Buildings built from glass bottles (Thai Temple example).

[drhess]

Is building structures out of bottles a good idea from a safety and longevity standpoint? I'd think everytime somebody dropped something on the floor or a ladder slipped and banged a wall or furniture hit the wall you'd have glass to repair or cover over. No?

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/10/temple-built-from-beer-bottles.php

See link below the article for more examples. The idea of the "world bottle" (beer bottles designed in brick shape) is pretty cute. :)

[Chronos]

I have an aunt who built a stable for her horses this way. It's pretty robust; I don't think she's had to make any repairs on it.

[bink]

Heineken briefly sold their beer in squarish bottles that were intended to be used for building. I saw this on the brewery tour in Amsterdam; I thought it looked great and wish they'd do it again!

Oh, duh, there's a link right there in the OP--they never really sold them but I still think it's a great idea.

http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/10/11/heineken-wobo-the-brick-that-holds-beer/

[Ale]

I wouldn't recommend it in seismic areas...

Otherwise glass is very stable and wear resistant, impervious to water, heat, cold, fungi or lichens that can even eat concrete away, pollution, etc etc. So a well built building should last for a good while.

[Colophon]

Is building structures out of bottles a good idea from a safety and longevity standpoint? I'd think everytime somebody dropped something on the floor or a ladder slipped and banged a wall or furniture hit the wall you'd have glass to repair or cover over. No?
Glass bottles are pretty strong, so I doubt casual knocks and bangs against the wall would break them. The buildings I've seen built this way have the bottles embedded in mortar, so only the ends of the bottles are exposed. The base of a beer bottle is pretty thick glass, and I think you'd struggle to break it without really trying.

[Uosdwis R. Dewoh]

Heineken briefly sold their beer in squarish bottles that were intended to be used for building. I saw this on the brewery tour in Amsterdam; I thought it looked great and wish they'd do it again!

Oh, duh, there's a link right there in the OP--they never really sold them but I still think it's a great idea.

http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/10/11/heineken-wobo-the-brick-that-holds-beer/

Irregular bottles can cause a lot of problems on the bottling line.For example: A. Le Coq, a Estonian brewer, brew a beer in a lighthouse shaped bottle (pic (http://www.packagingeurope.com/NewsDetails.aspx?nNewsID=21459)).
The uniquely shaped bottle has the tendency to climb on top of each other and fall of the line.

[sailor]

Bricks are better than glass bottles as structural components but bottles full of water have been used inside walls to provide thermal mass.

[Pullet]

Are the bottles empty or are they filled with mortar as well?

[Mooch]

Wow - I want to build a wall of bottles in my backyard. I'm off to the liquor store. Be right back.

[Colophon]

Are the bottles empty or are they filled with mortar as well?
Usually empty whenever I've seen them used - filling them would need almost as much mortar as building the entire wall from cement!

[masterofnone]

Wow - I want to build a wall of bottles in my backyard. I'm off to the liquor store. Be right back.

Need any help with that? ;)

[The Great Sun Jester]

I wouldn't recommend it in seismic areas... I'll bet you could do it if you used a rubbery-foam insulation sort of gunk as the mortar (provided it didn't deteriorate in sunlight).

[Mooch]

Need any help with that? ;)

Sure - come on over to Chicago. Play a tiny violin for me because I have to lay off the kegerator and start buying bottles if I am going to do this in the spring.

I just need to find a decent DIY guide to building the damned thing. Also - do I go with multi-colored/sized bottles, or uniform?

The only wall I've ever built outside was a non-mortared flagstone wall (2 years ago) to help enclose a chiminea seating area/flagstone patio in my yard.

[Chronos]

Also - do I go with multi-colored/sized bottles, or uniform?That's an aesthetic decision, not an engineering one. Myself, I'd make some sort of simple pattern and mosaic it in with two or more colors of bottles.

And the bottles are generally empty: The airspace provides for insulation.

[ralph124c]

Isn't there a "bottle house' in the nevada desert? it survived the A-bomb tests of the 1950's.

[drhess]

...bottles full of water have been used inside walls to provide thermal mass.

What does that mean? Water retains heat from sunlight better than bricks?

[carnivorousplant]

What does that mean? Water retains heat from sunlight better than bricks?

Water in the bottles would add mass. This large mass would absorb heat during the day, and give it off during the night, thus regulating the temperature.

