Building Stuff, Eco-Style

Raising the Roof

2008-08-10T09:38:00.008-06:00

Rafters complete- waiting for a roof.

We had to do some preparation before putting up the first layer of the roof (OSB.) We had to trim the top of some of the posts because they were sticking up above the angle of the roof. We had to add some blocking in between rafters to give the rafters just a little more strength. We added some metal straps to the ridge beam and rafters for some extra support.

Blocking

Then it was time to put up a roof! Lifting the OSB that high wasn't as hard as I expected it to be. With one person lifting from the bottom and one person pulling from the top, we would get the OSB onto the second floor. Then two people on the second floor would pass it up through the rafters to someone on the roof (who was, of course, wearing climbing gear and attached to the ridge beam.) Then everyone would put a hand or two on the OSB as the person on the roof put a nail in it to hold it in place. Then, screws and nails were added and we start over again for the next piece.

First piece of OSB up.

Jessa, on the roof. Notice the strapping on the rafters and ridge beam.

Some of the pieces were slightly trickier, simply because they were hard to reach. Specifically the pieces on the end. We had to pull up the scaffolding and pass the OSB up it.

Drilling, high up.

One side, mostly complete.

We still need to add OSB on the angled edges (but not full sheets) and trim the non-angled edge to 15 feet. (We decided to trim it up in the air so that we could trim the rafters at the same time.) Then, a layer of waterproof tar-paper and then tin. (And, of course, this happens on the other side as well.)

Rafters, baby!

2008-08-06T20:26:00.010-06:00

After getting all our side-beams up, it was time to focus on rafters. Before putting up a ridge beam, we needed to know what style our rafters were going to be.
They could either be set into the beam (sketch on left) or above the beams (sketch on right.) We decided to go for the inset ridge beam for extra security. Since none of our beams are directly lined up, the cutout was not actually going to be in the center- instead, most beams were going to need their sides notched out.

The first order of business in putting up the ridge beam was to even out the tops of our posts.

Phil has become quite the expert on elevated construction.

As the top of the post fell, it hit and snapped one of our supports. Everything was alright- just exciting. (The rest of the post tops gave us no problems.)

Setting the ridge beam was not too terrible. We had gotten plenty of practice putting up beams with the side beams- this was just a little higher up in the air. We pre-drilled holes into the beams for the lag screws to reduce the amount of time we had to spend up on ladders. The two outer beams got placed first to ensure that they landed halfway on our middle posts. The middle beam was then measured and cut for an exact fit.

Adam and Phil, placing the last beam.

Completed ridge beam.

The next step in the roofing process was to put up the actual rafters. Adam and I trimmed all the rafters at a 25 degree angle. (Actually, we somehow didn't get the angle right the first time, so I had to trim most of them again the next day. Oh well. Learning.) I then made the angled edge about a quarter of an inch thinner so that our true 2x6's (I think) could fit into the hurricane brackets made for dimensional 2-by's. (I don't feel comfortable typing 2-by's. It sounds right saying it, but not typing...)

Phil finds the appropriate angle/cut for the bird's mouth. We were later able to make these cuts on the ground.

After a steep learning curve, the rafters started going up pretty quickly. (By "pretty quickly," I mean 3 days. Not necessarily full days, but 3, nonetheless.)

We finished rafters today (no picture available) and went home early as a reward. Good stuff.

In the meantime, other fun and exciting things have been happening. Like getting straw!

Pallets are being used to keep the straw off the ground. We put a plastic sheet over the bales to protect from moisture and put the top and sides of the tent on.

Jason Coomes has also been out to visit us twice. Jason is going to be a new professor at Berea (teaching my Ecological Architecture class, among others.) He worked in Alabama with Rural Studio before this, and I think everyone is pretty excited to have him in Berea. He seems nice and knowledgeable (which is good, since I will be working with him next year,) although natural building is fairly new to him. Once was basically just a visit to see the project and talk about possible class trips to work on the site, but yesterday he stayed for a while and helped up put up some rafters. We then headed out to John's.

I've been to John's a few times without mentioning it in my blog. It's only been a few random days (or, in yesterday's case, half-days.) Jeff has been camping at John's, so the two of them have been continuing work without us. Without going into too much detail, here are some pictures for you. Some are mine; some are Jessa's. They are taken over the course of a couple weeks, so the heights of the walls and such vary- don't be confused.

Starting corbelling (curving the walls in to create the dome.)

The compass has letters on the vertical pole that correspond to the letters on the horizontal pole. I'm not sure who did the math, but they figured out where the wall should be at what height, so using those guidelines, the compass helps to figure out if the wall is curving in enough.)

Goofing around... It's an "UnBirthday Cake" (with teddy grahams, because that's how my mom used to do it) and a mouse drunk off tea. (Think Alice in Wonderland.)

A waterproof barrier was layed on the backside of the building since the area will later be infilled with dirt. Trying to keep out moisture.

Jeff's make-shift steps. Very helpful.

The crew, resting and visiting.

Starting the arches.
Almost done with the arch. Arch, complete. (And Jeff.)
The building, almost as it is now. Now there are two complete arches and maybe another layer or so of bags. It's an impressive place.

Oh, and for kicks, here's a picture that Jessa posted of Adam and my completed seam coverers:
I thought it was cute.

Up until Monday.

2008-08-02T00:22:00.000-06:00

Again, I procrastinate updating until it becomes a big headache of a job... Here goes...

We bought some new wood to cut the stairs out of, since the wood we had delivered had split significantly. I marked the wood and Phil cut. Phil and Jessa moved the stairs into place, put in some support beams and treads and we were ready to go.

After checking to make sure that it was the right height, Phil and Jessa trace the original stair side.

Stairs in place.

Adam and I routered and sanded the edges of the stairs.

We had a slow day, so we decided to do some art projects. We needed wood plates to cover the seam where the beams that the floor joists rest on meet. Holes will later be drilled through the plates, beams, and post and will be filled with a threaded metal pole with screws on the end, holding everything securely. Jessa suggested designing the wood plates so that they wouldn't just be square- to put some kind of unique design on each plate. Adam and I worked together on this...

There was a lot of debate about our design. It had to be fat in the middle and fairly long. Adam and I sketched out some ideas, but eventually decided on the silhouette of an ant, since there were so many around (and we destroyed enough ant hills in the process of making this building.)

I jigsawed the ant design out.

Adam shows off the finished product.

After screwing the plates into place (there was also a cloud and an abstract circle design, but the ant was the best,) we tried to drill the holes through the post, beams and such using an auger.

We drilled one hole successfully, but about midway through the second hole, the drill started smoking and died (even though we had given it some breaks in between.) We've tried other drills since, but none seem to have the power we need to make it through everything... So the plates and extra support is still waiting to happen.

Phil, Adam and I (Jessa was out of town) started putting on some sidebeams (unofficial name, I'm sure) that the rafters would later sit on. At first, we were trying to move 17 foot 3x10's, but we soon realized that, since our posts weren't perfectly squared anyway, we could just put the beams up in sections.

Our first section up.

Required some temporary walkways on the outside of the building.

One side done.

More has happened since. There's still almost a full week to document. This weekend will help me catch up. Keep an eye out for updates.

Going Up.

2008-07-23T17:41:00.015-06:00

Alright guys. I've been avoiding posting. So much has happened at Michelle's... (This entry was written while listening to NPR's "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me" and talking to my mother on the phone. Therefore, it might have a few mistakes/redundancies in it. I might go back and edit later. It just took way too long to write and I am glad that it is done.)

