Engineer Pays Simply Rs 20 For Electrical energy in Mud-Brick House That Has No ACs

Hailing from Annamangalam, a small and quaint inside village within the Perambalur district of Tamil Nadu, A Jegatheesan remembers how the development of homes in his village has reworked over time.

The civil engineer notes that the outdated homes, which had been as soon as constructed utilizing mud, at the moment are being changed with concrete constructions as a result of well-liked perception that concrete is stronger than mud.

This remark didn’t strike him till he was approached by somebody in his village to demolish their mud home to construct a concrete one. “Although I’ve been developing concrete homes, this specific incident made me replicate upon the transformation of the village homes. The village was as soon as stuffed with mud properties. Right this moment, virtually 90 per cent of those conventional properties have vanished. That’s why I considered constructing a mud home alone to protect it as a logo of our custom and to show that they’re as sturdy as a concrete constructing,” Jegatheesan tells The Higher India.

Apart from, he wished a home that was near nature. “I used to be decided that I didn’t need to minimize a single tree whereas developing my home. Additionally, to make it as sustainable as doable, I targeted on reinforcing the idea of reuse by sourcing waste/used wooden and metals,” says the 31-year-old who constructed a 1000 sqft home utilizing unfired mud bricks fabricated from crimson soil and mortar fabricated from the identical by decreasing the utilization of cement as much as 50 per cent.

So in 2021, after ending a three-month course, Jegatheesan began constructing his dream dwelling that he now calls ‘Thaimann Veedu (which implies mom earth in Tamil)’. 

The development was accomplished inside a 12 months and value him round Rs 20 lakh.

Embracing custom

In 2020, whereas Jegatheesan was nonetheless within the starting stage, he remembers that he was a bit uncertain about find out how to go about it as he wished his home to be as distinctive as doable. “I wished to construct a multi-storeyed mud home, as single-storeyed ones had been widespread. So, as a primary step, I talked to a number of individuals who owned mud homes to know the professionals and cons. After itemizing them, I realised that there are extra execs than cons to mud homes, however persons are unaware of it,” he says.

His subsequent transfer was to study revolutionary methods to construct the mud home and subsequently he enrolled himself on the Auroville Earth Institute in Puducherry, which promotes and teaches earth-based applied sciences which might be value and vitality environment friendly. “That’s the place I discovered about making Compressed Stabilised Earth Blocks (CSEB) or unfired bricks and Arch Vault Dome (AVD). I spent round a 12 months as a volunteer on the institute and learnt that, in contrast to the conventional burnt bricks, these mud bricks are unfired and are made utilizing crimson soil obtainable within the website, inside a 30-metre radius,” he explains.

Jegatheesan says that there’s typically a false impression that unfired bricks are usually not long-lasting and they’d dissolve once they are available in contact with water. “However that’s not the case. These bricks are made utilizing a mix of crimson soil and a small quantity of cement. They’re blended and stamped out mechanically, after which saved for at the least three weeks, alternating between daylight and shade earlier than they’re used for development,” he says, including that these bricks are sturdy, environment friendly, and extremely sustainable as they minimize the necessity for burning firewood in kilns.

The 1000 sqft home has been constructed on a stone basis and adopted the load-bearing method through which the hundreds are transferred to the inspiration via partitions. Apart from the unfired mud bricks had been laid utilizing a mortar comprised of the identical materials as a substitute of utilizing cement within the typical methodology.

“The most effective factor about utilizing unfired mud blocks and mortar is that the partitions turn into breathable. They preserve the home cooler in summer season and hotter in winter. So, we don’t have ACs at dwelling neither do we’d like followers more often than not,” says Jegatheesan including that

One other distinctive and sustainable method he adopted was to construct vaulted, arched, and dome-shaped roofs. This helped him in decreasing the quantity of cement and steel used normally within the development of roofs. “We used round 10,000 unfired bricks as a substitute of cement or steel rods and the roofs are even stronger than a concrete roof,” he explains, including that the areas between the domes and arches of the bottom ground roofs had been stuffed with particles and had been flattened for levelling the primary ground.

“We have now used oxide flooring all through the home together with the kitchen and toilet,” he says including, “We haven’t cement plastered the home apart from sure areas like rest room partitions and the kitchen, that are vulnerable to moisture threat. After plastering with cement we topped these areas with oxide. We additionally painted a light-weight coat of whitewash for the interiors to make them look brighter apart from that we have now left the partitions as it’s”

Speaking about lighting, Jegatheesan says that he has constructed his home in such a manner that there’s pure mild inside the home all through the day. “I additionally constructed a courtyard type of an area which permits ample daylight,” he says, including that with much less utilization of lights, followers and no ACs they’ve been in a position to avoid wasting lots in present payments.

“We get round Rs 20 or Rs 30 as electrical energy payments as soon as in two months. With the Tamil Nadu authorities’s subsidy, the primary 100 models are free and we barely exceed that restrict,” he provides. 

Repurposing and recycling wooden & steel

One other spotlight of Jegatheesan’s home is that not a single tree was minimize to construct the home. Subsequently, he sourced outdated and waste wooden from demolished homes and repurposed them for higher use. “All of the window frames, doorways, and many others. are all from an outdated demolished home. I’ve additionally used waste wooden from totally different locations to construct the staircase to the primary ground,” he factors out.

“I’ve used chain sprocket of two-wheelers to make the terrace railings, window grills, and a small gate in entrance of the principle door. For that I collected over 1,000 of them from scrap retailers and workshops,” he provides.

Jegatheesan says it was difficult to coach the labourers to work round unconventional strategies. “It was labour intensive and therefore time-consuming. One other problem was to persuade my household who had been uncertain about constructing a mud home as a substitute of a concrete one.”

The bottom ground of the home includes a porch, a residing house, a kitchen, and a bed room with an hooked up rest room. In the meantime, the primary ground has a bed room, a cupboard space, and a small room.

“I constructed a platform via Ferrocement, which is a development methodology utilizing wire meshes and cement mortar to put the mattress. It’s like an inbuilt furnishings changing the same old wood mattress cot,” he says, including that his favorite a part of the home is the kitchen.

A rainwater harvesting system can be in place with a capability of 20,000 litres.

Jegatheesan says, “I wouldn’t say that it was a low-budget development. However I’m joyful and happy that I might fulfil my goal of constructing this home — to show that mud homes are stronger and extra sustainable than typical concrete homes.”

Edited by Yoshita Rao