A research on sustainability of traditional buildings by re-using the local earthen materials

It is very important to research renewable energy sources for energy production because of high energy consumption and global warming phenomena. The tendency of using the building materials produced with low energy consumption and respect to environmental conservation has been increasing all over the world. In this context, earthen building materials which are produced by the raw materials taken from the nature and formed by human, can be seen as ecologic and renewable building material. Secondly, earth is a traditional building material, it has been used from past to present with different usage techniques. This material is very important not only for today-s ecological demands but also for cultural sustainability. In this study, earthen building materials were researched in order to consider sustainable materials by presenting the advantages and disadvantages. And also, a case study conducted on the earthen building materials of rural area in Bilecik was presented. It was aimed to make a contribution to increase using the earthen building materials in our country with the view of environmental conservation and cultural sustainability. For this purpose, an experimental programme was planned to determine the properties and deterioration reasons of original earthen materials used in traditional buildings and also, to research the re-use possibilities of the originals. As a result of all the experiments, it was seen that the earthen materials can be easily re-used and the performance of the earthen materials can be improved by adding slaked lime %20 and %30 ratios and by obtaining the effective drying conditions.