Sonorama Rammed Earth Home

We don't do winter

2008-02-20T15:57:00.000-08:00

If you're here for the rammed earth check June and July of 2006.

We've been busy taking book and web design classes so that we may begin to "monetize" our knowledge and experience.

The plan is to merge the two rammed earth blogs into one easy-to-search rammed earth website.

Here's some stucco photos.

It must be obvious to our readers by now that we're not really at our best from Samhain to Imbolc, but winter's back has been broken so it's back to business.

We knew they'd come back eventually...

2007-11-13T22:48:00.000-08:00

....and they did for a time.

Then they disappeared again.

They'll be back,

we have their mixer.

Throw Another Dog On The Fire, Darlin'

2007-10-14T12:35:00.000-07:00

PeeWee is so HOT right now....

He Would Move Heaven and Earth For Me

2007-10-13T19:02:00.000-07:00

What man can resist a day playing Tonka Truck?

There is something mesmerising about earthworks.

This race is won by the patient, not the swift.

Back and forth, all day long.

Of course now we want more dirt.

Everything's Turning Red

2007-10-12T22:43:00.000-07:00

Will Don and Jorge return on the 22nd? the 29th? the 5th?

We kind of like the black look. Very leather jacket with studs.

Tomorrow Monsieur rents a bobcat.

Wrap It Up, I'll Take It!

2007-10-07T14:42:00.000-07:00

I'd just like to point out that it's Canadian Thanksgiving

and there are tradesmen working on our house.

Did we enter an alternate dimension?

some kind of parallel reality?

They'll be done tomorrow, fer sure eh? When will they return to start slapping stucco? Stay tuned!

will it happen? could it be?

2007-10-04T16:19:00.000-07:00

We finally got the soffits installed on the east side of the second floor. Finally.

I've been told to expect paper and wire on the OSB by Monday, stucco proper to begin in two weeks. You're looking at about $70 day in scaffold rental right there so it's in someone's interest to be timely.

It continues to be more beautiful here than where ever you might be.....

....except for the spots the kidz keep lighting on FIRE! This always seems to happen on those rare occasions when we leave town, our neighbours have noted.

Ba De Ya

2007-09-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

This concludes the brick mould installation on the second storey windows. The lady is not as good on the scaffold as the man, not at all.

Tomorrow we'll rent another scaffold to run planks across the peak of the first story and finally install the eastside soffits.

I am so sick of looking at OSB and tar paper.

Don't tell anyone but we painted the inside of the window frame to match the stained fir trim. Can you tell?

Monsieur wants to leave the south window frame red, that is his whimsy. Uh, don't forget to pry those twobefours off the siding!

Check out the peephole, good for security and unexpected optical fun.

In the morning, the sun shines through it and makes a fun halo on the wall.

If you click on the photo you'll see why we didn't put a glass door here to take advantage of the light. Not much of a view, but the sun is nice in the spring and fall. Now I want to lard the door with peepholes!

Is this thing even ON?

2007-09-02T13:22:00.000-07:00

Are you still there?
We were so smitten with our new digs and so overwhelmed by the enormity of everything STILL UNDONE, that we took the needle off the record to contemplate our new surroundings, grey hair and empty pockets. Apologies to our devoted readership, but now that it's just typical home finishing stuff to be done, we don't feel very newsworthy in our progress here. If nothing else, we promise more frequent dog photos.

This, a pallet upon which Honda ATVs are delivered to dealerships

begat this, a stair rail conceived of and realized by our neighbor Jim. Special care was taken, as per code requirement, to insure that no baby's head shall pass through these rails! The short segment in the middle is removable in case we have to bring something unwieldy upstairs.

As you can see the glass blocks

begat new dimensions in illumination fun!

These were from salvage of course. If you find clear ones, snap 'em up, they don't make 'em anymore.

As has been the case with process/product monopoly 'solutions' to make life 'easier' through systemization, we have experienced a tremendous amount of agita with the Pittsburgh Owen Corning Glass Block Installation Gospel. Where are the instructions that tell you how to make it look old fashioned without plastic doo hickeys?

New, second story meditations await, a prelude to the wild and wacky world of finding someone to do stucco. Still.

There's Still Lots Left To Do

2007-06-09T16:44:00.000-07:00

More trim here and there.

Spent some time organizing the second floor.

This is the view from the green chair in the previous photo.

Wilf came by with two more loads of soil. He said, "You got a lot of work ahead of you, but it's looking good."

It's Not Done Yet...

2007-06-07T09:09:00.000-07:00

SLOWLY, we make our way around the doors and windows, attaching trim inside and out.

Though it is uncertain when we will get cabinetry, the stove is hooked up.

After considerable effort and intrigue, so is the range exhaust fan.
There's hot running water and a toilet that flushes too!

We can't bear to leave at the end of the day anymore.

It might be a little while before the internet is hooked up, so don't be surprised if it's another excruciating wait for the next post.

The view from the patio

2007-05-21T14:00:00.000-07:00

When we sit on the bench next to the house and look ahead, this is what we see:

This is what we see when we look to the left:

When we sit on the other bench and look ahead, this is what we see:

In other fronts, the Sun Hall is working exactly as planned; a Chihuahua Containment Zone.

Same Stuff, Different Angles

2007-05-19T12:42:00.001-07:00

We're feeling a bit guilty about the lack of postings, so we're over-compensating.

Having 25 people 'round to check out our sustainability was a real incentive to clean up the yard. Our helper moved three dump trucks worth of soil by wheel barrow to begin levelling the north patio. That's Jim's house on the left of the photo.

This is where the stove will go. We're waiting for the vent hood, it's on order. We need to have a counter constructed for the "food sink" to the left.

Here's where we will deal with the dishes.
Monsieur has a new-found love for metal re-furbishment. Check out our two-tone drain pipe! Shiny... We got the sink at Kiwanis for $30 and he went at it with the grinder. The Bosch dishwasher is the exact same model as the one from our old house. Not only was it much cheaper from The Salvage Centre, we already know the most efficient way to load the baskets. We may have mentioned this before, we're pretty stoked about it.

Next week we look forward to some quality time with the plumber.

CHECK IT OUT

2007-05-19T10:25:00.000-07:00

Now THAT'S an outlet cover!

Thank you to our patient readership for their continued interest and good wishes.

the long march home

2007-05-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

Sometimes Turbo wonders if he'll ever be done.

This was a fun situation to re-visit. Now that there is water in the house, may we never encounter this pit of despair again.

It's hard to find fans that are cheap and not ugly, but we did OK.

Can you believe there's sun shining through our northern skylights?

Time to get busy on the tile for the other bathroom.

Next week we will install glass block WE SWEAR!!!

A Reluctant Celebration of the Toilet.

2007-05-18T15:47:00.001-07:00

And there you go. A toilet and a sink. Just in time for the Meadowlark Festival. (we're part of event #27!)

The marble, sink and faucet were salvaged from a condo in Whistler, where the dump fees are very high. We bought the toilet from a plumber for $50 (he assured us the previous owner was'very clean'), then his friend called and offered us a clawfoot tub for free if we would haul it away. The vanity is from salvage, and yes, we painted it that way on purpose. The glass knobs were salvaged from some old drawers found in a 100 year old lady's basement. The light fixture and the exhaust fan are new purchases, which pains us greatly.
While the toilet is a necessity for 'occupancy', in the year of our lord 2007, isn't there a better way?

It is possible on certain spring days to lay in the tub and observe the marmots at play on the rockfall behind our home. That's right, marmots!

It'll be even more fun once we have hot water.

Everything Takes Longer Than They Say It Will

2007-04-27T19:37:00.000-07:00

While it's only taken two weeks time to tape and mud the sheet rock walls, those two weeks unfortunately, were spread out over a month.

We've tried to peck away at things but nothing so spectacular that it needed blogging (plus the camera battery is barely holding a charge anymore.)

There's not much you can do when there's a 275 lb teddy bear on stilts making orbs in your house.

It's hard to get mad though, because for all the smack we've talked about sheet rockers over the years, and especially since the infatuation with Rammed Earth, it turns out our sheet rocker is a gold mine of advice, inspiration and equipment!

