How to Construct Houses with Plastic Bottles !!

Step 3 STEP II

After building all the pillars,You are ready to make the platform.
1.Make an outline of your platform with chalk powder or any color powders.
2.Make a Clay bed about 5cm height and width=5 cm > length of the bottles.This bed runs along the perimetre of the platform.
3.Now lay the bottles (with their neck facing outwards )one by one on this bed and tie them to each other as shown in the picture.After laying a course , fill the inside area with cement,clay or rubble.If you want to make more courses,make sure that you knot each bottle of the underlying course with the above course as shown in the picture.This is to impart more strength to the structure.
4.This is your platform.Now put tiles or ceramics for flooring.
5.You can put any type of roof over this because the pillars are really strong enough to hold them.
6.Create your own designs ,and build your own structures with this cheap construction method !

Some structures (including residences,water tanks,seating etc)built with pet bottles are shown here

HAPPY BUILDING!! :D

Comments

[alphaseinor]

I like the use of materials, I wonder if this will work in the US... much easier to make curved walls. Not to mention the R value for hot climates!

[Pinky212]

Zoning laws in many localities would, unfortunately, prohibit home building using this unconventional method.  This may be the case in other first world countries, too.  Of that I do not know.

I know a case in Minnesota, U.S.A. where a home owner was forced to remove a wellbuilt and well designed (small Victorian-like) play house for his granddaughters to play in when they visited.  He'd put in many, many hours of work but because he hadn't obtained building permits for this toy and it was a shelter structure that didn't meet the minimum size allowed, he couldn't keep it.  He choose to move it to another location with less strict building codes, etc.  Pity.

[theson]

Building codes , old building codes, I'm from upstate ny usa , this man in near by town got fined for building a snowfort for his kids, because he didn't have a permit.. no joke.

[Snoopytooth]

It doesn't describe how to make square corners and the diagrams don't show that part.

Please can you add to this instructable how to end the straight walls?

[virtualnoodles]

The pictures show corners as Columns with two flat walls coming in at whatever angle you want thats why it says it needs at least three columns you can't build a house with two corners unless you use curved walls

[ve_ness]

IF your not a pro this won't come easy. Laying brick, er bottles, can't be learned over night. Well if you want a good end product that is. You'll need to layout the wall, consider reinforcing, then be able to lay the "corner lead" level, plumb, square (if called for), and in range. IF you can't do so within a certain tolerance you jeopardize the stability of the structure.  If you can, then bravo.

If your a novice the best thing to do would be to hire (or barter) the services of a bricklayer to lay the corners for you. The corners are built first and then the middle is filled in. If you want to play, jump in the middle of the wall where you can be "supervised" by the pros and really can't muck things up too much.

http://www.lets-do-diy.com/Projects-and-advice/Brickwork-and-masonry/Building-a-brick-wall.aspx

[EmmettO]

 I like it. What is being used as mortar here? Another similar ible has in the comments that you do not use cement mortar. Are you only using dried clay as a mortar? If so, how do you make the water tanks? I know that clay is water resistant but it isn't water tight.

[lancesb]

This is crazy, yes I agree with the green factor of production; but how much time & labor is used  in packing the bottles? Wouldn't it be more profitable to recycle the bottles into solid building materials? Roofing tiles, flooring, siding, countertops; the demand for more eco friendly products is finally on the rise, I personally don't think it helps to give out good ideas which may detract from more viable options. This IS a great idea, but the average homeowner will not be able to afford this anytime soon.

[strayturk]

Lancesb, you are right for developed countries where labor is expensive, and materials are not, in contrast to underdeveloped ones where this is exactly the opposite.

[Purocuyu]

It might be crazy for a first world economy, but I think in other places, it can make sense.  I lived for a few years in rural Mexico, and the people there have way more time, and energy than they have money.  
This doesn't seem to be a project intended to maximize profit.  It seems to me to be intended to allow people with modest means, but with serious drive to build a house.  Within those confines, doesn't it seem to be successful?  
I imagine some people would look at this and think,"what a drag to fill all those bottles" but maybe if those people had no home, but plenty of dirt, and maybe some bottles, they might think it is a viable option.

