The on-line magazine Low-Tech Magazine has a great introductory article about wood fired cars.
Quoting from the above-linked article, ... Dutch John strongly believes in wood gas generators, mainly for stationary uses such as heating, electricity generation or even the production of plastics. The Volvo is meant to demonstrate the possibilities of the technology. "Park an Italian sports car next to a wood gas car and the crowd gathers around the woodmobile. Nevertheless, wood gas cars are only for idealists and for times of crisis.
I am convinced that using wood as a heating source and potentially an energy source makes a lot of sense where I live. The forest products industry in British Columbia is huge, and we do not effectively utilize the waste wood from this industry (it is often completely wasted).
There is significant potential energy generation lost from all of that waste wood. Most proposals and projects that attempt to harness this potential energy are large-scale and designed to fit with our existing centralized power generation and distribution grid. I (as I suspect are most people building earthships) am interested in a small-scale energy system that powers my needs and possibly the neighbor's.
There are now some excellent prototypes for wood gasification available, including free plans! The typical route when considering independent energy generation typically starts with solar power. I think we also need to be thinking about other locally appropriate, low-technology solutions.
I love this stuff!
Showing posts with label earthship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label earthship. Show all posts
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
The Bond Beam
Given the warm weather we have had lately (all our snow is gone and it has consistently been above 0 degrees celcius), we are planning the next stage of our building project. If the weather stays warm we hope to start building again too!
The main tire wall was finished last fall. The next step is placing a bond beam on top of this wall. This beam ties the walls and roof of the building together and increases the stability of the walls.
We have decided to pour a concrete bond beam as detailed in Volume III of the Eartship books, as opposed to using the laminated 2x12 bond beam described in volume I. We chose this route as we would prefer to minimize any wood that ultimately might be back filled. Also, the sad reality is that I am trained as an engineer; both solutions seem adequate, but concrete just leaves me feeling that much better about the situation. This decision does mean more time and cost.
The Bond Beam
Our bond beam will be 8" wide by 8" high with two continuous runs of 1/2" rebar. The beam will be anchored to the tire wall by; excavating every second tire, and driving a 3' length of 1/2" rebar into each excavation such that approximately 6" of rebar remains above the top of the tire and will be buried in the concrete poured for the beam.
The perimeter of the back tire wall of the earthship is (I simply took this from the plans):
12' + 08' + 12' + 16' + 28' + 11' + 15'+ 11' + 11' + 12' + 28' (7x4') + 18' = 182'
So, our bond beam will have an approximate length of 182'.
Figuring out the concrete required for this bond beam:
concrete in beam = 2/3' x 2/3' x 182' = 81 cubic feet = 3 cubic yards
This does not allow for the holes excavated in the tops of the tire or variations in tire heights that mean more concrete is used. So ... rough estimate of 4 cubic yards.
I figure on the following materials for the bond beam:
The Bond Beam Form
A form needs to be built to hold the concrete after it is poured, until it sets up. I figure I have two options here...
Option 1: A Pop Can and Concrete Form for the Bond Beam
As outlined in Volume III many earthship builders use a pop can and concrete form instead of wood. This is done primarily (I believe) to reduce the amount of wood used in the project.
Some rough calculations ...
Option 2: A Lumber Form for the Bond Beam: My rough numbers
Assuming I use lumber for my forms, I need the following materials:
I believe I have gathered enough pop cans to consider the first option for forming the beam. However, I would probably use all the pop cans I have accumulated to date, and be left looking for more later on.
I actually have access to low grade lumber suitable for forming the beam. It makes more sense to me to use lumber for this form; the material is available to me, and I think it will be easier to finish around the roof beams down the road. The simple reality is that if I do not use the lumber for this job, it will need to be re-worked for some other use.
Using lumber will probably not save me much money, as I will require fasteners for the form which I currently do not have. I do hope that this decision will save us time and labour.
The main tire wall was finished last fall. The next step is placing a bond beam on top of this wall. This beam ties the walls and roof of the building together and increases the stability of the walls.
We have decided to pour a concrete bond beam as detailed in Volume III of the Eartship books, as opposed to using the laminated 2x12 bond beam described in volume I. We chose this route as we would prefer to minimize any wood that ultimately might be back filled. Also, the sad reality is that I am trained as an engineer; both solutions seem adequate, but concrete just leaves me feeling that much better about the situation. This decision does mean more time and cost.
The Bond Beam
Our bond beam will be 8" wide by 8" high with two continuous runs of 1/2" rebar. The beam will be anchored to the tire wall by; excavating every second tire, and driving a 3' length of 1/2" rebar into each excavation such that approximately 6" of rebar remains above the top of the tire and will be buried in the concrete poured for the beam.
The perimeter of the back tire wall of the earthship is (I simply took this from the plans):
12' + 08' + 12' + 16' + 28' + 11' + 15'+ 11' + 11' + 12' + 28' (7x4') + 18' = 182'
So, our bond beam will have an approximate length of 182'.
Figuring out the concrete required for this bond beam:
concrete in beam = 2/3' x 2/3' x 182' = 81 cubic feet = 3 cubic yards
This does not allow for the holes excavated in the tops of the tire or variations in tire heights that mean more concrete is used. So ... rough estimate of 4 cubic yards.
I figure on the following materials for the bond beam:
- 24 bags portland cement (4 cubic yards of concrete)
- engineered fibres (how much?)
- 550 lineal feet 1/2" rebar (2 runs x 182' + 40 tires x 3' + min. 18" lapping = 550 ?)
- hay wire (to wire the lapped rebar)
- embedded fasteners in the concrete to secure the beams (not sure what these are yet)
The Bond Beam Form
A form needs to be built to hold the concrete after it is poured, until it sets up. I figure I have two options here...
Option 1: A Pop Can and Concrete Form for the Bond Beam
As outlined in Volume III many earthship builders use a pop can and concrete form instead of wood. This is done primarily (I believe) to reduce the amount of wood used in the project.
Some rough calculations ...
- A pop can is basically 5" long x 2.5" in diameter.
- This means each can has a volume of 3.14 x (2.5/2)^2 x 5" = 24.54 cubic inches = 0.0142 cubic ft.
- A lineal foot of can wall will use at a minimum 3 cans in each horizontal course (total of 9 cans for 1 sqft of wall).
- A lineal foot of the bond beam form wall will use a total of 6 cans as it is only 8" high. Ignoring these 6 cans, a lineal foot of the form wall needs 5" x 8" x12" = 480 cubic inches of concrete. Subtracting the volume of the tin cans this works out to 332.76 cubic inches of concrete or 0.00713 cubic yards of concrete per running foot of can wall for the bond beam form
- volume of concrete = 2 x 182' x 0.00713 cu.yards/' = 2.6 cubic yards
- number of cans = 2 x 182' x 6 cans/' = 2184 cans
- fasteners to hold rebar in place during the pour
Option 2: A Lumber Form for the Bond Beam: My rough numbers
Assuming I use lumber for my forms, I need the following materials:
- fasteners to hold the two sides of the form together while concrete is poured,
- fasteners to hold rebar in place during the pour,
- lumber fasteners for the lumber,
- lumber for the forms
I believe I have gathered enough pop cans to consider the first option for forming the beam. However, I would probably use all the pop cans I have accumulated to date, and be left looking for more later on.
I actually have access to low grade lumber suitable for forming the beam. It makes more sense to me to use lumber for this form; the material is available to me, and I think it will be easier to finish around the roof beams down the road. The simple reality is that if I do not use the lumber for this job, it will need to be re-worked for some other use.
Using lumber will probably not save me much money, as I will require fasteners for the form which I currently do not have. I do hope that this decision will save us time and labour.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Can we do it? Yes we can!
O.K. so a hokey rip off of Bob the Builder. But Bob's on our side (having built an earthship on his show; sadly only in the U.K so we can't get it here). I figure Bob wouldn't mind me ripping off his chant as the introduction to our can collection post.
Earthships use pop (beer) cans as part of the building process. Cans are pressed into a form of cement for interior walls and planter walls to limit the amount of concrete used in the building.