Check out his groovy technique on the bathroom ceiling! Click on the photo to see the detail!

Neighbour Jim has taken the posts we salvaged from the Viera's fruit stand in Osoyoos and is turning them into our banister and railing for the stairs.

I love the smell of fresh cut steel!

Finally mortared these in place. Jim was disapproving of the fact that we did not put our address there. I'm holding out for the day when our address is shortened from something slightly less ridiculous than 36428 103rd St. There's only room for three tiles after all.

We're going to prime some walls this weekend. Once we get the orbs under control.

Are We THERE Yet?

2007-04-15T18:14:00.000-07:00

Here are the soffits on the west side of the second storey. Sure, we could have put them in a straight line but Monsieur likes a bit of whimsy now and then. On the next house, the soffit vents will be different sizes and all over the place, the soffits will look like swiss cheese!

This is not bad work for a guy who only ever made a cutting board in 7th grade woodshop.

The sheet rockers continue their work. No sanding yet, but all the taping seems to be done.

We're thinking it's finally warm enough to install some glass block.

Our friend Wilf brought us some nice rich orchard soil yesterday. This will get pushed further up hill so we can have a flat area extending towards the bluff from the dining room double doors.

He Always Did Like the Monkey Bars

2007-04-09T19:23:00.000-07:00

The south side is soffitted! The swallows who wanted to live in our soft fluffy insulation will just have to make other arrangements.

It takes more time to set up to install the second storey soffits

than it does to actually install the the second storey soffits.

We might finish this week.

It will take the combined brainpower of several neighbours to figure out how to intall the soffits on the East side second storey.

I Want To Take You Higher

2007-04-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

How do you get to that?

Like this!

Let's hope it's not too windy this week.

Soffits for Sophists

2007-04-04T14:12:00.000-07:00

A little bit here,

a little bit there.

Finally, the first floor soffits are installed.

On to the same fun and games on the second floor!

Keep on Pushin'

2007-03-25T19:53:00.000-07:00

Another day, another "hi-ab." Due to chaos at the distributor, the truck was loaded such that it needed to be unloaded almost entirely before they could get to our gyprock. Wow, what a rib-tickler that was!

A little bit of the ol' sheet lead to cover the circuit box. That's right.

Sheet rock and some actual dust particles--sheet rock being the industry leader in dust generation. Amazing the filth that gyprock generates. The finest filth in the industry. It gets into everything. Dirty in a way rammed earth could never be. While we love our sheet rock professionals, and feel blessed and honored to find ones without a horribly debilitating addiction, in our future houses (ha!) all walls will be rammed earth--even on the second floor!

There will be lots of room for 'art.' Hands up, who likes 'art?'

Out door soffits. Vented even. Placed ever so with the help of family and friends alike.

The placement of the vented soffits...here's a thermodynamic question that has our local building professionals and neighbours calling one another nasty names: is it better to have the vents closer to the house or closer to the edge of the roof?

Here's a close up. Mesh for bugs, mesh for birds, all back for the season.

More soffit installation and sheet rock massage to follow.

Groovin' On

2007-03-06T19:38:00.000-08:00

We brought the clients by the site today for some supervision. Yes, that's their mink blanket.

Hopefully we will finish the kitchen/family room ceiling tomorrow.

After that, it's the ceiling over the foyer and guest hallway.

We like tongue-ing and groove-ing so much, we may spring for cedar to install in the clothes closets.

Christmas in the morning, Easter in the afternoon

2007-03-02T20:20:00.000-08:00

Crazy weather this week. It's fun to wake up with that snow day feeling, especially when we know we'll be working in our shirt sleeves at the end of the day.

We saw our neighbour in front of the post office. Howya doin' up there, Thor?!

Then we drove up to The Cemetary/Park to photograph the difference in climate from one part of the valley to the other.
This is the south end of the land mass that runs behind our property.
The older graves in the cemetary are covered with quartz or crushed colored glass. The effect is old fashioned and pretty, and doesn't need mowing or watering. Many tombstones appear homemade. More folks should hang out here recreationally and learn about their town!

The southwestern end peters out into sand, lots of sand. As you can see it gets much colder just west of this land mass. It's not the desert over there. That's what we love about this valley, the contrasts. Snow and sand. Water and land. Pine and sage. Cactus and peach.

We keep on truckin' with the T & G. It took four tries but we finally got this light in the entry centered correctly. Now we are quite deft with the jigsaw.

This weekend we'll work on the ceiling in the guest bedroom.

There's going to be a lot of anguish about stucco. Colour, texture, finish, nothing looks right, it's agonizing.

It's nice to finish something

2007-02-28T18:00:00.000-08:00

The second floor now has a ceiling.

The second floor needs drywall, trim around the windows, the 4" floating floor and we're good to go. On the inside, at least.

Tomorrow we'll try to get the ceiling in the stairwell done. We'll spend more time setting up the scaffolding than actually installing the T&G. Then it's on to the entryway and the south side of the house.

We had 370 16 ft pieces of tongue and groove pine delivered and so far 80 of them have been culled due to poor quality. Once we go through the pile, we'll send the culls back and get prettier ones. There's a limit to how many knot-holes a person should have to see in a day.

According to everyone, all the good wood goes "south of the line". Everyone, except those who believe all the good wood is long gone.

Ceiling Hootenany!

2007-02-27T21:13:00.000-08:00

Dancing on the Ceiling! Just like Lionel Ritchie!

Yes, well, more of this kind of thing tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day and the next day.

All night long, even!

Tea and Gee

2007-02-24T19:53:00.000-08:00

We thought it best to start on the ceiling upstairs so that by the time we get downstairs where everyone will see it, we'll be experts. Experts!

Our buddies at Solum Builders loaned us The Best Table Saw in The World. Now when we have to rip a 16 foot long piece of 1x6 pine tongue and groove into a thinner width, we can do so with the safety, comfort and relative silence afforded by the Craftsman brand.
This saw was made in the USA out of steel, not plastic and aluminum.

Making the transition from the flat part of the ceiling to the sloped part is a bit tricky, but once that's out of the way, it's just one piece after another.

If Turbo would just learn how to use the saw we could go so much faster.

WE'VE GOT THE POWER

2007-02-16T18:12:00.000-08:00

Not everyone can have their next door neighbour hook their house up to the power grid, but not everyone can live next door to the God of Thunder as we do.

Can't you just feel the juice coursing through that wire?
It's going to be pretty hard to resist the urge to buy a portable cd player now.

The insulators are finally done, but they'll be back next week with scraps from their next rock wool insulation job so we can keep sound proofing the house with trash. Thanks McKinney Insulation!

We cleaned the back yard, tomorrow is a dump day!

Step by Step

2007-02-13T18:24:00.000-08:00

Neighbour Jim came over today with a batch of freshly bored brackets for the stair treads.

Turbo's condominium will be under the landing. Now that it's warming up, we'll be able to install the glass block that goes behind the landing without fear of the mortar freezing.

The treads went in lickety-split. They might not get us in Fine Homebuilding, but they made good use of the short waler boards.

Monsieur wants to paint the steps red, yellow and green

There was a lot of waste left over from insulation and vapour barrier upstairs.
We're going to put the insulation scraps in the joists between the two storeys. The scraps of 6 millimeter polyethlene plastic are going to our friend the electrician for those times when he needs pieces to go behind his beloved recessed lighting. We're going to save the insulation bags for use as heavy duty trash bags for all the alleged construction waste we're going to have. We paid good money for that garbage, let's use it.
It's hard to think about how much usually ends up at that beautiful landfill.

The insulation guys don't like sloping ceilings. They swear they will be done tomorrow. We've taken control of their stereo, so it's in their interest to hurry.

It got real quiet all of a sudden

2007-02-10T19:25:00.000-08:00

We didn't have all our paperwork ready for the building inspector to conduct the framing inspection, so the inspector took his truck to the brake shop. Five minutes later we had all our paperwork ready, but the inspector didn't have his truck.

We went to Penticton to pick up angle iron for our stair treads...