For kicks, here's what Michelle's looked like when you guys last heard from me:
Actually, it wasn't this built up. The stemwall was not complete at the time of my last post. Sunday, (the day that we were supposed to meet with a guy named Jeff to get some timberframing help but he didn't show,) we finished the stemwall.

Here's a now picture:
It has grown. Here's how:
These are the U-brackets that we attached to the concrete piers. We attached the whole in the bottom to the screw on the J-bolt that was sunk into the pier. The two holes on each side of the bracket would later be attached to a log.

The original plan was to lift the logs using a nifty tripod device.
The plan was to lift the log about halfway up using strength and a miniature tripod and then continue lifting the log into place on the pier with the big tripod.
This plan was unsuccessful. We did not have the manpower. So, we got machine-power.
Harol, the neighbor with the bobcat and cute dogs, came to help. Jessa's husband, Nathan, also came.
We used a safety chain on all our logs, which did not keep the raising process from being exceptionally nerve-wracking. Especially since Nathan had to crawl on top of the bobcat to move the chain around.
After we got the logs vertical, we used 2x4s for extra support.
Some of the logs had been notched out the previous week. The notches had to be lined up with the U-bracket so that the log would fit. There are also holes on the bottom of the logs that had to be lined up with the J-bolt.
Sometimes getting the logs to line up took a little "convincing."
Once the logs were in place, we screwed the two bottom screws in, then stood back and (judging primarily by sight) made sure the logs were straight. Then put our braces in and then a few more screws.
3 logs up. ^_^ The fourth log was difficult to get up. We didn't want to run over the stemwall and we couldn't really get to the pier from the outside because of fence nearby.
(I just like this picture.) We started at the pole from the outside, and once it was fairly vertical, it tipped. The chain held the log as it went from vertical to horizontal, knocking and breaking one of the braces on the first log. There were some screams and gasps, but everything was fine and the first log stayed standing.
We ended up putting up the fourth log from the inside.

The building, up. Hoorah!
The next day, we had to put up our sideboards. We hadn't picked up our scaffolding yet, so we winged it. Scarily. A shaky 10x2 is not a comfortable thing to stand on. Phil did, though, for the majority of the day. The 10x2 sideboards needed a place to rest, so Phil carved notches. He started just using a chisel, but soon picked up his chainsaw. I helped some, although found that I am slightly afraid of heights when on such rickity scaffolding.
It took us a full day to get these five 10x2s up, but the next day went by much faster. I believe in learning curves. (This is a favorite picture, if only because Phil and Jessa's butts are up in the air. Lovely.)
The supports have made for some awkward hammering so far, but we're leaving them up as long as we can.

The next step was putting up the floor joists for the loft. Although the loft covers two thirds of the building, we were only prepared to put up one section of joists. The second section will come when we put the curved cob wall in- the joists will be built into the cob.

The joists weren't a huge issue, as long as we measured our notches correctly. I did get to use a chainsaw for the first time in my life. Wonderful stuff.

Today, we were going to build stairs. Phil was looking at the plans and realized that, according the the plans, the stairs were only a few feet below the sideboards, meaning that people were going to have to duck quite a bit. This was not good. We decided to move the stairs a couple feet towards the curved wall, so there's less of a landing. When we move the stairs as far as we can and allow 6 feet under the sideboard to walk under, we still needed some steep stairs. 9 1/2 inch rise and 9 inch run.
Phil marked the stairs out, using a textbook from a construction short-term class. (I get a personal kick out of doing stuff that nobody on our team has done before, like stair building. That way, we're all on the same level. Learning together. Kinda.)

When Phil started cutting, the lumber REALLY started cracking. He decided that we need more lumber to act as a backing. We are going to pick that up tomorrow.

So, with no stairs to build, we were searching for something to do. The next step in our progress is going to be getting a roof up. Phil thought that maybe we could go ahead and trim the tops of the posts, since they were all a little long. Thus:
He put out a 10x2 to stand on, but it was a little too uncomfortable. We decided to wait until we got a temporary floor down on our joists (tomorrow, most likely) so we can use ladders and scaffolding and such. It would be safer and easier. And we got to leave the site early today because there was nothing else we could really do.

And, just because this picture did not fit into my narrative anywhere:
Adam and Nibbles, Harol's dog. Harol has another dog named Red who is super affectionate and rides around with Harol in his mule.

erinisshovelinggravel.com

2008-07-12T17:09:00.005-06:00

Good news! I ordered a new camera battery charger and it was delivered today! We no longer need to rely on 5 minute Paint jobs! (There are some pictures in this post. They are Jessa's. Enjoy.)

We went to Michelle's on Wednesday and Friday. It's starting to get exciting out there- the site actually looks like we're going to be building something there.

On Wednesday, we finished stripping the trees. Locust trees are far harder to strip than pine, but luckily, there were only two locusts.
(See the tree that is the second closest? That one was the toughest to strip. All those curves and knots. Looks good now, but not an easy job.)

The last of our gravel was delivered. When Phil and I were out there Monday, there was some gravel, but we still needed a little more for a corner and to fill the bags for the stemwall. Jessa's mom was hit on by the gravel deliverer. Good stuff.

Just for kicks, here's the site before gravel:
Notice the columns. They were erected in the rain. They will hold our logs, which will hold the building. We are counting on these columns. (Jessa did a test to see if the columns were all in line and level, as we planned them to be. Only a few are a little off, and it's nothing that can't be compensated for when we cut the logs. Good.) Also, notice that, at the time that this picture was taken, the topsoil was not completely removed. Lastly, please notice the drain tile, which slopes downhill (thanks to some great digging) and comes out to daylight on the side of the hill (per code requirements.)

Post-gravel:
This picture was taken yesterday. I dub yesterday "Day of Extreme Heat." It was hot. We moved the tent-ish-thing to where we were working, but it was still, very hot. Please note in this picture, the pillars are mostly covered. By the time the floor gets put in, only a couple inches will be showing. Note me, filling bags (the same kind as what we use at John's) with gravel. This will make up the stemwall. The straw bales will rest on top of the bags. Notice the two rolls of chicken wire that were (later) rolled out so that the earthbags could be placed on top of them. They will, later, wrap around the earthbags, providing extra strength and unity in the stemwall as well as giving us something to plaster to. Note the lumber in the background that will be used throughout the structure.
The beginning of building. We are finally going vertical. (I can't really see the chicken wire in this picture, so I assume you can't either. I promise it's there though.)

Tomorrow (yes, Sunday,) we are going out to meet up with a guy named Paul who knows how to timberframe. I think Phil and Jessa both wanted someone with more experience in on this step, just to make sure things go well. We're going to put our long logs up. I will take pictures.

Now, another "picture bomb," featuring John's house. (I was only there for a few hours on Thursday, filling bags. I had something else I had to do in the afternoon. No real updates from Thursday.) (These pictures were taken a little while ago. Our walls are higher now.)

