Hobby Farms Forums / HobbyFarms.com Forum Topics / Fabulously Frugal / A Most Versatile Building Material / Latest Posts

RE: A Most Versatile Building Material

Drawbar — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:43:24 GMT

I watched a show one time where an architect wanted to design and build cheap but fast houses for people. Deciding that domes were the best bang for the buck, and structurally sound, he made a system that built houses in a matter of hours.

He poured concrete and wire mesh on top of a air bladder. After a few inches of concrete were poured on the surface, he blew the air bladder up with air. This formed a dome in which the concrete soon hardened into a perfect dome. By using concrete saws the following days, he cut out doors and windows and thus had a home that met his requirements.

I often thought of doing the same thing, for loose hay perhaps or animal huts. It sounds odd, but it would be quick, cheap and easy. I just could not figure out where I would get an air bladder that would work.

I know some of my ideas sound odd, but someone told me that to successfully raise sheep, you must do it low tech and with a minimal amount of money. Hence my crazy ideas. :-)

RE: A Most Versatile Building Material

ihenigman2 — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:06:59 GMT

i had thought id like to do something similiar with the dome structure built out of saplings i thought i would cover it with chicken wire and then spread about two inches of mortar over the entire thing i actually bought a mortar mixer off a bricklayer friend for that very purpose i would love to think i could use the saplings to build a good fence i have alot of cedar trees that might be good for the posts i also read somewhere that locust make good posts

RE: A Most Versatile Building Material

Drawbar — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 06:08:15 GMT

Thanks Tiffle.

I have been thinking about this a lot. I am always trying to think of inexpensive ways to raise sheep, and as my sheep grow in number, its often a challenge to keep up with their housing needs.

I was thinking the other day that hoop houses are all the rage these days and for obvious reasons, from growing veggies in a protected environment, to giving livestock shelter, to simply storing hay, a inexpensive, but weather proof structure is something most people need. I was thinking that the kits you buy typically have two elements...a metal frame and plastic or fabric. The plastic or fabric is easy to get and cheap, but the frame is harder. A person could build a frame out of framing lumber but that has its problems. I was thinking instead perhaps saplings would make a great substitute.

You could dig a few posts into the ground and then rim the area of your hoop house with 2x4 lumber. Then by splicing saplings together so that they were all the same length, you could form the saplings into individual bows and thus form the arch of your hoop house. You could do this with a combination of nails and wire wrapped tightly around the splices. The ends you would nail or bolt to the 2x4 rim.Their green nature and small size would allow them to be limber enough to bend, but the rim of 2x4's and posts in the ground would keep them from spreading outward. Formed into a hoop, the structure strength of the arch ould help repel wind and snow loads.

Then by using high tensile fencing wire, you could strengthen the building by forming two x's of wire on each "side" of the hoop house. That is form an x from ground level running diagonally along the length of the hoop house, up to the peak on the other side. Then repeat from the ground level back to the peak on the other side. In this way, you would form an x on each side of the hoop house. In other words an x on the right side of the building, and another x on the left side. By pulling the high tensile wire tight with a come-a-long or winch, you would introduce some lateral strength to the structure and use the tensile strength of inexpensive steel wire to cross brace all the frames. By stapling the wire to each sapling frame, it would brace the entire structure, yet the wire would be so low that it would not affect the plastic which comes next. Alternatively, you could use spliced saplings on the inside of the frame in the same x fashion.

Then you could form a back wall (if desired) with additional saplings spaced like studs every 2 feet or so just to give the building a 3 sided wall system, and to add even more strength. (But you could have a run-thru hoop house too.

Finally you cover the building with 6 mill plastic stretched tight and use lathes or saplings nailed to the bottom, peak and sides of the building to keep the plastic in place. The saplings would have to be inspected so that there was no little limbs that would puncture the plastic, but a axe would smooth them up quickly. You could even double the plastic, put a blower in between the sheets and have a double insulated, air blown type hoop house of greater strength. Either way the arch design should be rugged enough to handle the structural loads, and the slippery nature of the plastic would send any snow loads off the structure. If not, adding saplings from the peak down as pole to the ground on the inside of the hoop house would be a way to strengthen the building, but would invade the interior space. Not great, but it would be strong for sure then. At the same time if the snow got real deep you might have it pile up pretty deep on the sides at ground level and you would have to move it, but that would take a lot of snow.

