Houses are mostly made of dirt and twigs

Sporky

Bricks - dirt
Mortar - dirt
Plaster - dirt
Tiles - dirt
Floorboards - twigs
Roof trusses - twigs
Doors and frames - twigs
Furniture - twigs

  

octatonic

and sand.

Sporky

Sand is just a fancy word for dirt.

BigMonka

But everyone knows that twigs are the lambs of the tree and dirt is the chicken of the mud 

vasselmeyer

Whilst they're made of dirt and twigs, they're held together with chemistry, which is a very powerful tool.

stickyfiddle

My house is made largely from concrete, glass and steel.

I guess ultimately dirt, dirt, metal twigs?

Sporky

I'd say that's almost entirely dirt.

Glass is boiled sand, which is dirt.

Steel is boiled dirt with a bit of burnt twig mixed in.

Gah. I thought this idea was unsettling to begin with. IT GETS WORSE!

This is why they tell you never to look down. 

digitalscream

PVC for the window frames?

@Sporky - if you want to get down to it, they're really just star stuff. It may or may not be a calming thought that you live in a box made from the byproducts of an uncontrolled nuclear reactor.

Sporky

digitalscream said:

PVC for the window frames?

Neither mud nor twigs unless you get silly-reductionist about it. That's reassuring.

digitalscream said:

@Sporky - if you want to get down to it, they're really just star stuff. It may or may not be a calming thought that you live in a box made from the byproducts of an uncontrolled nuclear reactor.

I think that's too many degrees of bacon to be concerning. I think glass is probably the practical limit (my earlier suggestion regarding steel notwithstanding).

This sort of thread was much more reassuring when everyone was a soft-toy superhero.

Paul_C

I remember an economics teacher once describing the cost of everything in terms of labour, so however much you break it down it comes from somebody somewhere having to do something and getting paid for it.

speshul91

I can change mine to a meerkat Batman if it makes you happy @Sporky ;

Sporky

I appreciate the sentiment, but don't feel you have to. It's my issue, not yours!

Axe_meister

It's all just star dust

WezV

Sporky said:

digitalscream said:

PVC for the window frames?

Neither mud nor twigs unless you get silly-reductionist about it. That's reassuring.

definitely twigs - plus a few million years

sev112

These days we count buildings in Carbon 

sev112

How about the cavity insulation

octatonic

Houses are mostly made of of thin air, that is the space around the protons/neutrons and electrons.

Sporky

octatonic said:

Houses are mostly made of of thin air, that is the space around the protons/neutrons and electrons.

And I thought I was looking at it in a silly way.

digitalscream

Sporky said:

octatonic said:

Houses are mostly made of of thin air, that is the space around the protons/neutrons and electrons.

And I thought I was looking at it in a silly way.

Well, obviously. They're really made up mostly of nothing (as is air).

Sporky

Not by mass!

chrispy108

Dirt and twigs: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-36846139