Green Building Materials

When you sit down, and start thinking about your building project, what materials come to mind?  Wood?  Concrete?  Vinyl?  Composites?

Ok.  Now, how much does structural lumber generally run?  How about concrete?  Composites?  They're fecking expensive.

Now, what if I told you, there is a building material that people will pay YOU to use?  Or, another building material that works about to $1 per foot of wall, and is a near-perfect insulator, and 100% fire proof?

"A lie!", you say?  "What is this magic material?", you say.  The answer is:  Dirt.

The US military has learned that dirt can make a shockingly durable and strong building material.  Military forces worldwide have built complex underground structures using sandbags.

They are even durable enough to be used when building DOWN (With proper bracing techniques).

Or, how about the building material that people will pay YOU to use?  Tires.  Once the tread is gone, people generally pay $5-$10 in disposal fees for the tire.  Charge people less than that, and you have a perfect building material.

Simply take the tires and stack, stake, and fill:  Voila!  You have extremely insulated, durable walls, which are surprisingly fireproof.

Both of these construction materials are either cheap, free, or you can even make some money using them.  Not to mention, dirt is one of the most amazing building materials, and it has 2 characteristics depending on mix.

If you use a heavy, clay-type mix, you get thermal mass (It holds heat, and releases it slowly).  If you use lighter, more porous materials (Like pumice), you get  a high insulation factor.  And, you get a benefit of completely free building material if you are building down, instead of up (Excavated dirt becomes the building material).

You might have to explain to the building inspector the construction techniques, so I would highly suggest fully researching the options.  Most building inspectors will become amenable once it's explained.  And, you can feel good about lowering heating and cooling bills, using a resource that doesn't cause deforestation, and even keep some stuff out of the landfill!