Interesting letter from one of our readers. Be sure to read Kelly’s response below where he proposes a similar method to create an “instant, completely solid housing envelope”.
“What will kill this?
sun no
moisture no
o2 no
Importing from china while not without a hassle is not hard. A customs broker is usually a must, Ive got a very good low cost one in CA. Great world- Henry Mak-http://www.great-world.com/gw/index.asp
The ones in denver are very expensive and they are licensed to work in CA anyway so they are just subcontracting and takinga BIG cut. The trick is to keep the $ under 2500 this allows you super lenient import. Keep it much lower to include freight. China can ship much cheaper than USA for some reason. Have them get it to denver. If they say they can only get it to long beach they are wrong. It will come in through long beach. USA is one of few countries in the word that does not tax the shit out of imports. Business EIN or SS# is required for import. EIN is much much smoother.
A breathable Stucco and this over HDPE sheet.over the bags. Monolithic says a non breathable portland will blow water vapor into the interior foam. There solution? Use there airform as a barrior so take it with a grain of salt.. A type N with fiber is what im thinking and what Bomburg advocated. I dont know if its tough enough for domes but if theres a basalt matt underneath who cares. The basalt mat will act just like the expensive Polypropelene drainage mats they are selling now to solve the problem of stucco over OSB board. The building industry is fucked up. Stucco over 15lb paper over plywood worked just fine. OSB glorified particle board rots so do they go back -no- a high dollar drainage mat is introduced so the particle board might work. Or two layers of this over the HDPE- forget the stucco. the stucco would however prevent the basalt cloth from being stolen. it doesnt have a serial # :). If the stucoo is a relatively soft type N and only penetrated on one side would imagine it could be knocked off and this cloth could get reused by future generations.
The china vendors barter. Its much like the bazzar anywhere. A relationship is established. Pleasantries are discussed. Prices are then discussed. All of these guys are out to feed their families. If you get one who genuinly will take care of you a little more its worth something. China has changed. They know spec. They understand reputation value. But they are out to feed there families there is no recourse what you get. Not that much different from here.”
Ben
Kelly’s response:
“Hi Ben, That looks like good stuff to work with in certain situations. I even wonder about spraying it with a thin coating of magnesium cement, which is waterproof and cures in about half an hour, for an instant completely solid housing envelope. This is good information.”
Thanks,
Kelly Hart
www.greenhomebuilding.com
www.dreamgreenhomes.com
www.earthbagbuilding.com