What do you know about masonry construction and its many benefits? Masonry construction has evolved over thousands of years and offers an affordable, ecological and practical choice for someone interested in building a sustainable home. Masonry construction can be a good decision for your health, investment and lifestyle and this post will help you learn more about its many advantages and whether it may be right for you. Masonry construction has been around for thousands of years and is popular and practical. It is a very effective and efficient means for building a home that can save money, resources and time compared to more conventional houses using modern designs and synthetic materials. You may be asking what is masonry construction and what benefits does it offer so reading further will outline the basics and benefits of why it provides more ecological and economical living space.

Brick HouseMasonry construction is typically made of a combination of brick, cement, clay, glass, lime, mortar, rock, stone, tile, wood and water. These materials are the basic building blocks found in most countries around the world. Masonry construction normally uses local materials making them very affordable, durable and practical solutions for home building. They can conserve energy, materials and resources by using the natural and renewable resources found in locally. Masonry construction by design can be a fairly easy process with the normal costs for labor and material but without the expensive traditional costs associated with many conventional houses with central air conditioning, heating units and integrated thermal barriers that require a massive investment in materials, maintenance, planning and repair. Well built and designed masonry construction is frequently built off grid and in remote areas to provide a cost and energy efficient living space and lifestyle.

Many Choices of Masonry Construction

Masonry construction can be a great solution for the housing needs of a wide variety of people. Masonry construction can combine clever architecture and creative planning for houses that can offer a more efficient and simpler lifestyle. With a good design and mostly local materials  you can enjoy the benefits of an affordable, durable, energy efficient and sustainable healthy home and simple lifestyle. Earth friendly masonry construction can help provide healthy homes with a lower carbon footprint and price tag compared to conventional homes.

Masonry construction provides a relatively easy and fast way to build and provide a comfortable, durable and eco friendly home. Masonry construction can withstand a wide variety of climates and conditions when properly designed, maintained and well built. Creative masonry construction designs can offer a wide selection of safe, strong and sustainable designs. With creative Computer Automated Design (CAD), architects, designers and engineers can create innovative shapes and sizes to build almost anything you can imagine. Masonry construction can benefit the owner with lower energy, maintenance and repair costs. Masonry construction offers earth friendly choices that may be more toxin free than most conventional modern homes. There are many examples of well built and designed masonry construction that has lasted for 100+ years of practical use with minimal maintenance and upkeep in many countries of the European Union (EU). I stayed in  a beautiful rock house in Italy that was several hundred years old. The current global economy, energy issues and environmental concerns are encouraging more people to reduce their carbon footprint and rethink energy efficient home designs, ideas and options. Masonry construction provides a better alternative to many conventional houses built with harmful materials. Maybe building one is the perfect habitat and healthy home for you and your family.

Making BricksMany people could be better off with masonry construction they build themselves rather than spending a fortune buying a conventional house containing lots of toxic chemicals and materials that will off gas for decades. Many people are going deep in debt with a big 30 year mortgage and payments. It is often a major drain on your health, money, resources and work time to buy or rent a conventional house or mobile home due to the frequent lower quality of materials and workmanship used to built it. Masonry construction can offer you a better option since it requires less fossil fuel resources to provide more cost and energy efficient features for cooling, heating and insulation. Building with stone offers an affordable, durable, eco friendly, efficient, functional and sustainable home that can meet a family’s  long term needs. This information is intended to help educate, inspire and motivate people to look at masonry construction that can be a cost effective way to minimize their carbon footprint with a more sustainable lifestyle.

Many smart people are waking up to discover that masonry construction offers better building alternatives. When we invest the energy, money and time to educate our selves and demand better construction choices we find some amazing new ideas and options available. The last two years of research and travel for better eco friendly construction practices has helped me gain great ideas, insights and inspiration for developing and designing eco homes for our Belize Eco Village.