Electrical has been set. It was a little tricky bagging around the outlets, but we succeeded. They are nailed/screwed/attached to a flat piece of wood, which is nailed into the bags. We used a slightly-less-full bag on top of the outlets, molding it around the outlet as much as possible. Placing electrical stuff has been mostly John's project.
Another one of John's projects has been meeting code requirements for plumbing. Even though John has no intention of putting a commode in his bathroom, he has to put the plumbing in to support one. The pipe sticking directly up is for his non-existent toilet. The other lines lead to the kitchen and shower (I think. Again, this is John's project mostly, so I don't know a ton about it.) John has had to re-do the plumbing multiple times to make the codes inspectors happy.
He had to dig underneath the wall at one point (to get the plumbing to go to the kitchen.) Nothing collapsed. Even when John stood on top of the wall. We must be doing something right.
The dome is going to be 16 feet tall. This pole is 16 feet tall. It's weird to see how far we still have to go. The pole will be part of the compass once we start arching the dome (after the four foot mark that you can see painted on the door forms.) (We're probably beyond that point by now- I haven't been at John's much in the last several days, but after I left Thursday, more stacking was done and Jeff is back and was stacking on Friday.) I will post more about the compass as I learn more about it. (If you look very closely, you might see a tiny orange flag at the top of the pole. We needed a flag.)
Meet my least favorite job. Tamping. Since I've posted on this site that it is my least favorite job, Phil and Jessa always get a chuckle when I do it. I really don't mind it, but if there's something else that needs to be done, I will generally go to that other job. In this picture, you can see both kinds of tampers. The store-bought one that I am using (my favorite) and the homemade one sitting on the ground next to me.

I'm a barb-y girl.

2008-07-08T20:09:00.004-06:00

(This entry is long and disorganized and possibly confusing. This is your prewarning.)

Today was a good day out at John's. Not that we ever have bad days. I just feel like there was a lot to say about today. I think I did a tiny bit of everything today at the site. Even tamping. Barely.

Richard, the SENS director at Berea and one of my professors, came out to visit the site. He asked how everything was going- it was still a little too early in the morning to be entirely enthusiastic, so I think he got short answers. He asked if I was learning a lot, which I kept thinking about throughout the day. Yes, I have learned a lot. It's very specific though; I have learned a lot about building an earthbag dome. I have learned how to strip trees and pour concrete and hammer without smashing my thumb. I am gaining comfort with the processes of natural building. I think when I began my internship, natural building was something that I had just read about, seen pictures of, and seen in the movies Richard showed. While it made sense, it wasn't extremely tangible. Now that I've been working on the process for several weeks now, I recognize the amount of work, thought, time and materials that goes into natural building. I think this means I'm learning things.

While I've done this before, I feel that I should mention to my Loyal Blog Readers a process that I get too much joy out of doing- that is, pinning bags. There are a few places in the walls where a bag's open end will be facing an open area (as opposed to our normal stacking method where the open ends stack against other bags, keeping everything tight.) Simply folding the bags' ends doesn't work very well- they tend to come open and spill dirt. Instead, we fold over the ends and take two nails and pin the side using the nails. Sometimes it's tough to get the nails to go all the way through- those bags are tough. Phil suggested using tie-wire instead of nails- to make the wire go in and out and twist it shut. I tried that and it worked decently, but the wire bent a bit as I tried to stick it though the bags. I could go either way as far as what I pin the bags with, but I like the look of (and get more personal enjoyment out of) using nails.

Phil also showed me another way to lay the barbed wire. Once the walls get to be four feet high (which will be very soon,) we will start the curve to the dome. We will take each layer in a bit more. Since our bags are so much smaller than typical bags used for earthbag building (I think ours are a foot wide,) we decided to make the walls two bags wide. This will make it easier to tamp and give a little more structural integrity.

I do not feel capable of explaining this correctly. Thus, drawings! Behold, my mad Paint skillz.

(Above) This is the way we are currently stacking our walls. (This would be the view from above.) Each course would look like this, but the directions of the bags alternate. (The next course would, if drawn, have the vertical bags on top and the horizontal on bottom.) The red shows where we put our barbed wire. On the vertical bags, we keep it low enough to be able to snatch onto the horizontal bags that will be stacked on top of it. (I hope this makes sense.)
This is the way that we are switching to after four feet. Because the bags are not alternating directions, they are, essentially, forming two walls side by side. We need to connect the two walls. So we use barbed wire.
This is the method that I started doing. It was very similar to my straight barbed wiring in that it was forced into place and pinned where I wanted it.
This is what Phil suggested. He called this method "serpentine." Instead of straightening the barbed wire when pulling it off the roll, we keep the natural curl and just lay that down. Sounds good in theory, but I really did not like it. It did not want to stay flat on the bags and kept jumping up and smacking my arms. I didn't feel like I had much control over it. I used it for a while, but then decided to switch back to my method.

(I am now done with my explaining of barbed wire.)

John had me do more math today to figure out how many bags we were going to need for something. (Now that I think of it, I can't remember what exactly was being calculated. I was too focused on numbers.) I really am rusty on my math. Easy math too. Subtraction. But I came up with the right answer eventually.

It rained today- we saw the clouds coming and were pretty ready to run to the neighbor's porch by the time it started raining on us. It was a hard rain, for about 15 minutes. We took some bags that needed to be turned inside out onto the porch.

There are two dogs at Egret's Cove and I love them very much. They both came up to the site today to walk around and visit. One of the dogs, who is quite short, followed Jessa up onto the wall, which is fairly tall. It was immensely cute.

***

Yesterday, Phil and I went out to Michelle's and stripped trees for her timberframe. I used a machete and a draw knife. Both of these had very short handles (in comparison to Phil's tool that I cannot remember the name of that had a very long handle with a flat metal piece on the end for wedging underneath the bark.) This means, I got to crawl all over these logs. Most of the logs were pine, and the amount of rosin they contained was ridiculous. When I got home, my shins and arms had rosin and dirt crusted on them. My back also hurt from leaning over all day. We left with one and two half trees left to de-bark. We stripped 10. We are going back tomorrow to finish stripping and start filling bags for Michelle's earthbag stemwall.

Different Days

2008-07-06T08:34:00.003-06:00

Tuesday- Michelle's
The boys were gone and, for the first time, it was just Jessa and I working. And it went rather well. We went to Michelle's to finish taking the topsoil of the un-dug part of our foundation. (This is something that we asked the neighbor to do before digging the foundation, but somehow, it was not done.) Jessa had come out previously and dug for five hours, only getting halfway across, so I was afraid that this was going to take the whole day. I started digging while Jessa finished laying the drain tile. It wasn't bad- it was just a matter of removing the top 8 inches or so. Once Jessa hopped up and helped dig, it took no time at all. We were done by noon. Having nothing else to do on that site, we went home.

Wednesday- John's
Jessa and I were expecting a slow moving day, since it was just going to be the two of us and John. However, that was not the case. Many of the neighbors stayed and helped fill bags for a while, Jessa's mom came back out to help and we got nearly two rows layed. I filled bags some, layed barbed wire, placed bags and tamped. (A lot. I now have blisters on my hands. Tamping is still the least favorite.) At the end of the day, some of John's family came to visit and Thom Price came to visit (and bring us Italian chocolates. Yum.) It was a good day, and was far more productive than we imagined it would be.

Thursday- Jessa's
Jessa and I were on our way out to Michelle's to strip timber. We called Michelle to let her know that we were stopping by Lowes, so we'd be later than expected. When we called, Michelle informed us that the trees hadn't been delivered yet. Having nothing else to do at Michelle's, we turned around and headed back into Berea. Instead of going to John's (since he wouldn't be expecting us,) we went to finish up an example solar house for Jessa's previous job. The house was probably five feet tall at the highest point in the roof and had solar shingles and a floppy solar panel. The house just had a few finishing touches that it needed- it had a few screws that stuck out a tiny bit, the floppy solar panel needed to be attached and the floor needed to be waterproofed. The nails were tiny and only stuck out a little, but we were afraid that a kid walking through the house might scratch their finger, so we cut off the tips of the screws. (We started using little wooden biscuits to cover the tips, but it didn't seem extremely sturdy, so we decided to cut the tips off.) We then used some sticky tar-like substance to make the solar panel stick to the roof. Then we painted a thin layer of sealer onto the floor (discovering that it gets the sticky tarlike substance off our hands. Interesting.) I think Jessa was glad to finally have this project done, and I was glad for a change of pace.

