I used straw bales with cement based stucco.

R55

Essential fire proof

Earthquake resistant.

Will stop pistol bullets and some rifles.

Extremely cheap.


Cons:

Extremely time intensive. Not hard labor....but lots of time goes into it.

https://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=818394

I regret some specific things I did but not the overall method.

 

Martindale, how often do you need to patch the stucco

 

My basement is a walkout, with 3 sides bermed with earth. Basements walls are ICF filled with concrete.

My Log Home is being built right now from northern white cedar. This is a Katahdin home design, so the logs come preshaped, cut to length, and numbered.

 

I just bought a FEMA trailer and put on the land. Unless a tornado gets it I'm good.

 

My cabin in the woods was built in 1889. Needless to say, it's wood. We lifted it and put in an extended concrete cellar (no inside stairs, just a trapdoor with dropdown ladder), and modern insulated interior walls. It's still primitive; no running water or plumbing and woodstove heat. But we have a blast there and love it.

 

This basically describes what I have, minus it being built in 1889.

 

Mine are all log cabins or wooden structures since wood is free and easily accessible and getting concrete to my location would be expensive. Concrete doesn’t hold up well with strong earthquakes, but I do recognize it’s value in being fire retardant.

I watched a show on strawbail and stucco construction. I think that would work well if it insulates as well as I think it would. Being fire and earthquake resistant are big pluses. We have easy access to hay, and suppose it would be an ok substitute for straw. I do wonder how long the straw (hay) would last before decomposing becomes an issue? A well maintained log home can last centuries.

 

Do NOT USE HAY INSTEAD OF STRAW .... FOR THAT ... EVER

 

The stucco never needs to be patched unless physically damaged by something.

As long as the roof is kept in good shape the walls will last indefinitely. There are straw bail buildings in the US over a hundred years old. (Given that straw bailing is a relatively new technology it hasn’t existed much longer than that)

Hay is NOT an okay substitute for straw. Straw is the stems of mature grain crops, it is nutritionally dead and cut when dry. Chemically, it’s very similar to wood. It does not support fungus or bacteria well and is not eaten by animals. It can take years to break down even in the soil (as it contains very little that is digestible by organisms it breaks down slowly when wet and not at all while dry)

Hay is the nutrient rich leaves of grass, cut green (to preserve its nutrients) by design, it’s supposed to be food for animals and as such, attracts pests and rots quickly when wet since it’s full of nitrogen and other substances for bacteria and fungus to feed on.

Straw is waste product from grain harvesting while Hay is the desired product from a hay field, hence hay is also much more expensive.

It’s like the difference between building something from compressed woodchips or from lawn clippings. When dry they may look like a similar substances from a distance but will act very differently as a building material.

 

My current house is a manufactured home, so mostly wood on a steel frame with fiber cement siding. The roof is asphalt. Compared to a wood frame home with wood siding and shake shingle roof, it is more fire and earthquake resistant. Compared to a reinforced concrete wall house with a tile or metal roof, less so?

When I retire in a couple of years, I intend to sell and build further out, using ICF, earth berming as much as possible - definitely with an eye towards earthquake and fire threats.

 

I want to do a big root cellar using sand bags and rock. Might be some pressure treated lumber in the roof.

 

I didn't build it but what we bought has a log cabin sitting on a several foot tall, cinder block foundation.

Not very fireproof but then again I don't live in a forest and there is no real danger from a fire sweeping through that would ignite the house.

 

As my build has been progressing, I have been very happy with the choices so far. All metal in the structure. The reason is this is what has been available for me to use. I have a whole tractor trailer load of surplus wood, but not enough to do what I have done with the surplus steel components.

The one thing I noticed immediately, is the lack of bug and insects. Seems they dont care so much for my taste in building materials. The lack of brown recluse. wasps, scorpions, ants, roaches, and the like is a Godsend. I will still have to deal with field rats for a while. Until all of the little cracks are filled.

My only regrets are not getting started with building sooner. I still have a long way to go, but that climb uphill is starting to level out finally.

 

Thats one of the nice things about straw too. Not only don't critters like living in it, the inch of cement stucco inside and out seals everything out, making a seamless pest proof barrier. I did the same thing in my storeroom even though its conventional construction. I think its a great siding material regardless of what you put it over.

 

Stucco is commonly used in warm and dry southern california. But there were some major problems with it a couple decades ago here in washington and bc. Moisture was getting behind the stucco and inside of wall was molding and rotting. A lot had to do with small roof overhang, improper installation and venting, and location with wind and blowing rain. It now has a bad reputation locally.

 

Improper installation was the biggest problem. Use drainage mat and make sure the weepscreed at the bottom does not have the holes plugged up and you should be good.

I see it all the time, people will caulk all around a window and where flashing comes out thinking they are keeping water out. News flash, the water is there in the form of condensation and needs the flashing to be open so it can get out. Brick and siding are not water proof either. This is why there is a vapor barrier and through wall flashing with weep holes. You would be shocked at how mad homeowners get when you tell them the holes on the mortar near the ground are there for a reason and you can't patch them. They insist that they should be sealed up. I just shake my head when they don't believe me and move on.

 

We are looking at building a new place in the next few years. Quad Lock ICFs are the top of our list right now. I'm so tired of stick frame houses with crappy insulation practices in most houses you buy these days.

