The Nebraska House Projectby Keith Mikkelson and Brian Shafer

Aloha House is developing an ecological village to better cater to its

social welfare services participants. It operates a children’s home on an

urban farm in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, Philippines as well as a 7-

hectare sustainable farm and community development called Aloha

Ranch and Organic Farm.

Aloha Ranch and

Organic FarmAn Eco Village Half way to the

Underground River

Aloha HouseAn Orphanage on an Organic Farm

Aloha KitchenArtisan Farmstead Cheeses, Salsas, Jams and more

2 hectares5 acres

13 rai

31 dou

7 hectares17 acres

43 rai

108 dou

Aloha Ranch and Organic Farm is an Eco-village with sustainable practices

integrated into the entire design. The farm is certified Organic in the

Philippines and supplies local chefs, restaurants and families in the

community. The featured building in this article is a structurally self-

supporting rammed earth house without any steel reinforced cement

columns. The monolithic rammed earth walls are the columns! A team of four

builders on Aloha Ranch completed this third house on the site during the

fall months of 2015.

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The Nebraska House

Aloha Ranch and Organic Farm

An Ecological Village for Permaculture Enthusiasts

Vision

See entire communities empowered with sustainable living by the grace of God

Mission

Equip people and develop sites that utilize and practice permanent agriculture at

the household and community level with a shared land ethic

Goals

Develop a highly productive ecological system on a 7 hectare site

Integrate people by building hybrid earthen housing for residents and visitors

Equip the neighboring community to participate in the prosperity of the system

Living with a Land Ethic that builds people,

soils, food, ecology and the planet!

On site mapping/progress

The rammed earth house is now listed on the map as “The Nebraska House”

indicating the origin of the builder. It was designed with a native bamboo nipa

thatched roof and was completed by three of my trained earth builders plus one

student laboring for 243 paid man-hours with a final cost of under $3,000.00 An

additional 100+ hours of owner and student labor was invested in this project.

Rammed Earth Mushroom House

Hybrid Earthen Home Building Course November 2014

Aloha House Philippines

Brian Shafer

Keith Mikkelson

The student builder, Brian Shafer, was an intern at Aloha House and had

experience with rammed earth while building a mushroom house at our urban

farm and orphanage.

Brian saw first hand the

benefits of lightweight

insulative-rammed earth living

on an ecological village

integrated with the

environment. In regards to

additional labor, it was I, Keith

Mikkelson, project supervisor

and designer who spent

approximately 45 hours on the

project designing, consulting,

checking on plan compliance

and troubleshooting. We

learned many things on this

third structure. One of our

challenges was rain; it was our

first project during rainy season

and earth structures need to be

protected from the rains. A

temporary tarp system was

implemented.

Earth as a building material comes in many different compositions and can be

processed into a highly insulative lightweight material for tropical living. Rice husk

(hull) is 50% of the wall material offering amazing insulative qualities. Loam as a

clayey soil has different names when used in various applications. Rammed earth,

soil blocks, mud bricks and adobe are all ancient earth building methods. Often

sand and clay is balanced with straw for cob construction. Our building technique

utilizes a moistened blend of 3 parts rice hull and 2 parts high clay loam (40%

clay) with 3% stabilization using Portland cement and rice hull ash with inert

agricultural limestone added to keep termites out. It is one of the few building

techniques that can be done successfully with a cement mixer.

Manual ramming or tamping is firm

but the wall material is not

compacted to the point of removing

air space in the rice hull. The mixture

is loaded in the form and leveled to

10 cm and tamped down to 6-7 cm.

The lightweight loam is dumped into

a movable slip form that is raised as

the tamping is completed in the two-

foot form. A team of four men can

ram a 240 cm. wide wall 20 cm. wide

up to 3 meters in one day. Electrical

conduit was rammed into the wall as

it was built. Wood was timbered on

site and the owner/builder harvested

the necessary boards that were then

finished by the carpenter on the

team. A fixing agent (ethylene glycol)

was used to penetrate the wood and

bamboo timbers by boiling the glycol

in a kettle and then adding the two

boron forms. All bamboo was

glycol/boron treated with a

paintbrush.

We design for earthquake and typhoon resistant structures. Our structures are

hexagonal to withstand lateral forces during earthquakes or tidal wave / tsunami

intrusion. The hexagon has strengths that are unique in structural design. Our

design is based on Dr. Gernot Minke’s research conducted continuously at the

Forschungslabor fur Experimentelles Bauen (Building Research Institute) at the

University of Kassel in Germany since 1978. We utilized his book Building with

Earth: Design and Technology of a Sustainable Architecture for our design. The

inner living space measures 19 sq. meters (203 sq. ft.) and the house has an out

door kitchen and patio area of 20 sq. meters including the shower and composting

toilet. A rammed earth rocket stove utilizes sticks from the forest to efficiently

produce heat for cooking. Poured concrete pavers were chosen for their durability

and treated with an acid stain of iron sulphate (a fertilizer) and sealed with slate

sealant.

