Thanks to The Owner Builder for permission to re-print this article. BE INSPIRED – REAL STORIES ABOUT REAL OWNER BUILDERS
213 – JUNE/JULY 2019
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Earth building update... The Earth Building Association of Australia (EBAA) promotes the use of unfired earth construction.
PASSIVE SOLAR
Earth building is the practice of building using unfired earth material. Earth is used to construct walls, floors, roofs and even furniture, fireplaces and ovens. It is a building technology with an 11,000-year-old history and tradition, which is used worldwide. Today it is estimated that between one third to one half of the world’s population are currently housed in earth homes.
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LOW WASTE BUILDING
The common feature in all earth building techniques is that the material used is subsoil that is composed of clay, silt and sand, where clay is the binder or ‘cementing’ ingredient, and that the drying process is through the evaporative effect of sun drying. The methods and techniques used are as varied as the people, the resources available and the climates in which they are used.
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HEALTHY HOME
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STARTING OUT
Earth building techniques There are at least 12 methods of earth building used and these can be further divided into a total of at least 18 approaches. The following is a summary of what are perhaps the best known of the earth building techniques used in Australia today. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but provides a useful overview and starting point.
THE OWNER BUILDER 213 June/July 2019 © www.theownerbuilder.com.au
EARTHBUILDING MAGAZINE - www.earthbuilding.org.nz
SPRING 2020
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