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Primitive Materials Future Building Q+A

Primitive Materials in Future Building Q+A
About:

Are ‘primitive’ materials the building blocks of tomorrow?

Some text is ~~struck out~~ to keep to webinar time limits, it is included here for a more comprehensive response.

Q UK GBC

A Brian Murphy of Green Building Encyclopaedia

Q1 What are the ‘primitive’ materials that have been used historically, and how can they be successfully used in modern construction?

Lets not be put off by ‘primitive’
I prefer simple: unsophisticated, uncomplicated; raw: natural, grown; historic: indigenous, local, traditional: and probably most important tried and tested, survived the test of time
Cement-Free, Plastic-free, PVC-free, VOC-Free, formaldehyde-free, ZODP, ZGHGP, Carbon Black-free, titanium dioxide-free
Reduce or eliminate reliance on Chemistry, Hydro-Carbons, Plastics, Synthetics, Off gassing, Adhesives, Binders, Admixtures, composites, conglomerates, polymer migration,
Skills training may have happened but ‘lack of time to care’ prevails in our ‘fiduciary driven industry’
Simple may well find its place again.
I am a firm believer in the right materials, with the right properties for the right application in the right places
Sometimes that has to be plastic or cement
Healthy, Environmental, Resourceful, Appropriate, Competent, Effective, Yardstick
Green Buildings are rarely metal-free, plastic-free or cement-free they all have a role to play, we can keep them to a minimum

The ‘primitive’ materials

Timber
- In the round: posts, beams, fence posts
- Quartered: Fencing rails, Wattle for daub, staking of thatch
- Ads then Machined: Joists, Rafters, Columns, battens
- Brettstapel: Solid wood panels without glues
- Less Primitive:
- Laminated: Ply, Gluelam, Crosslam, LVL,
- Waste particles, wood based boards: MDF, Chipboard, OSB
Earth Construction:
- Earth Bricks/Blocks
  - Soft and malleable: make airtight
  - Set: Sun dried: add thermal mass
  - Fired
    - Bricks
    - Extruded cellular hollow blocks: Insulating
  - Turf with grasses as roofing
  - Turf as mortar in stone walling
  - Rammed Earth
    - Clay
    - Chalk
    - Chalk and Flint (Pines Calyx)
    - Reinforced stabilised with lime or cement
    - Reinforced with plant stalk
    - Decorative: Colours, Mineral, Aggregates
    - CAT retail building beautiful glass sheet stop people licking it
    - Clay & Straw
    - Cob
  - Clay and Tyres in Earth ships
  - Can be shaped with scissors or chain saw
  - With Boots: DPC/M and Hat: overhanging roof
  - Low skill entry, ideal DIY, BIY
  - Lime or earth render and plaster
- Natural insulants
  - Wood derivative:
    - Cellulose flake, recycled newspaper/magazines
    - Dense wood fibre: batts, boards
  - Plants
    - Flax
    - Hemp shive+lime (Hemp-lime) Hemcrete
    - Straw in board format (but does not like UK climate)
    - Coconut husk
    - Cotton (but chemically intensive)
    - Grass
  - Animal
    - Sheep’s Wool

Images

Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT), Wales
Sheep’s wool insulation
Straw and other shrubs
- Straw bale construction
  - Modular, big and heavy blockwork,
  - Dense setting on harvester: Good U value
  - Framed option, spacing responding to modules
  - In walls and even in roofs
- Straw as Thatch
  - Thickness increases with refurbishments
  - Low density good conductivity Insulation
    - Solar radiation protection
    - (poor U value Today)

Why use ‘primitive’ materials

Primary reason:
- Renewable in our lifetimes, (Trees)
- Rapidly renewable (seasonal crops)
- Non-renewables
  - Fossil (oil and derivatives),
  - Stone (mostly)
- Lowering carbon emissions
  - Absorbing carbon from the atmosphere to grow the plants (Carbon Sequestration)
  - Low energy manufacturer
  - Conventional Building +50 tonnes of Carbon
  - Bio-based building -50 tonnes of carbon
  - You need to choose the right materials with the right properties
- Reducing overheating
  - Conventional insulations (plastics and mineral fibres)
  - Let the radiant heat of the sun into buildings
  - Once inside will not let the heat out (winter thermal conductivity insulation)
  - Primitive materials (others too) don’t let radiant heat in in the first place
  - You need to choose the right materials with the right properties
    - (Decrement factor: specific heat capacity, density, k value)
  - Moisture Vapour Permeable
    - Breathes and lets the moisture out
    - Vapour open construction (no VCL and BM, use ATL and WTL)
    - Hygro-scopic insulation absorbs moisture from the air pockets into the fibre
    - Lets the insulation insulate
    - Moisture in Hydro-phobic insulation cannot be absorbed so it stays moist and stops insulating
    - You need to choose the right materials with the right properties
  - Impact on health and wellbeing
    - Overheating can lead to a range of health problems but ultimately death
      - 30,000 died in summer of 2003 in EU, 300 in UK
    - Moisture vapour condensing on cold non-absorbent surfaces reactivates spores in the atmosphere
      - Spores lead to mould, mould leads to asthma, toxic mould leads to death and unusable buildings
    - Uncomplicated materials free from chemicals and plastics do not off-gas VOC, formaldehyde, etc.
      - Airtightness without energy/carbon intensive ventilation makes building unhealthy or deadly
      - There are healthy building standards becoming popular trying to address this
    - Unfortunately some people react badly to natural materials
      - They may never get to benefit from all the other natural material properties
      - Wool irritates skin
      - like glass or stone wool insulation irritates skin
      - Dust may irritate breathing (still use dust masks)
      - Usually the materials are in the construction
      - Others are on the surface

Q2 What are the barriers to integrating more sustainably sourced natural materials in new projects?