Other sustainable design features include gutters for rainwater catchment with the

over flow maintaining a small fishpond. A rammed earthen herb spiral and

vegetable garden is included as well as a small green house nursery. Bottle lights

were installed to bring in natural light to the out door kitchen. An evaporative cooler

(Zeer cooler) was built to keep produce fresh and cheeses from over ripening. A

Pompeii dome rammed earth rocket oven was added 2 years later to supply fresh

baked bread, pizza and other roasted foods. Insect screening will be added for our

next houseguests and solar power will be retrofitted. Electrical conduit was rammed

into the wall as it was built.

The structure integrates with

our Permaculture Master Plan

and will serve many students

and guests in the coming years.

Low Thermal mass rocket stoves

We are now building the next structure across from the Nebraska House with

additional features as we learn and implement our techniques

Mushroom House

Cooking School

Culinary School

Food Processing Lab

Restaurant

Farm Store

Bakery (WFO)

Staff Kitchen

Green House

Eco Village

Staff Housing

Mik House

Training Area

OrphanageAgriculture

Habitation

Production

Picnic Area

Water Slide

Raised Beds

Orchards

Livestock

Creamery

Charcoal

Pre-School

Dairy

✔Fencing ✔Deep well

✔Carpenters shed

Coffee Shop

40m

30m

20m

20m30m

SPRING FED

Nebraska

House

Site Elevations

SPRING FED

Nebraska

House

House Integration

for Zone Planning

KeyZone 1 & 2

SPRING FED

Nebraska

House

House Integration

for Zone Planning

KeyZone 1 & 2

Zone 3

SPRING FED

Nebraska

House

House Integration

for Zone Planning

Key

Zone 1 & 2

Zone 3

Zone 4

SPRING FED

Nebraska

House

House Integration

for Zone Planning

Zone 1 & 2

Zone 3

Zone 4

Zone 5

Key

SPRING FED

Nebraska

House

House Integration

for Zone Planning

Nebraska

House

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Plinth

Structural wall

40cm

20cm

Hybrid Earthen Home

Foundation detail

EH 3

12mm RCB

THE

BUILD

Hybrid Earthen Home

Foundation detail

EH 3

THE

BUILD

Hybrid Earthen Home

Foundation detail

EH 3

1 Binder

2 clay soil

3 Ricehull

5-10 liters water

Hybrid Earthen Homes

Rammed Window

EH 3

Formwork

2 Ends [1/2 round]

2 9 ft shuttering

4 slotted angle bar

8 rod bracing

8 wing nut

1 framing for ends

Hybrid Earthen Homes

Shuttering Formwork

EH 3

Formwork

2 Ends[1/2 round]

2 9 ft shuttering

4 slotted angle bar

8 rod bracing

8 wing nut

1 framing for ends

Hybrid Earthen Homes

Filling form holes

EH 3

Hybrid Earthen Homes

Wall One

EH 3

Hybrid Earthen Homes

Landscape detail

EH 3

Hybrid Earthen Homes

Extra materials form

EH 3

Aloha

Tools/machines

cement mixer

lime paint mixer

cordless drill

trowels

plum

hose level

spirit level

shovels

bolo

planer

chainsaw

hack saw

wood saw

For Compression testing

Extra materials form

EH 3

Hybrid Earthen Homes

Lime/whey primer

EH 3

…albuminate…

Hybrid Earthen Homes

Soil Audit: 40% clay

EH 3

clay

silt

sand

Hybrid Earthen Homes

Lime/whey/clay finish

EH 3

Nailess bamboo roof

EH 3

Nailess bamboo roof

EH 3

Nailess bamboo roof

EH 3

Hardwood dowel

Fish mouth joint

Locally harvested bamboo

EH 3

Nailess bamboo roof

EH 3

Nipa roof tiles

EH 3

Bamboo & Nipa

thatch roof

EH 3

Nailess bamboo roof

EH 3

Free on site Timbers

EH 3

Free on site Timbers

EH 3

On site consultation

EH 3

Rammed earthen floor

EH 3

Rammed earthen floor

EH 3

3 pails clay

1 pail sand

¼ pail Portland

Rammed earthen floor

EH 3

3 pail clay

1 pail sand

¼ pail Portland

Rammed earthen floor

EH 3

Troweled-burnished

Tung oiled

Waxed

Kyle Holzhueter

Choosing the right steel for you depends on your purpose：

Jigane is unfired forged iron. Whereas a hard carbon steel tends to slide over a plaster, "soft"

jigane iron will push and pull material, making it excellent at distributing plaster on wall. By

"soft", we refer to the quality of the steel, not the flexibility of the trowel. Because Jigane is a

soft steel, Jigane trowels tend to be thick, stiff and heavy. Jigane is suitable for scratch and

brown coats of earthen or lime plaster.

Hanyaki is fired once after forging. Hanyaki is suitable for all coats, and can also be used for

cement based plasters as well.