...and salvage some steel from the Honda dealership. (They often have steel pallets that are used for shipping ATVs. Neighbour Jim has welded some very fetching railings and security bars with this steel so it's in the common interest to stay well-stocked.)

We were supposed to hook up with the inspector around the end of business, Friday.

The insulation crew hasn't worked in two weeks as their bookings keep getting postponed.
They were quite anxious to work this weekend, so they took it upon themselves to pick up the building inspector and make him do the inspection while we were in Penticton. We passed.

That's small town economics in action.

We came home to find the downstairs completely stuffed with bales of insulation.

Hate to think what this pile would look like if we had to insulate the downstairs too.

One minute it looked like this...

...the next minute it looked like this.

Those insulation fellows sure do drink a lot of coffee, which as Neighbour Jim says "is OK because they do good work." They also listen to some pretty paltry nu metal. One song we heard more than once was "The Diary of Jane." In said song, there is a lyric that goes

I still try to find my place in the diary of Jane

which through the 'boom box,' sounded an awful lot like "I still try to find my place in the diarrhea chain." It makes us miss our 52 year old electrician singing "Don't Cha."

The upstairs is insulated. Downstairs should be done on Monday, but we're betting on Tuesday.
It's going to be quite a thing to compare the difference in sound and temperature.

The nice folks from Sataray Stables in Osoyoos dropped by to tell us they had salvaged items we might find interesting. They could not believe how quiet the upstairs sounded with the rock wool insulation and they can't wait for us to come pick up some more horse poop!

We're pretty sure the cold weather is over, now that we have the stove and the insulation. Ever since Imbolc things have been warming up. They keep the seasons on a pretty strict timetable here.

Totally Wired

2007-02-08T19:24:00.000-08:00

Our neighbour really thinks we're rich now that he's had a look at our electrical system.

Most of the house is on the panel on the left. A few things we'd like to leave on for safety and convenience are on the other panel.
When we go to bed, we will be able to turn off the electricity to most of the outlets and fixtures in the house and bask in a non-charged atmosphere. It's easier for your body to rest and recuperate when not in the presence of electrical fields.
While this might not matter much to most folks, to cutting-edge eco-pessimists, fretting about EMF and EMR is the very vanguard of worry. Some folks concern themselves with smelly paint and insulation and be done with it. Not us.

If you forget to put an outlet in your rammed earth wall, but you have stick frame under the windows you can still run conduit beside the window and install the outlet below it.

This is another way to avoid having to run conduit through your walls, if you aren't concerned with having every single thing in your home constructed of rammed earth.

Another reason for the stick frame at the front of the house is one never knows how zoning may change over the next five hundred years and it leaves a little flexibility at the front of the structure. Not every one wants their front door as far back as we do, but not every one lived with their front door opening directly onto the Urban Tapestry as we did.

Nowadays there are different creatures lurking around our home.

Like this plump fellow.

We should get power in the house next week. The insulation squad shows up tomorrow. I wonder what radio station they listen to?

The ... Rooof... Is.....DONE!?

2007-02-03T19:26:00.000-08:00

It took a month and a half, but we got 'er done.
The Carpenter got 'er done actually, while we handed him stuff.
The plumbers finished the rough plumbing and it passed inspection.
This is what they used to plug the main drain to do the "vent test". Guess who insisted I take a photo?
We went to Penticton to buy more things we'll probably return, but it's always worth the drive when we see these guys....

We spent most of the week avoiding the electricians and plumbers, and the rest of the time wiping up their beverage spills before they froze to the floor.
This week we used the wood stove to: thaw lubricant for electric wiring, soften electrical conduit, melt ice out of the plumber's hose, bicycle pump and compressor gauges.
Once the electricians are done we can start insulating the attic and upstairs. Until then, thank the Lord for silk long johns and cashmere pants.

Liam's Birthday

2007-01-26T18:07:00.000-08:00

Looks like it's time to clean the camera lens.

The Electrician is still threading his way through the house, singing along to Beyonce and Nickelback.

Neighbour Jim picked up another piece of cedar for us while he was in Penticton today.
Thanks Jim! We'll use it for the last little bit of fascia on The Tu-Tu.

We took advantage of a day off from carpentry to clean up the site a little and take a drive to the most beautiful dump in the world.

It feels BAD to leave any kind of waste in this place. Fortunately they recycle wood waste for free so the majority of our garbage gets ground into bedding for these lucky fellows......

We keep reading about all the tons and tonnes of waste generated in construction. Between the regular weekly domestic trash collection and the occasional dump trip we've spent about $15 in waste management. That tune will probably change once we get invaded by sheet-rockers.

Next we drove past a new winery to have a look at a stucco job.

How about this texture?

Check out this crazy soffit.

We're jealous of the copper gutters.
Tomorrow we get the whole site to ourselves, to punch away at The Punch List.

Heating Up!

2007-01-25T17:55:00.000-08:00

We lit the first fire in our wood stove today. We still have a few too many openings in our envelope to really heat up the house but the flames are a morale booster. The installer said it takes a few weeks for the paint smell to burn off so it's just as well we have abundant ventilation.

More plumber/electrician gang warfare today.

The Tu-Tu

2007-01-23T19:09:00.000-08:00

Here's the extra bit of roof mentioned previously.

This will be covered to look just like the rest of the metal roof.

There was a little bit of this action today as well.
It's possible that the rough plumbing and electric will finally be complete at the end of the week.
Tonight is the first night in months that will be above freezing. Hurray!

Hey ! What's that plumber doing in the air?

2007-01-19T18:16:00.000-08:00

The plumber and his helper made an appearance today and installed as much venting as they could with the pipe they had. If he wants to keep ahead of the electrician, the plumber better come back tomorrow to finish up. The electrician is an artist and he needs his space.

the one hundredth blog entry January 18th 2007

2007-01-18T19:27:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it snowed again?

It wasn't the best weather to install another skylight, so we gave our carpenter a well-deserved day off.

We went shopping in Penticton. Some windows, lumber, nails, a few fish heads, the usual.

These are going in the stairway to the second floor.

You never know when you're gonna need more of this stuff.

A nice cheap source of protein!

The Big Frame Up

2007-01-17T19:21:00.000-08:00

The interior framing is essentially complete. We'll probably run some more stringers between the studs to keep those 12' pieces of lumber from vibrating at the same frequency. This will make the house even quieter.

That's my breath in the photo. Yep, it's cold.
Here's a view looking west from the kitchen to the family room.

We spent the rest of the day putting some finishing touches on the roof and installing two of the three skylights.

Tomorrow another skylight and some last minute touches to the framing.

The electrician decided where to put everything and told us to get our crap out of his way. He will be back on Monday.

The plumber SWEARS he's coming on Friday.

It's starting to look like something...

2007-01-16T20:11:00.000-08:00

...but there's still a long way to go.

Tomorrow the plumber and the electrician are coming. Well, we're pretty sure the electrician is, anyways.
Weather permitting we will be able to install the skylights and that one final piece of ridge cap.
Since it was so much fun installing the trusses we decided to order more.
These new trusses will only be two feet long, basically a fancy drip cap to protect the rammed earth walls from rain that might slide down from the second story.
We're in the desert all right, but the new millennium brings new weather, and we're a belt and suspenders type of family.

Getting 12' High On The Job

2007-01-12T18:58:00.000-08:00

In the presence of that so-called 'dust', interior framing began in earnest.

The next thing you know, there's 12' walls. That's high! How's that for "God Space?"
Here is a dark picture looking towards the back of the first floor.

And here is a dark picture looking at the kitchen and parents room. Someone once said "when your house gets dark, you're about 1/3 of the way done." 1/3rd you say?

The doors were put in. In so doing, one of two storage spaces were closed. Here is the 'front' door. Do you dig the crazy shapes?

What is that burning ball in the sky? It certainly isn't anything that brings warmth. The carpenter said 'no thank you' to -20 Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit) this morning. It wasn't that cold at the site though--it was closer to -12 Celsius (10 Fahrenheit). Anyhow, if you look hard enough, you can see the 'back' door and the 'patio' door. You can choose which one is which.