[Pinky212]

I understand completely where you are coming from.  When people have little or no money and a lot of time, it is time well spent (invested) to create something usable and needed even if the "average" person would not spend the time doing it.  Most 2 worker families in the U.S.A. don't have (or take) the time to bake bread and other bakery items, cook meals, or sew clothes and decorative items.  However, seniors and disabled persons on a limited income (and often at or near the poverty line) who are physically able to spend their time doing those tasks, save (or don't spend as much) money.  Remodeling clothes, hemming pants, hemming and/or remodeling curtains, etc., given to them or purchased cheaply at garage sales/thrift stores can take alot of time.  But, again, it's time well spent for the person who has little money.

[ElmoRoyD]

I agree, i live in México, I am mexican. I worked in a project of PET bottles recycling, and you are right, if your "job" is to gather plastic bottles from the trash, to sell it at $1.50 Pesos, that is less than .15 dollar cents for kilo. You do have a lot of time and energy.

Here in Mexico we dont have problems with recycling, people can throw beer cans in the streets without feeling guilty about pollution. Someone else is going to pick it up and sell it. Actually i never put cans in the trash can that is outside of my house, i just put them aside, that way is easier for them.

[benedict688]

Are you saying that people can be employed to collect recyclables in mexico? In california there are designated areas that you can take recyclables to be recycled and get money for them, but theres not jobs for people to go and find the recyclables. Hope that makes sense, just interested.

[ElmoRoyD]

mh, no, you dont actually are employed to collect recyclables, people do that couse they dont have/want any other job. Nobody pays you, you need to sell those materials in to the scrap yards.

I dont know if im explaining this right.

[arifiana]

I'm from Indonesia and here some people also make living by collecting recyclables. usually they do it because they don't have certain skills to apply for a job, too poor to start their own business and don't have anything to get loan from banks. this kind of 'job' called 'pemulung', they collect valuable material like plastic cups, bottles, papers, glass, or whatever they could sell to 'pengepul', somebody who will buy what they have collected and sell it to anybody who need it or for recycling purpose. there will be somebody who need this 'trash', so usually a 'pengepul' is rich because whatever they buy from 'pemulung', they will always somebody who want to buy it.

[dufferdev]

superb work... too good... where is it Made... Can I come to see it ???
Thanks..........

[nav.sparx]

Have a look at www.eco-tecnologia.com

[andreasfroese]

 We have done projects in
Honduras
Colombia
Bolivia
India
www.eco-tecnologia.com

[nav.sparx]

Sir , what project are you presently working on ?

[andreasfroese]

 preparing a water tank project in Africa and other in Chile

[Light_Lab]

I have seen something like this done with empty glass beer bottles here in Australia. It seemed a great idea as the bottles let in light like amber glass bricks. I always wondered though how you discouraged critters from taking up residence in the bottles (unless you recapped them). This is not a problem with sand filled plastic bottles, and the construction is more flexible.
I wonder if you could conveniently combine rammed sand plastic bottles with rammed earth car tires. Use the tires for the columns/pillars, and bottles for the walls.  

[harshada]

this is amazing..
i want to know where this thing is constructed.. i would love to visit the place.... please share the infor as early as possible i m quite keen.....

[porcupinemamma]

Me too!

[polana]

Why do we fill the bottles with sand for?? Why don't we use water or better leave them empty (fill the with air)???

[juanoporras]

Because the empty (air) bottles are more susceptible to collapse with heavy loads; if you fill them with water the problem is that water spans and contracts with temperature changes, same problem with air, so the house will "move" and create cracks on the mortar. sand is the best environmental and structural choice which is one of the main reasons of this project. somebody tell me i'm wrong.

BTW really nice project, thanks for sharing, I will certainly use these tips ;).

[pinkhairkid]

its on my bucket list whenever I find myself with a lot of time and a lot of plastic bottles, ill do it

[genesis2000]

its looks like brasil to me

[IdahoDavid]

WOW!!!! It's a stack log house without the logs. What an incredibly innovative use of waste resources for the self-builder. I am inspired.