Once upon a time when pigs spoke rhyme and monkeys chewed tobacco,
hens took snuff to make them tough, and ducks went quack, quack ,quack,O!
hens took snuff to make them tough, and ducks went quack, quack ,quack,O!
So this is an old children's story, told and retold many times and in many different ways;depending on what message was sought to be emphasized. However one thing that is common to all variations is the Mama pig who sends her three little pigs out in the world, where a mean wolf huffs and puffs at their respective homes made of straw , sticks and brick. Straw home is blown away and the stick one comes crashing down. Only one home remains intact. Obviously it is the one made of bricks. Children are supposed to learn several good things from this story. Like how they should not be lazy and how they need to keep their wits about......
It is all very nice as long they do not learn about constructing homes from it! It really is an old nursery story that may not be taken very seriously by adults today, yet they do ! Building science and technology knowledge we have toady does not support the story and its suppositions. Take R-value for instance which is a measure of thermal resistance.Under uniform conditions it is the ratio of the temperature difference across an insulator like a wall and the heat transfer per unit area, through it. Higher the R-value of a structure, better its resistance to heat loss or heat gain. Terrible though it sounds but solid brick and mortar structures, including reinforced cement concrete ones have way lower R- value than the one made with wood or surprise - surprise; straw ! That was the choice of the lazy pig. Or was he the smart one?
How can you build with straw ? You can and you should too ! Straw buildings have been made in almost every country in the world and across various climate zones. Some buildings have been standing for hundreds of years. Even when they were made with older technical know how. New knowledge and building methods have made this construction far more viable and desirable. Straw is simply a biodegradable byproduct of agricultural produce and a lot of it simply gets wasted anyway except what is fed to farm animals. So it is cheap to begin with even when it is not completely free from your own fields. No energy resources or raw materials are used in producing it, unless you count the solar energy, which is absolutely free and abundant in India. Straw is available locally to villages and farming communities where it is meant to be used. So transportation costs are near zero. End users can make the bales themselves which are then used as building blocks of the construction. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HMsO42hTVA
The concept of straw bale construction is easily understood by even novice builders. With some supervision by one knowledgeable straw bale trainer, first-time builders and home owners can assist in the construction process. Maybe build it as a family project. Which most do anyway even now with their brick dwellings to save on labour costs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEdDfGg5ngA
A simple manual baling machine can be made at home. Even Pine straw can be used for hilly terrain where it is available.
http://www.appropedia.org/A_Hand_Powered_Hay_and_Leaf_BalerA simple manual baling machine can be made at home. Even Pine straw can be used for hilly terrain where it is available.
http://essmextension.tamu.edu/pinestraw/baling.html
Despite what might seem logical, properly constructed walls made from straw bales have proven to be flame retardant. A serious consideration in a place like India where open cooking fires are still common and will be for a long time. Homes made with straw bale can have insulation values of R-30 or more. Brick has an R- value of 0.2 as a comparison ! No it is not a typo ! Straw means comfortable inside temperature both in summer and winter with minimal use of artificial cooling or heating devices. These people can not afford them anyway , even if there is power available to run such devices.Which it never is. Unlike brick walls which under the forces of economics is usually 4" thick; the walls of straw-bale buildings are 18" thick and can easily support the roof for most homes.Without the need for any other complex load bearing structure. This makes construction simple and accessible to a lay person. Although it works fine in colder Himalayan region too ; what does it really mean for an agrarian and largely hot tropical climate like India?
Agreed that this method is not a panacea for the chronic housing shortages and astronomical home prices in India's burgeoning and bursting at seams cities. Villages and countryside is another matter where poor marginal , small farmers and farm workers live in very tough conditions. That's where nearly 70% of the total population is . They do not have a lot of funds to spare yet do not lack traditional wisdom, fortitude and knowledge. Although it has been smothered by consumerist and materialistic half baked knowledge and propaganda . Adobe buildings are known to all of them and it is just another step up . In fact some form of straw construction is known to them already.They will easily adapt if they are shown how to channelize what they know with what they need to know more. It is sad to see badly made brick dwellings that are incomplete ,ramshackle and totally inadequate to provide shelter; across the length and breadth of the country.The home owners can not complete it or maintain it for lack of money and would not think of the straw and earth as a viable solution for lack of knowledge and guidance. They can easily help themselves but there has not been any effort to spread the word and dispel the myths surrounding it at the governmental level. Clique of Construction materials industry, architects and contractors as expected are not going to be interested in something that does not benefit them. The little pig was right to use straw .This story needs to be told. Some information can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw-bale_construction
More background knowledge is available at:
And there is certainly a need to revise the story . Let's try this one. Three little pigs went out in the world. They banded together and called it "Pragaash"; meaning the "Light just before dawn". Unfortunately before the dawn could break out several big bad foul smelling wolves started huffing and puffing at them. Blinded by their own clouded vision and visceral hatred of light known as "Dugaash", this pack of menacing mentally blind wolves managed to snuff out the band and force everyone back in darkness ; the absence of light. Light known as "Gaash" will elude us too if we keep quite at this injustice to "Pragaash". Now this here is a children's story that every adult should take very seriously.
