THE SOLARTRON PREFABRICATED EARTH-SHELTERED HOME
Ralph Bullock of American Solartron Corporation has come up with an alternative to the usual underground building materials. Fiberglass is the building material.
Ralph Bullock has made it easier than ever to
"go underground"!
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by TERRI CALVERT
Earth-she ed and underground homes are certainly nothing
new to MOTHER's readership. After all, this magazine has
been touting the advantages of such dwellings (low fuel
costs, minimal maintenance, and superior durability
... to name a few) for some time now.
Recently, however, we've come across a new concept which
might just alter the course of the whole "underground"
movement ... that of building an earth-sheltered
dwelling from preformed, fiberglass-reinforced plywood
panels!
As most of us already know, the great majority of
subterranean dwellings are at present made of concrete,
poured into forms that have been carefully set into
excavations. However, while this method does assure a
rock-solid structure, the entire process can be expensive
... and often forces the owner to hire a
professional work crew to achieve satisfactory results. Not
only that, concrete—because of its porous
nature—must be thoroughly protected from the effects
of moisture ... which will tend to seep through
even the thickest of slabs and can actually
deteriorate the cement-and-sand mixture.
But now Ralph Bullock (of American Solartron Corporation)
has—after two years of research—come up with an
alternative to the usual underground building materials
... and his "answer" is fiber-glass!
Strange as it may seem, Ralph wasn't looking for a
concrete substitute when he made Ids discovery. In Met he
had set out to develop and market a low-cost alternative to
"standard" subterranean construction ... and hoped
to accomplish his goals by precasting concrete slabs and
joining them together-at the building site-to form a
"finished" structure.
Upon investigation, though, Mr. B. discovered that a
prefabricated concrete home just wasn't feasible: "It was
far too heavy to transport in sections, and even worse, the
finished house would have been overly expensive
... that's when we decided to try other
materials." The "other material" that Ralph settled on was
fiberglass, which is strong, inexpensive, lightweight,
water resistant, fireproof, non biodegradable, and known
for Its terrific insulative properties. Furthermore, this
amazing substance has—for years—been used
successfully in the manufacture of septic tanks, sewer
lines, boats, and railroad cars ... applications
that demand a high degree of durability.
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