The rest of my Building Materials Comparison
SIPS: Sips are really fucking cool, I just can’t afford them. They stand for Structurally insulated panels. If you imagine an oreo where the creme filling is insulation and the outside is wood,plastic, or steel, that’s basically a sip. Giant rectangular oreos. The cool thing is they’re pre-fab. So the manufacturer can cut them to any size and shape you want. The insulation is already built in so all you have to do is put them upright & connect them together. Super insulating and fast to build with. It’s supposed to be cheaper than traditional building (primarily because of reduced labor time) but it’s still pretty close to the price of a standard house. Sip panels can be used for floors, walls, & ceilings.
Cement: Cement checks all the boxes, fireproof, termite proof, fairly mold resistant. There are a couple of different ways to build with cement. Building with cement blocks isn’t uncommon in the south and its simple enough that I could do it. But the price of cement blocks (& bricks) can add up quickly. Other than blocks, you can make cement walls by pouring it. I’ve nixed this idea because the road up to the build site isn’t in good condition and I’m not sure a cement truck could make it up. See: https://www.ecoconstructionllc.com/products/insulated-concrete-forms/ http://superiorwallstn.com/ In the past few years robotics has evolved to make 3d printers that can ‘print’ houses out of cement. It is a concept that is both fast & cheap. The walls of the finished product look like super adobe. While the technology exists, the construction companies to implement it are few & far between. Most of the companies I have found are printing ‘proof of concept’ houses & showcases. Short of buying my own 3d printer (which is much as a house), this isn’t likely in the near future. Sunconomy seems to be the only one accepting orders for houses but their facebook page shows that they are expensive
Stone: Also checks all of the boxes. We have the added benefit of being able to find some stone on our property. But not enough of it to build a full size structure. We went to europe and we saw stone buildings still standing that were centuries old. However, our stones are not uniform in size and my husband is not a mason. It would also take way too long & I want a home within my lifetime.
Tires: Believe it or not you can actually build with tires. I actually really like this idea because I see it as pretty much the ultimate form of recycling & you can get used tires for free. So I know of two ways to build walls with tires. The first is you basically form your walls with chicken wire & then dump a bunch of shredded tires in between them. Look for the image on Pinterest. The other is you keep the tires in tact & you fill them with dirt or cob & stack them. Building with tires meets me requirements by being mold resistant & termite proof. However I have heard of tire fires. Most importantly, my husband refuses to let me build with ‘trash’. I have found only one commercial company that seems to use recycled tires but they don’t have prices for their house.
Domes: Domes can be made in a variety of different ways and are supposed to be structurally very strong. You can build a dome with earth bags (to be discussed later). You can build a ‘geodesic dome’ which is a fancy word for building a dome made of a bunch of triangles. The triangles can be built with wood (termites, burnable) or metal (expensive). If you want to build it yourself you’re probably looking for geodesic. The most unique domes I saw was formed by basically inflating a giant dome & then spraying it with multiple layers of a quick hardening cement. I love the concept but they are as expensive as traditional housing. Super cool but not financially feasible for me ATM. https://www.monolithic.org/domes
So I’ve nixed all domes mostly due to price but honestly, I don’t how I would but furniture next to a round wall.
Log Cabins: While they look cozy & have access to an almost unlimited supply of logs it all goes back to the problems of wood above, which is to say, all of them. I may build one as a rental but I want the house I build to be more durable.
A-frames: A-frames were popular in the 70’s (apparently) and are supposedly very easy to build. I’ve even seen a cool design for a small one where one side pops up to provide shade over a patio. Agin, it reverts back to what materials you build it with. Wood no. Steel maybe. Honestly, I just don’t like the look of them exterior wise so I’ve never seriously considered it for my actual home. Maybe for a rental.
Like I said the entire pig family. After my exhaustive analysis of various building materials (which took years btw) I determined that the most economical building material for me that meets my specs is the ground (clay) under my feet. Except that I don’t want it to melt. So I have to put it in something. Super adobe is out, the holes are too thick and my husband won’t let me build with tires. So I guess I’m going to have to bag, bag, bag it up! Yup earth bags. They’re not novel. Many people have built with them before, which is probably a good thing considering I have no idea what I’m doing.