Friday was supposed to be (and was) rainy (and the fourth of July), so we didn't go out.

Picture bomb!

2008-06-30T16:23:00.005-06:00

Jessa updated the HomeGrown HideAways website, adding to the blog and photo album, as well as switching a couple dates of workshops and lowering the workshop costs. Since my camera battery charger is still MIA, I stole some of her pictures. I'm going to do a quick recap of the time since my battery died...

We marked out the floor plan with marking paint directly on the foundation. We've had so many changes in the design- seeing it layed out on the ground helped a lot!

Phil and John (on the left) were the primary designers. You'll see in the photo above that we (Jeff and I, on the right) were filling bags before the design and forms were finished. I wrote about doing a lot of digging and screening in the last couple of weeks.

This is the screener (and Phil.) In the beginning, I scooped from the piles of dirt along the site directly onto the screen. The large rocks that were filtered out fell to the bottom of the screen and into a wheelbarrow (not pictured.) After a while, it was easier to shovel the dirt/clay into a bucket and pour that onto the screen. Someone would be on the other side filling bags with the finer clay/dirt mixture.

The first bags being layed were probably the most exciting, so far. There were six bags that we tamped and signed- Jessa, Phil, John, Adam, Jeff and I all got our own bags. (That's me in the picture, with Jeff and Adam's lower half.)

Our forms get a lot of questions from people who come to visit the site. Mostly, "Isn't that a small doorway?" The thing to understand about forms is that the earthbags will be stacked around them completely. Once the forms are surrounded and the arch is covered, the wood will be removed. The doorway that is in the middle of the (very large) wood arch is simply so that we can get from room to room when the walls get tall.

Each row gets two rings of bags. Each layer alternates (meaning that, in the above picture, the interior bags are vertical-ish while the exterior are horizontal-ish; for the next row, the interior will be horizontal and the top vertical.) The altering helps with structure- think bricks. In between each row of bags, we lay barbed wire. This is my favorite job on site, so far. In order to make the barbed wire stick, we have to individually poke each barb into the bags, alternating which side of the barb goes in.

We have had a lot of people helping to make the job go faster. (The picture above was taken at our end-of-day gathering.)

We haven't been at Michelle's much over the last couple of weeks, but there was one day that Phil, Jessa, Nathan and I snuck out there to get the foundation trench ready for gravel to be poured in it. This involved making cement bases for our timberframe logs.

We had to cut cardboard tubes down to size, using lines and levels and such to make sure that they were all at the same level (since the ground has a 5 inch slope from one side of the building to the other, this was very important.)

Nathan and I mixed cement. Those are 80 pound bags, so Nathan did the lifting. I held the mixer to make sure that it didn't tip. Tough job.

(I have terrible posture, I realize.) Nathan would tip the wheelbarrow up, Jessa or Phil would hold up a funnel to help guide the cement that I hoed out. Then someone would use the trowel to smooth out the top. We later stuck some J-bolts in the cement (and then got rained and hailed on and got covered in mud and dirt.)

(Today we were at John's. It was his birthday, so we had 3:00 rootbeer floats with the neighbors. Our fifth layer is done and our sixth layer is started, although, at the end of the day, we just filled bags. The electrical conduit was being placed between the fifth and sixth layer and it needs to be inspected tomorrow before we can continue placing bags. Jessa and I will be at Michelle's tomorrow and back at John's on Wednesday. Adam and Jeff are going to Florida, for different reasons, and Phil is in North Carolina on vacation with his family, so it will just be Jessa and I. Filling bags is somewhat time consuming, so Jessa suggested spending the later part of the afternoon filling bags- so we will have a stock ready for us Wednesday.)

Oh, and to clarify (because I was asked), "tamping" is compressing the contents of the bag (either using a large, flat bottomed chunk of cement ore a store-bought metal square with a broomstick-like handle) until the contents are very hard and bricklike. It requires a lot of repetitive lifting and thrusting downwards, but it works. Keeps the building solid.

Productivity!

2008-06-26T20:21:00.004-06:00

First, we had lots of help lately(Adam, Jeff, Lilly, Jessa's mom, Nathan, and random other visitors.) These people have been providing lots of entertainment, as well as energy and extra hands to do some work.

Second, we found a quicker method of filling bags. Instead of using the dirt that was excavated, which needed to be sifted because it was full of large rocks and clay chunks, we are using rock dust, which comes from the quarry up the road. We fill a bucket about halfway with rock dust and then dump it into a bag that is being held by someone who gets the (oh-so-difficult) job of sitting on a bucket, holding a bag. (I don't really like that job.) This goes a lot quicker, although the bags weigh more. The bags are about twice as thick though, so we won't need as many to build the dome. (There was a point where we thought we might need twice as many bags as originally predicted. I'm not sure what the new estimate is, although, since these bags are fairly small, we will be putting in a second order.) Right now, the rock dust pile is at the bottom of the hill, so it needs to be hauled in a truck up to John's site (but tomorrow someone with a bobcat is coming to move the pile to the top of the hill.)

While half the team is filling bags at the bottom of the hill, the other half has been at the top of the hill, placing bags, tamping and barb-wiring.

We are about a third of the way done with our fourth layer.

It rained today. Not for a long time. Just enough to cool us down (and get our clothes wet.)

(Just a note- we are tying extra bits of wire to the barbed wire that stick out a few inches towards the interior of the building. This wire will later be used to tie chicken wire to the walls. This chicken wire will help the earthen plaster stick to the bags better. Ingenious.)

None of this is particularly easy work. Some parts are more labor intensive than others. My order of preference (so far) on these jobs is as follows:

laying barbed wire
placing bags
filling and pouring buckets
holding the bags as they are filled
tamping

But I'll do whatever I'm told. (Although I suck at tamping, so far. I am good at barb-wiring.)

My back has been a little sore lately (which is why holding the bags as they are being filled is so low on my list- it just hurts.) I'm fairly certain that my posture is terrible. I bought a back brace today at Lowes, although I'm not sure if my ego will allow for me to wear it. We will see. (I also bought a pair of gloves similar to Jessa's- I have worn them and know that they fit and that I like them. I want to wear them everywhere. I also bought two cheap-o pairs of gloves for my guests who are helping out. Also bought some new headbands, since mine are getting so gross so fast.)

Jeff is going to be with us for the summer. The original plan was a two week visit (which would be over tomorrow- hard to believe) and then he'd be off to do some natural building in Spain. The Spain thing got canceled, so he's going home for a week or so and then coming back. I think he wants to learn more about plastering.

2 days.

2008-06-24T21:11:00.002-06:00

Almost two entire rows of bags have been layed. The mountains of dirt that we are using to fill the bags are getting noticeably smaller. The door frames have been attached to the walls (by nailing the frame to a piece of wood that goes between two layers.)

Most of my time has been spent digging. I layed barbed wire today, which, although slightly difficult, was a nice change of pace. I haven't been too anxious to stop digging and do other things simply because I recognize that I will have all summer to work on this house and I know I will get my opportunity.

Adam and Jessa weren't on site today. It was noticeably quieter and slower, but the boys and I managed.

I'm getting used to coming back to the SENS house smelling terrible.

And now, a guest entry from Adam!

2008-06-22T08:50:00.001-06:00

Hi, this is Adam.

I like to visit Erin when I am not busy at home and during this visit I volunteered my help towards her internship.

