Abstract:
Across the history of pioneers and settlers in America, building and creating shelter was one of the prime concerns. In the modern housing market, most people think of "building" a house by hiring a contractor and crew. There is a growing trend, however, towards owner-built green building methods, also called alternative building. These alternative methods include straw bale, rammed earth, and cordwood construction. In the straw bale method, bales are used in place of lumber, and then plastered on both the interior and exterior. Rammed earth is a process of using particular blends of clay and sand compacted tightly to form thick, monolithic walls. Cordwood construction uses short lengths of log mortared together in a similar fashion to bricks. All three of these methods have been successfully built and written about in recent years. In this paper, I discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each method and come to a conclusion on which method my research proves to be the most feasible in North-Central Indiana.
