the most commonplace now. Mortared stone structures are less durable than dry stone, because water can get trapped between the stones and push them apart.

Traditional stone masonry is rarely used today, because stone is expensive to quarry, cut and transport, and the building process is labour and skill-intensive. Instead, most modern stonework utilises a veneer of stone (thin, flat pieces) glued against a wall of concrete blocks. This is known as veneered stone or stone cladding.

Slipform stone structures are a cross between veneered masonry and traditional masonry. Short forms (around 2 feet tall) are placed on either side of the wall, to serve as a guide for the structure. Stones are placed inside the forms with the flat face out, and concrete is then poured behind the rocks to hold it together. Stone buildings can be constructed quickly and easily with this method.

Circular huts were constructed from loose granite rocks throughout the Neolithic and early Bronze Age, and the remains of an estimated 5,000 can still be seen today. The pyramids in Giza, burial chambers in the UK and temples in Malta were all built from stone over 4000 years ago and are still standing. Granite continued to be used throughout the medieval period and into modern times. Slate is another stone type, commonly used as roofing material where it is found.

Rocks are extremely durable, artistic, versatile building material with high thermal mass, can be used for walls, floor, roof, arches; blends with natural landscape, can be easily recycled.... BUT... very labor-intensive and expensive now a days. To meet sustainability standards, steps must be taken to ensure that the stone is found on site, reclaimed from nearby demolished buildings or sourced from a local stone quarry. Only then can stone be considered a true example of a sustainable building material.

- compiled by blogger.

Natural Building Materials

Hi friends..
Why there is so much need to talk about the natural building materials?? Since decades now, glass, concrete framing, curtain walls has become so common practice... but, we do need to think about this....

According to the Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials, 1.7 million homes built with traditional wood, steel and concrete frames consumes the same amount of energy as heating and cooling for 10 million houses each year.

We pay the cost environmentally more for the manufacturing of the materials, eg., Cement Production requires an astounding amount of energy and results in water and air pollution and industrial waste that is usually not recycled.
Like creating structures that are functional, long-lasting, and aesthetically pleasing is important similarly minimizing the embodied energy in structures and also minimizing the ongoing energy needed for operation and maintenance has become the important aspects in architecture today. Sustainability has become a prior importance. And creating homes and buildings that are healthy for humans and for the planet is an essential part of sustainability.

Minimizing the use of products that require considerable embodied energy for their manufacture or transportation, thus becomes one of the main part of sustainability. The objective is to build with simple techniques that don't further pollute the environment, consume more fossil fuel, or unnecessarily extract the resources of Mother Earth.

Natural building has emerged as a response to an increasing concern for our built environment. Natural materials can provide an alternative to toxic substances which have led to widespread environmental illness. Using natural materials reduces the environmental impacts since that are unprocessed or minimally processed by industry. Natural materials have been the number one preference of home-builders since the beginning of human history.
The most important thing is these are the locally available materials throughout the world eg., sand from nearby streams or river beds, straw bales from local farmers, clay free for the digging and much more. So the costs and pollution associated with the transportation of these materials across the country falls.
Natural building materials such as earth, stone and straw are sustainable, safe, nontoxic, and easy to work with, and only require minimal tools and basic skills. so these are inexpensive and easy to build with little construction knowledge. And as far as beauty, there's no comparison. A home built of natural materials is more like a work of art that blends with the environment and gives a natural 'feel' thus making your living spaces more enjoyable.

We will talk about these materials in detail.