The barriers

Existing Supply chain – standard construction
- Supply chain grip, Price structures, Familiar companies, Familiar people, obligations
- They know what they know, they have the skills training,
- They know how long it takes, they know how to price it
- They know how to make a profit and how to cut corners
- All supports and reinforces business as usual
Clients/project teams/QSs on board
- All must be facing in the same direction
- If the client want primitive she needs a primitive team surrounding her
- Cost plans must be based on primitive materials used in primitive ways priced by primitives
- Cost plans are usually based on violet materials
- Building Price Books are violet prices
Technical knowledge
- Primitive manufacturer must aspire towards British Gypsum’s White Book
  - One step as a time it will take years
  - Knowledge Transfer: Physics of Building, Science of materials, crunching of numbers
  - Every permutation of products, accessories, components > assemblies and performances
- Manufacturers Associations (ASBP, HL, BB) Authoritative literature
  - Highly illustrated, 3D, iconography
  - BDA, AJ, Cape, (1970’s)
- Approved documents
  - Building Regulations (Performance = unlimited options)
  - Approved Documents: (Familiar, conventional, Tried and tested solutions, tables of sizes)
  - Tertiary Documents by manufacturers associations give guidance on other methods
    - BCT and RSPB created theirs with my help
  - Lack of data
    - Traditional materials have known performances and thicknesses (BRAD and test books)
      - But eroded by bad practices
    - New and primitive may not be know and promoters of them need to support us to specify them
      - Properties tables
      - Performance tables
    - Data Sets, Equations, Calculators, Output tables

Illustration:

Timber beam on rammed earth walls, Pines Calyx

Q3 How do we make a conscious use of these materials more accessible to design team and technically achievable?

What can be done to increase use of natural materials?

Researching on physical properties
- Brexit means we will no longer have access to 50% EU funding for R&D
  - Except as consultant to EU projects, but will we be invited to the party?
- Reliant upon UK companies paying 100% to UK universities to do R&D for them
  - An unlikely scenario, UK has a bad reputation for % of income on R&D
- UK Government must step up to the plate and provide better access to better funding
  - EU R&D Contributions redirected to UK companies
- Build on R&DIY models
- PEF not LCA and EPD
  - Individual products (EC) not Elemental Assemblies (BRE GGtS)
- Testing materials / collecting data
  - Push to discover the limits
    - Not driven by (BRE GGtS) averages
    - Incentives to improve not BAU
    - Its expensive but essential
  - Collate all past know-how
    - Share failures to learn from (AECB great at this and PassiveHouse+ will benefit)
    - Capture Guru Know-how before its too late
  - Reinforce it with Evidence
    - Enable Evidence Based Design
  - Updating literature
    - Create it in the first place
    - Understand we do not know what the manufacturer knows
    - Reps are limited in numbers and we do not want to meet them
    - Better Literature please
    - Graphic Illustrated like AJ and BDA in the 1970’s
  - Give designers useful tools (Specifications, BIM)
    - B‘I’M PDS Product Data Sheets (first, its cheaper)
    - BI‘M’ ready Models (later, they are expensive)
    - Robust Specifications (BIM-ready Uniclass)
    - Data Sets, Equations, Excel Calculators, Targets, Results tables
    - U & Decrement, PEF, LCA, EC, EE, SC, Waste, Calculators
  - Updating Policies and Building Regulations
    - Manufacturers Associations with Authoritative Documents
      - representing their sector capabilities
      - Written as Tertiary Document to the BRAD
    - Then go see the DCLG and get cites in the Ads
      - Challenge targets no more business as usual
      - Encourage a drive towards low or zero carbon future built with primitive materials

Illustration:

Timbrel Dome roof, Pines Calyx

Primitive Materials in Future Building Q+A
Images:

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Cover Slide

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Speaker

Brian Murphy aka BrianSpecMan BRM @ Build4 CAPEM Showroom

Primitive Materials in Future Building Q+A
See also:

GBE Events

GBE Webinar

Primitive Materials Future Building (Webinar) G#16202

GBE CPD

Materials
Properties
Products
Insulation: Thermal and Acoustic
Load bearing
Space division

GBE CPD Titles

GBE CPD Satisfied Customers

GBE Checklist

Rammed Earth Walling
Earth Construction
Unfired Clay
J40 Damp Proofing
P10 Thermal Acoustic and Fire Proofing
M20 Render/Plaster
M10 Screed/Flooring
F42 Straw Bale
H9_ Straw Thatch
Z21 Turf mortar
Z21 Earth Mortar

GBE Jargon Buster

Primitive
Unsophisticated
Traditional
Natural
Indigenous
Bio-based

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