Weather permitting, next week is plumbing, electric and more interior framing.

Well There You Go

2007-01-05T21:13:00.000-08:00

The roof. Almost done. There's just a teensy bit more of the ridge cap and sidewall flashing ( between the first floor roof and the second floor exterior on the north side) install then the roof will be on. Skylights and gutters will complete the look.

Here it is looking from the other direction. The less blue colored direction.

The windows arrived today. We installed the 'big ones'.
Our carpenter said,"Those are nice windows."

If eyes are the windows of the soul are windows the eyes of a house?

The chimney got set up as well. Do notice the orbs in the upper left hand corner and just above the pipe. Some say the orbs are just dust. Some say they are a paranormal phenomena. I think they appear after an excessive amount of swearing.

An Intermission from Precipitation

2007-01-04T19:58:00.000-08:00

Is it really true what they say about putting your tongue to cold metal? That it's a lot of fun?

While it is a little hair- raising on the top of the house

there is a delightful cloud show to be had and stunning winter vistas. What kind of monster doesn't love a stunning winter vista?

We're on the roof to put on the 'ridge cap.' It is from underneath the ridge cap that hot air accumulated in the attic will escape. While it doesn't look like much, the square footage is equal to a 2ft hole in the roof.

While there, enjoy a stunning vista!

Weather permitting, the last of the ridge cap and roofing will be installed tomorrow.

In the nick of time

2006-12-30T12:03:00.000-08:00

It's a good thing we got the roof on when we did.
There has been only snow and freezing temperatures since.

Lucky for us only a small portion of the floor looks like this. The way the forecast is looking we will be enclosing this ice collage inside the house before the temperature warms up enough to melt it.

It would be rough going if it were all over both floors, but everywhere else is dry. Hurray for roofs!

We got restless over Christmas vacation so we installed two more windows upstairs. Yes, the one on the left is "obscure", it was free too. We spent less on the three windows you see here than we did on the smallest of the custom made models.

More windows to come once the rest of the western world gets back to work. If the weather is kind we should get the roof finished and the chimney for the wood stove in place next week.
There's no indication that the weather is going tobe kind. Pretty, sure, kind, no.

12 21 2006 - 12 22 2006

2006-12-22T17:13:00.000-08:00

Did it get dark in here all of a sudden?

There is only a tiny bit of light in the day.

Bad Weather is coming

so we must put the roof on.

We did everything but the last few pieces.

The darkness gave a new perspective on the views.

Now we know why they're called skylights.

No more work until after Jesus' birthday.

Fascia and a Big Window

2006-12-13T18:13:00.000-08:00

Fascia and a big window on a bright sunny day.

And this is last of the fascia. And by last I mean fascia done. We used cedar 2 x 10's. They smell really good. They look pretty good too. A couple psychedelic pieces were purchased, but not selected for use as fascia. Hopefully they will be used in a different, more visible application on the inside of the house.

There's a bit more outside framing to do, then it's the roof!

Cold Snap!

2006-12-08T21:08:00.000-08:00

It got a wee bit chilly last week. On the coldest day (one degree Farenheit, minus seventeen in Canadian), the pressure gauge on the hydronic system went down to 75psi from 100psi.

Doesn't everything look pretty in the snow?

There's only so long you can stay huddled indoors, so we put on two pairs of long johns and strapped the roof.

The skylights were framed in.

We installed some fascia board,

and a window too. How about that view?

Here's another look at it.

I could look at that all day!

Yes, That's Right, The Fifth Day Of The Galactic Underworld

2006-11-24T17:35:00.000-08:00

A big day indeed. A high one, too.

As mentioned in the previous post, the trusses went up today. Today, the first day of the Fifth Day of the Galactic Underworld (or just Fifth Day for short.)

Phew! Who has time to put up the Christmas lights?

Who wants to know what an octopus looks like?

Monday we go shopping for (more) wood.

November 24th , Fifth Day of the Galactic Underworld

2006-11-24T12:45:00.000-08:00

What a beautiful day to place trusses!

The weather could not have been more co-operative.

The company couldn't have been more pleasant.

The sun is so bright!

More pictures to come, we have to get back to work now.

THE BOX

2006-11-21T20:01:00.000-08:00

This is what we did yesterday.

This is what we did today.

Now all four walls are up on the second floor.

It's quite the wooden hat. "Stick Frame" building is a whole different thing than rammed earth. It will be interesting to compare the two once they are finished--to see if in fact there is any noticeable difference between 18" of rammed earth and 3/8" of O.S.B...

There's much to prepare before the crane comes on Friday to put on the trusses.

So much for gloating about the weather. The upside of the rain is that the desert starts to colour up quite nicely.

Movin' On Up!

2006-11-16T17:44:00.000-08:00

A little bit of this,

a little bit of that.

That would be floor of the second story, as well as the view. Working with wood is no match for the joys (and sorrows) of working with earth. We are working with something called OSB. A strange product that OSB. Sinister even. Some say OSB is eco because it uses wood waste, whereas plywood is made of peeled logs. Others say OSB is evil because it contains glues and paraffins, and is made out of entire trees that are speed-grown in monocultural forests.

But the view, oh the view-- so we splash in the filth with the rest of the death kultur, building with glues and extruded wood products just to get a peek at the beautiful view.
I hear China is building a new coal burning power plant every five days. The OSB versus Plywood debate sorta shrinks in importance against that depressing concept.

The trusses were delivered today, perhaps next week we will install them.

In case you haven't noticed, it's not raining here. Not snowing, either. It' s the middle of November and the sky is electric blue.

A Hole, Or Lest We Forget The Trenches!

2006-11-09T18:31:00.000-08:00

Time to dig trenches for the 'services.' Who doesn't love watching a trench get dug by a piece of heavy machinery?

In goes the electricity, as well as the phone and the cable.

A trench from the middle of the front of the house was dug so old water can go out and the new water can come in. Very important!

As per usual, the aerial shot.

The conduits were first covered in sand, then 'back filled' with the excavated soil. The difference in soil appearance will let future civilizations know they're 'getting warm' as they dig through the rubble looking for valuable plastics to melt. Someone or another mentioned something about sand protecting the pipes from being crushed by big rocks. (Yeah, right...)

The kind neighbor lady who made us cookies way back when looked at all the goings on and said in her kind neighbor lady way "It's always something ya? I feel so very sorry for you both."

Oh if she only knew the half of it!

But all that begins eventually ends, and our excavator ended nicely with gentle slopes and the promise to return in the spring to "get fussy" with the grade.

when was the last time someone said this to you?

2006-11-09T18:23:00.000-08:00

The carpenter was telling me about his neighbour who is involved with rammed earth and straw bale construction in Utah.

He said,"I'll ride over there on my horse tomorrow and give him your card."

The Floor

2006-11-04T19:34:00.000-08:00

Once we get a sunny day, we'll take an aerial photo, in the mean time, these snaps should give you an idea of the colours in the floor.

As you can see by the white stains, we have pretty hard water here in the desert.

We tried to keep the cool tones on the south side and the warm ones on the north.

Don't those tarps look lovely?

Good Bye And Hello

2006-11-01T20:56:00.000-08:00

This is the last time you'll ever see these!

From vessel to vessel...

Through the big hose...

Right on the living room floor!

The next thing you know...

and then...

Here you can get a sense of how thick the floor is and the placement of the radiant heat tubes in relation to the surface of the floor.

Kathy spread a little pixie dust...

which made these lovely stripes when first screeded. Far out!

Groovy as they were, after being hit with this thing...

they gently morphed into parent friendly Rothko like color fields.

Pulling Tubes

2006-10-25T17:47:00.000-07:00

Radiant heat.

Hot water goes through these tubes under the slab floor.

If you thought these tubes were made in China you would be....WRONG. They are made in Canada.

Still a little bit left to go. Slow and sort of steady sometimes sort of wins something for someone, somewhere.

What A Mesh!

2006-10-24T17:10:00.000-07:00

Radon barrier inspection passed. Phew!

Pre-used/Salvaged foam placed ever so. Mesh sheets placed on top.

