How to Construct Houses With Plastic Bottles !!

Waste bottles for construction? Yes, it is difficult to think of a bottle as a brick. But a mud-filled bottle is as strong as a brick and whatever you can do with a brick, you can do with a bottle too..Plus it has got lots of advantages too...

This project was done as part of our college activity.The man behind this innovative idea is a german named Andreas Froese,who is also the founder of 'ECO-TEC' .

OFFICIAL WEBSITE : http://www.eco-tecnologia.com

About ECO-TEC

• Found in 2001 by Andreas Froese Germen citizen and its head quarters is at Honduras Central America.
• ECO-TEC has done more than 50 eco friendly projects at Honduras, Columbia, Bolivia.
• ECO-TEC has experience working with Govt, Non-Govt and International organization.
• ECO-TEC has won lot of environmental awards for innovation.
• Developed technology to build with pet bottles which helps to reuse plastic bottles and avoid plastic menace.
• Developed technology to build water tanks with pet bottles.

Being a student of Architecture, I feel privileged to be part of this innovative construction project.

Building with Bottles :

This is an effective solution for reusing the plastic. Bottles have the following advantages over bricks and other construction materials.

1. Low cost - You know how much a bottle costs!
2. Non-Brittle - (Unlike bricks)
3. Absorbs abrupt shock loads - Since they are not brittle,there can take up heavy loads without failure.
4. Bio climatic
5. Re-usable
6. Less construction material
7. Easy to build
8. Green Construction

Step 1: Bottles,bottles Everywhere!

The video shows the strength of a mud filled plastic bottle.

When you make a clay brick, the time and energy used right from mixing the clay to baking it in the kiln and taking into account the firewood used for that, you will see that the bottle brick is far more energy-efficient.
The technology also reduces the carbon emission that happens during the baking of an ordinary brick . The heat generation from cement factories can also be reduced as this technology uses only five percent cement. The foundation for the entire construction is obtained from building waste and so the mountains from which granite is blasted out can be saved too..
PET Bottle can last as long as 300 years (undoubtedly longer than the cement used to bind the bottles together in the walls!).

The following picture is of an ecological house constructed in Honduras using some 8,000 PET bottles, in the process freeing up an estimated 12 cubic meters (m3) in the local landfill.

The house also features a living roof (sometimes called a green roof) of sod and turf. Such roofs not only have aesthetic appeal, but tend to insulate the house better than conventional roofs, lowering heating and cooling costs. They are also cheaper than conventional roofs.

When wet, the 102 square meter (m2), living roof of the casa ecol?can weigh as much as 30 metric tons (Mt, toneladas). The PET bottle walls can support the weight.

Step 2: Step I

This instructable tells you how to build a pavilion with these bottles.
1.Your first step is to collect as many discarded plastic bottles as you can..They can be of various capacities.
2.Next step is to find a place where you can get a hell load of dry sand (finer,the better).
3.Next process is to take the bottles, fill them with sand, sealed and then paste them with a mixture made of earth, clay, sawdust and a little cement to provide additional strength and durability.The following video shows how to fill the bottle.
4.Now you are all set.Always start with the pillar.You can have as many pillars as you want,but not less than 3.
5.Dig a cylindrical pit about 60cm in depth.The radius should be atleast 10cm more than the length of the bottle that you are going to use for constructing the pillar.
6.Make a cement bed(about 4cm thickness)in the pit.Insert an long iron/steel rod at the centre.Tie a long and strong thread to the rod. Now we are going to lay 10 or 11 bottles around this rod.For this,First lay a bottle on the bed such that the bottle is radially oriented towards the centre.(i.e.,the cap is oriented towards the rod).
7.Take the thread and make a knot around the neck of the bottle you just laid.Put the next bottle in similar way keeping in mind that the caps of the 2 bottles touch each other.Make a knot around the 2nd bottle also.Repeat the steps until you lay all the 11 bottles.You have made your first course of bottles.
8.Fill in the gaps between the bottles with rubble and cement.Make the next bed and continue this process till you fill the entire pit.Hurray!your foundation is complete.Leave it for a few hours so that the cement will solidify.
9.After you have made the foundation for all your pillars,you can start building the pillar.Lay the bottles like you did for the foundation,and you will see your pillars rising.You can put broken bricks or other construction wastes between the bottles so that they don't move.
10.Now if you want you can plaster your pillar with cement.This pillar is many times stronger much cheaper than an ordinary pillar made with bricks.

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

[ReonI]

what type of sand is used to fill the bottles ??
and is that type of sand available in uae

[Faelyn17]

It doesn't matter what it's filled with so long as it's compacted and not biodegradable. Have worked on a building in the Philippines and bottle bricks were filled with washed plastic waste. Things like chip packets and other packaging compacted in the bottle with a stick.

[AidanD5]

Q1: When laying the bottles, are the layers “offset,” with the next layer’s bottles in the dips between the bottles of the layer beneath? Or are they directly on top of the bottle beneath?

Q2: Is there a precise ratio for the mix of fill dirt/rocks and cement? And which kind of cement is the correct one?

Q3: Do you tie string around the caps all the way up the pillar? If so, about how long is that much string? Also, what kind of string?

Thank you!

[Zinah Hayder]

Good day,
I am a civil engineer from Iraq and am so interested in this way of construction, because I hope in the near future I will be able to use it in the impoverish areas, but I am concerned about two matters:
First, the soil settlement and its'effect of these constructions.(doesn't it need a reinforced foundation)
Second, is it possible to replace the sand and use waste like plastic gloves? how do you think it's going to effect the process and the result?

[amitsharma9707151]

Should we construct g+2 stories building using bottel wall - nd one more question what's the ratio of cement ,clay , nd other materials for good strength

[47_Ak]

Hi

i want to make an outhouse with this arcitecture style of bottles i need some assistance how to make it costs and time.

regards

[HildeV4]

are the houses build of PET BOTTLES not toxic and harmful to live in ?

[LysaK]

This building method is good for any type of climate, the sand in the bottles absorbs heat. http://www.touchtheearthranch.com/tirestart.htm Under the 'how does it work' section it says:

' In that the construction method itself provides thermal storage (thick, heavy walls), no thermal mass needs to be imported into the structure to store the heat gained by the solar array of South-facing windows, as is necessary in stick-framed passive solar homes. This inherent thermal mass storage and the almost continuous addition of vast amounts of heat via the solar windows, keeps the inside temperature relatively consistent within "normal" living temperatures, once the thermal mass of the house "charges" with heat. The plumbing in this house would never freeze, in spite of outside temperatures being well below 0˚F, because the biggest part of it is well below the "frostline". '

' The thermal mass of the home literally pulls heat out of the air. Then when the air temperature of the room goes below the temperature of the walls, the heat comes out of the walls to keep the room relatively warm and stable. '

Yes, the site is about using tires as the building material, but they are still packed with dirt and sand. Why is it that animals burrow into the earth whether in desert/arid or snowy/freezing climates? Because the soil insulates and keeps the extreme weather out while inside is warm/decent.

With building materials like these, whether you live where it gets below 0 or above 100, the temperature inside the structure is around 63* and 78*.

[MaDdyA6]

Thanks for ur suggestion its very useful for my thesis project

[MarisolH]

LysaK Thank you for the additional info you provide here. It's quite important indeed. Cheers!

[equine.rescue.ncyprus]

i AM that person who has nothing but land and myself to build by hand. I have started a youtube channel (lemonade budget)showing step by step stages of building my bottle house, and tyre wall to house my rescue dogs, horses and of course humans. We were left without a penny when we were robbed by builders. All i have is waste material, and have paid nothing so far, other than a bag of cement for a few quid. Yes its hard work in blazing tropical heat at times, but to see my first pillar rise is exciting and an achievement for a 50 year old woman with no machinery and her bare hands.

[smitp13]

what can be added into it apart from basic materials ??

and what kind of further works can be done on this??

[suraj9422]

Sir i want bonding material name when.we.are.going.to.plaster is it possible to stick.cement.on mud.

[ptbonghanoy]

hi, Is it possible to build a two storey house with this kind of materials? Please i am planning to build one and quite curious to know how make it.

[Zay'yadI]

Hi. am Zayyad Ibrahim. can anyone help with a step by step procedure of how to construct such a building?

[SatwikA1]

Can I know are there any disadvantages ??

[yhan27]

Im amazed by the idea of constructing a house using plastic bottles , where can i get the step by step procedure in doing it ? anyone plese?

[ruthy nov]

Thank you for a wonderful idea!
In my country we have large collection baskets on the streets for recycling plastic containers. It is obligatory to do so.
Please tell the exact proportions of sand-clay-cement.
I think the caps should be glued!
a word to LARZE - re-using plastic bottles is so dangerous! No sterilization possible and they become a sourse of deseases. This is done in poor countries like India, bery bad indeed.

[sahilmkts]

how dare u to talk about india is a poor country....???? come here and see it is poor or rich... and most of the scientist of NASA are indians and most of the engineers of burj khalifa are indians.... have u got it???

[zoieinbludred]

I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure they weren't talking about India as a whole. There are rural and poor areas, I believe that is what was intended. As a country, it is rich indeed. As is America. But that doesn't mean there aren't areas and people that are in dire need of something like this.