Comments on: World Hands Project – Pallet Houses in Mexico

By: Michael Janzen

Michael Janzen — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 05:10:44 +0000

I assume these are nailed together. On my pallet house I’m using screws and there is also a layer of plywood that should help.

I think if you alternate the pallets you get a stronger building too. These folks are assembling them in a grid, which most pallet buildings also do, but I suspect it means they’ll have weaker walls.

Alternate them like bricks.

By: Ransom

Ransom — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 04:57:54 +0000

how do you fasten the pallets together for the walls?
Thanks
Ransom

By: Simple Living News Update: Week of October 26th

Simple Living News Update: Week of October 26th — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:34:40 +0000

[...] World Hands Project [...]

By: Michael Janzen

Michael Janzen — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:47:33 +0000

Thanks Steve. Great info on the straw/cob packed walls.

By: SteveR

SteveR — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:44:37 +0000

Actually, a clay/wood or clay/straw mixture between wood framing is an age old proven practice(and I mean 1000′s of years!). The clay seals the walls from air movement but the earth keeps it breathable and regulates humidity. The clay also preserves the timbers and the woodchip or straw gives it insulating loft and the earth walls gives it thermal mass for heat regulation.

After years of research into what building techniques would suit us best with our major objectives being to a) use mostly locally found materials from our own forest on clay soils and b) build to last a minimum of 500 years, this is, in fact, the exact building technique that we have settled on for our next (and final) house. We have settled on roundwood timber framing (less waste, more strength and beauty) infilled with light earth ( clay mixed with woodchips in our case since straw is not readily available).

Many homes/huts I saw in Mexico when I was last there were built of local indigenous wood which the locals told us were made from a species selected specifically because of its known weather and insect resistant properties. The tragedy would be if they adopted manufactured home technology using imported wood that wasn’t suited for that environment or had to be chemically treated to suit.