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Hi All

After being a member of this forum from long time, gained bit by bit knowledge and got inspired with many useful information shared by many individual contributors. Many many thanks to all those, who enlightened members.

I thought of sharing my experience(bit delayed) Recently I started constructing my Eco-Friendly Nest in the West part of Bengaluru on an approx. 1,500 sq. ft plot. Currently constructing a Ground (1BHK + Parking + Guest Room)+ First Floor with 2BHK and option for raising a duplex in second & third floor in the future. Its a load bearing wall method construction using CSEB 9" solid Bricks for a total G+3 Floors. Only for the Parking area, 2 Columns used.

Firstly Why I went for Eco-friendly is, during the 80's period one of my relative, who was a freelancer did lot of searches on alternative constructions, experiments in association with some of his known IISC Contacts who were working on sustainable housing methods and had constructed this kind of house in Koramangala. In his family so far 3 brothers have constructed eco-friendly houses in Bangalore & Mysore. We may be surprised, he had used so called M-Sand in place of river sand at that time itself, which we are using in the recent years as the river sand became very expensive due to faulty Govt policies. It was the same period, when Dr. Yogananda Reddy from IISC constructed first Eco-Friendly house in Jayanagar using CSEB Method. Now Its almost 40+ years now, those structures are still very strong and no deficiency in it and it can last at least next 50 years. Overall, it uses less Cement, Steel and toxic chemicals & Nature Friendly.

I took almost 1.5 years in identifying different people through various contacts, who are into eco-friendly construction field, used to visit their construction sites on weekends to know the details, meeting the owners & getting their experience, ..etc before I finalised my need. Interestingly, most of these proud owners are young professionals working in IT Fields, Lawyers, Entrepreneurs, Financial Analysts, own Business,.etc in the range of 28 to 40+ years age range and are very enthusiasts towards nature conservation. At least I visited around 15-16 construction sites within the Bangalore city, Tumkur, Kolar, Mysore, Kanakapura.....etc. All these visits did during the pandemic period 2020-21.

some of the features of my nest are..

1) CSEB Bricks are used for the construction, made at the Spot using Trained labours.
2) CSEB Exposed brick wall, without cement plastering for almost 80% of the building(Inside as well as outside). Only Kitchen & Bathroom is tiled.
3) Most of the wood used for the building is recycled & refurbished, bought from demolished old building.
4) CSEB Brick based Filler slab used for the roofing.
5) No Borewell.
6) Planned for effective usage of Rain water with a sump capacity of almost 19,000 litres capacity. Of course Kaveri water is available.
7) Grey water will be re-used for all secondary purpose.
8) planning to use solar Powered UPS & Water pump
9) Planned to use natural stone for Flooring.
10) Retained all trees grown around my plot.


to be continued...

Image of Site Marking

Wishing you the very best!

msn : Where in west part of Bengaluru ?

Near Sir M.V Layout 5th Block, close to RTO Automated Test Drive Track.

Earth Excavation work went nearly 5.5 feet deep, as the hard soil reaching took more depth than expected.

Basement Activity started in traditional way with 3 feet wide Base and tapered to 1 feet at the top. Filled with Boulders, Jelly, and masonry work.

Simultaneously we started looking for Red Soil samples. In this period, Bangalore and surrounding places received consistent raining for many weeks. Hence it delayed our red soil procurement activity, which in turn delayed CSEB Brick making work. We waited almost for more than a month period. Later we got good dried Red soil from Kanakapura...-Bannerghatta Zone.

This is the manual CSEB Brick Making machine used at the site to make the Bricks. CSEB Bricks are made up of Msand, Red Soil & Cement combination of 50 % +40% + 10%. Based on the Clay content in the Red Soil, this ratio may vary Slightly to get the optimum results.

Here Cement is used as Binding material. Hence there is no need of Firing process by burning wood to heat the Bricks used for making the traditional mud Brick. Once the CSEB Bricks are made, it will be cured with water 3 times a day and allowed to get Dry under sun light for minimum 3 weeks. After 3 weeks, its ready for wall construction.
Hence this is more nature friendly process.

On an average, daily 500-600 bricks can be made.

Here is the first batch of sample CSEB Bricks made at the site and getting Curing and Dried under sun light.
Biggest advantage of going for onsite CSEB Brick making is, you can have the control over the Soil used for making the Bricks, we don't have to pay the 5% GST, loading and unloading charges, Transportation Costs for the Truck. It directly gives around 25-30% saving compared to the buying the same from the Factories.