The last two days have been tough. Thursday we started laying all of the earth-bags we had filled which almost completed the first layer. I can tell this is going to be very tedious process from here on- digging the dirt to be sifted - filling the sifted dirt into bags and then laying them - and finally tamping them. Tamping is where my energy has been spent the last two days- it takes a lot out of me.

Not a lot of progress was made at John's site Friday. John, Jeff, and I didn't spend a lot of time on a particular job. I stuck to tamping for the most part until John mentioned needing trenches dug for drains to empty through. After I dug a trench for two sinks and a shower, the site looked a small mess. I await to hear Phil's thoughts on our progress/changes.

A few of John's friends showed up in the afternoon Friday. We gave them a tour of the site and surrounding projects, such as the straw bale house. In return they brought us extra lunch and provided wonderful conversation and company for an hour or so. Sometime after that we called it quitting time and I drove Jeff home. It was a good steady day for a Friday, and a good way to start the weekend.

I will not be able to be here for a majority of the project, but hope to visit again to help and maybe see the finished production of John's house.

I am becoming an expert digger.

2008-06-22T08:13:00.003-06:00

Thursday, I dug all day. I was shoveling excavated dirt onto a screen to sift out large rocks. Then, someone (mostly Jeff) would scoop up the dirt and put it in a bag. Then, someone else (Jessa) would move the bag to its position in the wall, where someone else (Phil and Adam) would tamp the bags. (This is a fairly simplified version of the day, but, really, I just dug all day. Other things happened, like a bag holder being designed and forms being finished and placed.)

Yesterday was a lot of fun (to me.) The team split up, so Adam and Jeff went to John's and Phil, Jessa, Jessa's husband (Nathan) and I went to Rob and Michelle's. Jessa had purchased 40 80-pound bags of concrete, so we needed to take two trucks to carry the load. Jessa and I were in her truck- we met up with Michelle and her boys at a farm to look at bales of straw- test the wetness and size and whatnot. Everything seemed fine and the straw will be delivered in a few weeks (so Michelle doesn't have to worry about keeping them dry on her property until it's time to start strawbale construction.)

When we met up with Nathan and Phil at Michelle's (after a spurt of rain and lots of "please stop raining so this concrete doesn't get ruined..."), we started cleaning up the foundation trenches that were dug last time we were up there. We had to widen a few spots and take all the loose clay/dirt out of the bottom, squaring the edges as much as possible. Then we had to mark where the pillars for the timberframing were going to go. There are 12 pillars (which is probably overkill for this tiny structure, but we're going with it- designed by someone else) and each pillar needs a concrete base. So, using many tape measurers, line levels, yards of string, plum-bobs and lots of brain power, we marked our 12 posts and dug out where the base would go underground. Nathan and I mixed concrete in the mixer that Phil normally uses for plastering while Jessa and Phil prepared the 10 inch tubes that we would be filling- hammering rebar in the free-standing tubes for extra support. We worked out a system for filling most of the tubes- Nathan would move the wheelbarrow full of concrete to the tube and tilt it up, either Phil or Jessa would hold the "funnel" (extra tube cut open and used as a slide) and I would push the concrete with a hoe. As we were filling the first 6 (mostly buried) tubes, we saw that there were some big storm clouds coming. We started moving faster to fill the freestanding tubes,concrete although they took longer since we coudn't get the wheelbarrow close enough to pour; we had to shovel into the tubes, which were twice as tall as the tubes that were buried. We got a few filled, keeping an eye on the fast-approaching clouds that were starting to lightning. We worked through the first couple of sprinkles, but as soon as hail started falling on us, we ran inside. (Actually, Phil and I ran inside. Jessa and Nathan ran to the truck.) We waited for the rain to stop pouring for nearly an hour. Once it got down to light sprinkles, we went back outside and continued filling the last couple of tubes and leveling the tops of the tubes that had been rained on. Our shoes collected mud/clay like crazy- they became so big and heavy so quickly that it very soon became difficult to walk. We finished up though, stuck empty concrete bags over the top of the pillars (to try to protect the smooth surface from the still-falling rain), decided against laying drain tile (which was part of the original plan so that Michelle could have the gravel poured at any time) because we didn't want to risk knocking over one of the wet free-standing concrete pillars. Jessa said that she and Nathan would come back tomorrow (today) to check on the pillar bases and lay the drain tile.

By the time that we moved the rest of the concrete bags (which had been kept fairly dry throughout this whole process) into Michelle's barn and said our goodbyes, it's was 7:00, we were soaked, bad smelling and in desperate need of showers. It was fun though (although I am now going to move my rainboots into Jessa's truck.)

The First Six

2008-06-18T19:58:00.004-06:00

Today, the first six earthbags were layed. Six earthbags, signed by the six people working on the building: John, Jessa, Phil, Adam, Jeff and myself.

Adam and I started our day finishing an arch for a doorway. This took a very long time- things didn't square up very well and we had to disassemble. I discovered that screws are infinitely better for problem items than nails. At least screws are easy to take out. (During this time, Phil, Jessa and Jeff were working at the top of the hill- not sure on what...)

After lunch, Adam and I helped Jessa with filling earthbags. We didn't want to lay any yet- I think we wanted to wait until we had all the forms built. John and Phil worked on making a giant arch for a large entry-way. We shoveled dirt off the piles made during the excavation onto a homemade screen, which was at an angle so big rocks would fall into a bucket while small rocks and clay/dirt would fall down onto a pile, which was later scooped into bags and set off to the side for tomorrow.

We got a visit from the codes officials- they had to come inspect the foundation. Duane (the codes official who gave us our permit) did not come, but sent two other guys who didn't seem to have much background on earthbag. I think they had been told the general idea, but they asked lots of questions and were interested in the earthbag ~~bible~~ book that we've been using. They said things were good to go "for now"- I think these codes people are just curious enough to let us do this.

My back was a little sore today. I'm trying to be careful to lift with my legs and not my back, but I have such terrible posture anyways... Even sitting can make my back hurt. I know I will have issues with this in the future- trying to be conscious of it now. Tomorrow, I will be sure to take my tylonel/pain reliever with me.

Jeff is nice- not quite what I was expecting. I think I am not used to males under the age of 30 working in the sustainability realm. He's very nice though and seems to know what he's talking about. After work, I took him and Adam out for pizza at Papaleno's and, later, he showed me pictures of an 11-dome house that he just helped construct in California. Seems like a smart, easygoing guy.

I think tomorrow will be lots of shoveling and bagging dirt. Tomorrow and the next couple of weeks.

I really need to find my camera battery charger.

Building Forms

2008-06-18T06:26:00.004-06:00

We're starting work late today, so I have time to update.

The last two days have been exhausting. Good, but exhausting. This is why there have not been updates.

This is the first workshop week scheduled for the summer. Unfortunately, nobody signed up for the first workshop, very possibly because of the late start on advertising. So, it's been Jessa, Phil, John, Adam and I.

Monday was a form-building day. (My camera battery is dead, so I don't have pictures, but hopefully Phil will send me some of his and I can post a few.) We built arches for the doorway- these are half-cylinders- they are a foot and a half thick so that they go the entire width of the wall. We constructed tall, thin blocks to hold the arches up for the doorways. We also built door frames. (The arches are for doorless doorways. The door frames are for actual doors.) These pieces will be set at the beginning of construction and bags will be placed around them. Once they are covered, the arches and blocks holding them up will be taken out and the earthbag will stay arched. (The door frames will stay in the walls and doors will be screwed onto them.) Most of this stuff was built from (or at least supported by) salvaged pallets. We worked in the sun and were very thankful for our breaks.