[blondebear]

Isn't there a "bottle house' in the nevada desert? it survived the A-bomb tests of the 1950's.I don't know about that one, but there is the "famous" Bottle House in Rhyolite, Nevada (http://www.rhyolitesite.com/bottle1.html). It was suffering pretty badly because of the blasting from a nearby gold mine operation. They restored it in the mid-90's, now it looks almost new. I sort of like the old, falling apart version better.

[Chronos]

What does that mean? Water retains heat from sunlight better than bricks? Water has the highest specific heat of pretty much any common material, which means that it takes more heat to change its temperature by a given amount. So it'll absorb more heat from the sun during the day, and release more heat at night, than other materials such as bricks.

[bare]

There's one in Boswell, BC that you can tour in the summer. It's made of sixty-one thousand, 16 ounce glass embalming fluid bottles.

http://blog.findaproperty.com/architecture-design/house-embalming-fluid-bottles/

[drhess]

Water has the highest specific heat of pretty much any common material, which means that it takes more heat to change its temperature by a given amount. So it'll absorb more heat from the sun during the day, and release more heat at night, than other materials such as bricks.

Does it matter if the bottle filled with water is exposed to the sun or can it just be incased in the motar or filling the space in the bricks?

[sailor]

The water just provides thermal mass and it need not be exposed to the light.

[drhess]

So, most concrete bricks I see have those two hollows in them. Are they filled with motar during construction? Would buildings significantly benefit from having sealed bottles of water placed in them? (Not sure if bottles that small exist in large quantity.)

[Chronos]

You probably want to leave them empty. Water is an excellent thermal mass but a lousy insulator; air is the reverse. So you'd want water in the interior of your house and air in the walls.

[sailor]

Thermal mass is generally a good thing but you really need to understand the whole picture because looking at just one issue can be misleading.

Insulation keeps heat from passing through.
Thermal mass stores heat so it would take longer for the heat to be lost or gained and temperature swings would be slower.

If you have a house with good insulation and extremely high thermal mass then the inside temperature would be the mean of the outside temperature. It would be cooler than the outside during the day and warmer at night.

Not only that but you can pump heat in or out of the building when it is most convenient to you. You can run the A/C at night when it is more efficient. Or you can use solar heating during the day and the temperature would not drop at night.

So, in general terms, thermal mass is good. One good thing about hydronic heating systems is that they provide some thermal mass in the water itself. Running many pipes in the walls and floors for radiant heating is even better as it adds more mass. BUT, a ruptured pipe is a mess. On the other hand a wall full of bottles filled with water adds a lot of thermal mass with no danger of leaks. You just have to seal the bottles well so the water does not evaporate.

[Swallowed My Cellphone]

Are the bottles empty or are they filled with mortar as well?They are probably empty. I got to go on a tour on an Earthship (http://www.earthship.net/) in New Mexico. There is a documentary about the architect called Garbage Warrior (awesome doc, BTW). Most of the walls of his buildings use old tires with sand pounded into them, as well ass aluminum cans and bottles. From the inside, the bottles work like stained glass (you can see a picture at the above link where it says "nightly rentals". It's quite beautiful and really remarkable solid. The homes are totally off grid.

There's a YouTube video about them too (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9jdIm7grCY).

Fianceephone and I are actually interested in building one as a retirement home.

[drhess]

At 1:38 he says the bottles (and cans) don't serve a insultative purpose. Does that contradict what we've been discussing?

[carnivorousplant]

So, most concrete bricks I see have those two hollows in them. Are they filled with motar during construction?
In the past they were sometimes filled with cellulose insulation. They are sometimes filled with concrete and rebar for structural purposes, if for example they form a pillar supporting something.

[masterofnone]

a wall full of bottles filled with water adds a lot of thermal mass with no danger of leaks. You just have to seal the bottles well so the water does not evaporate.

Just to point out the obvious, do not put water in the bottles if the wall will ever freeze, or you'll end up rebuilding your wall.

One thing I've always wondered about these walls - do you cap the bottles? I can't imagine that you would leave them open, as wasps and other bugs would love it.

[carnivorousplant]

Just to point out the obvious, do not put water in the bottles if the wall will ever freeze, or you'll end up rebuilding your wall.

One thing I've always wondered about these walls - do you cap the bottles? I can't imagine that you would leave them open, as wasps and other bugs would love it.

Leave enough air space to provide for the expansion if they freeze. I'd think you'd be better off filling the cores with urethane foam, though.