We get questions daily about Georgia Adobe Ecoitecture , so here is an open letter to you the Future Georgia Adobe Home Owner.
The Georgia Adobe Ecoitecture Blog is an adjunct to the Georgia Adobe Ecoitecture web pages & the Georgia Adobe University Of Ecoitecture. Here readers may ask questions & discuss the proper ways to volunteer for a Georgia Adobe ( open to the public project ) or perhaps how to attend the next self sustainable class at The University Of Ecoitecture, Obtain Certification to build Georgia Adobe Structures for profit or for their own personal use as a new home , by utilizing the independent self-sustainable Georgia Adobe Ecoitectural method. INTERESTED IN BECOMING A VOLUNTEER ON THE NEXT GEORGIA ADOBE ECOITECTURE PUBLIC PROJECT ?
EMAIL US WITH YOUR DESIRES - QUALIFICATIONS - LIMITATIONS & PREVIOUS WORK EXPERIENCES TO BE CONSIDERED FOR THE VOLUNTEER PROGRAM ! AS PROJECTS BECOME AVAILABLE WE WILL CONTACT THOSE SIGNING UP FIRST AND LATER POST THE PROJECT HERE ON OUR BLOG PAGE.
VOLUNTEER@GEORGIAADOBE.COM
WHAT TO DO IN THE MEAN TIME ?
STUDY RAMMED EARTH CONSTRUCTION METHODS In The Free Online Course We Present Below & At www.facebook.com/JoeWoodall !
GEORGIA ADOBE ECOITECTURE
Here's The Free Online Class Preview On Ecoitecture & Self Sustainable Construction, Until We Can Offer, On Site Tutorials At Georgia Adobe Headquarters ! You can also Follow Us On Our Facebook Page : www.facebook.com/JoeWoodall
Lesson #1 - How You Think , Must Change .
A.) Begin This Weeks Lesson #1 How You Think Must Change . Begin This Weeks Lesson With 4 Videos I shall Call Wedge #1: http://video.pbs.org/video/1873639434/
B.) http://video.pbs.org/video/980039287
C.) http://video.pbs.org/video/1094055821
D.) And to round out the conversation : http://video.pbs.org/video/2295533310
Lesson #2
WEDGE #2, Is About "GREEN BUILDING" - A PRIMMER ON NEXT WEEKS LESSONS
http://video.pbs.org/video/1088152802
If you have been following along with the above material , you now should know enough to decide if you want traditional Adobe Or Rammed Earth Walls and if you care to take our suggestions, you may well choose Rammed Earth For The Majority Of The Exterior Walls. Windows & doors can be constructed on site from glass bottles laid ( small end to end & wide side out) as bricks becoming windows and doors can be poured from concrete and or Papercrete with a water resistant addition keeping all dry inside.
Just remember to build your openings mainly facing South ( in the Northern Hemispheres) add gutters to diminish water washing of any exposed surfaces and keep your walls insulated on the outside and the Thermal Mass side on the inside with a proper ventilation will provide you with a fine set of walls and a passive solar building ! Direct all clean water toward your fresh water tanks ( more on cisterns & water use later in this series ) .
Keep it high & dry is age old advice and this is surly true for Earth sheltered structures too. Dwellings are also best and least expensively constructed , when built above the ground, & then you bring the Earth over to them and berm the structures sides , with at least 5 feet of Earth ( this is for not for traditional R/E , but rather for permanently formed R/E). Any exposed surfaces should be sealed or Stuccoed to protect them and a sufficient overhang is required. Direction of traffic towards the East & West is often best with South facing structures and allows protection in the way of foyers to retain even temperatures inside , when doors are opened.
By building above ground, your Rammed Earth Home Sheltering is possible and without you having to dig a basement , risk water running into the dugout area before or during residency, or without actually living underground. 5 feet of Earth sheltering will do very nicely, providing most structures with enough weather protection, ( if insulated properly & Moisture Proofed properly too ! ) keeps sudden temperature changes from causing any discomfort to you, and with a good amount of "Solarization" , streaming into the structure , from the South facing windows. The thermal flywheel cycle , will work for you as the Insulated Thermal mass, can collect heat daily & release it slowly as the evening air cools the inside , thus moderating your indoor temperatures to comfortable levels. With the Earth staying at about 58 degrees year round ( in most elevations) if you had no sunlight at all , you would not have to add heat at more than 20 degrees, to bring the inside to 78 degrees in the Winter. In the Summer as that the Sun is high in the sky , it won’t penetrate your windows directly (nor as deeply) as in the Winter time thus allowing a general cooling inside and with proper ventilation , almost –0– air-conditioning will be required most times ( Southern States elevation humidity’s may change this somewhat ) & that Ventilation should go up through the roof on the South side, drawing from Earth Tubes ( Now Go Google That Term if you don’t know yet what they are ) .
Roofs:
We never talked about roofs – Have We ?
As with walls, there's several ways to build roofs. A standard styled roof, can be made from wooden roof trusses , as long as your NOT contemplating an earth sheltered roof. For example, in a rain water catchment system, you will want a clean surface, to catch that rainwater & common asphalt or fiberglass shingles, just won’t work as a covering, since they will leach petroleum & other pollution's into your rainwater. Instead if your going with a wooden materials roof, consider choosing a metal roof covering , as your best choice for water to be caught from. Other choices might be an EPDM pond liner, over an insulated wooden roof ,will do just fine. Some loose stone covering will be required, to protect the EPDM liners and some extra engineering may be required as such. Also, Concrete over Wooden Roofs will work too , with proper water resistant liners. You may wish to research completely this term: "concrete domes" as well. Since these masonry roofs weight so much more , they would require extra expense in strength . There are many types of Concrete Domes out there too. Since this is only an online introductory to Ecoitecture, we will suggest some additional reading at this point research ferrocement.com/Page_1/english.html as a starting point, as there is a plethora of greatly detailed info there too.
How you construct your roof, will therefore become a matter of its use, in the total scheme of your construction plan and final use of the structure. Should you wish to cover the building’s roof with Earth – an engineered roof plan for that extra weight, "Will Be Required " as that 1 foot of Earth, will weigh over 65 LBS. Per cubic ft .
With Rammed Earth walls some accommodation to allow the roof to connect to those walls, will be required no matter which way you decide to go with roof choices, be sure and plan to allow 8" in the center to tie all together, plus an extra 8" on top as the cap & bond beam . Then with seal plate length bolts protruding upward ( if a wood roof is chosen ) or properly sized rebar sticking out, at least 24" long to tie a concrete roofs rebar web to. You will require forming on top of your Rammed Earth Walls & cans will work when mortared like bricks ( lay them with the small end pointing inside to outside. Then a bond beam to be poured on top of Rammed Earth Walls and any roof can be applied.
Until Next Time,
Have A Merry Christmas 2012
And Happy Building !
Joe Woodall Ecoitect
Georgia Adobe Ecouitecture
english.html www.ferrocement.com
Ferro 10... Symposium on ferrocement, Havana, Cuba, October, 2012 Books... printed ferrocement manuals include lifetime email support
-----------------------------------------------------------------Today JAN 28th 2013 a continuation of the class preview
Please See The Attached Photo: Wattage Starting/Running Reference Guide
SO, You Want To Go Off-Grid ?
At Georgia Adobe Ecoitecture Were All About Self Sustainability & We Sell All The Products &
Services Related To This End. We get a lot of question about life off grid & one of the most common is : “Just what is really involved ?” Some planning is a must for the homeowner, before going off grid thus, you might ask yourself a few questions :
#1 ) What Size Generator System Do I Need ?
#2) What Size Generator System Can I Afford ?
#3) What Fuel Will I Choose ?
#4 What Methods Of Storage Do I Choose ?
#5 What Home Design Features, Will Impact My Energy Usage ?
Today, we will begin today with the first question, as that understanding how you will use the energy you produce is the key to understanding & planning for a off-grid generator system. The table below shows estimates of typical wattage that is associated with home appliances and may help you understand the power demands that will affect your generator system size. There are two primary considerations - Running Watts and Starting Watts. Running watts represent the solid stead- wattage, while Starting Watts represent the requirements on your system for common initial starting wattage, required If or When the appliance first starts up.

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FEB. 08, 2012 CLASS LESSON UPDATE
Note: Your can also purchase personalized Georgia Adobe Ecoitecture Construction Instruction Sessions. For Details , Contact Joe Woodall At Georgia Adobe 706-363-6453 !
A Georgia Adobe Is Many Things, But 1 Is :
A Modern Thermal Mass Construction Method
Then the transportation cost & pollution enters into the conventional building picture, as to the job site distance is often a long trip, from a materials collection site (forest, mining operation , oil field etc. ) then to a factory o& on to a sales center & to the building site very often require more energy consumed than making the materials. After that even more energy is used in the actual construction process, of the structure.
Conversely, with a Georgia Adobe Home, the actual site materials can normally be harvested and used for the building of walls, floors and ceilings creating Thermal Mass. Through a process called Rammed Earth Construction , (a long ago proven method of construction, even used by the US Government today) major construction costs are saved and pollution is greatly reduced , allowing a major monetary gain for the home builder, not to mention the lessening of environmental pollution's .
Existing conventional homes can also be improved upon or even expanded or modified to convert them to perform much like a Georgia Adobe’s modern thermal mass construction does. Combined with Internal & External systems both new construction or existing structures, can be built & will operate more afford-ably and independently, in a GREEN Method, from Thermal Mass , Recycling Local Materials ( capturing or use that would normally be thought of as a costly waste stream too ) .
Today, we are all blessed with the modern days low cost technologies, many that can also generate real energy we can use and in several forms. We can now safely capture, contain and filter rainwater or snow melt, then recycle that water many times, within the building or outside of it, to lessen the water needs we have and the cost of disposal too.
Additionally, electricity can be generated cheaply today at home & even commercial facilities can be operated afford-ably off grid when combined with personal fuel/energy systems, which are also available from Georgia Adobe Ecoitecture.
These systems include site made gas, solar electricity and solar thermal of many kinds, correctly sized wind energy turbines, and alcohol fuel systems that can also run all the building’s power generators and its transportation engines too.
Public infrastructures that were once previously seen as a stumbling block to someone’s construction project can now be totally eliminated as a reason, to not to build practically anywhere, as these public utilities are no longer required, by the independent Georgia Adobe Structure owner/builder. And, the savings of your energy purchases, can be plowed back into a buildings construction, and/or used to add to a higher quality of life or business profitability for the Georgia Adobe Building Owner.
We believe that your construction is a private matter and we ask that you contact Joe Woodall for personal attention at Georgia Adobe Ecoitecture’s Headquarters .
Start Your Dream Home Today !
Joe Woodall, Ecoitect ( Systemsist, Ecologist & Architect )
Georgia Adobe Ecoitecture
Commerce, GA. 30530
706-363-6453
sales@georgiaadobe.com
http://www.georgiaadobe.com
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