Yesterday, John and Adam weren't with us (at least, not for the majority of the time.) Jessa and I continued to work on forms while Phil worked on leveling the gravel foundation (which had finished being placed Monday night.) After lunch, I helped Phil level and tamp the foundation. Lots of shoveling gravel. The floorplan changed a little because of fun whims, but nothing too extreme. It wasn't near as hot outside. The lack of people made progress seem much slower than Monday's. I hammered my thumb pretty hard- it is still colorful underneath the nail and a little painful to put too much pressure on.

Today, Adam and John will be with us on site, as well as Jeff, who drove up from Florida last night. We will be placing (and signing and taking pictures of) the first earthbag. Exciting stuff.

Machetes and Excavations

2008-06-14T19:10:00.008-06:00

It has been several days since my last update.

A guy named Jeff had e-mailed Jessa volunteering to come help at the workshops. From what I understand, he has studied at Cal-Earth and just finished the bagwork on a double eco-dome somewhere. We needed to decide if we wanted to let him come on board for free or allow him to do some kind of work exchange. E-mails circulated and a meeting was held with John. Jeff is going to come up, I believe, although nobody really has a place for him to stay... (I honestly don't know too much about this situation...)

Phil and I returned to the bamboo site that I mentioned in my last post. We want to use bamboo as a thatched ceiling in John's house, so we needed a lot. I used a reciprocating saw to cut down the stalks and Phil used a machete to clear the extra limbs and leafs off them. The patch was huge, so after a couple hours of cutting, we had hardly made a dent in the supply.

Adam and I returned the next day. (Have I mentioned that Adam is back up here?) Jessa and Phil had alternative things to do- this was the first time we've ever been split up doing non-computer work. We cut bamboo for a few more hours.

Me, trimming with pruning shears.

Adam, trimming with a machete.

I learned that trimming with a machete is far easier than trimming with pruning shears, but trimming with pruning shears is infinitely easier than trimming with my utility knife thingy-ma-bob.

Jessa met up with Adam and I in the afternoon to move all the cut bamboo. She had brought the trailer to the truck because she knew the pieces wouldn't all fit in the truck. I think we underestimated the bamboo.

The truck, full of bamboo.

We took the bamboo up to John's house. The ride there was not an issue at all. We had wrapped bungee cords around the bamboo to keep it together and attached the bundled bamboo to the truck and trailer with a few more cords. The trouble came once we got to John's. The road from the entrance to Egret's cove and to John's plot of land is steep(ish) and rocky, with little room to turn around at the top. Since Jessa isn't entirely comfortable backing the trailer up, we decided to detach the trailer and let the bamboo drag on the way up. It worked until we were about 20 feet away from the site- the hill got too steep and the bamboo decided it didn't want to be bundled anymore. It came out of the truck and scattered across the road. (Across, not down. We didn't have to go chasing it down the hill.) We decided we were close enough and, since Egret's Cove is an intentional community, we left the bamboo there, scootching it off the road. Good enough. ^_^

The next day, we all woke up early to go help with the excavation at Michelle's house. We had marked out the foundation last time we were there. From our soil testing, we thought that there was only 6 inches or so of soil before hitting bedrock. One we got the excavator (Michelle's neighbor) in there, we found out that it was very much not true. There was just a lot of flat rock near the top...

A lot of dirt.

There wasn't much to do during the excavation (since only the man on the Bobcat could actually do anything.) We ended up sitting under a tree on some blankets for a few hours, discussing foundations and other details of the house. I figured out how much clay was needed for the site. Hooray math! I met Rob for the first time, cooed over the adorable baby, moved Michelle's windows into the barn and ate a granola bar. Nothing too strenuous.

After a few hours, the perimeter was dug.

Phil and Jessa, making sure the trench for the foundation was satisfactory.

The excavator moved the dirt into the lawn and flattened it; it will probably be used for raised bed gardens later. He also went ahead and dug the draining trenches.

After visiting Michelle's, we met up with Howard Carlberg at his home in Berea. He cooked us lunch (which was fabulous because we were very hungry.) He had an idea to build a cob oven somewhere in Berea, but wanted to make sure that it was used for something (as opposed to just being a structure to point at and say "we have that.") Howard is very involved with the folk dancing that happens in Berea, so one thought that he mentioned was firing up the oven when there were festivals. While no decisions or agreements were made between Howard and HomeGrown HideAways, I think Howard got ideas about how to make his cob oven something for the community to enjoy.

Picking Trees

2008-06-11T08:33:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was the day for picking out trees. Michelle's strawbale/cob studio has a timber frame, so we had to go pick out the trees to be used. Phil already had access to three locust logs that would work as posts on the exterior of the building, so we needed nine more posts for the interior of the building. The posts are going to keep their natural round shape (as opposed to being milled.) We also needed several pieces of 8 foot long curved wood for some interior support/aesthetics in the loft.

We went to visit Tim, our tree-cutter who has a very nice wooded piece of property (and cherry trees and a horse and two very big dogs.) He said that he could probably harvest enough pine for the interior posts. We walked into the woods to get a better look at his trees. The path was incredibly slick from the night before's rain and was fairly steep.

Phil and Jessa (and a big dog)

Michelle and her two boys.

The hike back down. Slippery!

Measuring a curved log for the loft.

After leaving Tim's, we stopped by a place nearby where Michelle was getting some windows from. The truck wasn't big enough to carry the windows, so we decided to come back with the trailer.

Phil, Jessa and I went to look at another patch of bamboo that we might be cutting from for John's house. We will be cutting today.

On a different site for the first time.

2008-06-09T15:01:00.004-06:00

Today, Phil and Jessa and I went out to Michelle's to mark where her strawbale/cob studio is going to be. The site was gorgeous and entirely different from John's wooded site. Michelle had her two sons with her (Eli and Ian- Ian was strapped to Michelle's back the entire time. Eli is my new boyfriend. Both boys are adorable.)

Michelle, Phil and Jessa, on site.

We staked out the perimeter of the building, having slight difficulties with the arch that will be the curved cob wall. Apparently, natural builders cannot be good at math.

Phil staking. This is one option to send to Richard for an "action pose."

The house, marked.

We marked the foundation for the person who is going to come dig it out for us. I think this will happen Wednesday. We marked two foot in from the wall and one foot out. We also marked where the posts are going to be for the timber frame. We are going to look/cut down trees tomorrow.

Phil, marking where to dig for the foundation.

Michelle wanted to know how much clay she was going to need to order. When possible, we will be using clay that comes from the site, so we needed to dig to see if we were going to find any. Once we started digging, we realized that we were planning to build on top of a solid rock that was covered by 6 inches or so of soil. This is a very good thing- strong foundation.

Phil and Jessa, digging to see what we were dealing with.

And, of course, there was some goofing off. ^_^

Perhaps an alternative action shot? I'm sure Richard would love it.

On the way back to campus, we stopped beside the road to look at some bamboo that might be used in the earthbag walls for some extra sturdiness. I think Phil took some back with him to see how it dries.

I did have a weird issue today. After coming in from marking the building, Jessa, Phil and Michelle were discussing some technical aspects of the house (the part that I don't have much to contribute to yet) such as the size and placement of windows. We were standing in the kitchen around the floor plans that were layed out on the island. And then my stomach started feeling pretty strange- in a familiar, dull, terrible way. I got my bottle of water and drank a little, but didn't feel much better. After standing there for another minute or so, I recognized what the feeling was- it was the pre-fainting feeling that I get whenever I'm around needles. Not wanting to be the weirdo who passes out on the first day on site, I took another drink and hoped the feeling would go away. But it didn't and I got dizzy, so I told Jessa I was going to sit down. The others told me I looked pale and offered me food and such, but I said I was fine- I know that just sitting can help quite a bit. So I sat on the floor and made goo-goo eyes at baby Eli and soon felt better. To be super safe, I ate a granola bar and felt completely up to par after a nice lunch of quinoa (this is how wikipedia says you spell this word...) and and beans.