Benefits of Masonry Construction

Laying BricksAs more people investigate, learn and research about saving energy, simpler lifestyle, sustainable solutions and transition towns the idea of using masonry construction is an obvious choice.  As more people embrace permaculture principles, sustainable living and transition towns we will see more masonry construction in eco friendly, master planned and sustainable communities. As more people understand the benefits of building and living in well designed healthy homes with masonry construction they will discover the benefits over conventional homes that can negatively impact their finances, health and lifestyle. Masonry construction can offer better buildings to help provide the growing global need for affordable quality healthy homes. Masonry construction benefits include:

  • Blending natural and renewable materials which creates a very eco friendly habitat.
  • It is affordable and can be built for a several thousands dollars.
  • It can be built and designed with different building materials and properties for different climates.
  • It can be bug, fire, mold, weather and wind resistant and last for hundreds of years.
  • It can accommodate the use of arches, domes and sacred geometry for a wide variety of unique building designs.
  • Building with local natural materials like cement, clay, lime, sand, rock, stone and wood is eco friendly and sustainable construction.
  • It can offer an excellent thermal barrier to keep the heat out and the cool in or can keep the heat in and the cold out.
  • Flexible designs and shapes offer attractive and creative eco friendly dwellings.
  • Using natural and non toxic building material in masonry construction is beneficial for people with chemical sensitivities.
  • Heat pumps, rocket stoves and ultra efficient solar powered systems offer an efficient and low cost way to heat masonry construction.
  • Transportation costs are greatly reduced when using local clay, rock, sand, stone and wood is used for construction.
  • Potential concerns and considerations with masonry construction include: building codes, city planning,  quality control, septic systems, waste water issues, weather and zoning restrictions.

The best way to get educated and excited about masonry construction is to learn directly from the experts. James Hallock with Earth Block International teaches a form of compressed earth block masonry construction as a viable option for many eco minded people looking to transition to a smaller carbon footprint and sustainable lifestyle. Construction Knowledge offers a wealth of information on masonry construction. The Balance offers decades of construction and design experience and their version of masonry construction is impressive and inspiring.

Our blog shares simple strategies to help people embrace conservation construction ideas with masonry construction to build earth friendly and healthy homes around the planet. As we discover the real long term cost for conventional houses built with harmful materials we realize the urgency to embrace more masonry construction for healthy homes in the US and many other countries.   Masonry construction can provide affordable, durable and energy efficient housing for many people.

Healthy Habits & Habitats

In 2017 Morningstar NEWS will focus 50% on Healthy Habits and 50% on Healthy Habitats and Sustainable Systems. As we research and role model proven principles for our future Belize Eco Village and wellness center we are eager to share the wisdom we find. Our vision is attracting a wide variety of conscious and passionate people to help design, develop, build and live in our eco friendly, healthy, sustainable transition community. Being healthy as we invest, live, retire, travel, visit and work results from a happy, healthy and heavenly lifestyle. We invite ideas, insights and inspiration to help us focus our planning and progress.  Sharing solutions, strategies, suggestions and systems will help all of us design and develop better eco communities.

Where is Your Gap?

What actions, behaviors, beliefs and decisions regarding your habits and habitats are impacting your happiness and health? What will it take to make better choices to avoid the health hazards of unhealthy homes? Investing in masonry construction could provide a healthy habitat that offers great flexibility and value. Your investment of energy, money and time will help you understand the incentive to investigate the benefits of owning a healthy home made of stone. Does supporting an  ecological environment and sustainable standard of living sound appealing enough to check out how stone masonry construction works?

Mastery Action Plan (MAP)

Our daily habits and habitats impact our happiness and health. There is a wealth of wisdom showing the benefits of building eco friendly masonry construction as a healthy habitat and wise choice.  What are you willing to do to provide more sustainable housing choices? Creating a healthy habitat code of conduct and mastery action plan will enhance the quality of life now and in the future. We cannot sustain our happiness and health without healthy changes and choices. Are you ready to de-clutter, detox and down size in order to build with masonry construction that is modern, modular and more sustainable?

Call to Action

What comments, commitments or concerns come to mind regarding healthy habits and habitats? Are you ready to learn more and join our terrific team?

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