Cardboard Makes Strong Building Material for Temporary Housing

Living on the fringe of society, under the freeway in an empty cardboard box. This is the picture that comes to mind when the thought of living in a cardboard structure comes to mind. This limited vision is overlooking the inherent structural integrity available with simple corrugated cardboard. With a very small amount of engineering skill combined with readily available and inexpensive materials a perfectly satisfactory small structure can be constructed that will stand up to surprisingly severe weather and remain useful over a reasonable amount of time.

If you take a sheet of construction paper and attempt to lay it across an opening it will sag and probably fall through, it doesn’t make much of a bridge. Replace that sheet of paper with a similar sized piece of corrugated cardboard and it spans the space easily and will even carry a small load without collapsing. Build a set of trusses from strips of cardboard glued to form the familiar triangle shaped truss and your little bridge will carry a surprising amount of weight before it collapses.

Treat that same bridge with a good heavy coat of enamel paint and your bridge will last as long as that protective finish is maintained. After all it’s water that will destroy the integrity of the structure.

Laminate several layers of corrugated cardboard together using a water proof glue and you have created structural members that can approach the strength and rigidity of similar wooden members.

With nothing more then a pair of good scissors you can cut shapes such as arches, that when laminated together can support a roof while offering maximum head room for the occupant.

During the depression the only thing more scarce then the material to build things was the money to buy the material. When my Father and his widowed Mother were forced to move across the country because of health problems and lack of work they had to think “Inside the Cardboard Box”.

A simple trailer frame was constructed from the remnants of a junked Model T Ford. The living space was constructed of discarded shipping crate wood for the frame with corrugated cardboard used for exterior wall sheeting. Multiple coats of heavy paint provided a simple but weather tight structure that was to be their home for the better part of the next year.

Was it high class living, of course not. It did provide a roof over their heads and kept them alive, and reasonably comfortable during some very hard times

Now take all this good information and apply it to cheap but effective temporary housing. Following the example of the Teardrop Camping Trailer, small size is their shining asset. Cheap to build, lightweight, they provide dry shelter for one or two people.

A cardboard structure sitting on simple wooden warehouse pallets to keep it off the ground and away from moisture. This would provide a far healthier and safer place to live. Even better if it’s located under the freeway helping to protect it from the elements even further.

Civic groups should take note, rather then let those who have fallen through the cracks suffer in squaller, take action. Providing housing doesn’t have to take much money. After all being down on your luck isn’t a crime, it’s a set of circumstances that is likely to affect a larger portion of the population as more people are faced with financial disaster. Blame it on global warming, a bad economy, the housing mortgage mess, or the death of the middle class. It doesn’t matter why there is a need, it only matters that there is a need.