Please note, this is not normal for me. The only times I have ever passed out have been when needles were involved (shots, tattoos, piercings.) I have only been dizzy from a lack of food once in the 9th grade when I didn't know how to manage my vegetarian diet. My little near-fainting spell could have been for several reasons (or combinations of these reasons):

I hadn't eaten anything yet.
It was incredibly hot.
Not enough water.
My body is completely ridiculous and just decided to give out on me.

I doubt option 4 has much validity- I have been nice to my body and it should be nice to me too. Option 3 would surprise me, because I had been drinking water while I was on site. Granted, warm water, and probably not enough in proportion to the heat. Option 2 would be weird, since I've never had heat issues before, and I spent last summer out in the sun for ten hour shifts, four times a week. Also, we were inside an air conditioned building at the time. The food thing is possible, but I wasn't feeling hungry at all and have been eating very healthily lately. I assume it is a combination of these things. I will work to prevent this from happening again in the future.

Tomorrow, tree picking. Wednesday, digging the foundation on Michelle's house. Next week, our first workshop at John's house. Phil recommended that I read the section on floors in my Building with Cob book. (I've been reading Earthbag Building: The tools, tricks and techniques lately, since earthbag is our first workshop.) I also need to get my timecard set up online.

Spending Someone Else's Money

2008-06-08T09:56:00.004-06:00

In the last 48 hours, I have spent $232.41 on internship related stuff. I have bought:
-a tool belt (the bag and the belt were sold separately. Weird.)
-a tool bag.
-four trowels (different sizes)
-ear plugs
-safety glasses (super attractive)
-a square. For some reason, I have negative feelings towards squares. Probably because of my middle school shop class.
-super grippy work gloves (that were more expensive than I thought work gloves should be.
-wire cutters
-25 foot tape measurer
-a line level
-a hammer
-rainboots (found them yesterday- need to get reimbursed.)
-all kinds of first-aid stuff. I think my summer as a trailwalker taught me to carry a big first aid kit. I think I spent about $50 on first aid stuff.

I still need a flip-out utility knife. I've been wanting one of these for a while now, so I'm glad that I actually have a reason to get one. I also might buy another pair of Keens like the one I have, so I don't have to ruin my pair. I also might buy some more shorts. And maybe the two books that Phil is letting me borrow.

I need to keep track of my gas mileage so that I can be reimbursed. Reimbursement for gas is a good thing, because the car I'm using uses a higher quality of gas than normal. Oy. Expensive stuff.

Floor Plans

2008-06-08T09:44:00.004-06:00

Phil drew up floor plans for John's house last week. I'm posting them so that you all can get an idea of what we're doing:

The first one is a side view/dissection of the building. You can see the individual layers of earthbag here, as well as the roof. The second picture is the view from above, to show you the room layout. The large circle will be the general living area and the three smaller rooms will be the wetroom (the door leading out of the north side goes to a composting toilet outside,) the kitchen and the bedroom. The room at the very bottom on the drawing (south) is the main entrance. The living area has two layers of earthbags for more insulation and thermal mass. One layer will be sawdust based.

On site, for the first time!

2008-06-06T07:47:00.003-06:00

Yesterday was an eventful day. Hot though. Very hot.

Phil, John and I went out to Egret's Cove, which is the intentional community where John's earthbag house is going to be. There are about 4 houses there already and a few land plots still up for grabs, I believe. I got to see John's site for the first time. It's in a very wooded area, near another house. There's not much of a clearing- really just enough for the actual house- which I think will make the building process interesting... I liked seeing the site- I feel like everyday I'm getting more and more comfortable with all this.

We headed up Big Hill to the stone quarry to get several buckets of lime for some test bag mixes. We borrowed a truck, so Phil rode in the back. On the way up, John told me the story of his grandson's birth a few days ago. His daughter had delivered at home and John wasn't supposed to be there since he "wasn't the right gender." John sat on the porch and "called the spirits of women"- all the women he could think of. It was a nice story. I like John.

I don't know how to deal with getting reimbursed. I need to buy my tools. I also bought gas yesterday. I really don't know how to deal with this gas thing- I use the car a little for my own personal use as well... I guess I could start keeping track of milage? I don't know...

Nothing to do today except read. I've been doing a lot of that lately. Which may be part of why I'm getting more comfortable with the process- I'm learning.

(I still can't find my camera. Phil took pictures. He said he'd send them to me, so I'll post them as soon as I can.)

Workshop Schedule

2008-06-05T11:48:00.002-06:00

HomeGrown HideAways has updated their website. The workshop schedule has been posted.

June 15-20 Earthbag Workshop 1, $500

Learn to build the first code approved earthbag dome home in Kentucky. Built in an intentional community, the techniques of earthbag construction and planning will be covered along with discussion of site and foundation preparation. This workshop offers plenty of on-site lessons to help participants learn the tools, tricks, and techniques of constructing with earthbags. Hands-on opportunities will help participants to gain a feel for the nature of dirt, clay, lime, and sawdust as building materials as well as earthbag as a technique for residential construction.

June 22-27 Earthbag Workshop 2, $500

See description above. Discounts available if registering for both.

July 6-11 Post & Beam/Timber Frame Workshop, $500

In this workshop, participants will learn the basics of building a post & beam structure. We will cover layout techniques, tool use, hardware, and joinery cutting methods. This workshop is part of a larger project to build a strawbale and cob art studio.

July 13-18, Earthbag Plaster, $500

Like any building, earthen structures need to be protected from the elements. Earthbag construction poses its own unique challenges and working within the dome structure creates many unique learning opportunities. This workshop will cover materials, mixing techniques, troweling and texturing, and using pigments to color plaster.

July 20-25, Strawbale Design/Build, $500

Come learn the basic skills behind one of the most popular techniques of natural construction: strawbale. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to work first-hand with strawbale design and construction and develop a greater understanding of and appreciation for straw as a building material.

July 27 - August 1, Building with Cob, $500

This workshop will provide participants with instructions for creating cob structures, an affordable, safe, and ecologically sound method of construction. Workshop participants will learn the tools and methods used while constructing a cob structure which complies with modern building standards.

August 3-8, Natural Plasters & Finishes 1, $500

Learn how to use clay and lime based plasters on a variety of different natural surfaces, such as earthbag, strawbale, and cob. This workshop will cover materials, mixing techniques, troweling and texturing, and using pigments to color plaster.

August 10-15, Natural Plasters & Finishes 2, $500

See description above. Discounts available if registering for both.

Exciting things are taking place!

2008-06-04T10:30:00.004-06:00

I've had a couple of meeting since my last post. Yesterday, Phil, Jessa and I had an impromptu meeting to hammer out some details with the workshops and specific things that need to be completed before starting the workshops. I don't feel like I contributed too much, but I listened attentively.