We bought the mesh at Rona. My God, what a miserable experience! NEVER AGAIN. Absolutely not worth the 50 some-odd bucks saved. Miserable product and surly service. Always go with an actual person, preferably one you like.

And speaking of little guys, this is Solo. We like him. He's half chihuahua and half seal (and all cute!)

Radiant heat tubing to be installed at some juncture or another. After that, pour the floor!

Radioactive Gas

2006-10-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

In the previous post, it was mentioned that "the water was done", only the inspection for the sewer lines was done.

We still needed the 'water in' (the black pipes) as well as phone and internet (the orange ones.) The grey pipe in the middle is the power.

After the lines were in, they needed to be buried in good clean material so we used the last of the rammed earth mix. This was carried up the considerable grade by wheelbarrow, as our old pal the bobcat has finally left for it's mountain home.

The lady did the shoveling and the man did the wheeling and dumping. It was a good day for reflecting on the teachings of Chairman Mao.

After we raked it out, we screeded the surface with a long board and a level to get things flat.

Our luck with plate tampers held fast, and we had to return the first one after the handle broke off. Really, we should get a job testing those things.

After a few spins, the floor was remarkably smooth. That hole in the otherwise perfect surface is for the "thickened slab", an area which will bear some of the weight of the second floor.
Next the radon barrier went down. All it takes is a 6 mil sheet of plastic to protect us from a radioactive gas? Really? This step is important enough that it has it's own inspection, so maybe it does.

Hey, lets hear it for plastic! Yaaaay! Once we get the thumbs up, down goes the foam insulation, reinforcing mesh and the in-floor radiant heat system. Could a concrete floor be far behind?

Yes, those lumber wraps do look rather fetching over the tops of the walls, don't they?
Looks aren't everything though, we're trying to keep the fall rains from infiltrating our walls. The flapping noise when the easterly picks up is phenomenal. Maybe one day, we'll try our hand at wrapping the A&W in silk or something.

Laying Pipe

2006-10-11T18:28:00.000-07:00

Yes! Laying pipe!

The water is done.

The water lines need to be tested--filled with water in front of the inspector to prove there aren't any leaks.

The water lines help give an idea of where everything is going to go.

This is where the water goes out

Gas lines go in next. Once they are in, everyone will get covered up with soil.

Naughty Teens

2006-10-11T18:17:00.000-07:00

Yes! Naughty teens! Doing the time honored 'playing with matches' a group of them managed to char a few acres in the hills right behind the house. (But hey, if the teen years aren't for setting flame to a tiny, rare and fragile ecosystem, then what are they for?)

We missed the entire event. The helicopter, the firemen, the neighbors giving the naughty teens the ass ripping of a life time.

In doing this photo shoot, this delightful hole was found right in the midst of the char. It would make a lovely location for an album cover, don't you agree?

Boing!

2006-09-25T21:51:00.000-07:00

Nothing to see here folks, just a bond beam and a little "water vapor."

It's almost a shame to put a roof on the building. Sometimes the sky is bright and blue all day long.

Though other days, oddly symmetric clouds emerge after jet planes have left their "contrail" of water vapor.

All mind control aside, the beams are up. The space has new definition.

Some of this action tomorrow.

That´s more like it.

2006-09-23T19:34:00.000-07:00

The larch double header is making it's way around the top of the walls.
How do we do it? Scaffolding, home made bolts and MAN POWER!

These connect each wall to the next and give us somewhere to hang doors and windows. The roof trusses and floor joists will also sit on these handsome timbers.

By a miracle, we now have a carpenter to drag us toward the light at the end of the tunnel. Words cannot express how lucky we are, but hopefully the upcoming entries will be ample evidence of his expertise.

Hammer drilling through the hole in the beam to center the anchor bolt hole in the puddled earth cap.

Onward!

If you are a Big Tree then I'm a Small Axe.....

2006-09-08T19:04:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's a pretty big saw alright.

This is what is required to cut 6x8 larch timbers, actually
itt barely cuts through the six inches.

Additionally, we need to get a 10" circular saw to make the lap joints.
The 16 incher is a rental that has seen better days, it's not cutting exactly square anymore.
That's fine when we're cutting the beams to length, but we want those laps to look nice and tight with an even line. If you look at the lower left hand part of the joint there's a pretty big gap
(almost a 1/4"!)

Thanks to the kindly intercession of Marshall Witzel, rammed earth draftsman extraordinare, our train is back on track and moving toward the light at the end of the ring beam tunnel.
We've got all the wall heights measured, we know where our high and low spots are, and we've got half the larch cut to size.
Cutting the lapped joints will be a task, drilling the anchor bolts will be a task and moving these beams on top of the walls will be a task, but now we KNOW what those tasks are, how they are done, and we feel much better.

If we'd known sill plate gasket was basically sheets of foam packing material, we would have started saving it up months ago. This weekend we'll to try to find a cheaper and more efficient way to protect our larch from the moisture that could wick up from the concrete than the teeny rolls they sell at the lumber yard. Sheesh.

Sorry there hasn't been much action blog wise, we're trying to pick up the pace.
Thank you so much for your continued interest.

Progress You Can See

2006-08-17T17:37:00.000-07:00

It finally happened!

With help from our friends at Interior Ready-Mix, we moved the larch 6x8s to the site.
We're going to use them as a ring beam to join the walls together at the top (kind of an aerial foundation).
Some of those suckers weigh 200 lbs! It' s really going to be something to hoist them atop our 8 ft walls, drill them, mark the top of wall, move the larch out of the way, drill into the puddled earth cap, pound a concrete anchor into the hole, repeat as necessary, replace the larch and set the anchor bolts in the hole! Did I mention 200 lbs? Did I mention 8ft in the air? What an excellent plan!

It was fun to discover we can now drive a one ton flat bed all the way to our bathroom. In the event that one of us becomes so morbidly obese that we'll have to be hoisted out the window in an emergency, rescue personnel will have no trouble at all.
Now that's good design....

Our Rammed Earth Forms

2006-08-17T15:46:00.000-07:00

This is the end view of an end panel that was used as part of our rammed earth form system.

Some readers have asked how we made the fancy bevel at the end of each wall.
That was accomplished by installing "chamfer strips" in the end panels of our rammed earth form work.

For sturdiness, you don't want a 90 degree corner made of rammed earth, it's bound to chip off. Better to install a small piece of wood in the corner of the form to blunt the edges of the wall. By using a thick piece of lumber at the end, we cut off another corner and double the bevels. This extra feature didn't noticeably increase the amount of hand- tamping required in the corners.

We used a "sandwich system" where the form ply is clamped to the end panels and footing with pipe clamps and walers. (All you concrete form-workers out there, no snickering)

This is by no means the only way to build a form work for rammed earth construction , but it certainly was economical for an owner-builder project of modest size such as this one.

Here is an exploded view of one of our end panels:

DIY enthusiasts might like to know that we used 57 3" screws and 63 2" screws in one panel. Double that comes to $1.50 for two end panels. There might have been some finish nails to attach the chamfer strips, maybe fifty cents worth. (All prices are approximate and in Canadian funds, of course)

We also used:
4 – 9’ pieces of 2x4 $4.00
4 -8' pieces of 2x4 $5.00
4 – 9’pieces of 2x6 $10.00
1 or 2 sheets of ¾”4'x8' paper faced Crezone signboard $60 each
(Two 19.5” by 8’ pieces per panel plus extra for chamfer strips)
for each set of end panels.

It took about a day to make two sets. Call that anywhere from zero to $100 to $400 in labour, depending on who you know.
Let's say $400 to make a set of end panels.

We found at this price it was economical to construct two sets of end panels (four total) so we were able to let a freshly rammed wall sit in the form work until we had finished forming the subsequent one.

In addition to the cost of end panels we also needed form ply. (You can't form a wall with just end panels, silly...)
We chose to use Crezone sign board because it gives a nice smooth finish but it's not cheap at $60 a sheet. We used 20 for our modest project.

Sticklers for extremely fine finishes should budget for fresh form-ply for each wall. Those with more restricted funds can just get used to the rough and ready look that serves our colleagues in Germany and Australia so well..

