Tire-house Builders: No More Pounding!!!
What's NEW in Tire-house Design? -- Tire-BALES!!!
What is a tire bale?
Tire-bales are "big rubber bricks". Place them in the wall with a large fork-lift, a hay-grapple, larger size skid-steer w/forks (3,000# tipping weight, minimum), or a backhoe. They're made in an hydraulic press, click to see the press exerting extreme forces to compress approximately 100 tires into a "brick" 2-1/2' x 5' x 4-1/2', weighing ~2,000#, wrapped with (5) .113" diameter steel wires pre-formed into square-knot ends which are hooked together when the press reaches it's compression capacity. The press is then released and the bale is completed. The bale is now the density of packed earth, weighing in at roughly 90 pounds per cubic foot and containing only 5% air.
A Typical Tire Bale
For information on tire baling machines, see either the Eagle Enviro-block tire baler or the Encore Systems, Inc. machine. As I have no connection with either manufacturer, please contact them separately. If you are interested in using tire bales for your future residence, contact them both, give them your location and ask for any knowledge of the nearest baling machines to your future building location. Keep in mind that these machines are portable, making tire bales like gold, i.e. where you find them. You might also contact any local tire dumps/recyclers to see if they have knowledge of tire bales local to you.
Sedalia, CO Supplier of Tire Bales
Because of the enormous square footage of bearing surface for each running foot of framed wall created by a tire bale wall (5 square feet/running foot), no reinforced concrete foundation is necessary except where tire bales aren't used. All that is required is that the topsoil and any organic matter be removed from the leveled grade before placing the bales on the earth.
Click for more information (118K .PDF file) on residential building with tire bales see this paper: "Building With Tire Bales - Addressing Some Engineering Concerns" by Leonard Jones, P.E. (deceased)
TO SEE yet MORE discussion ON TIRE BALES <click
The First Tire Bale House website:
The First completed Tire Bale House
A
Series of images of Tire Bale House in construction sequence ... .
A Happy Tire Bale house
builder's site...
A Beautiful
family/Tire Bale House construction gallery >
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