I know plastic has a lifespan of about 8-10 years, so with this design, the total cost would be so low, that it makes redoing every 8-10 years worth while. Either way you would have cheap, fast, "green" hay storage, animal shelter, or a large cold frame to start veggies. And if need be, you could unbolt the upper part from the rim of 2x4's and pick the entire building up with a tractor and move it. That would be perfect when you went to clean out the animal manure at the end of the winter, or if you no longer needed a cold frame for veggies. No need to transport the veggies to a "summer garden".

Anyway just a refined idea on using saplings so far and not tested.

RE: A Most Versatile Building Material

TIFFLE — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:31:48 GMT

DB,
remember when I said you should think of writing for Hobby Farms - I can't now remember the thread - and you mentioned you needed to understand the...what was it..."slant"? or whatever?

This is it. You wrote about something that was helpful, nonpolitical, available to many of us who have land, and most importantly, you wrote it with a positive voice.

Imagine if it had a few photos of you (or a stand in model of acceptable appearance) doing the deed. You've got an article!

I enjoyed this one very much.

RE: A Most Versatile Building Material

hotrodryder — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:03:53 GMT

I cut out some pawpaw saplings this spring to thin out the grove and open up the light and used them lashed together for pea poles in my garden. I have also lashed them together for temp fencing for decoration only, not strong enough when the horses lean on them. But walnut and locust saplings are and I use those for summer fence.

A Most Versatile Building Material

Drawbar — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:59:29 GMT

The most valuable and versatile building material on my farm has got to be saplings. I use them for everything. I guess I do so because I can cut them down without the least bit of guilt. They often grow on the sides of fields and so cutting them down is of value onto its own. So using them around the farm is a two-for kind of deal.

The most common project I use them on is fencing. Since I move my fences a lot, I found a 2 inch sapling 4 feet long is perfect. I sharpen one end as I cut them, start them with a lining bar and then pound them into the ground using my tractor bucket loaded with soil. The weight is enough to sink them and they are plentiful and free.

Another task I have used them for is as a building material. You have to size the poles to the loads, but by using #9 tie wire (not fencing) and poles, you can build a very sturdy building for livestock or whatnot far cheaper then you can build one out of any other material. You wrap the poles together and twist, and of course add cross bracing to add rigidity to the structure. Its nothing new, the Japanese have used this method for years. Then add plastic or tarps over the top and you got a makeshift shelter for very little money. Metal roofing works even better on more permanent buildings, but it does add to the cost.

This Spring when I got a flock of Hampshire sheep that had never been on an electric fence before, they ran right through the wire. By cutting saplings, I was able to spike them horizontally onto my fence posts and the saplings...something the sheep could see, proved to be a major deterrent. By the time they lowered their heads to find a place to charge through, they got stung by the electric fence. Aesthetically you would not think the fence was good looking, but I had a lot of compliments on it. I thought it looked kind of odd, but page wire fencing is 150 bucks for 300 feet...saplings were free, and the few spikes it took to put the fence up, was very cheap. Ultimately my sheep stayed in for very little money and a days worth of work.

I've even made sheep feeders and stuff out of saplings. These are small enough to drive spikes in, and sometimes you have to half-lap the joints, but you can make hay racks and feeders for your animals. Pretty much anything you can make out of 2x4's you can make from saplings, and you are using far less energy to boot. By that I mean, its a very green building material. No wasted energy was used in harvesting, transportation, sawing into a rectangle and then shipping them to you occurred. Its simplicity itself with a very low carbon footprint.

Recently I moved a garage from my brothers place up to my house and rather then use 2x4's to brace it all up to survive the move...you guessed it...I used saplings. Fashioned in x fashion on the inside, and in 45 degree braces, the structure held together just fine even though it means a lot of jacking, and dragging the garage up the hot top road with my tractor. The building shuttered, but it survived with the saplings bracing it.

Yep saplings help me a lot around this farm, and they are cheap and require a few minutes of chainsaw use to obtain. Better yet, in using them, I thin my woodlot of trees improving the stand, and if obtained along the margins of the fields, they stop woods encroachment.