What's Wrong With The American home?

The Permanent Home!
by
Vaughn Fryfogle

The recent storm systems that raced across the deep south (bringing massive carnage, total destruction of housing and many fatalities) have exposed a huge and ongoing flaw in the construction of most modern American homes.

Modern day stick and brick houses are not the enduring haven of security for our families that a home should be, and unfortunately the problem is not a lack of ability, resources or funding. It is simply the compromised, fragile and weakened way that we are constructing our housing.

The vast majority of our modern homes we are constructing are not an enduring, healthy refuge for our families and their succeeding generations, but are in  reality fragile, non-permanent and unhealthy housing.

The basic building components of a modern stick frame home are (low density) white pine, OSB (stranded wood sheeting) and sheet rock. A common modern brick home has only the addition of a 4” thick brick veneer wall, these walls are not load bearing and are held in place by small metal fasteners called brick ties that are fastened to the stranded wood sheathing.

The modern stick and brick veneer façade home is not the “Old Fashioned” solid masonry load bearing wall of the story of the Three Little Pigs.

In addition to being susceptible to damaging winds, homes with walls constructed of white pine, OSB and sheetrock will rot, burn, be eaten by insects and are notorious in wetter climates for housing Black Mold, Fungi and mildew. Modern homes built with wood as their primary construction component are also very hard to insulate heat or cool. They hold their heat in the summer and stay cold in the winter. Home owners attempt to overcome this energy inefficient problem by expensive heating and cooling systems and ever increasingly high utility bills.

How could it be that we continue to invest our time and treasure into these types of homes. Houses that drain us financially are unhealthy, fragile, maintenance nightmares that have a short life expectancy of only 75 years. Is this the kind of problem that we want to pass on to our children? Is there a better way?

How about constructing a home that truly will be a haven of safety and security for you and your family? A home that is healthy, highly energy efficient, permanent and virtually indestructible.

We speak of a modern engineered, solid, earthen walled adobe home. A home constructed with 12” or greater solid, permanent, masonry walls. Walls weighing approximately 20 times greater than a conventional stick framed unit. The weight of a 100 square foot of wall[10x10] in these earthen walled homes registers at approximately 14,000 pounds![ That is correct 14,000 pounds!] The same section of a wall in a standard modern stick frame house comes in at about 20 times lighter to register at about 700 pounds. Which home do you and your loved ones wish to occupy in a life threatening situation with high winds?

Living in a home with solid masonry walls creates a completely secure dwelling for you and your family. It’s like coming home to a fortress!

In addition these homes are very energy efficient, provide a healthy indoor environment and are truly permanent dwellings. These compressed earth block homes are built to last for centuries(Not the 75 years of a modern throw away home).These are permanent, healthy and beautiful houses which are an enduring gift to hand down to succeeding generations.

Engineered Adobe Building Blocks are very versatile so any style imaginable from Old European-Mediterranean, traditional full plastered South Western to Modern Contemporary are possible with these earthen units.

But here’s the best news yet, for a home that you construct with nearly 20 times the weight and mass of a standard stick and brick house, that cost of construction is virtually the same and the ongoing energy costs are much less! That’s 20 times the weight, mass and value for about the same cost!

We must also mention that these home are about as Green a home as you can build, preserving energy and natural resources.

Make a decision today to reverse the current trend of building a modern throw away house. Instead construct an energy efficient, healthy and permanent haven of security that you and your family will greatly enjoy, and reap the benefits of for centuries .

Vaughn Fryfogle [Fryfogle Adobe Homes] May 7, 2011

http://www.adobebuildings.com

http://www.tornadoproof.us