Eco-friendly housing - I

Walls:

Red brick is the typical material used for walls. Cement is used to bind the bricks. Both of these have a high carbon footprint. Red bricks are fire burnt, requiring either firewood or coal. Cement preparation also requires high temperatures.

Besides that, good quality red bricks are made near Mysore, implying an additional footprint for transportation to Bangalore. Cement factories pollute their surroundings significantly.

Chemical paints are used to coat the walls- also carry a high footprint.

Compressed Mud Blocks are made at site. They are composed of  around 50% quarry dust, 40% red soil, 10% cement (approx numbers). A wetted mixture of these materials is compressed in a hand operated machine to make a compressed mud block. After 3 weeks of curing, the mud blocks are ready for use. The cement acts as the stabiliser. No heat treatment required.

Quarry dust and red soil are usually considered waste materials. Red soil is recovered from the earth scooped out of the basement and foundation. These are local materials, requiring minimal transportation carbon footprint.

Since the process of block making is manual, the footprint of the blocks is restricted to the cement portion of it (10%).

Mortar: The mortar used to bind the bricks is also of the same material, restricting the cement content of the walls to under 10%

Paint:  The red soil gives a nice color to the bricks, requiring no plastering or painting of the walls. Again, that saves on the carbon footprint of the house.

The technique is being used by Biome Environmental Solutions, who are the architects for the Bangalore house-in-progress.

Snaps:

Quarry dust+Red soil+Cement

Maanav machine!

The mechanical hen lays a nice little mud block

Lots of blocks, and the house behind is also made of them

Red soil gives a nice tinge

 Short video of the process: