Building mud brick houses

[july]

Hi
I was just wondering if anyone has any experience building mud brick houses and if they are good as rental properties.
Thankyou

 

[Bill.L]

Yes I have experience in building in mud brick. We built our PPOR in it. I hope I can answer any questions on that side of it. No, we don't have any experience in renting it.
If I can help fire away.

see you later

 

[geoffw]

Bill,

What's the situation regarding approvals? It used to be that these were permitted in rural areas, but not in the larger cities- but that was some time ago. Is yours in a city?

 

[Bill.L]

Geoff, we built ours and got all approvals during the 80's. We are in a rural area but we could have built in some suburbs of Melbourne. Many councils at the time had regulations to only build in BV. Sorry, I don't have a clue what the current regs are but I'll bet there have been many changes.
Building in mud brick looks so easy on paper, however the reality of doing just about everything yourself is that it takes a long time!! That reminds me I better go and finish the .....

bye

 

[aam]

Hi

I would also guess that it would be STCA. I know in Melbourne that the Nillumbik Shire council is very pro-mud brick.

And yes, I agree, it takes a very long time! "one day I'll finish the..."

Cheers
Apprentice Millionaire

 

[kheaver]

Originally posted by july
Hi
I was just wondering if anyone has any experience building mud brick houses

I've just finished drawing one.
For the technical details you will need a couple of books,
The Building Code of Australia references to
CSIRO Bulletin 5 "Earth Wall Construction"
this is pretty much the bible.

A newer book by Standards Australia is
HB195 "The Australian Earth Building Handbook".
This practically (although not officially) replaces Bulletin 5 as it covers the subject in much greater depth and even includes a number of the same diagrams.

These books don't deal in the architectural style of earth wall, they are strictly of a technical nature, such as:-
soil composition, wall slenderness & lengths, bond beams, lintels, footings etc.

Regards,
Kim