Subject: Provident Homes

From: [email-masked] (Greg Emil)
Date: 1 Aug 1995 16:12:55 -0700

A friend showed me a rah-rah write up of Roger Rasbach's work on
"The Provident Home" from the January-February '95 issue of Houston
Life magazine (Roger is a Houston resident). The drawings are
lovely and I am intrigued by the claims of energy efficiency and
use of recycled materials. I am wondering if the collected wisdom
of this group has anything to offer on these homes. (Please bear 
with me, as I am not involved in the building/designing/selling biz.)

The whole approach relies on structural panels for both the walls
and roof that either bear loads themselves (in larger homes) or are
attached to post-and-beam steel steel frames (in smaller homes). The
panels are attached with nuts and bolts, and the article says that
assembly is quick and easy (DIY, even, although I doubt that is true
for the steel frame).

The panels are made of non-toxic, steam-expanded polystyrene encased
in Lousiana-Pacific's FiberBond(R) boards. (These boards are "fiber-
reinforced ... made of recycled newspaper and gypsum".) The outside
walls are given one of several treatments; the only one shown is stucco.
Because the panels are insulated, the homes do not have attics.

I can think of a few questions:

 Is this FiberBoard(R) good stuff and worth (I assume) a premium?
 How does this method compare with other methods (cost, efficeincy. etc.)?
 Is a post-and-beam steel frame suitable for the geography of Austin?
 Would I be participating in another experiment if I buy one of these?
 What other questions should I ask when evaluating things like this?

TIA for your comments and feedback!

Greg

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From: Richard Austin <[email-masked]>
Date: 4 Aug 1995 03:47:42 GMT

Beware of plastic (polystyrene). Although the industry hypes it as safe, 
fire tests show benzene and other toxic fumes. Industry test use 100% 
oxidizing environment to pass codes (a fraud). No fire in ordinary 
circumstances is 100% oxidizing.

Richard Austin  --  email: [email-masked]  --  radio: KG7SU
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