You know with all of this talk of intentional communities and legislation on building codes, I thought it would be fun to start a topic on alternative building materials. Please join me as we discuss things like Straw bale houses, self-made adobe bricks, papercrete, bags of wet concrete, plastic bottles, and Castleblock etc.
There is one that I know is not appropriate for Hawai'i and that is Castleblock because of its propensity to hold moisture and create mold and mildew. But that is just my experience of having been in one of those moldy oldie castleblock houses.
Maybe Castleblock was good idea for the mainland but it doesn't do well over here. We have to watch out that we don't waste money on technologies that will not adapt well to the tropics. There is a person who built a cobb house that I have been in and it seemed to work well and straw bale and cement and bottles also seem to hold up well here. Why does castleblock mold like that?
Hey Rob aren't you the one that does the castleblock too? I want you to answer me just YES or NO? Dr Len Horowitz says he can cure the problems of mold and mildew on the castleblocks with Oxy silver ( don't forget to mention my name you will get a discount.)
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More ignorance on display.
BTW. "Castleblock" is not a product. It is the name of my company.
Assume the best and ask questions.
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More ignorance? Well then enlighten me. What is that thing/structure in Pahoa made of?
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I almost hate to point this out, but ... of the "alternatives" listed, only the Castleblock products are actually certified for UBC compliance as required to meet the local building codes.
Whether the GP resembles a troll or personal attack is a separate issue.
I not joking. I have been in your castleblock house. It is filled with mold and mildew. What is that stuff made of anyway.
Actually there are many others on the UBC list that are accepted actually (and more coming as long as they can pass the ASTM testings)
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Sativa, if you think that Cobb or straw bale is a good technology for a place that gets a 100 plus inches of rain a year and tropical bugs. You are truly clueless
Mold and mildew in a house is a function of ventilation
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there are many others on the UBC list that are accepted
UBC acceptance is irrelevant if the whims of the local inspectors are not met -- any code will have "vague requirements" which are subject to interpretation. (Favorite example: color of grounding screw is not specified in the NEC ... but if you're non-union the inspector might decide they "must" be green. Yes, this really happens. Not sure if NFPA has updated the NEC on this one.)
Mold and mildew in a house is a function of ventilation
Most definitely -- I've seen fully-permitted homes built with conventional UBC-compliant techniques which also have really bad mold/mildew problems because the house simply wasn't designed for this climate (not enough windows, facing the wrong way, etc).
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There is a house on South Kopua Rd that is made from cordwood masonry. That is the kind where you see the ends of the logs. The builder first built a cabin that he and his family lived in as he built a larger round house. I was inside the cabin. It was OK and interesting. He appeared to have built with green logs so they shrank and left gaps as opposed to building with dry logs that might swell and crack the mortar. At any rate there was a 1/8" to 1/4" gap at the top of each log.
I assume that the technology is working well enough for them because if someone is competent to build a decent house they are probably automatically competent to judge the finished results and since they continued on to build the main house of the same materials I figure there were no deal-breaking flaws. As for mold and mildew there are physical laws and principles that govern this. I find it believable that a technology that is inherently spongy like cordwood masonry or even straw bale could work if sufficient effort were made to keep rain off like having the first 2 or 3 feet of wall at ground level be concrete and having extreme roof overhangs while more conventional and otherwise tried and true construction methods could suffer from moisture if these issues are not addressed. The cord wood walls I observed had a degree of built-in ventilation that would guarantee drying of the wall as long as rain was kept off it. On the other hand there are modern high performance systems generally known as EIFS (exterior insulation finish systems) that are prone to catastrophic moisture problems if not done exactly right specifically because they are so tight. Sativa, you could easily have seen such an example of an otherwise good building system that failed to address critical ventilation needs.
That being said, there is an inherently greater risk that alternative building methods will miss one or more of these critical issues since they are essentially reinventing the wheel with each house. Also, many systems that look good and in fact are good in non-earthquake areas can look OK here until the next earthquake at which point the flaws become evident. I gave up on trying to use the abundant stone resources on my property because it is a no-go for me to build with un-reinforced masonry and when you calculate how much concrete is needed for a stone wall with essentially a reinforced concrete wall built into it you see that it takes much more concrete to stick the irregular rocks onto the outside. That concrete adds no strength. The rocks add no strength. Both the excess concrete and the rocks do add weight that makes it that the engineered section of the wall must be stronger to resist seismic forces. You would use less concrete if you made a simple poured concrete wall with no stone except for the carefully prescribed aggregate.
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I’m not sure what Sativa was smokin but since there might be people sincerely interested in the subject of molds and building materials here is my input regarding Castleblock materials:
Mold is a living organism and as such requires the basics of life: food, water and air to grow. The general dampness and humidity in Hawaii makes our locale a mold factory. In addition molds need a reasonable temperature range which is why refrigeration keeps our food from spoiling. Molds also prefer an acidic environment and can be killed by alkaline conditions such as soap or bleach.
My company, Castleblock, specializes in materials that offer no food value to molds or insects. We use no wood or other cellulose material. All our products are inorganic. Basically that means no wood and no paper, no food for mold.
The issue of ph values count because molds prefer acidic conditions such as you might find in a compost pile, rotting wood, fruits or vegetables. Castleblock products use a lot of cement. Cement is an alkaline, not an acidic, base material. Cement has a high ph value along the line of soapy water and bleach.
One of the benefits of Castleblock building materials is the reduced instance and increased resistance to molds... and termites and rot and warping and fire.
Assume the best and ask questions.
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