03-30-2024, 08:32 AM
Years ago, someone did the math to get ohia posts a legal option for building in Hawaii. This is a tropical climate and we could grow all sorts of local hardwoods - teak, toon, mahogany, etc. If the math were done on those so they could be used for building materials, that could go a long way towards getting more sustainable building materials around here. It's expensive to have the math done by a certified engineer and submitted to the County. Otherwise all structural wood members have to be use stamped and graded woods. Kiawe posts are really durable but I think that's a slow growing timber.
There used to be canec, which was really sustainable - as long as there were sugar plantations. Canec was cane bagasse mixed with arsenic, made into flattened sheets and dried. Great ceiling material as long as it stayed dry and nobody nibbled on it.
For non-structural wood, there's a lumber company up in Waimea which gets fallen trees and cuts them up into slabs and such. Locally sourced, not exactly inexpensive, though.
If you want to build a Hawaiian hale, they are in the code book so they can be built as a legal structure. Not sure if they can be a legal dwelling, though.
If you want sustainable and inexpensive, how about weaving waiwi sprouts together to make growing walls and suspend a Sunbrella roof in it? The water off the 'roof' would water the waiwi roots so the walls could grow faster. Might make a nice pavilion out in the yard, dunno as if you'd wanna live in it, though.
There used to be canec, which was really sustainable - as long as there were sugar plantations. Canec was cane bagasse mixed with arsenic, made into flattened sheets and dried. Great ceiling material as long as it stayed dry and nobody nibbled on it.
For non-structural wood, there's a lumber company up in Waimea which gets fallen trees and cuts them up into slabs and such. Locally sourced, not exactly inexpensive, though.
If you want to build a Hawaiian hale, they are in the code book so they can be built as a legal structure. Not sure if they can be a legal dwelling, though.
If you want sustainable and inexpensive, how about weaving waiwi sprouts together to make growing walls and suspend a Sunbrella roof in it? The water off the 'roof' would water the waiwi roots so the walls could grow faster. Might make a nice pavilion out in the yard, dunno as if you'd wanna live in it, though.
Kurt Wilson