Last year we did a rough estimate of how many cans we would need. We arrived at 10,000.
We don't drink pop and we don't drink much beer. Thankfully, many volunteers, friends and family have been regularly donating cans and we figure we now have, perhaps 2,500.
A week ago Chris and I walked to our mail box. We walked there the back way but came home along the highway, bringing back with us, about 10 cans (a 200m stretch).
The following day Chris went on his own for a walk down the highway but took a grocery bag with him. He walked 2km on one side of the highway and 2 km back along the opposite side. He got honked at, too, by our friend Dave Tremblay, who must have thought we were running out of money!
Here's Chris' haul from that walk.
The next day we drove the Upper Louis Creek Heffley road from Barriere to Sun Peaks (where we ski). After 6 km of the 30 km stretch of road, we finally started stopping. The kids thought we were cracked, but they soon got right into it (laughing and talking and spotting). Stephen and Chris would retrieve cans and the girls would laugh.
The 36 cans we picked up were all beer cans. This prompted a discussion in the car about why we weren't finding pop cans. The kids were interested to learn that even if you are a passenger, open alcohol is against the law. So the conclusion we came to is that the risk of being caught far outweighed the benefits of getting the 5 cent deposit back. Also Chris pointed out that lots of people travel that road after a day of skiing and the beverage of choice quite obviously neither Coke nor Pepsi! BTW it is overwhelmingly Bud Light!
The next day we found another 16 cans. Some we obviously missed the first time, but some were newly discarded. Chris then found some on the road to Dad and Gail's and on his last walk in the northern direction from our house, he found 110! Recently my brothers gave us big bags, too!
If anybody wants to contribute to our research, please peruse the back roads that you travel and commit to picking up cans. Then let us know what the beer of choice is in your neck of the woods. (And if you wanted to donate the cans to our building, it will guarantee a photo on this blog!)
Earthships use pop (beer) cans as part of the building process. Cans are pressed into a form of cement for interior walls and planter walls to limit the amount of concrete used in the building.
Last year we did a rough estimate of how many cans we would need. We arrived at 10,000.
We don't drink pop and we don't drink much beer. Thankfully, many volunteers, friends and family have been regularly donating cans and we figure we now have, perhaps 2,500.
A week ago Chris and I walked to our mail box. We walked there the back way but came home along the highway, bringing back with us, about 10 cans (a 200m stretch).
The following day Chris went on his own for a walk down the highway but took a grocery bag with him. He walked 2km on one side of the highway and 2 km back along the opposite side. He got honked at, too, by our friend Dave Tremblay, who must have thought we were running out of money!
Here's Chris' haul from that walk.
The next day we drove the Upper Louis Creek Heffley road from Barriere to Sun Peaks (where we ski). After 6 km of the 30 km stretch of road, we finally started stopping. The kids thought we were cracked, but they soon got right into it (laughing and talking and spotting). Stephen and Chris would retrieve cans and the girls would laugh.
The 36 cans we picked up were all beer cans. This prompted a discussion in the car about why we weren't finding pop cans. The kids were interested to learn that even if you are a passenger, open alcohol is against the law. So the conclusion we came to is that the risk of being caught far outweighed the benefits of getting the 5 cent deposit back. Also Chris pointed out that lots of people travel that road after a day of skiing and the beverage of choice quite obviously neither Coke nor Pepsi! BTW it is overwhelmingly Bud Light!
The next day we found another 16 cans. Some we obviously missed the first time, but some were newly discarded. Chris then found some on the road to Dad and Gail's and on his last walk in the northern direction from our house, he found 110! Recently my brothers gave us big bags, too!
If anybody wants to contribute to our research, please peruse the back roads that you travel and commit to picking up cans. Then let us know what the beer of choice is in your neck of the woods. (And if you wanted to donate the cans to our building, it will guarantee a photo on this blog!)
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Reflections on our tire press
We've been getting emailed questions about our tire press, so I thought I would attempt to recap our experiences with it.
As described in an earlier posting we built the press out of materials we had on hand. The press design is quite simple. The unit consists of:
The hydraulic cylinder is approximately 1' retracted length (including the attached steel plates) and extends out another 3-4" at full extension. The steel plates are 5/16" thick and were cut from steel pipe that was approximately 16 inches in diameter. The photo shows the initial plates that I used that came close to packing an entire tire in one pass. These plates were impractical ... it was too hard to place the packer in a tire, and it simply did not pack well. We settled on much smaller plates that were only about 6" wide.
As shown in the video (below this paragraph) the size of the packer is dictated by the inside diameter of the tires being filled. The packer is dropped into a previously hand packed tire that is still hollow in the middle. With the packer fully retracted, dirt is then shoveled into the tire so that when the packer cylinder is extended the new and existing dirt is packed into the tire. The packer is rotated and this process is repeated until the tire is sufficiently packed.
After the tire is sufficiently packed, the packer is removed. The tamper is then used to fill and compact the centre of the tire.
Our tamper was simply an old sprocket welded to a five foot length of steel pipe. The whole
unit weighs significantly more and has a much wider packing head (approximately 8" diameter) than a sledge hammer. It was very effective at packing the centre of the tires.
Many thanks to Mike Casey for building and lending this packer to us!
Tamping requires a person to straddle the tire and compact the dirt by pounding the tamper up and down while periodically adding dirt until the tire is filled and compacted.
Care needs to be taken to not stand on the edges of the tire being tamped initially, as you run the risk of reducing the compaction of the tire by collapsing the dirt in the rim. You also do no want to strike the side walls of the tire with the packer as this will also reduce the compaction of the tire.
Our packer was fairly small and portable. We mounted the hydraulic pump and electric motor combination on a wheel barrow so that it could be moved easily from tire to tire. We ran a 50' extension cord to an available electrical outlet. (We also ran the unit off of a 3500 watt gas generator during a power failure.) The hoses were long enough such that the packer could be used at the top of an eight foot wall with the packer at the base of the wall.
As the walls got higher the packer stayed inside the building, and we brought dirt to the tires from the outside of the building and backfilled as we went. This meant that moving the dirt was done at ground level and the operator of the packer stood on a ladder as the walls got higher. We had to extend the lever controlling the cylinder so that the person operating it could still extend and retract the ram.
I guess the important question is was it worth it? Was the packer effective? Did we save time, money or labour?
In terms of cost our packer was essentially free. I had all of the parts needed to make this unit, although I did cannibalize one piece of equipment that will have to be put back together. Also, I did all of the welding and assembly, and it went together surprisingly quickly. So, there was very little cost in building this unit. I suspect you could pay a few thousand dollars buying and scrounging the parts needed.
The packer proved to be very effective in packing the tires, it did a very consistent job of filling and compacting the rims of the tires. I can only compare the effectiveness of the packer to tires we filled with sledge hammers on our first tier and tires I have seen in finished buildings. Both methods seem equally effective at compacting dirt in a tire. One advantage of the packer is that it did not get tired, and loose oomph as the day went on. Quality control was critical regardless of the method used, and we were careful to consistently inspect finished tires.
We definitely saved a lot of hard labour using the packer. We were exhausted after a day of hand packing the tires. The hydraulic press eliminated the physically demanding effort of packing with the sledge hammer. The tamping was still done by hand (and generated lots of complaints) but was far easier than the alternative.
I also think that the packer saved us time. A crew of three was very efficient when filling tires; one to operate the packer, one to shovel dirt and one to tamp tires and supply dirt to the shoveler. I am estimating (guessing?) that we could easily have done half a row of tires a day (approximately 40) and finished the main tire wall in under a month with a dedicated crew of three to four people. It took us three months, we did not work steadily, and our crew of volunteers changed constantly. I suspect that either method can be very efficient. The bigger issue with either method is keeping people busy packing tires. A lot of time and effort goes into moving, supplying and preparing material (dirt, tires, water and cardboard). More than once we stopped working to scrounge tires, move dirt or cut cardboard!
Ultimately, at the end of the day using a hydraulic packer meant that the crew was as happy at the end of the day as at the beginning!