We used about 16 14' 2x10s ($15.50 apiece) per wall for the walers. We also needed an assortment of shorter sized pieces to form the corners. $500 pretty much covered it.

Pipe clamps were about $20 apiece and we used two per waler, so about $360 for them.

Doing the math very loosely, one could spend under $3000 and have a *complete* rammed earth form system that would last through a house or two, maybe a few garden walls, depending on how smooth a finish was required.

When you didn't need the materials for ramming any longer you can still use the wood for regular old boring stick frame construction. You can give the pipe clamps to friends as gifts when you are finished with them. Who doesn't need a pipe clamp?

What we did on Sunday...

2006-08-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

We went to Henry Yorke Mann's home, estate? spread? ranch?

(It's hard to know what to call his property but Lovely.)

Henry was having a party to celebrate his 76th birthday and the erection, in his yard, of two large granite slabs, let's call them menhirs, that he's had his eye on for years.

That's the belly dancer you can faintly make out between the two stones.

I was thrilled to be able to get a look at some of the construction details of the wood and masonry portions of his house.

Yep, that's just humble old concrete block, artfully laid.

We're going back up there tomorrow to check out the construction of Henry's new office.

After we eat at the new Vietnamese restaurant in Penticton, of course....

The Last Week (Thick Slices)

2006-08-10T18:01:00.000-07:00

A small amount of recovery from the building of walls was in order. We were all very tired.

A visit from Mike, PJ and Nick, culminating in a day trip to Vancouver went along way in wiping the slate clean for the next phase of building.

But before the next phase can really begin, there is a world of tidying and grading to do. Now that we've got the footing buried (for the most part) the North East corner has really come into its own.

What tidying session is complete without emptying and returning the 'can?'

Now that we got that bit of spinach out from between our teeth, take a look at our smile from these new angles.

Yes, it is like a rainbow.

And through the magic of computers, enjoy this composite interior view.

There have been forest fires in the region which have made the skies a color different than blue. Spooky.

As mentioned, the rammed earth portion of the show is now over. Everything from now on is things connecting to rammed earth. That isn't going to be quite as fast paced and exciting as the wall building, and as a result, the postings may be a bit fewer and further between. We apologize ahead of time for any inconvenience.

August 3rd

2006-08-03T21:07:00.000-07:00

A lady walked by today and asked," Is this going to be a church?"

This was taken as a compliment.

The marble in the underfills turned out pretty well.

Time to add some more back fill and then we're on to the larch double header.

The Last Sabbath

2006-07-30T18:26:00.000-07:00

Praise Jah!

We are done with the rammed earth part now.

Today was underfills. The final two.

Martin and John were our helpers today and thank Jah for that! Today the bobcat stopped working (and Jim was at work!) John and Mike got right down to it and figured out the fuel line was pinched. With a pull pull here and a push push there they got it back up and running.

More statistics and wrap up to come soon.

Friday the 28th. 70 some odd days later

2006-07-28T20:55:00.000-07:00

Apparently there is a forest fire in Winthrop, WA. We are just about 100 miles from there and it's raining ash. Wow.

It was Megan and Bibo on column. See one, do one, teach one as they say. Megan and Bibo have now seen and done. Now it's time for them to teach.

The "VDB" was removed, revealing a perfectly formed and perfectly delightful opening.

Here is a shot of the back of the house. If I were king, I would madate that all future permanent structures be built of rammed earth and that taxation would be based on the number of colors in your house. The less colors, the more your taxes.

Fred's tree has peaches.

Our friend Marci and her animal companion Romeo are here for a visit. Marci lived in Bodrum Turkey for 6 months. Oddly enough, the day she arrived here, our friend Mark returned to Hoboken from a 10 day trip to Turkey. In the magificent Islam Art and Architecture by Markus Hattstein and Peter Delius, one can't help be struck by the power of the Islamic architecture in Turkey during the hay-day of the Ottoman Empire? Who (at the time at least) was ahead in the building-as-high-art sweepstakes? I mean really, how can you compete with the Hagia Sophia, the Bayazid Camii, the Sultan Selim Camii, the Sheheade Complex, the Suleymaniye Complex, the Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque, the Rustem Pasha mosque, the Selimiye Mosque, the Sultan Ahmed Camii (or Blue Mosque) and the Topkapi Palace? Each one is more remarkable than the next!

I don't know if there is much rammed earth in Turkey. Marci? Mark? Any idea? I betcha Paul knows...

today is thursday and july is almost over

2006-07-27T21:32:00.000-07:00

It was hot again.

Wall K revealed.

And the underfills--oh the underfills. A little bit Franz Klein with a little Morris Louis (and maybe a little Lebenden Toten for good measure.)

Tomorrow a column. Then underfills. Then?

7/25/2006

2006-07-25T19:47:00.000-07:00

7 + 2 + 5 + 2 + 0 + 0 + 6 = 22
2 + 2 = 4

The material.

First, pre mixed material (1 part lime stone tailings, 1 part 3/4 minus, 1 part sand) is delivered by reindeer from the north pole in 12 yard bundles. From that, a pre determined amount of that material is placed on the pad. We usually mix 2 yards at a time.

Next, cement is added to the dry mix on the pad.

Pigment and a special pixie dust that 'retards' our cement are also added.

Lastly, a small amount of water is added to activate the cement and to lubricate the particles so that they may be rammed into a solid matrix.

At that point, the material is ready to be transported to the formwork. Today, that was the underfills on the west side of the house.

Tomorrow we do wall K. The last of the giants. After K, there is a column and two more underfills.

Said the electrician...

2006-07-24T18:11:00.000-07:00

Today the electrician stopped by. He looked around, paused and said:

"if it were my house, I would make the walls all the same color."

No merci, mon ami.

Monday the 24th.

2006-07-24T17:39:00.000-07:00

One Two Three!

Number one: A happity hap happy birthday to Camilla! As a present? Your very own Caustic Resin Mix CD! (I know I know, I can hear your shrieks of excitement from here!) But hold on girlfriend--there a catch: you have to come to the site and get it. While you're here, you can see what Grant's been up to.

Number two: As earth builder Simon of British Columbia pointed out, "the method of connecting the form-ply is lacking."

Simon, you are absolutely right. Mind you, what we are doing here is known in the "industry" as "DIY" or "Agricultural Formwork" (I know I know, I can hear your shrieks of horror from here!) and as such, there's bound to be a little lack here and a little lack there--even in the explanation. I've also been told in no uncertain terms that "DIY" or "Agricultural Formwork" is dangerous, unreliable and prohibitively expensive to all but the richest of the rich, but that's another conversation for another blog.

To connect the form-ply, we use flat bar. Steel flat bar as opposed to aluminum. (Anyone remember steel? I hear it was once made in North America.) One of the fun things about steel flat bar is that it costs $0.40 a foot. One of the not so fun things about aluminum flat bar is that it costs $4.00 a foot. (I don't know why people would use aluminum flat bar to connect their form ply either.)

A channel is routed into the form ply and then the steel flat bar (or spline) is inserted. Form ply with a similar channel can then be placed with some measure of security and accuracy on top of one another.

Number three: What does that say and what does that mean?

Underfills

and wall K

are next.

Friday the 21st.

2006-07-21T19:27:00.000-07:00

Today it was H O T! (Did I spell that correctly?) Maybe you can see the thermometer, maybe you can't--either way, it got to 102 degrees.

In that sweltering heat stood a big empty box waiting to be filled with 14,000 lb of soil that required ramming into a solid matrix.

It got done. We absolutely, 100% certainly, couldn't have done it without Bibo, the new employee of the month!

A little about Bibo:

1. Bibo speaks two languages fluently and eloquently--except for when he is working. On planet Bibo, work time (which starts in the morning) is for working. Talk time (which starts after work time is complete) is for talking. It's a great system, one which served us well on this most extreme of days.

2. Bibo spent last night in the "drunk tank." Too bad he wasn't my high school guidance counselor, or he could have instead spent the night in a comfortable guidance counselor office thinking of ways to demoralize and mislead children, like mine used to do on those nights when he would "work late."

