Jump to content

Earth Sheltered Housing


Nigel Bridgman-Elliot
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 163
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

at least someone in london knows were we are.

 

And what about the last two folk from London with big ideas who discovered Shetland - the invisible distillery and the Aston driving fish farm manager :roll:

 

For what it's worth, when I did live in Shetland I did discuss with my other half that if we ever built a house in Shetland, we would build it into the hill to get protection from the weather (old small quarries might have been a good place to consider).We were both fed up trying to sleep through storms wondering what would be missing when we woke in the morning.

 

Weather was a big consideration in my move from the islands, after 40 yrs I've done my bit, it was time for a change.

 

If Nigel had stuck to him wanting to move to Shetland and build and 'earth sheltered' house then this thread might have made better reading.

 

His plans to save the islands are of biblical proportions and any mocking is his own doing through his ridiculous plans and claims.

 

Sturgeon farming anyone?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Working on the Large Hadron Collider at this stage wouldn't be particularly useful to my long term plans at all, plus I reckon I can do more good elsewhere.

 

I've heard they need entertainers on Paediatric Wards - you can do a lot of good there......

 

Nigel, I am still waiting to hear the name of your company???? :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sturgeon farming anyone

 

that's already been tried remember

tanks out at sound down the seafield road ;)

 

now you know they are the queens fish

are they?

I thot they came fae russia...

and then I found this

sturgeon is included as a royal fish in an act of King Edward II

wow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon

 

anyway, back to earth sheltered houses built of Concrete not Timber :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sturgeon farming anyone

 

that's already been tried remember

tanks out at sound down the seafield road ;)

 

Seafield was Salmon.

 

The Sturgeon was Broonies Taing and it was one of our more 'colourful' entrepreneurs - luckily it didn't even reach the drawing board (might have an Up Helly Aa squad though)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nigel, I am still waiting to hear the name of your company???? :(

 

There isn't a company at the moment, products still in development stage, but soon there will be!

 

 

I've heard of large concrete structures being kept at a constant tempreature during the curing stage by having water sprayed on them, I assumed this was to prevent uneven cooling and cracking ?

 

I wonder, does the cracking only occur if there is a tempreature difference between areas of the concrete ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

no, you can get drying and shrinkage which will leave cracking

also if the concrete is over strength there is a possibility of cracking.

 

there are many other reasons it could crack..to many to list right now ;)

 

people make the common mistake of thinking Concrete dry's out to set, this is not the case. It is a chemical reaction called hydration which happens between the water and the cement, hence if you make your concrete too wet it will loose strength. During this process the reaction generates heat, too large a pour and you can have heat related cracking problems(related to high strength concrete in paticular) hence wetting it down to try and avoid those problems.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Similar design here:

 

http://www.diginfo.tv/2007/03/16/070316-bs-nextstage-dome-don.php

 

http://www.dome-house.jp

 

Which has a fairly nice movie (Even though its in Japanese, you don't really need to know whats being said, you can watch the pretty pictures :-) ) which shows the panels, inside and also multi-dome homes, not to mention how they are put together in a day!

 

http://www.dome-house.jp/movie.html

 

 

I wonder how they solve the cracking issue with the final coat ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

people make the common mistake of thinking Concrete dry's out to set, this is not the case. It is a chemical reaction called hydration which happens between the water and the cement, hence if you make your concrete too wet it will loose strength. During this process the reaction generates heat, too large a pour and you can have heat related cracking problems(related to high strength concrete in paticular) hence wetting it down to try and avoid those problems.

Sorry, but that's not quite right. Too much water in the mix and the concrete is rubbish yes, but the need to keep it wet during the cure is in order to keep the reaction running. Let it dry before the cure has taken place (takes weeks) results in a different kind of rubbish concrete.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Similar design here:...

These are not concrete domes, but rather expanded polystyrene domes with mortar coating. I'm frankly surprised these have been approved without something taking the tension. They certainly can't be used for an earth sheltered design.

 

Use of polystyrene modules is nevertheless quite sensible for hybrid thick shell construction with concrete. The Romans knew the structural benefit of introducing voids and used bottles in the Pantheon roof. Additionally the polystyrene helps enormously with insulation and installation.

 

I wonder how they solve the cracking issue with the final coat ?

There are many nifty compounds available for this now with demonstrably high durability/reliability. Often urethane based but there are others.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

but the need to keep it wet during the cure is in order to keep the reaction running.

I thot by putting up that it's a hydration process peeps mite actually realise that....and it doesn't take weeks, only one week for 3/4 of the strength to be achieved ;)

ie you shouldn't have to wet it to help curing because the mix should have enough water in it to cure properly anyway :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share


×
×
  • Create New...