Alternative Building methods - Tyres

Before going any further I must make the legal position clear - where tyres are dumped on private or public land it is currently seen as fly tipping and can attract one of their fake fines, where they are used as a construction material for building structures or used to build garden structures/features or hard landscaping they are exempt from prosecution as they are deemed to be a construction material; so if you undertake such a project it is prudent to stack the tyres and make it appear to be an ordered site.

Tyres are the bain of many peoples lives as they are difficult to dispose of, and when they are recycled they have a very limited and flooded market which makes the recycled product economically unviable for many people to recycle them so they make a cheap and plentiful material to use as a construction material and as tyre outlets have to pay to dispose of them they will willingly give them away and save themselves the disposal costs, if anyone uses tyres for construction and a tyre retailer tries to sell them to you then go elsewhere.

To build with tyres you need a flat floor which must be compacted and levelled and you begin by laying your first row of tyres onto the floor and adjusting them to the desired shape you want and when you have your desired shape and layout you begin by filling then with dry clay mixed with soil to fill them up, as you fill them up you compact the filling mixture by hammering it down and forcing it to the sides of the tyres, then filling the middle. You then spike this first row to the ground using a steel bar at intervals to anchor the first row of tyres to the ground, you can leave any surplus length of bar sticking up to anchor subsequent layers of tyres and company any mixture around them for more rigidity and support, from here you set your next row on top of your first row and overlap your first row by half to they actually bond each layer together when you compact your filling mixture so it bonds your second row of tyres to two tyres beneath the row you are working on.
As your walls rise you spike your wall at intervals for structural integrity using steel rods or similar, wood is not used as it will rot over time.

If you want a double course of tyres for thicker walls you build your first two courses of tyres and then start building your outer or inner course of tyres and when they are to the same height as your first wall you put U shaped metal clips between the inner and outer course to tie them together, and insert U clips at periodic intervals.
As your inner and outer course rises you will get voids in the outer and inner courses as tyres are circular, you fill these voids with your filling mixture and compact them taking care not to compact it so hard that your inner and outer courses of tyres are not deformed or forced apart.

Tyre walls are extremely labour intensive and they do produce excellent walls with immense structural strength and massive densities (weight) and are suitable for great heights for building an eco house walls and they can take huge roof loadings meaning you can build large roof over large spans on top of them; but when you fit your roof joists you must drill them and spike the roof joists down through several layers of tyres to hold then firmly in position as you can readily build two storey structures with tyre walls.

What are the problems

In reality the only problems are obtaining the desired quantities of tyres and the large amount of filling material you will need, and you have to work with dry materials to get the compaction you desire as wet filling material is almost impossible to compact correctly; and the amount of volunteers you can get to fill and compact your tyres for free.

What are the benefits

You can build walls to any shape as tyres are round, you can install your tyres loose initially and adjust any shape or sizes you require, tyres offer a good weatherproofing skin on outer walls, due to their density they offer good heat repellent capabilities in hot climates and act as an excellent thermal mass in colder climates when they are heated up by interior heating.
You have the added benefit of knowing you have reused a large number of tyres which are hard to recycle and made an impact on the waste stream.

Finishing Tyre Walls

Many people thinking of using tyre walls often wonder about finishing the inner and outer surfaces and this is easy, depending upon your choice of finish.

Many people use a wet clay mixture for both outside and inside finishes and this mixture is built up in layers and trowel finished and painted with a traditional paint, for the outside you can attach a mesh to the tyres and use a modern spray on render, or you can coat it with a more traditional concrete render with a variety of finishes such as fine stones as many modern houses have.