Abarayaki is steel that is forged, coated with oil, and then fired twice. It is harder than hanyaki

and suitable for compressing plaster for a glossy finish.

Honyaki is made in a similar fashion to abarayaki, but is fired at a higher temperature. Being a

very hard carbon steel, it is suitable for earthen or lime finish coats and cement based plasters.

Stainless steel is the hardest steel but can be produced so thin as to be flexible as well. It is

used to apply thin coats and to smooth trowels marks.

Rammed earthen floor

EH 3

Lived in

Rammed earthen floor

EH 3

Zeer cooler

Nipa roof tiles

EH 3

Acid stained pavers

Hybrid Earthen Homes

Nipa roof tiles

EH 3

Rammed herb spiral

Rammed herb spiral

EH 3

Rammed herb spiral

Rammed herb spiral

Rammed herb spiral

Rammed herb spiral

Rammed herb spiral

Rammed herb spiral

Community kitchen

EH 3

Lived in

Community kitchen

EH 3

Lived in

Banana circle

EH 3

Lived in

Rammed earthen house

EH 3

Lived in

Gutters

120 watt

Bottle lights Water catchment

Shower/com

posting toilet

Rammed earthen floor

EH 3

High Thermal mass rocket stoves

Low Thermal mass rocket stoves

Rammed earthen

rocket stove

EH 3

Rice hull gasifier

Natural Sealants

Varnish Free Living

Tung oil

Ipil hardwood

Pure Tung Oil comes from cold pressing of the seeds or nuts of the Tung tree. Tung trees mainly

grow in the mountainous regions of china away from industrialization and pollution. Climate, soil and

air quality are essential for a high quality oil. Our 100% Pure Chinese Tung Oil or China wood oil is a

all natural finish manufactured by pressing the tung nut, no petroleum distillates or other additives -

just Pure Tung Oil. All Pure Tung Oils are not the same. Some low priced marketers will package

South American Tung Oil (dark, greenish in color) and sell its as the higher quality Chinese Tung

Oils. Chinese Pure Tung Oil is available in 3 grades, we only offer the best available, Grade 1 yellow.

A better quality Pure Chinese Tung Oil will offer superior color, faster drying and a long term elastic

finish. Elasticity is a important factor as the oil must continue to flex with the expansion and

contraction of the substrate on which it is applied.

Citrus Natural Solvent, a paint thinner alternative, is used as a direct replacement for mineral spirits and

odorless mineral spirits. Citrus Solvent can be used wherever paint thinner or mineral spirits are required as

a natural, safer alternative. Citrus Solvent is not the same as any of the other "citrus-branded" cleaning

products on the market, including Citrus Solve or Citri-Solve. It is, however, an excellent degreaser, paint

thinner alternative, and can be used to replace petroleum chemicals such as mineral spirits. Citrus Solvent is

98% pure citrus peel oil extracted from the peel of the orange fruit; the other 2% is water. This small amount

of water is emulsified in the solvent and will not raise wood grain but is released into the air as the solvent

evaporates.

Natural Sealants

Varnish Free Living

Tung oil

Bamboo treatment

Before

After

Varnish Free Living

Natural Sealants

Varnish Free Living

Tung oil

Tung oil

Tung oil

Stained Concrete

Stained Concrete

http://alsnetbiz.com/homeimprovement/homemade.html

Aloha RanchMacarascas

Rammed

Rocket Stove

Low Thermal mass rocket stoves

Rammed

Rocket Stove

Low Thermal mass rocket stoves

Rammed

Rocket Stove

Low Thermal mass rocket stoves

Rammed

Rocket Stove

Low Thermal mass rocket stoves

High Thermal mass charcoal stoves

Charcoal Rocket

Stoves

Rammed

rocket

stove

Charcoal

Rocket Stove

Charcoal

Rocket Stove

Cast iron

cooking

Greenhouse extension

by kitchen

Orchard

Raised

beds

Herb spiral

Herb spiral

Rosal

Herb spiral

w/azolla pond

Leopold

bench

Proven Design

Conservation bat house

Documented cost for

Earth House 3

The Nebraska House

Materials and paid labor in USD

Documented cost for

Earth House Three

The Nebraska House

Natural Living

Score card- critical and financial considerations

Material sources: on site bamboo and

hardwoods_

On-site – labor cost

Local – delivery cost

Trucked – delivery cost

Plinth height __30 cm_____

Plinth width____20 cm___

Lintel height 260 cm

Window

Tie beam

Wall thickness width____________

Wall height ___240 cm_____

Structural support

Wall only h:w _12:1______

Columns h:w _____________

Material

Clay 40%

Sand

Lignin –rice hull

Stabilizer

Finish

Plaster

Painted clay -Albuminate

Raw

Roof material___thatch –nipa palm____

Roof overhang __120 cm__

Roof overhang ratio RO:WH _2:1___

Roof slope __40 deg._____

x

xx

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

xxxx

x

The Nebraska

House