Mechanical Concrete for Home Foundations
Last Updated: Mar 20, 2025The concrete industry is one of the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters. Some estimates find that this industry is alone responsible for up to 8 percent of all CO2 emissions. Despite this enormous carbon footprint, we continue to depend on cement and concrete for the roads we drive on, the buildings we occupy, and everything in between. We produced and used over 4.1 billion metric tons of cement in 2018 alone. Sustainability-minded homeowners should search for ways to reduce dependence on one of the most commonly used (and most contaminating) building materials. Mechanical concrete for home foundations is one alternative worth exploring.
The Pervasiveness of Cement and Concrete in Home Foundations
Unless you live in some marshy area of southern Florida, the chances are that your home rests on top of a slab foundation made from poured concrete. According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), homes built on slab foundations grew from 46 percent to 60.1 percent over the past 18 years.
Concrete foundations, when poured correctly, can offer a stable base for your home. A slab foundation provides structural support and a certain degree of water protection. However, water can move through cement, which is one factor leading to high humidity and water damage issues in homes. Most home contractors rely on concrete home foundations because of the ease of bringing in big machines to excavate the area and fill it in with cement footers and a concrete slab.
Table of Contents
- What is Mechanical Concrete?
- Mechanical Concrete as an Improvement on the Rubble Trench
- Sustainability Advantages that Come with Mechanical Concrete Foundations
- How to Use Mechanical Concrete for Your Home
- Where Else Can I Use Mechanical Concrete?
Concrete foundations also come with an enormous carbon footprint that is rarely taken into consideration. A 40 foot by 50-foot foundation, poured six inches deep, would require over 37 cubic yards of concrete or 1,667 eighty-pound bags of pre-mix concrete. The Portland Cement Association states that manufacturing one cubic yard of concrete, approximately 3,900 lbs, is responsible for about 400 lbs of CO2 emissions. One slab foundation for a traditional 2,000 square foot home, then, could be responsible for almost 15,000 pounds of CO2 emissions.
Might there be a more carbon-friendly home foundation option that reduces the environmental impact of the foundation of our homes?
What is Mechanical Concrete?
There has been a lot of attention recently about mechanical concrete as a more durable and sustainable road base alternative. Around the world, concrete roads routinely crack and fail because of unstable bases that cause shifting and movement. Primarily, mechanical concrete is recycled tires filled with aggregate that help to stabilize road bases.
In many places worldwide, old tires are being recycled and repurposed for use as a more stable road base. Instead of mixing dirt with cement and gravel, the most common road base formula, old tires filled with gravel or other aggregates, resist shifting and movement, thus prolonging the life of roads, driveways, and other impermeable surfaces paved with concrete or asphalt.
In recent years, sustainable home builders have considered mechanical concrete an innovative and viable home foundation alternative.
Where Else Can I Use Mechanical Concrete?
Old tires filled with gravel can also be used for your driveway as a type of DIY permeable pavement. Permeable paving reduces stormwater runoff from your property and replenishes the groundwater table - it's a win, win!
Tobias Roberts
Tobias runs an agroecology farm and a natural building collective in the mountains of El Salvador. He specializes in earthen construction methods and uses permaculture design methods to integrate structures into the sustainability of the landscape.
