Flying Hammer explains Natural Building

Written by Lydia Doleman, Sole Proprietor of Flying Hammer Productions, Portland, OR.

Natural building is a method of construction based in using minimally processed, natural materials that are available locally.

What distinguishes natural building from green building is subjective, but green building has its roots in operations and energy efficiency. Natural building may be an extension of green building, one that takes into account the embodied energy created from all phases of the building cycle from materials extraction to processing, transportation of those materials and application once inside the home.

Natural building techniques reflect the materials being used. They are simple, low-tech and ecologically sustainable. Natural building as an industry employs a sense of the human scale in production, and for the most part natural building projects are not dependent on energy intensive equipment during construction.

Materials are local and low toxic, which lends natural building to those without construction backgrounds who are interested in building. An owner involved project can save money on labor while gaining knowledge of how their home works and operates.

Typically, when referring to natural building, we are talking about the wall system. Examples of natural building dates back to our earliest civilizations, and structures have been standing for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Natural buildings exist wherever we see people. In North America, we associate natural building with straw bale, cobb, adobe, rammed earth and straw clay.

Natural building employs a whole systems methodology. More than just materials, natural building must reconcile many building variables in creating a functional building. Size, solar orientation, use, embodied energy, long term energy costs, beauty, relationship to occupants, and the greater community are all part of the equation.

To create shelters that mimic what we see in nature, like a bird’s nest, we build from local, non-toxic materials and become knowledgeable about repairs and operations. There is no mortgage to sell when the bird leaves the nest. It is inhabited by another bird or biodegrades, providing a regenerative effect on the local ecology and food for the next growing or ‘building’ cycle.

Many people looking into building natural homes have questions about acquiring construction loans, finding home insurance, and gaining building permits. There are permitted straw bale buildings in nearly all 50 states, and a growing number of lending institutions familiar with natural construction. Straw clay and adobe have their own building code in New Mexico, and California building code for straw bale has been incorporated by many other states.

January 4th, 2008