A Call for Help; a Chance to Learn

Pictured here is the Terra Built Green Machine. It is a gasoline-powered device that compresses a mixture of soil and cement to form stackable bricks. This is what we'll use to form the exterior walls of our home. They weigh about 20 pounds each and stack like legos. There's no mortar needed. The walls are reinforced with periodic concrete columns and a concrete bond beam across the top (both containing rebar). Once in place, two inches of insulating foam is applied to the exterior, and is faced with stucco. On the interior, you parge with concrete, or use some other clay product (or drywall). The end result are walls that are about a foot thick, with an insulative value of R50. They are also fireproof, pestproof, soundproof and -if you care- bulletproof! We hope to have the Green Machine doing its thing in about a week. We'd love to have interested friends come join us in the "house raising." If you can work four or more hours, we'll pay you for your time. It's a great opportunity for teenagers to make a little cash and be part of something very GREEN and very memorable. Right now, we expect the house-building effort will take about two to three weeks. Watch the blog for further information and details.