Our First Can Wall
This job was really fun and pretty easy
too. Before we can get the framing up,
we need to get the bond beam across the
front face. There is a large gap in the tire
work of the front wall. I don't know for
sure but I believe it is there to
accomodate the drain sleeve for the toilet,
and to give just a couple extra inches to
the width of the hallway to make room
for the bathroom and the washer/dryer.
All we did was mix sand and portland
cement
too. Before we can get the framing up,
we need to get the bond beam across the
front face. There is a large gap in the tire
work of the front wall. I don't know for
sure but I believe it is there to
accomodate the drain sleeve for the toilet,
and to give just a couple extra inches to
the width of the hallway to make room
for the bathroom and the washer/dryer.
All we did was mix sand and portland
cement
and plop it down, and stick cans in it. We
crimped the cans a little so that they wouldn't pull
out of the cement and tried to keep each course
of cans level. We found that we could get about
5 courses done, and then we needed to let them
cure for about 30 minutes before we could do
more, otherwise the weight would squish the
cans out. The blue board is insulation. Because
this wall is an exterior wall we put double
insulation between two can walls (there is another
can wall on the otherside). The mouths of the
cans all face outwards to act as a metal lath that
plaster can hang onto later. The whole wall took
us about a
crimped the cans a little so that they wouldn't pull
out of the cement and tried to keep each course
of cans level. We found that we could get about
5 courses done, and then we needed to let them
cure for about 30 minutes before we could do
more, otherwise the weight would squish the
cans out. The blue board is insulation. Because
this wall is an exterior wall we put double
insulation between two can walls (there is another
can wall on the otherside). The mouths of the
cans all face outwards to act as a metal lath that
plaster can hang onto later. The whole wall took
us about a
day and a half. We used about 1400
cans and a bunch of cement, which
brings up several environmental issues.
First, bauxite, which is aluminum ore, is
stip mined in the rainforests of South
America. Is using alluminum in this way
the best use of this resource? Probably
not. There is a ton of embodied energy
in alluminum, as well. It takes almost as
much energy to recycle them. So the
only true answer is to not use aluminum
cans to begin with. Good luck. The only
reason that there are cans in this wall
cans and a bunch of cement, which
brings up several environmental issues.
First, bauxite, which is aluminum ore, is
stip mined in the rainforests of South
America. Is using alluminum in this way
the best use of this resource? Probably
not. There is a ton of embodied energy
in alluminum, as well. It takes almost as
much energy to recycle them. So the
only true answer is to not use aluminum
cans to begin with. Good luck. The only
reason that there are cans in this wall
anyway, is to put space between the concrete. It makes the wall into a matrix, which allows the
wall to be stronger with less weight. They also take up space so that the wall requires less
concrete, the environmental evils of which I've already spoken about. The whole idea here is a
cheap, strong, easy to build wall. The best thing about this type of wall is that it can be any shape
that you want and later we'll build our planter walls with the same idea. I've got an idea to use
something different than cans, though.
It was nice to have a quick project and to be successful at it. We'll see what the inspectors think.
wall to be stronger with less weight. They also take up space so that the wall requires less
concrete, the environmental evils of which I've already spoken about. The whole idea here is a
cheap, strong, easy to build wall. The best thing about this type of wall is that it can be any shape
that you want and later we'll build our planter walls with the same idea. I've got an idea to use
something different than cans, though.
It was nice to have a quick project and to be successful at it. We'll see what the inspectors think.
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