 

Build it in Colorado... I need you closer. [emoji4][emoji41][emoji106]

 

Straw bale can have similar problems when people paint or seal the outside trying to keep moisture out....no realizing that all winter they are pumping warm wet air into the walls from the inside that turns into water when it hits the cold stucco on the outside and then has nowhere to go but to sit there on the straw. If your going to put up a vapor barrier, it goes on the interior wall, not the outside.

(unless of course you live in a warm wet environment and your running your ac inside all the time.

 

8" concrete walls with rebar in the basement storage/safe room (concealed entrance with an 800lbs safe door).

The rest is standard construction but with metal siding and metal roof which in addition to being fire resistant is also very low maintenance.

 

I'd have to think concrete is a good option. Shipping containers are too but require more to make them suitable.

Concrete basement with duplicate avenues of ingress/egress in case one is blocked. Upper (visible) floor has concrete to at least chest height. Steel shutters on all windows. Entry doors made of steel and built into the concrete with steel frames. Maybe add a dirt berm around the perimeter to aid in defeating any incoming.

Just some things I'm pondering.
Wish concrete wasn't so expensive and difficult to work with. Seems like the only way to pour a slab or walls and still have a good cure is to use trucks and/or a pumping truck. [emoji20]

 

Actually right now building materials are going up in price so fast that it is nearly the same price to build a home with IFC's than it is to build a traditionally stick framed building. If the prices keep going up it will soon be cheaper.

 

Simple ideas to give yourselves both as part of a decent lawn plan might be having said burms graded at a low angle opposite your house. Steeper angle on the house side. Taking care to allow for appropriate drainage.

Yep. This is part of the science behind those old 'star forts'

The terms your thinking of are Defilade and "ha-ha"

(although technically you would want to reverse your ha-ha slope direction for defense.

 

Part of my defenses

And the general idea of defensive berms.

 

You guys draw better than I do... [emoji4]

 

Haha wall...that’s it! Thanks!

Could grow in dense fruiting thorn bushes a bit out to give baddies concealment which they would think is cover. Again provided you had systems in place to detect them/deal with them.

Bushes would also draw wildlife and could be harvested.

Ideas drawn on from you all here, mind that we are a looong ways out from getting property to set up on. Ideas provided though are are good to have to help determine property size/layout (house/outbuildings/lawn/features).

 

Pole barn kits from areas like Oklahoma may be pretty strong since tornadoes are so pervasive in such areas. Mine was rated for 100 mph winds as I recall.

I believe strength is supplemented by using screws/ lag screws over nails. Screws seem to have ten times the holding power of nails.

Insulation via a normal 2x4 wall with R-13. A 2x6 wall allows for R-19.

Sheetrock also adds a lot of strength according to some builders. I used 5/8" firewall. Sheetrock is fire resistant but firewall has fiberglass built in that retains more strength during a moderate fire. Also 5/8" is better than 1/2" of course.

Added four wings so a number of construction techniques were employed. Some of the walls are almost a foot thick. I look upon at it as a small, modernized fort.

Three layer "greenhouse glass" on the south side wing provides a lot of passive heating during the cold months. I spend $50-100/year on propane. Planning to sell my firewood since I need so little heating.

Still exposed to nuclear and gangs. Next structure may be concrete and primarily underground. Unless things miraculously start normalizing and I don't expect that to happen.

I currently think concrete and/or being underground is about the only structure that may survive a local nuke. There were concrete buildings that survived the nuclear blasts in Japan in spite of close proximity. One still has to properly use rebar of course.

 

OK, really need opinions on this: I was just looking online at a 22 acre homestead in a rural agricultural county. 1600 sq ft house, 40x60 polebarn , 20x30 chicken coop, fenced throughout, at least 14-15 acres in hay and 2 acres of hardwoods on the back, on a well with septic, 150' gravel road, tractor shed. . Off two co. Roads w nieghbors. 19 miles from the co. Seat and a super chinamart. 25 miles from I-71N to Cols. 75 minute drive from my wifes family property. Close enough for group members to keep RVs there for weekends and way below lake effect snow belt. Thanks to Mr. TRUMP AND 6000 EXTRA STOCK MKTpoints I hit my price target 8 years r and parked it. Thinking about a drive tomorrow after breakfast. Wood frame house, newly refinished and updated interior, metal roofs on all. Propane heat, needs wood stoves. Land gently rises to the back with a wooded hill and 50 acre woods. Really tempted but cautious. Been getting this nut togethor for 23 years, lots of staycations, used cars and very few restaurants or delivered pizzas. Planning to run marans, cornish crosses and berkshire -pasture pig crosses, maybe a jersey-anges cross breeding pair and a couple nubian-*****ian crosses milking goats.

 

I built an ICF walled home 11 years ago. I had a hard time finding someone that knew what he was doing but that turned out OK in the end. The ICF contractor was from almost 100 miles away. I insulated the inside of the roof with polyurethane, was supposed to be 6" thick but the anaily rententive applier ended up giving me 8 to 10 inches. My thought was that energy was never going to get any cheaper and that has proven to be true. My electric bill in July, when we had 2 weeks where it was over 100 degrees and there were several days when it was 113-114, was $200 and I was keeping the inside at 77 degrees. I mainly heat with wood and last winter I used 5 face ricks of wood. While I was an early adopter it has all worked out! I would not hesitate to recommend ICF to anyone.

 

If you are looking for strong alternative building materials, check out earth bags (sand bags). I built a storm shelter partially underground using them and they work great. LOTS of manual labor... but cheap and strong.