Today, I woke up early, (said goodbye to Adam, who left today) and went with Phil and Jessa to meet Michelle at the codes office. Michelle had her two kids with her- a baby strapped to her chest and a hyper boy who really wanted some attention- cute as anything. She got her building permit (from the same guy who approved John's- he seemed friendly and fairly excited about the buildings. It was nice to see who the others had been working with for so long.) Her permit was not near as hard to get as John's, since she will have a timber-frame to support her structure. I got to look at the official floorplan for the studio and I think it's going to be beautiful. (For a reminder, Michelle has the strawbale and cob studio. John had the earthbag dome house.) Jessa took a picture of Michelle with her permit, so maybe I can get my hands on that and post it as well.

After going to the codes office, Phil and I met up with John to discuss his house some more. Phil had plans drawn out on his computer, which I think helped me to understand and visualize the house much better. I felt like this was a very good meeting- I understood and felt up to speed with the others. I might owe my cup of Mocha Jo a thanks. I think John's house is going to be wonderful and unique to look at and I really hope that he opts to put bottle in his wall somewhere. I want to put bottles in a wall.

I just typed up a list of things that need to be done before our first workshop at John's on the 16th. I now need to type up short descriptions of each of the workshops so that Jessa can start advertising. I'm not entirely sure how well I will do on this, but I'm going to go give it a shot. Once Jessa posts the schedule and descriptions somewhere, I will post it on here. I don't want to falsely advertise.

I'm feeling good about this. I'm looking stuff up in books and becoming familiar with the terminology and processes. Phil let me look through his tools that he ordered for the summer, so I now know what I need to buy. I'm looking forward to this.

First Day

2008-06-02T05:52:00.005-06:00

Hi folks. I haven't been around my computer lately and I haven't wanted to post without being on my own computer.

I had a meeting with Jessa, Phil and John (owner of the earthbag project) on Friday (I think.) A lot was said to finalize plans on John's house. A lot of what is said was technical, design stuff and I didn't feel like I could contribute so much to that part of the conversation; I think I will be far more helpful when we actually start building.

John got a building permit.
This is an amazingly good thing. The entire time I have been involved with this internship, the others have been pushing for the codes office to give John a building permit. There are no earthbag residencies in this region, so codes officials were extremely hesitant about giving the permit. Now, as long as everything goes well in the building process, people who want to build with earthbag should have a much easier time getting their permits. Groundbreaking stuff, kids.

Carol's cob house has been moved outside my internship. She doesn't feel that she will be ready to build until late August/early September, which is past the internship end. I was looking forward to the round cob house, but I will have an opportunity to build with cob when I work on Michelle and Rob's studio.

My internship officially starts today, although I don't think that there's anything for me to be doing today. I'm a little in the dark right now about what I'm supposed to be doing- I'm just waiting for Phil or Jessa to tell me to do something.

In other news, Adam (boyfriend) is visiting for a few days, so I've been playing with him lately. He likes the SENS house and, hopefully, will help me get a bed into the room I'm wanting to move into. Then I can unload boxes.

I have a giant fear that I'm going to kill all my friends' plants that they left with me for the summer.

Planning the Summer

2008-05-28T12:00:00.006-06:00

I had a meeting with Phil and Jessa yesterday. I was waking up from a nap that I took to get rid of a headache, so I was fairly low energy. The meeting went well though and I now feel more comfortable with what I'm going to be doing this summer.

There are three buildings that I am going to be working on.

John's earthbag dome. This is the structure that I'm most familiar with- I've been following the progress as John, Phil and Jessa have been designing and dealing with codes people. This structure is unique because it's actually a house. From what it sounded like, nobody has lived full-time in any of the structures that Phil or Jessa have made.
Carol's cob pottery studio. This will be a round structure with a shed roof.
Michelle and Rob's strawbale and cob art studio. Three walls will be strawbale and the fourth will be cob. Cob needs to be round, so the fourth wall, the southfacing wall, will be rounded, allowing for more thermal mass.

We set up a schedule for workshops for the summer. Jessa wanted to check with the project owners to make sure that the weeks we designated to work on their buildings was alright with them, so I'm going to wait until I hear confirmation from that before posting the complete schedule, but I will say (that this sentence is getting very long and) that there are nine straight weeks of workshops that I will be helping out with. The plan is to hold workshops Monday through Friday, 9 to 5 with long lunch breaks. We're hoping that each workshop has 5 to 15 people. The workshops will start June 16th, two weeks after my internship officially starts. Phil and I will be doing prep-work in those two weeks. I'm waiting to hear more about that.

June 10th I have a doctor's appointment. July 30th I go to the Warped Tour for free tabling for the Rainforest Action Network. I honestly know nothing about this- a friend of mine (Lilly) asked me if I wanted to join her. I will be recieving information in the mail to pass out, etc. I just found out that it was July, not June, so I will have to tell Jessa next time I see her.

I'm taking care of the animals now. They are sweet and wonderful. Even the shy cat (Sara) let me pet on her for a while. Good stuff.

Just a little update...

2008-05-23T17:56:00.004-06:00

I am officially done with this semester of school. Finally. I think I'm mostly done packing up my room as well. I'll be moving into the SENS house on Sunday. Monday through Saturday, I will be staying at a woman named Judy's house taking care of her (adorable) pets. She lives about 11 miles off campus, so it will be a nice little mini-vacation. I am coming back to campus on Tuesday at 1 to meet up with Phil and Jessa to "hammer down a bunch of details for this summer." I'm looking forward to my first week of summer.

The Intro Entry

2008-05-16T23:32:00.001-06:00

Okay. So, this is my blog for the summer. I'm making it so that people can keep up with me and all my awesomeness as I work on my awesome summer internship. (I will talk about this more in just a moment.)

First, let me introduce myself, for those of you who may have just stumbled upon this blog somehow. My name is Erin Finsel. I'm 19 and am just beginning my summer break before my Sophomore year at Berea College. I don't know for sure, but I think I will be an independent Sustainability and Environmental Studies (SENS- I don't know where the N comes from) major. My ultimate goal (as of right now) is to have a house, a garden, maybe a few chickens and a really nice cat.

So far, at Berea, I have taken an ecological design course and next semester I will be taking an ecological architecture course. Currently, there are only a handfull of Bereans who know how to build naturally (that is, using natural, often non-traditional, local materials such as clay, dirt, timber, straw and sand.) I have been given a Compton Internship for the summer to learn the techniques of natural building from Berea grad Jessa Turner, who is starting up her own natural building business, Homegrown HideAways, and Phil Hawn, who will be graduating in December and has built multiple natural building structures on campus. I will be helping to build three different shelters in Berea while teaching workshops to educate others. I will be given up to $2000 for supplies (although, realistically, I only need about $500) and a $3000 stipend to be spent however I would like. I will be living by myself in the SENS house, a house designed for four students, complete with solar panels, a solar water heater, a strawbale wall, a greenhouse, lots of gardens and a composting toilet (among other things.) (I will be living in the SENS house next year as well, but with three other people.)

In order to receive credit for my internship, I must keep a daily log of contacts, actions and purchases that are made during my internship. Along with the overall progress made during the construction, I will provide daily statements discussing the ecological aspects of my personal actions; I will explain what I have done during that day to help promote sustainability. I will be sure to include dated and captioned pictures of the different steps of the process and any handouts or fliers that are involved with the workshops. At the end of each week, I will provide a personal reflection of my work, my thoughts on the project and the lessons I have learned regarding natural building and ecological design in regards to residential construction. I will send an electronic copy of my journal to my sponsor, Richard Olson, at the end of each week. I predict that this online blog will be updated accordingly, although hopefully a little more personal, since the majority of my readers will be people I know personally.

I think this is a decent introduction. My internship officially starts on the first, so there might not be too much posted before then, unless I experience all kinds of strange things once I move into the SENS house that I think should be shared.

Wish me luck!