As described in an earlier posting we built the press out of materials we had on hand. The press design is quite simple. The unit consists of:
- a stubby hydraulic cylinder,
- two rounded steel plates welded at either end of the cylinder,
- a control valve to extend and retract the cylinder,
- hydraulic hose plus fittings,
- and a portable hydraulic pump that plugs into a standard 120 volt wall outlet.
The hydraulic cylinder is approximately 1' retracted length (including the attached steel plates) and extends out another 3-4" at full extension. The steel plates are 5/16" thick and were cut from steel pipe that was approximately 16 inches in diameter. The photo shows the initial plates that I used that came close to packing an entire tire in one pass. These plates were impractical ... it was too hard to place the packer in a tire, and it simply did not pack well. We settled on much smaller plates that were only about 6" wide.As shown in the video (below this paragraph) the size of the packer is dictated by the inside diameter of the tires being filled. The packer is dropped into a previously hand packed tire that is still hollow in the middle. With the packer fully retracted, dirt is then shoveled into the tire so that when the packer cylinder is extended the new and existing dirt is packed into the tire. The packer is rotated and this process is repeated until the tire is sufficiently packed.
Our tamper was simply an old sprocket welded to a five foot length of steel pipe. The whole
unit weighs significantly more and has a much wider packing head (approximately 8" diameter) than a sledge hammer. It was very effective at packing the centre of the tires.
Many thanks to Mike Casey for building and lending this packer to us!
Care needs to be taken to not stand on the edges of the tire being tamped initially, as you run the risk of reducing the compaction of the tire by collapsing the dirt in the rim. You also do no want to strike the side walls of the tire with the packer as this will also reduce the compaction of the tire.
As the walls got higher the packer stayed inside the building, and we brought dirt to the tires from the outside of the building and backfilled as we went. This meant that moving the dirt was done at ground level and the operator of the packer stood on a ladder as the walls got higher. We had to extend the lever controlling the cylinder so that the person operating it could still extend and retract the ram.
I guess the important question is was it worth it? Was the packer effective? Did we save time, money or labour?
In terms of cost our packer was essentially free. I had all of the parts needed to make this unit, although I did cannibalize one piece of equipment that will have to be put back together. Also, I did all of the welding and assembly, and it went together surprisingly quickly. So, there was very little cost in building this unit. I suspect you could pay a few thousand dollars buying and scrounging the parts needed.
The packer proved to be very effective in packing the tires, it did a very consistent job of filling and compacting the rims of the tires. I can only compare the effectiveness of the packer to tires we filled with sledge hammers on our first tier and tires I have seen in finished buildings. Both methods seem equally effective at compacting dirt in a tire. One advantage of the packer is that it did not get tired, and loose oomph as the day went on. Quality control was critical regardless of the method used, and we were careful to consistently inspect finished tires.
We definitely saved a lot of hard labour using the packer. We were exhausted after a day of hand packing the tires. The hydraulic press eliminated the physically demanding effort of packing with the sledge hammer. The tamping was still done by hand (and generated lots of complaints) but was far easier than the alternative.
I also think that the packer saved us time. A crew of three was very efficient when filling tires; one to operate the packer, one to shovel dirt and one to tamp tires and supply dirt to the shoveler. I am estimating (guessing?) that we could easily have done half a row of tires a day (approximately 40) and finished the main tire wall in under a month with a dedicated crew of three to four people. It took us three months, we did not work steadily, and our crew of volunteers changed constantly. I suspect that either method can be very efficient. The bigger issue with either method is keeping people busy packing tires. A lot of time and effort goes into moving, supplying and preparing material (dirt, tires, water and cardboard). More than once we stopped working to scrounge tires, move dirt or cut cardboard!
Ultimately, at the end of the day using a hydraulic packer meant that the crew was as happy at the end of the day as at the beginning!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The Building Site - Winter is here
We've had snow over the last couple of days. So far none of it is sticking!
I have been slow to post updates the last while ... so lets see.
In mid-october we backfilled the exterior walls. The walls are now ten tires high (8') and bermed on the outside right up to the tenth row. The exterior walls are very stable, but the interior walls (which are currently unsupported) are wobbly when you stand on the top and hit them hard with something. Most of the construction accounts I have read describe this instability. When the walls are restrained by the bond beam and roof they are very solid.
Before we bermed to the tops of the walls we had some heavy rain. At that point we had not sloped the ground behind the building site away from the building. Runoff pooled behind the wall in the kids' bedroom and flowed through the tire wall. Not something you want to see! When we backfilled in October, we also contoured and sloped the land behind the building so that runoff moves away from the building. We have since had even heavier rain and the walls looked great. It is always nice to see things work the way they are supposed to!
Since that time Sandra and I have been winterizing the property and getting ready for winter.
At this point we do not think we will make significant progress on the house over the winter, but we will take things as they come. The next steps are pouring the bond beam and starting the roof.
I have been thinking and doing more about electrical generation and heating systems, and I will start posting some of my thoughts and work in these areas in the next little while!
I have been slow to post updates the last while ... so lets see.
In mid-october we backfilled the exterior walls. The walls are now ten tires high (8') and bermed on the outside right up to the tenth row. The exterior walls are very stable, but the interior walls (which are currently unsupported) are wobbly when you stand on the top and hit them hard with something. Most of the construction accounts I have read describe this instability. When the walls are restrained by the bond beam and roof they are very solid.Before we bermed to the tops of the walls we had some heavy rain. At that point we had not sloped the ground behind the building site away from the building. Runoff pooled behind the wall in the kids' bedroom and flowed through the tire wall. Not something you want to see! When we backfilled in October, we also contoured and sloped the land behind the building so that runoff moves away from the building. We have since had even heavier rain and the walls looked great. It is always nice to see things work the way they are supposed to!
Since that time Sandra and I have been winterizing the property and getting ready for winter.
At this point we do not think we will make significant progress on the house over the winter, but we will take things as they come. The next steps are pouring the bond beam and starting the roof.
I have been thinking and doing more about electrical generation and heating systems, and I will start posting some of my thoughts and work in these areas in the next little while!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Pouring the last 1/2 tires!
Last weekend Linda and Grant Hallis arrived to help us with the last poured cement half tires. They are selling their home on Vancouver Island and are looking for land in the interior of BC. If anybody knows of 50-100 acres of sunny, south facing land, let me know! Here are some pictures of our work on the house. Thanks for the help Linda and Grant!
Saturday, October 10, 2009
The U walls are done!!!!
We are finished the 10th round of tires! We had the Morrison family drop in for a few hours to see the house and they picked up a few shovels and hurried things along while we talked. Thanks for the help! I counted after and we (and many volunteers, thank you thank you thank you) have filled 762 tires! We have just under 200 to fill on the front wall next spring. They will be in a straight line and will be smaller car tires. Easy peasy!Today we catch up on other chores: hay for the barn loft for the winter and we will finish preserving our apples. I still have to try Josh's chutney recipe and we are loving the apple juice so much we will make more!
Sunday takes us to Tom and Steph's cabin for turkey and Monday finds us adding a layer of rigid insulation to our thermal wrap in anticipation of backfilling on the 16th.
Next week is our anniversary (14 or 20 depending on whether we celebrate marriage of togetherness :) !!) so we are taking a few days off to go to the theatre, out to dinner, spend some time together without the kids (thanks Dad and Gail) and do what every couple does to celebrate 20 years together...go to an equipment auction! Chris is eying a snowplow blade and I'm curious what the small stock trailer will go for.
Friday, October 9, 2009
So close!
Today Tom, Steph, Chris and I filled and packed 27 tires. This leaves thirteen tires to be packed tomorrow. Unfortunately we won't have their help tomorrow (they are busy getting ready to make a big turkey dinner for 19 people at their cabin near Bridge Lake, B.C.) but thirteen tires shouldn't take us more than a few hours.We are already looking ahead to what we can do before winter and I think we have accepted that we will not get the roof on before snow flies. We will move forward with the bond beam and I will be extremely happy if that gets poured this fall. Then, on good days, I can sand our weathered round log beams and then stain in the shop (heated). When they are stained and dried we will put them on the bond beam, putting them in place as we go. Might be able to work on other parts of the roof if we get a spate of really good weather this winter, but we are happy poking along and getting other parts lined up for a fast start in early April.
Dad showed up today with 31 tires giving us enough to finish the walls. What a relief. Although we will need to collect some 225 tires for the front wall in the spring, completing the 235 tire collection is a major milestone!
On a completely different note, the rooster took a run at me today! He can be a little aggressive to say the least. I think he is being "henpecked", though. When I let the chickens out today his feathers looked more than a bit ruffled and I think I saw blood on them.
Here are a few photos from today (none of the rooster going for me!)
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Making great progress on round #10
Today my brother Thomas and sister-in-law, Steph, came to help with the tires. It was a bit chilling in the morning but we had some great sun later on. We had to stop at about 2 pm for piano lessons, but still managed to get about 24 tires filled with their help.
Steph brought leftovers for lunch: Chana Masala, some spicy lamb chops and spinach paneer. That together with a few quarts of our apple juice, pita bread, my homemade relish, roasted tomatoes and samosas (which came up from Vancouver with Steph earlier in the week) we had a spread that I wish we could feed all our volunteers!
They will be back tomorrow and hopefully we will get slightly more than 24 filled, leaving us with only 10-15 to complete on Saturday.
My father picked up 13 more tires in Kamloops today, leaving us with only 17 more to complete round #10. He will swing by Insight Tire and Auto in the morning to see what they have. We could be in good shape to be done by Saturday!
On the 16th Alvin returns to finish backfilling the tire walls and then he will remove his wondrous backhoe for the season. This will leave us in good shape to be able to work on the roof from the outside of the building.
Chris and I have been re-reading and plotting our next steps. We will be doing a continuous concrete bond beam on top of the tires. The forms will be made from setting pop cans in really stiff mortar. We finally start to use the many pop cans everyone has been donating to our non pop-drinking family!
My father, who recently sand blasted the outside of his log house, has got Katie started on collecting dry sand for us as we intend to sandblast our round beams for the house. Then, I'm going to stain them before we place them on the roof.
The big question is whether we will go past pouring the bond beam this season. A lot will depend on the weather. Two people this week have said an early cold winter but I think they were reading the same almanac, personally!
On the 17th we have another couple coming to help for 3-4 days. We should just be starting the bond beam then so they will be learning along with us! I think this activity will be very easy for the kids to involve themselves in; it should be like playing in the mud!
Here are some photos of today's work!
Steph brought leftovers for lunch: Chana Masala, some spicy lamb chops and spinach paneer. That together with a few quarts of our apple juice, pita bread, my homemade relish, roasted tomatoes and samosas (which came up from Vancouver with Steph earlier in the week) we had a spread that I wish we could feed all our volunteers!
They will be back tomorrow and hopefully we will get slightly more than 24 filled, leaving us with only 10-15 to complete on Saturday.
My father picked up 13 more tires in Kamloops today, leaving us with only 17 more to complete round #10. He will swing by Insight Tire and Auto in the morning to see what they have. We could be in good shape to be done by Saturday!
On the 16th Alvin returns to finish backfilling the tire walls and then he will remove his wondrous backhoe for the season. This will leave us in good shape to be able to work on the roof from the outside of the building.
Chris and I have been re-reading and plotting our next steps. We will be doing a continuous concrete bond beam on top of the tires. The forms will be made from setting pop cans in really stiff mortar. We finally start to use the many pop cans everyone has been donating to our non pop-drinking family!
My father, who recently sand blasted the outside of his log house, has got Katie started on collecting dry sand for us as we intend to sandblast our round beams for the house. Then, I'm going to stain them before we place them on the roof.
The big question is whether we will go past pouring the bond beam this season. A lot will depend on the weather. Two people this week have said an early cold winter but I think they were reading the same almanac, personally!
On the 17th we have another couple coming to help for 3-4 days. We should just be starting the bond beam then so they will be learning along with us! I think this activity will be very easy for the kids to involve themselves in; it should be like playing in the mud!
Here are some photos of today's work!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Photos
Me using the tire press eight feet in the air. If you look closely, the toggle control now has an extension of about four feet enabling me to use my foot to operate it. That's the 10th and final row I'm working on!
The only broccoli I managed to successfully grow this year.
The chrysanthemums last hoorah.
Our wild onion patch. Still haven't pulled them. September gave them a real push on size.
Dad's apple tree. Not totally picked yet!
Hugo, playing in the sun.
Chris, waiting for me to put the camera down.
Chris and Hugo. This would have been a good spot for me to use the zoom...I think I can zoom in on this picture, too, after taking it. Things to figure out.
The southwest corner of the house.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Fall and the Building Site
Cooler temperatures arrived around here right at the beginning of September. We no longer have the oppressive heat of July and August, and we have had a significant amount of rain that we were sorely lacking over the last two months.
Sandra and I have been working away on the eighth round of tires since the beginning of the month, and we are now a third of the way done. We hope to be done this round of tires by early next week. The kids had their first full day of school today, and we packed 18 tires while they were gone.
We used up all of our tires today, so hopefully Gary (Sandra's dad) has some luck in Kamloops today and brings back lots of tires. Thanks Gary!
Because we are now bringing in tires as we are using them the last two courses of tires have been layed out slightly differently. I am mixing different sizes of 235's much more as I lay them down. I started doing this for the simple reason that I do not have tires all of one size to do an entire row anymore. The results have been amazing! I have eliminated most of the spacer blocks that I used in courses four and five. Had I thought this through at the beginning I would have used multiple tire sizes in every course. Using multiple sizes makes getting everything to fit MUCH easier.
Most of the last week has been a write off due to the Barriere fall fair last week end. The kids showed their sheep. This did not go as well as hoped for, the kid's Suffolk meat sheep did not compare well against other breeds at the fair. There are three weeks left before we go to the Kamloops Winter Fair and the kids sell their sheep. We are increasing the food for the sheep and the kids are exercising them more. Hopefully, this will improve the sheep's finishing, and lead to better results and prices!
We also had some really positive results at the fair! Stephen entered a trio of laying pullets (chickens) and got a first! Sandra and the girls entered baked goods ranging from cakes to rustic bread, and walked away with a number of ribbons for their efforts. Sandra was most pleased with a first for her rustic bread, and the girls both got ribbons for the cakes they baked.
There are some ominous clouds on the horizon. The dump truck has been running poorly the last couple of times I used it; it is backfiring, has no power and is belching white smoke. Some discussion with Gary and Mike Casey leads me to believe that one of the cylinders may not be firing or compressing. I borrowed a compression tester from Mike Casey, and popped the hood this evening to see if I could track the problem. I've got problems ...
The white smoke I saw last time I ran the truck was obviously more than smoke. There was a fire in the engine compartment. The oil and sawdust mixture glued to everything in the compartment (not something I recommend having on you engine, but it is an occupational hazard) ignited and burned off. I am assuming this happened after I parked the truck as there were no obvious signs of an on-going engine-fire when I stopped the truck.
Fortunately the fire did not spread, and went out on its own. The bad news is that the covering on a number of wires was burned off, and some hoses are burned through. These will all need to be replaced. The worst damage seems to be an aluminum housing attached to the engine that is now a puddle of aluminum (three puddles actually). I do not know how significant this housing is (or more importantly what it housed), and will have to dig around over the next couple of days. This is a very common engine (a 427 V8) so parts should be easy to track down. Amazingly, I turned the ignition on and the engine cranked over ... that is a very good sign! I spend my days cursing the old equipment I use, but it sure takes a lot to put it down for the count.
If the truck is unavailable for a while we will have to figure out an alternative for moving more gravel to the building site. A problem for tomorrow ...
Sandra and I have been working away on the eighth round of tires since the beginning of the month, and we are now a third of the way done. We hope to be done this round of tires by early next week. The kids had their first full day of school today, and we packed 18 tires while they were gone.
We used up all of our tires today, so hopefully Gary (Sandra's dad) has some luck in Kamloops today and brings back lots of tires. Thanks Gary!
Because we are now bringing in tires as we are using them the last two courses of tires have been layed out slightly differently. I am mixing different sizes of 235's much more as I lay them down. I started doing this for the simple reason that I do not have tires all of one size to do an entire row anymore. The results have been amazing! I have eliminated most of the spacer blocks that I used in courses four and five. Had I thought this through at the beginning I would have used multiple tire sizes in every course. Using multiple sizes makes getting everything to fit MUCH easier.
Most of the last week has been a write off due to the Barriere fall fair last week end. The kids showed their sheep. This did not go as well as hoped for, the kid's Suffolk meat sheep did not compare well against other breeds at the fair. There are three weeks left before we go to the Kamloops Winter Fair and the kids sell their sheep. We are increasing the food for the sheep and the kids are exercising them more. Hopefully, this will improve the sheep's finishing, and lead to better results and prices!
We also had some really positive results at the fair! Stephen entered a trio of laying pullets (chickens) and got a first! Sandra and the girls entered baked goods ranging from cakes to rustic bread, and walked away with a number of ribbons for their efforts. Sandra was most pleased with a first for her rustic bread, and the girls both got ribbons for the cakes they baked.
There are some ominous clouds on the horizon. The dump truck has been running poorly the last couple of times I used it; it is backfiring, has no power and is belching white smoke. Some discussion with Gary and Mike Casey leads me to believe that one of the cylinders may not be firing or compressing. I borrowed a compression tester from Mike Casey, and popped the hood this evening to see if I could track the problem. I've got problems ...
The white smoke I saw last time I ran the truck was obviously more than smoke. There was a fire in the engine compartment. The oil and sawdust mixture glued to everything in the compartment (not something I recommend having on you engine, but it is an occupational hazard) ignited and burned off. I am assuming this happened after I parked the truck as there were no obvious signs of an on-going engine-fire when I stopped the truck.
Fortunately the fire did not spread, and went out on its own. The bad news is that the covering on a number of wires was burned off, and some hoses are burned through. These will all need to be replaced. The worst damage seems to be an aluminum housing attached to the engine that is now a puddle of aluminum (three puddles actually). I do not know how significant this housing is (or more importantly what it housed), and will have to dig around over the next couple of days. This is a very common engine (a 427 V8) so parts should be easy to track down. Amazingly, I turned the ignition on and the engine cranked over ... that is a very good sign! I spend my days cursing the old equipment I use, but it sure takes a lot to put it down for the count.
If the truck is unavailable for a while we will have to figure out an alternative for moving more gravel to the building site. A problem for tomorrow ...
Saturday, August 29, 2009
More of the same, but new people!
On Tuesday Mike Slobogean drove up from White Rock and the next morning we were initiating him to filling tires. He just left this afternoon and with his help we completed row #6. Peter Robinson of Westbank arrived last night and today we gave a crash course in earthships, as he is leaving us tomorrow morning sometime.
My cousin Gerald and his partner/wife/ and one of their sons, Arlo, arrived this evening just in time to help out, too. We are almost finished the first "U" of the seventh round.
My cousin Trevor (he is actually my cousin Alan's son and Gerald's nephew; I'll let you sort it out) showed up to get his hands dirty too. So we had a fairly sizeable crew for a few hours this evening.
Our photos are fairly repetitive right now. Tires, dirt, more tires, more dirt.
Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me when I headed down to our pharmacy to pick up more cardboard a few days ago. My friend Shelly had shown me where the store stacks its cardboard outside and I had been picking it up as needed. This time when I went there was a raised cage that cardboard was being stored in. It had a slot at the top and it was locked. Rather than wait for the store to open to ask them to unlock it, I went to the hardware store to see if they had any cardboard.
The hardware store also had one of these wooden cages and when I asked if they could unlock it and let me take the contents I was told that the cages were part of the town's new cardboard collection program. Hmmm. I drove quickly around town and discovered that while we were shooting the rapids in Bowron, Barriere was locking up its garbage!!!
I quickly phoned Chris for ideas as we were desperate for that cardboard.
He had talked to the folks at the dump and had been told we could go through their huge bins whenever we wanted. All the cardboard in these cages ends up there eventually anyway.
So up to the dump where Alan cranked open the great big green bin and voila!!! My PICK of corrugated cardboard. I was so excited I fell over my own feet and knocked my shin against the bin, leaving me with a whopper of a bruise. To match the one Mike gave me when he shoveled a rock onto my hand!
We will be working away on round #7 with an eye to completing it before Tuesday...wish us luck!
On Tuesday I will be shopping for a new camera as ours died and the kids are pretty protective of their own digital cameras!
My cousin Gerald and his partner/wife/ and one of their sons, Arlo, arrived this evening just in time to help out, too. We are almost finished the first "U" of the seventh round.
My cousin Trevor (he is actually my cousin Alan's son and Gerald's nephew; I'll let you sort it out) showed up to get his hands dirty too. So we had a fairly sizeable crew for a few hours this evening.
Our photos are fairly repetitive right now. Tires, dirt, more tires, more dirt.
Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me when I headed down to our pharmacy to pick up more cardboard a few days ago. My friend Shelly had shown me where the store stacks its cardboard outside and I had been picking it up as needed. This time when I went there was a raised cage that cardboard was being stored in. It had a slot at the top and it was locked. Rather than wait for the store to open to ask them to unlock it, I went to the hardware store to see if they had any cardboard.
The hardware store also had one of these wooden cages and when I asked if they could unlock it and let me take the contents I was told that the cages were part of the town's new cardboard collection program. Hmmm. I drove quickly around town and discovered that while we were shooting the rapids in Bowron, Barriere was locking up its garbage!!!
I quickly phoned Chris for ideas as we were desperate for that cardboard.
He had talked to the folks at the dump and had been told we could go through their huge bins whenever we wanted. All the cardboard in these cages ends up there eventually anyway.
So up to the dump where Alan cranked open the great big green bin and voila!!! My PICK of corrugated cardboard. I was so excited I fell over my own feet and knocked my shin against the bin, leaving me with a whopper of a bruise. To match the one Mike gave me when he shoveled a rock onto my hand!
We will be working away on round #7 with an eye to completing it before Tuesday...wish us luck!
On Tuesday I will be shopping for a new camera as ours died and the kids are pretty protective of their own digital cameras!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Back at the Tires!
Chris and I started filling tires again today. We've got 12 done on the 6th round and the best news is that Chris thinks we may only have to do nine rounds! We are welcoming some more volunteers this week and weekend. Glad that the weather is cooler, but we lose the light earlier in the evening.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Half Way There!
We have finished the fifth row of tires!
Only five more to go ...
Unfortunately I have NO pictures of this milestone as our camera is broken! We are attempting to solve this problem ...
The last of our July volunteers left yesterday. Thank you to everybody who came and helped over the last month, this progress would not have been possible otherwise!
Anna made a surprise comment the evening before she left. It went something like "Pounding tires is much more enjoyable than studying for my chiropractic exams!" I admit I added the emphasis but the quote is true ... So for all you people faced with a dreadful work prospect, just remember we have something more enjoyable here and its a FREE activity!
Sandra and I have spent the last few days catching up on house chores and taking a bit of a break. The garden is thriving ... mostly. The potatoes seem to have been struck down by blight, but the tomatoes vines are groaning and the onions will be ready soon.
The chickens are starting to lay eggs. We are getting about two a day now, and one of them today was actually quite large. The chickens have taken to invading the lamb enclosure, but happily the chickens and lambs get along well.
The lambs are steadily putting on weight, and all seem to be shaping up nicely. Have I mentioned that 4H lambs taste wonderful?
Over the next couple of days we plan to get more of the thermal wrap installed and berm the first five courses of tires. We also need to finish installing the building services (water lines, electrical, telephone).
We do not anticipate getting a lot done over the next two weeks as next week we are going on a kayak adventure to the Bowron Lakes. We are planning to navigate the 116 km circuit of the lakes so we will let you know how that goes.
Last weekend we prepared for our trip by dumping the kayaks ...
Only five more to go ...
Unfortunately I have NO pictures of this milestone as our camera is broken! We are attempting to solve this problem ...
The last of our July volunteers left yesterday. Thank you to everybody who came and helped over the last month, this progress would not have been possible otherwise!
Anna made a surprise comment the evening before she left. It went something like "Pounding tires is much more enjoyable than studying for my chiropractic exams!" I admit I added the emphasis but the quote is true ... So for all you people faced with a dreadful work prospect, just remember we have something more enjoyable here and its a FREE activity!
Sandra and I have spent the last few days catching up on house chores and taking a bit of a break. The garden is thriving ... mostly. The potatoes seem to have been struck down by blight, but the tomatoes vines are groaning and the onions will be ready soon.
The chickens are starting to lay eggs. We are getting about two a day now, and one of them today was actually quite large. The chickens have taken to invading the lamb enclosure, but happily the chickens and lambs get along well.
The lambs are steadily putting on weight, and all seem to be shaping up nicely. Have I mentioned that 4H lambs taste wonderful?Over the next couple of days we plan to get more of the thermal wrap installed and berm the first five courses of tires. We also need to finish installing the building services (water lines, electrical, telephone).
We do not anticipate getting a lot done over the next two weeks as next week we are going on a kayak adventure to the Bowron Lakes. We are planning to navigate the 116 km circuit of the lakes so we will let you know how that goes.
Last weekend we prepared for our trip by dumping the kayaks ...
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Installing thermal wrap...insulating our thermal mass!
To
Here is the beginning of our thermal wrap, installed on the east wall. Essentially we increase the thermal mass of the tire walls by wrapping them and 3-6 feet of dirt with rigid insulation and poly. During winter, the insulation traps the thermal mass of the tires and dirt and slows down the heat transfer into the rest of the bermed wall, allowing our house to remain warmer longer.
We decided to match the R value of a traditional basement wall, which is 12. This piece of blue styrospan is 2.4 inches thick and is suitable to be buried. Earthship Biotecture recommends doubling the insulation using two, two inch pieces, mostly for added rigidity for backfilling, but also to gain a few extra R values.
We decided to stick with one layer of R12. The original earthship designs did not even include a thermal wrap and as we intend to heat with an auxiliary source, we made the call to stick with a single layer. This picture shows the 2x8 sheet of insulation with the 6 mil poly that will run on the outside of the insulation, into the edge of the drainage system.
Here it is with the second and third piece attached. As each piece is placed, we are leveling them individually and to each other.
Chris and James extending the insulation along the north wall.
Here's the insulation (again on the east side), next to the cleanout for the drainage system. The insulation takes a 45 degree turn around the first U (our bedroom!)
Here it is from the opposite direction with the poly tuck taped to the insulation. Our next layer of poly will overlap by 6 inches. We will take the insulation up to about six feet (as we continue filling tires) and then the rigid insulation will slant inwards to the roof, creating a "ceiling" for the thermal wrap.
Looking east to west. As we turn the corner we add more poly and attach it to the piece already sloping into the drainage system (not shown here).
We are holding the insulation in place by means of these small wooden "cradles". Made of scrap wood, each is intended to cradle the ends of two adjoining pieces of rigid insulation (thereby necessitating the bare minimum of cradles). Where the insulation turns, we use a dedicated cradle for the end of each piece. We are also tuck taping the joins of the insulation. This also helps keep it aligned. To answer an obvious question: yes we will bury the wooden cradles. Who cares if they degrade down the road. The bermed walls will more than hold the insulation in place over time.
We only set the thermal wrap to about half of the north side of the walls. We need to feed our services through the conduits we placed under the first round of tires and we still need to figure out what some of those are (including the proper gauge wire for renewable electric)! Alvin brought in his amazing excavator to help us with drainage and backfilling, so we had him backfill oh-so-carefully around each side of our thermal wrap. He has a delicate hand on the controls; it's the hours he's spent with kids and grandkids, playing Nintendo since the 80s! Here's a video of him doing the backfilling. We sent him away until Monday when we hope to have the thermal wrap set on the remainder of the building for backfilling.
Tomorrow we lose James. He's been here just over a week, having made his way across Canada from Newfoundland with the intention of settling in Victoria. Before getting himself set up there and looking for work, he decided to make a stop and help us with our home. He's been taking carpentry and has lots of insightful questions for Chris about the construction. At first he worked only with us, before Sean and Anna made their way back from Victoria to rejoin us. They brought Josh last Sunday and the four of them have worked in concert since then. Josh is a story teller and always sees the humour in situations. Despite having very little construction experience, he has been digging in with fervor since arriving. He's headed to Calgary tomorrow for a wedding and then will return to Victoria to his work. Chris and I hope both James and Josh will come back again and help with another aspect of our project. Together with Sean and Anna I will always think of this group of 20-somethings as the "Fab Four", they are relentless workers and were the first ones to sign on to the Darfield Earthship!
We are looking forward to welcoming other volunteers in the coming weeks!
Here is the beginning of our thermal wrap, installed on the east wall. Essentially we increase the thermal mass of the tire walls by wrapping them and 3-6 feet of dirt with rigid insulation and poly. During winter, the insulation traps the thermal mass of the tires and dirt and slows down the heat transfer into the rest of the bermed wall, allowing our house to remain warmer longer.We decided to match the R value of a traditional basement wall, which is 12. This piece of blue styrospan is 2.4 inches thick and is suitable to be buried. Earthship Biotecture recommends doubling the insulation using two, two inch pieces, mostly for added rigidity for backfilling, but also to gain a few extra R values.
We decided to stick with one layer of R12. The original earthship designs did not even include a thermal wrap and as we intend to heat with an auxiliary source, we made the call to stick with a single layer. This picture shows the 2x8 sheet of insulation with the 6 mil poly that will run on the outside of the insulation, into the edge of the drainage system.
Here it is with the second and third piece attached. As each piece is placed, we are leveling them individually and to each other.
Chris and James extending the insulation along the north wall.
Here's the insulation (again on the east side), next to the cleanout for the drainage system. The insulation takes a 45 degree turn around the first U (our bedroom!)
Here it is from the opposite direction with the poly tuck taped to the insulation. Our next layer of poly will overlap by 6 inches. We will take the insulation up to about six feet (as we continue filling tires) and then the rigid insulation will slant inwards to the roof, creating a "ceiling" for the thermal wrap.
Looking east to west. As we turn the corner we add more poly and attach it to the piece already sloping into the drainage system (not shown here).
We are holding the insulation in place by means of these small wooden "cradles". Made of scrap wood, each is intended to cradle the ends of two adjoining pieces of rigid insulation (thereby necessitating the bare minimum of cradles). Where the insulation turns, we use a dedicated cradle for the end of each piece. We are also tuck taping the joins of the insulation. This also helps keep it aligned. To answer an obvious question: yes we will bury the wooden cradles. Who cares if they degrade down the road. The bermed walls will more than hold the insulation in place over time.We only set the thermal wrap to about half of the north side of the walls. We need to feed our services through the conduits we placed under the first round of tires and we still need to figure out what some of those are (including the proper gauge wire for renewable electric)! Alvin brought in his amazing excavator to help us with drainage and backfilling, so we had him backfill oh-so-carefully around each side of our thermal wrap. He has a delicate hand on the controls; it's the hours he's spent with kids and grandkids, playing Nintendo since the 80s! Here's a video of him doing the backfilling. We sent him away until Monday when we hope to have the thermal wrap set on the remainder of the building for backfilling.
Tomorrow we lose James. He's been here just over a week, having made his way across Canada from Newfoundland with the intention of settling in Victoria. Before getting himself set up there and looking for work, he decided to make a stop and help us with our home. He's been taking carpentry and has lots of insightful questions for Chris about the construction. At first he worked only with us, before Sean and Anna made their way back from Victoria to rejoin us. They brought Josh last Sunday and the four of them have worked in concert since then. Josh is a story teller and always sees the humour in situations. Despite having very little construction experience, he has been digging in with fervor since arriving. He's headed to Calgary tomorrow for a wedding and then will return to Victoria to his work. Chris and I hope both James and Josh will come back again and help with another aspect of our project. Together with Sean and Anna I will always think of this group of 20-somethings as the "Fab Four", they are relentless workers and were the first ones to sign on to the Darfield Earthship!
We are looking forward to welcoming other volunteers in the coming weeks!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
More supply shopping
Tuesday found us on the way into Kamloops with a list of supplies we needed to complete the perimeter drain for the building, the thermal wrap and the rest of the materials to do the tire walls. We are now on our third row of tires. Sean and Anna left last Saturday on errands in the lower mainland. We sure miss their help! Things go slower without them!
As our tire walls increase in height, we need to start backfilling so that we have a same-level surface to work on. That meant putting in the perimeter drain and starting the thermal wrap. On Monday evening we sat down and made an extensive list of supplies that we needed for Wednesday, which is when we asked Alvin to return and do some trench digging. On our way into Kamloops Tuesday morning Chris hit the cell phone and started to get some prices.
Our biggest learning curve was on what kind of rigid insulation to buy for the thermal wrap. The thermal wrap is the layer of rigid insulation that is buried around the house (to the height of the roof) that contains the heat around the house and prevents any thermal heat we acquire in the house from seeping slowly out into the ground. For a better explanation of this go to Earthship Biotecture at: http://www.earthship.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=27:thermal-wrap-turbo-charge-your-earthship&catid=49:comfort&Itemid=30
Rigid insulation differs in kind and price. The blue kind is the one more generally accepted for burial. However, we found a white brand that was half the price. Most sales people told us that it was not acceptable for burial. However, we saw a little bit of text on the promotional material that indicated otherwise. Sharon Donchi (who used to arrange log home shows and now works at Home Depot) called the technical rep for this company and it turns out that it can indeed be buried. We however, wanted to achieve an R12 value, which is generally accepted by Code for a traditional basement wall. This less expensive brand was only R8. By the time we ran the numbers the blue brand was still more expensive but probably by only 10-20 per cent. Using the
white brand may have been less expensive, but it did have a lower compression value AND it is not generally viewed by traditional building authorities as a product that can be buried. When all was said and done we decided on the blue brand.
Generally perimeter drains are constructed using a product called Big O. This is a black, perforated, flexible pipe that is laid in a slightly sloped drainage ditch around the building. The pipe is accompanied by filter cloth and drainage rock and then buried. The idea is that if water accumulates around and in the ground surrounding the house, it will drain into the pipe and be passed around and
beyond the house. However, our family and friends had had issues with Big O collapsing over time so we decided to use perforated 4" PVC. We also decided to install three vertical cleanouts should we ever get a plug up. For us, digging through 10 feet of bermed earth is a bigger issue than with a traditional home! More pictures of the finished drain in a few days!
The PVC pipe was a lesson in going to the specialists. We priced this product at all the big box hardware stores and there was up to a $5 difference in a 10' piece (ranging from $20 locally to $15 at Rona Hardware). As we were driving past Andrew Sheret, I
pulled in and Chris came back with a quote of $11.10 per piece. With 
savings in hand, we started loading up.
Today another volunteer earthship builder arrived. James is from Newfoundland but is moving to Victoria and decided that before he got a job there, he wanted to do a few things, inlcuding help us for a few days. We are glad to have his help and look forward to Friday when Sean and Anna return with their "mate" Josh.
The photos are fairly straight forward but I'm having trouble manipulating them and being able to put captions on them. The trailer shot is of 30 of our 140 pieces of rigid insulation. There are several shots of the drainage ditch and because I'm always behind the camera, Katie took some pictures of me, doing what I do best, apparently: sitting and supervising!
As our tire walls increase in height, we need to start backfilling so that we have a same-level surface to work on. That meant putting in the perimeter drain and starting the thermal wrap. On Monday evening we sat down and made an extensive list of supplies that we needed for Wednesday, which is when we asked Alvin to return and do some trench digging. On our way into Kamloops Tuesday morning Chris hit the cell phone and started to get some prices.
Our biggest learning curve was on what kind of rigid insulation to buy for the thermal wrap. The thermal wrap is the layer of rigid insulation that is buried around the house (to the height of the roof) that contains the heat around the house and prevents any thermal heat we acquire in the house from seeping slowly out into the ground. For a better explanation of this go to Earthship Biotecture at: http://www.earthship.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=27:thermal-wrap-turbo-charge-your-earthship&catid=49:comfort&Itemid=30
Rigid insulation differs in kind and price. The blue kind is the one more generally accepted for burial. However, we found a white brand that was half the price. Most sales people told us that it was not acceptable for burial. However, we saw a little bit of text on the promotional material that indicated otherwise. Sharon Donchi (who used to arrange log home shows and now works at Home Depot) called the technical rep for this company and it turns out that it can indeed be buried. We however, wanted to achieve an R12 value, which is generally accepted by Code for a traditional basement wall. This less expensive brand was only R8. By the time we ran the numbers the blue brand was still more expensive but probably by only 10-20 per cent. Using the
white brand may have been less expensive, but it did have a lower compression value AND it is not generally viewed by traditional building authorities as a product that can be buried. When all was said and done we decided on the blue brand.Generally perimeter drains are constructed using a product called Big O. This is a black, perforated, flexible pipe that is laid in a slightly sloped drainage ditch around the building. The pipe is accompanied by filter cloth and drainage rock and then buried. The idea is that if water accumulates around and in the ground surrounding the house, it will drain into the pipe and be passed around and
beyond the house. However, our family and friends had had issues with Big O collapsing over time so we decided to use perforated 4" PVC. We also decided to install three vertical cleanouts should we ever get a plug up. For us, digging through 10 feet of bermed earth is a bigger issue than with a traditional home! More pictures of the finished drain in a few days!The PVC pipe was a lesson in going to the specialists. We priced this product at all the big box hardware stores and there was up to a $5 difference in a 10' piece (ranging from $20 locally to $15 at Rona Hardware). As we were driving past Andrew Sheret, I
pulled in and Chris came back with a quote of $11.10 per piece. With 
savings in hand, we started loading up.Today another volunteer earthship builder arrived. James is from Newfoundland but is moving to Victoria and decided that before he got a job there, he wanted to do a few things, inlcuding help us for a few days. We are glad to have his help and look forward to Friday when Sean and Anna return with their "mate" Josh.
The photos are fairly straight forward but I'm having trouble manipulating them and being able to put captions on them. The trailer shot is of 30 of our 140 pieces of rigid insulation. There are several shots of the drainage ditch and because I'm always behind the camera, Katie took some pictures of me, doing what I do best, apparently: sitting and supervising!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Cardboard Scavanging
Today we spent the day in Kamloops tending to errands, grocery shopping and some materials shopping for the house. We needed to get the material to pour small concrete "half blocks" for infilling in the tires. Chris will probably elaborate on that later.
Our other mission was to round up more cardboard, which is used on the second round and every subsequent round, to prevent the dirt from falling to the round below. Essentially we need a large "plug" for each tire. I had already made the round of our local stores in Barriere.
I wasn't prepared to be stunned by our cardboard search in Kamloops. Much like our first foray into tire gathering, I hadn't realized how much cardboard there is in our consumer lives! We first went to The Future Shop, figuring that a large appliance store would have big pieces. The appliance salesperson gamely disappeared into the back room and came back, somewhat apologetically, with 5 or 6 medium sized boxes. Apparently the stack of cardboard had just been "crushed". I asked him what day would be best to come and when did they "crush" their stack? Apparently any time somebody walked by and felt like compacting it.
I didn't really clue in yet but after I pulled up to the shipping bay of Sears and sent Chris in, only to see him come out shaking his head, we started our education. Chris told me that he and another gentleman were both after cardboard but they could hear the crusher start up as they approached the door. No go at Sears.
Next we pulled up to the Bay and Chris waited for a bit while an employee loaded a patio table into somebody's truck. I watched the fellow shake his head at Chris. After he got into the car I was beginning to think that these crushers must be hydraulic and make a lot of really cool noise, if they were crushing so often!
Next we went to Home Depot. I'm going to digress. We humans have a really fine tuned ability to select the information that is important to us. Despite having been at the Home Depot many times, as well as other large stores, I couldn't think where each store's shipping department would be. Some were so obvious it was amazing I didn't notice them before! But I guess when one's mind is on its target (the product to purchase) one does not think of the input/output part of the equation.
At Home Depot Chris came out with another 4 or 5 decent sized boxes. Then to my least favourite store, Wal-Mart (blech). I wish I'd had a camera. Lined up in their shipping lane were about 20 pallets with the crushed cardboard waiting for removal. These "crushers" do a really compact job. While Chris was in trying to wheedle some cardboard out of them, I was trying to decide if taking a whole bale of cardboard on our trailer on a subsequent visit would yield enough of the stiffer cardboard to make it worthwhile. Still not sure.
No luck at Wal-Mart, although Chris did ask how they handled their waste cardboard. At Wal-Mart, they distribute grey bins (we've all seen them!) around the store and as they fill they get wheeled to the back and immediately crushed. So our window of opportunity is pretty small.
Off to Superstore for grocery shopping but first to the shipping department for cardboard. Here, their policy is not to give cardboard to ANYBODY (???)
Once we'd packed in groceries and lamb feed, we were pretty full so we headed home.
On the return trip I was comparing our tire hunt to our cardboard hunt. Each waste material was waaaayyy more plentiful than even I imagined...AND even with cardboard it felt like showing up right after the tire recyclers had visited our suppliers!
Sean and Anna stayed behind and slogged away at tire pounding (in between downpours). They WANTED to; we're not slave drivers! We left them with some cardboard, which we had been finding blew out the bottom once it got water soaked (remember we were damping our dirt to help fill the tires). We also left some old lumber wrap so they could try lining the cardboard to prevent sogginess. I had also suggested some of our old advertising signs, which were on core-plast, a plastic version of cardboard. The core-plast was a winner! Unfortunately we don't have enough to do a whole house! My next project is to call around to the sign makers and see if they have any used core-plast they want us to take off their hands.
Coming up soon: Pictures of how we fill tires now that we are using the tire "press" and an updated expenses posting now that we picked up material to pour a little concrete. This expenses exercise is very good for us. It forces us to organize our receipts which is necessary when we complete the house. In Canada when you build a new home that is your primary residence, you can claim back all your GST, which is a 5 percent tax.
Our other mission was to round up more cardboard, which is used on the second round and every subsequent round, to prevent the dirt from falling to the round below. Essentially we need a large "plug" for each tire. I had already made the round of our local stores in Barriere.
I wasn't prepared to be stunned by our cardboard search in Kamloops. Much like our first foray into tire gathering, I hadn't realized how much cardboard there is in our consumer lives! We first went to The Future Shop, figuring that a large appliance store would have big pieces. The appliance salesperson gamely disappeared into the back room and came back, somewhat apologetically, with 5 or 6 medium sized boxes. Apparently the stack of cardboard had just been "crushed". I asked him what day would be best to come and when did they "crush" their stack? Apparently any time somebody walked by and felt like compacting it.
I didn't really clue in yet but after I pulled up to the shipping bay of Sears and sent Chris in, only to see him come out shaking his head, we started our education. Chris told me that he and another gentleman were both after cardboard but they could hear the crusher start up as they approached the door. No go at Sears.
Next we pulled up to the Bay and Chris waited for a bit while an employee loaded a patio table into somebody's truck. I watched the fellow shake his head at Chris. After he got into the car I was beginning to think that these crushers must be hydraulic and make a lot of really cool noise, if they were crushing so often!
Next we went to Home Depot. I'm going to digress. We humans have a really fine tuned ability to select the information that is important to us. Despite having been at the Home Depot many times, as well as other large stores, I couldn't think where each store's shipping department would be. Some were so obvious it was amazing I didn't notice them before! But I guess when one's mind is on its target (the product to purchase) one does not think of the input/output part of the equation.
At Home Depot Chris came out with another 4 or 5 decent sized boxes. Then to my least favourite store, Wal-Mart (blech). I wish I'd had a camera. Lined up in their shipping lane were about 20 pallets with the crushed cardboard waiting for removal. These "crushers" do a really compact job. While Chris was in trying to wheedle some cardboard out of them, I was trying to decide if taking a whole bale of cardboard on our trailer on a subsequent visit would yield enough of the stiffer cardboard to make it worthwhile. Still not sure.
No luck at Wal-Mart, although Chris did ask how they handled their waste cardboard. At Wal-Mart, they distribute grey bins (we've all seen them!) around the store and as they fill they get wheeled to the back and immediately crushed. So our window of opportunity is pretty small.
Off to Superstore for grocery shopping but first to the shipping department for cardboard. Here, their policy is not to give cardboard to ANYBODY (???)
Once we'd packed in groceries and lamb feed, we were pretty full so we headed home.
On the return trip I was comparing our tire hunt to our cardboard hunt. Each waste material was waaaayyy more plentiful than even I imagined...AND even with cardboard it felt like showing up right after the tire recyclers had visited our suppliers!
Sean and Anna stayed behind and slogged away at tire pounding (in between downpours). They WANTED to; we're not slave drivers! We left them with some cardboard, which we had been finding blew out the bottom once it got water soaked (remember we were damping our dirt to help fill the tires). We also left some old lumber wrap so they could try lining the cardboard to prevent sogginess. I had also suggested some of our old advertising signs, which were on core-plast, a plastic version of cardboard. The core-plast was a winner! Unfortunately we don't have enough to do a whole house! My next project is to call around to the sign makers and see if they have any used core-plast they want us to take off their hands.
Coming up soon: Pictures of how we fill tires now that we are using the tire "press" and an updated expenses posting now that we picked up material to pour a little concrete. This expenses exercise is very good for us. It forces us to organize our receipts which is necessary when we complete the house. In Canada when you build a new home that is your primary residence, you can claim back all your GST, which is a 5 percent tax.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
We Are Getting Serious ...
Over the last week we have been busy pounding the base layer of tires for the earthship.Sean and Anna Renaud arrived on the 1st of July and for the next couple of days we pounded tires as I described in my last post. Speaking for myself (although I suspect everyone else will agree) I was exhausted after a couple of days of this activity. Each tire was taking a good half hour to fill and compress and the pounding was brutal. Everybody laughed on the third day when I told them that I crawled into bed and cried myself to sleep ... but I really was not joking!
There had to be a better way ... I searched fruitlessly on the internet for a couple of evenings and did not come up with any obvious solutions. I did establish from a couple of different blogs that the tire size we are using is large and other people have struggled to pound tires this large as well.
Anna actually solved the problem by telling me to visit this web site (http://homepages.callplus.net.nz/~b.gubb/tyre_press.html).
I started by scrounging available materials on hand. I borrowed the hydraulic drive from our band resaw, found a small hydraulic cylinder in my spare parts (bought it at an industrial auction years ago), a 16" diameter steel pipe from some scrap steel, and miscellaneous hydraulic fittings I had on hand. Bear in mind that we have been operating a log house and planing business for the last ten years.
I cut two curved packing plates from the steel pipe (generally I would recommend wearing long pants when doing this step). I welded a packing plate on each end of the cylinder, hooked everything up and ...We had an indefatiguable tire packer.The packer worked but it had some problems; it was difficult to load dirt into the tire around it because it was too big, and the packing plates were so big that it was difficult to position the packer in the tire.
I made some modifications ...I truly appreciate the expression "we are cooking with gas" now because we are packing with oil and man is life easier!
We do find that the gravel we are packing needs to be damp, and that the packer does not work well with clay.
We packed 27 tires today and it was a lot of work, but not impossible work.
We hope to finish the base round of tires tomorrow (83 tires total) then we will be starting the second layer and the perimeter drain.
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