3. Despite spending the night in the drunk tank, Bibo showed up, on time, ready to work. And work he did, non stop until the job was done. Furthermore, Bibo was both entirely functional (exceptionally so) and absolutely pleasant to be around for the entire (11 hour, 102 degree) day.

4. Bibo is a punk rocker.

Perhaps some of you are wondering "what is this punk of which you speak? Is punk a hair-do? Is punk something I can buy?"

In one of the Dead Kennedy's great works Nazi Punks Fuck Off, Jello Biafra made it very clear: "punk ain't no religious cult, punk means thinking for your self." And while that is absolutely true, there is another component to it: Punk is spending the night in the drunk tank, showing up first thing in the morning, working an 11 hour day in the 102 degree heat without a complaint and at the end of the day, hanging out and painting your bicycle green.

The moral of the story: Next time someone with a GG Allin vest (made from a pair of pants) and a Discharge tee-shirt comes looking for work, SNAP THEM UP.

Tomorrow we'll get back to the procedural minutae...

thursday the 20th's step by step break down part 5

2006-07-20T19:59:00.000-07:00

16. Aside from pleasing the Gods, the strongback (that's the big vertical thing in the middle of the photo) provides a place for the walers to sit. What are walers you ask? They are the horizontal boards that get pressed against the form ply to keep them from bluging out from the pressure of the rammed earth. The strongback also adds support--and does so right in the middle of the wall, where it nees it most. By fastening the strongbacks at the same distance from one another at the top and the bottom, the notion is that the wall will obey and maintain the desired dimension.

17. Here Grant puts on the first horizontal waler.

18. Meanwhile on the otherside of the wall, the other strongback is set up. Ready rod is secured into the footing

19. The strongback is set up--it is secured at the top and the bottom. Now the front is ready to recieve the walers.

20. One waler

21. Three wailers

thursday the 20th's set by step break down part 4

2006-07-20T19:48:00.000-07:00

13. This process of combining and adding form ply continues until the 'back' side is covered.

13a. Here is an 'inside' view.

14. Because this wall is as long as it is, we need to use a 'strongback' to appease the Gods. Because the grade is lower on the outside than it is on the inside, Grant built a small throne upon which our outside strongback shall sit.

15. Here is the strong back sitting on its throne. A piece of 1/2 inch "ready rod" is affixed to the foundation and passed through the strong back. Through the magic of nuts, we are able move the strong back close to and away from the form work as necessary.

thursday the 20th's set by step break down part 3

2006-07-20T19:34:00.000-07:00

9. Once the braces are put at the top, more braces are affixed enabling fine tuning in the other direction (forward and back as opposed to left and right)

10. As you can see in the above picture, the turnbuckle side of the braces are sitting on the ground; there is no nice concrete into which that by now familiar 'piece of wood' can be set. Here is where we drive 'sidewalk pins' into the near record compacted earth on the inside of the footing. Dedicated readers of this blog might remember the post with the bent sidewalk pins. Anyone out there ever bent a sidewalk pin?

11. Once the braces are all set and 'tweaked' into position, it's time to put up a course of formply. The formply sits on its own shelf on the footing. The footing is for the most part level, and so putting the form ply right on the footing usually yields a level reading.

12. Because this wall is longer than 8', we needed to connect two sheets of formply to span the distance. We connected the two using a 'spline' that fits into a pre-routed channel. Unfortunately that aspect of the building process was not lovingly documented today. Pictures showing splines and how, with them, form-ply is connected are forth coming.

thursday the 20th's set by step break down part 2

2006-07-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

5. In order to affix pieces to wood to concrete (or puddled earth) you must use the 'hammer drill.' The hammer drill puts a hole through the wood and concrete. Into this hole, a length (a bit longer than the depth of the hole) is inserted. Into that hole, where there is now wire, a 'duplex nail' is driven.

6. Once the pieces of wood are affixed to the concrete, the turn buckles can been affixed with screws. This works best with pink shoe laces, though I understand red-yellow-green shoe laces work equally well.

7. Once the turnbuckle side of the brace is set, it can affixed to the top of the end panels. Now the end panel can be adjusted in (and out) of 'plum.'

8. That entire process is repeated on the other side. Now you can see where 'wall I' (or 'wall-eye', or walleye) is located. Windows are on either side--and as an aside, it is the window opening that must be precise. The wall can be any size. This one is roughly 116 inches.

thursday the 20th.

2006-07-20T19:02:00.000-07:00

Thus begins the heat wave--all over North America I'm given to understand. (It's a pity Mike isn't here to enjoy it with us.)

Today was a day of forming. There have been requests to "break down" the building process in a more detailed way. We aim to please, so a more detailed documentation of what we did is forth comming.

First some caveats:

1. As you have noticed, the way time is dealt with in blog world is somewhat backwards. I will number the steps in the process to (hopefully) alleviate any confusion.

2. Thus far, this blog thing only lets 5 pictures appear per blog. In that instance, today's goings-on will be split over a few blogs. Again, we will try to be clear so as to stem the confusion and keep hurt feelings to a minimum.

That said,

1. here is a picture of the site first thing this morning. This is the 'before' shot.

2. we put down these, uh, pieces of wood (can't think of the proper term at present) to which the end panels get affixed. These so called pieces of wood are spaced very carefully so as to insure that there is enough room for the windows which shall reside on either side of the wall.

3. Here is the end pannel set up against the piece of wood.

3a. Here is the end pannel being set against the piece of wood on the footing.

4. The end pannel gets braced to the to of the wall. On the left you can see the wall with two of those pieces of wood we were just talking about. On the right you can see the end pannel. The next step is to connect the two.

wednesday the 19th of July.

2006-07-19T18:28:00.000-07:00

Wall M--fresh out of the form.

So that's why the tile saw was out. It's easy to salvage granite and use it as a baseboard/inset. You can cut it to fit in your chamfer too. (That one's free--no tuition necessary.) The plan is to do more of that sort of thing on the underfill to the immedate right. The color of the granite fits right in.

Our final grade on the inside of the building is in the neighborhood of 2" above the foundation. Some of the granite will be obscured--but it will be well secured!

Underfills are going to have to happen sooner or later. What better place to really let the freak flag fly? Mike and Grant whipped these up in a jiffy. Mike put in a solid 12 day week. He's going on a break for a while, and is sad he'll miss the coming heat wave that has everyone all a titter.

Lastly, the arial view. The aqua color and sharp geometry of the compressor fits right in with the color scheme and overall aesthetic of the walls.

tuesday the 18th of July

2006-07-18T21:20:00.000-07:00

If this picture doesn't sum it up...

...here are some more.

Good times!

lets call it 60 days

2006-07-17T22:02:00.000-07:00

Wall H

The chamfered bottom, along with the sharp detail on the footing make for a good time. Attention earth rammers: our beloved medium is uniquely able to capitalize on the chamfer. Use it or lose it!

Hold up a minute! What's going on here?

Keep on keeping on. This wall is almost a square.

sunday july day 59?

2006-07-16T17:10:00.000-07:00

Some more photos of new walls.

The little inset rectangles are for vintage "soap shrines." You can see two of them sort of "blew out." What would Lemmy say?

We believe in the power of stones! This is a picture agate depicting a fully conscious and sentient being hovering over the horizon.

How dramatic!

It is getting hot again. The sun is a force. If only it could somehow be harnesed.

More forming tomorow. 4 straight walls and 4 underfills remain.

Saturday

2006-07-15T19:36:00.000-07:00

Three corners in six days.

Now the West end is filled in.

Today the dump truck brought more material.

Go Mike! That's the last corner. Straight walls and underfill from now on.

June 13, the 56th day

2006-07-13T21:53:00.000-07:00

53 june year zero

2006-07-10T22:12:00.000-07:00

52 Martober between day and night

2006-07-09T22:09:00.000-07:00

Any Gogol fans?

We have clouds here.

so why not?

The silicone makes it look good if nothing else.

Walls A and J are next

Special Out Of Sequence Photo Blog # 5

2006-07-08T20:36:00.000-07:00

Let's give a hearty Okanagan welcome to Wall F!

See the cute little inset for tile?

This is our last green (colored) wall and it's right by the front door, so we wanted to make it a little special.

This is the inside view. It's a little more abstract.

Green! Green! Green!

This is what the six walls looks like:

Out of Sequence Photo Blog # 4

2006-07-08T14:44:00.000-07:00

Yes, that is a rammed earth wall.

The lower left portion of the corner chamfer looks pretty bony

and there's some compaction issues under this inset.

It's nothing we can't remedy, so let's relax and enjoy the cool refreshing colours.

sunday sunday

2006-07-02T20:19:00.000-07:00

The weather continues to be oppressive.

Naps continue to be at a premium. I'm late for mine now.

A quick spritz on the walls this morning, a quick spritz on the walls tonight. They're still standing. What more do you want?

A modest schedule awaits us all next week: form wall D Monday, form wall F Tuesday. Sounds reasonable, no?

Here is where wall D goes:

Now it is nap time.

saturday July 1, day 44,

2006-07-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

While four is a real unlucky number for the Chinese, 8 is an auspicious one. Is today, day 44 a day of double bad luck or is it an auspicious day (4 + 4 = 8)?

Personally I don't much care--I've managed to sleep most of the day away and look foward to getting back to bed.

There was the brief visit to the site to tidy and visualize an absence of chaos and a preponderance of well-ordered victories in the coming weeks (and weeks.)

As you can see, wall B has lighened, to a kind of Burberry plaid color scheme, while wall A has retained a more red hue. Wall B is probably the most unsettling to our neighbours in terms of artistry. Fear not, gentle Canadians, we thought we'd get a little wacky on the back wall, the North and East walls are all about The Pastel! We have two more walls with grey cement left to build and then we're off the heady, luxurioius world of white cement!

Wall B has some interesting insets ; agate and calcite.

Wall B also has a wall sconce. It is difficult to get those things rammed in place properly. The last thing you want to do is compact the box out of shape, but then again, you also want to avoid inadequate compaction. Though as mentioned earlier, it makes little difference--not only will the house still be warm, but bedtime is just moments away. We will cover that yucky part with the light fixture.

friday the 30th of June, day 43

2006-06-30T22:24:00.000-07:00

Friday the 30th--the day before Alec Setten marries Mrs. Alec Setten and the day before Canada Day. Today was a short day so as to really stretch out the long weekend.

We did get wall B stripped, however. Though it looks the same color as wall C, it should lighten considerably.

Here is a picture of wall B from the front. Near the top towards the middle right you can see a "box" for a wall sconce, and below it a "box" for a switch. Down at the very bottom, in an area that will eventually be obscured by the bathroom vanity, we conducted a test wherein we put a flat piece of granite.

It seemed to work, and so will put some marble that we salvaged from this place and that in the living room as a kind of "baseboard." Even if the rammed earth doesn't hold it (the granite wasn't chamfered in any meaningful way) I imagine it will be easy enough to affix using some miracle product or another.

In other news, we put in a chamfer at the outside base of the wall. The past few walls met the foundation like so:

With this new chamfer the wall/foundation get together is a little more slick--even if it does expose the tar everyone hates.

The next few blog entries promise to be some pretty thin gruel, as there is a great deal of sleep to be done.

thursday the 42nd day of June.

2006-06-29T22:09:00.000-07:00

Wall B is rammed. It will protect us from the sun. The ramming went well. The ramming part was done by 4:30pm. Not 10:15 pm, but 4:30 pm. That was a good thing, and G-d willing, the way it shall be forevermore. Slow and steady really does win the race. Working smart beats working hard.

Speaking of walls, here is another look at wall E

And speaking of walls, here's three in a row.

In other news, the compressor got a "water separator." For it to really work, the water separator needs to be a distance of ten feet (via a hose) from the compressor--that way the water has a chance to condence, thus allowing the water separator to do its job. Jim explained it all to us. The next accesory is an "oiler." That introduces a bit of oil to the air stream, thus keeping the tampers lubricated. Who knew?

Roland insisted that this photo be shared with our viewership. The state of the stakes after tangling with our ultra compressed pad.

Tomorrow, we strip the form on wall B. The day after, we celebrate Canada, and the wedding of Alec Setten and Mrs. Alec Setten. Mabruk!

special out of sequence wall photo blog #3

2006-06-28T22:25:00.000-07:00

green this one.

groovy.

All manner of fun little "dipsy doodles"

Here is a picture of the insulation peeking out from the rammed earth wall. Not to worry, people, everything is under control. There will be glass bricks up against this--it won't be seen. More to the point, you can see quite clearly the 4" of insulation between the two 7" rammed earth wythes.

wednesday day 41

2006-06-28T22:16:00.000-07:00

Good times!

There will be more about that in the wall 3 picture post.

Pepe made the scene.

Jim's last minute repair is holding strong

And it's still hot.

So tomorrow we ram wall B. It is the wall on the west side of the house. It will give nice shade in the afternoon.

tuesday day 40

2006-06-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

No really, where is the digital camera?

Day 40. 4 + 0 = 4.

Four is a number that the Chinese, who know a thing or two about numbers, don't much care for. You can get all the particulars in Douglas Coupland's City of Glass.

Indeed, day 40 was a tough one. A long one. A hot one. A late one. Under the cloak of darkness, 15 some hours later, the wall was completed.

The day was a "teacher." The lesson learned is that ramming days are for ramming and forming days are for forming and never ever ever again shall the two meet.

Today we build form work until it is ready, tomorrow we ram the completed formwork.

Simple.

As Mr. Quinlan always said "it's better to know what you don't know than to know what you know."

And now we know.

Now, if we only knew where the digital camera was...

monday day 39

2006-06-26T22:54:00.000-07:00

Where the hell did that camera go?

No matter. It was 100 degrees, and despite working from 7:30am to 6:30pm and then from 8:00 pm to 10:00pm, the wall didn't get formed to completion.

(Where the hell is that "win some lose some" link?)

The past is over; tomorrow we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and try all over again to get the wall ready for ramming. Perhaps we'll even consummate the ramming act.

sunday, the anti christmas, day 38

2006-06-25T21:33:00.000-07:00

Today was a bigger day at the laundry than it was at the site.

And our project has absolutely been eclipsed by a front end repair Jim is doing on his friends 2003 Honda Goldwing. People make rammed earth houses all over the world, all the time, all kinds of ways (you knew that silly) but how often do you get to check out a tear down and rebuilding of a Goldwing?

Tomorrow it is our hope that we can get these two walls all formed up, ready to roll so we can start ramming at "8 bells" on Tuesday morning.

This one (wall E) is pretty close to being ready.

Below is where wall B is going to go. Personally, I can't wait to get that one done, as it will afford us a little bit of shelter from the pounding sun for the rest of the summer (and for the next several hundred years.)

Speaking of the next several hundred years, the chalk board was cleaned and re drawn. The hope is that we can complete 3 walls every 5 day work junket. It's a tall order, but we got a great crew. With a little bit of "slow and steady" peppered with "measure twice, cut once" I bet it can happen.

Saturday June 24, day 37

2006-06-24T15:59:00.000-07:00

Apart from the unveiling of the wall, the decision was made for form wall E. After E is done, we will move to wall B. After wall B, it's on to wall A. Inch by inch, row by row as they say.

The thermometer (we keep in the shade) read 90 degrees. To keep the newly birthed wall from totally freaking out, we put on a wall burqa and kept it wet.

We took the burqa off wall C. That let us get a better look at it.

This embed worked. No class necessary.

We did a bit of drilling, until the drill melted. It's not every day you melt a drill.

The dogs made the scene. Tyco decided he would sit on Turbo. And why not?

special out of sequence wall photo blog #2

2006-06-24T15:47:00.000-07:00

Wall G revealeth, all 11550 lbs of it. Now there are two walls standing proud.

Here are a few photos. I'll shut up while you look at them.

As with the other wall, there are numerous "embeds" and other delights for the eye. I shall endeavor to put them all on the flickr site. When I do, I'll post the link for your convenience.