Glenn's Underground Cabin Update

[Antonio Carlos Machado]

Hello, how's it going Glenn, okay? By far so good! I read what you wrote about concrete buildings, and here in Brazil we are counter to what is said about the environment. The new wood construçães are few, I'll post pictures of wooden houses here in Jaragua do Sul and Curitiba , and draws attention because they have about 30 or more years of construction. The construction industry is geared to all high reinforced concrete building with very high costs and wastage of manpower.

[glenn kangiser]

Hi Tony.  Thanks for the Pix.  Mexico is quite geared toward the concrete houses also.  The people there think they are very strong and durable.

In Burma there is also some concrete used in construction, but much of it is concrete post and beam construction using human powered pumps... a bucket brigade actually.  You would be surprised how fast they work and what they can accomplish by throwing tons of people at a project. 

[glenn kangiser]

Here is how they pour concrete, even to many stories up.  The materials and mixer may be moved up manually even by women and children working there.

Click the picture below to see the video of the Human Concrete Pumping method used in Burma/Myanmar.  Note that this is in the beautiful little city of Aung Ban...




Here in the US we would simply call a concrete pump.  There that would put many people out of work.

[glenn kangiser]

Last weekend we had students and family from China.




We have had International Students for three of the last 4 weekends and have more coming this week.  Sassy has been helping with them at the Underground complex and even made it out hiking with us this last weekend.  We had April and her father and mother from China as well as Steven also... we are going with the American names as I am not so good with the Chinese names.

April speaks great English, though her parents just speak a few words....with April translating, her parents told  us the Underground cabin looked like a fairytale house to them.  What I did understand from them on leaving was when her mother and father both said, "I love you", to me in good English....

They arrived Friday night in the first car of the group, leading the way for the bus.  That was when I met April, Mama and Papa.... They were assigned to be our guests and stayed through Sunday.  Since they did not speak English and needed to take less strenuous routes in Yosemite, Sassy and I hung out with them for the entire weekend taking them to Yosemite Falls as well as the Native American Museum to see my friend, Ben.

Sunday Morning we got Mr Ed saddled up.  April and Steven took a short ride... April's first and then everyone posed for pictures with him.  Mr Ed was the star of the show on Sunday Morning.... a few quick Kodak moments then off to the Sunday Morning Service. 

I of course told them, "I love you too" .... What a great extended family.  We are expected to show up at their house in China in the future...

[glenn kangiser]

Sorry I haven't been able to post much lately....

Got busy with the International students for the last 5 weeks.. and in the meantime I have been repairing a driveway...




Added the side ditches, crowned it, added a culvert...... moved a mountain and whatever else it took...

Tomorrow I start a short steel job... then maybe back to semi-normal???  Who knows?  ......

[ben2go]

Drive looks good.

[glenn kangiser]

Thanks Ben... it is in  pretty good shape now with ditches on both sides most of the way and drainage to keep the water from penetrating the clay so bad underneath the road base. Maybe that will keep the winter chuckholes away... 

I am currently installing structural steel upstairs on a mezzanine in a pistachio plant... No heavy equipment allowed up there so I am installing the beams with a modified by me Cherry Picker and chain hoists from building beams.  Got the worst 2 done today.... about 1500 lbs each and over 32 feet long.   



Yay... it's down hill from here... though the smaller beams are big enough to kill you too.... but... piece of cake, eh?  No wonder the company crew didn't want to do it......

[ben2go]

Looks like a fairly easy job compared to those you've posted in the past.Will that be clear span or addition stud/support beams,for the lack of a better term.

[glenn kangiser]

That is clear span there with movable walls hanging from the longest beams later, Ben.  About 32 foot clear span....

I actually finished the entire job today in an unexpected frenzy of things going right....  I think we hung and tightened 17 columns and beams today between the two of us and my modified cherry picker.  That is a good record for even on the ground floor... Normal would be 10 for two men in a 8 hour day... but then I said normal...



Who do we know that is normal anyway?...

[ben2go]

   Looks real good.It's good to have things go you're way from time to time.

[glenn kangiser]

Yes Ben, the steel stud walls were not parallel and wandered out about 2 inches because they were measured from the other side of the mezzanine but the detailer had considered that might happen so he had put slots in the top of the columns to allow for 2 inches extra width...

Nice to have a detailer who is over 80 years old and has seen it all.. wish we had him on some of the big projects. 

[glenn kangiser]

I went to the International Students last 2012-2013 dinner last night in Sacramento.

What a great time to see so many old and new friends and many of them have stayed at the Underground Complex. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz56mfbjEzo

The African Students and my last weeks guest Kris played and sang some great African songs. 

[glenn kangiser]

Getting my first meal off of the Hugelkultur bed....



A nice yellow Zucchini just finished cooking and is ready to be consumed....

[glenn kangiser]

....boy was that good....     

[Ernest T. Bass]

Thanks for the follow-up on that. The remains of our last snow finally melted off today--bring on the spring already...

[glenn kangiser]

I'll bet I had everyone in suspense, Andrew.  [ouch]

Looks like I will have more soon too....

Our snow is way short here again this year.  Yosemite waters running like crazy now but will likely run out before summer is over.

The hugelkultur bed is growing stuff like crazy starting out here though I did not get it done in time to store up a bunch of water... though it likely will still do with much less water than normally needed. 

[Antonio Carlos Machado]

  Hello Glenn, how are you?
Been busy, and in Brazil it is said that grabs a cucumber and the business is now peeling the cucumber.

I'm sorry I was missing a lot of work, our business had a lot of flowers and weddings already on the eve of Mother's Day free time is very rare.
Although invented to make a small gazebo and a ramp to the store yet but soon took pictures shipping.

[glenn kangiser]

Best regards to you and Brazil, Tony Tassy. Doing good here in CA. 

[Antonio Carlos Machado]

Best regards to you and Brazil, Tony Tassy. Doing good here in CA. 

:)Maybe Glenn! Doing good and honesty is my life.
On the concrete pump is human as we say unity is strength, shared the beautiful video

[glenn kangiser]

That group of Burmese workers were amazing, Tony.  In the US I would likely have been kicked off of the site and expected it there, but no.... these people were so gracious and accommodating though they did not speak English.  They simply waved me into their site to see the way they worked together. 

I was told by my friend, Myat that even women and children work even on the high rise buildings taking the concrete materials up to the top and pouring by hand. 

Dangerous for the kids but still, they will not be in protective custody of the authorities and never learn a trade before they get out of High School as here in the US....... unless your parents are outlaws and actually teach you a trade on the side illegally, eh?   

This is a very lot of graciousness I might add.... a year or two ago cameras were not allowed and people allowing filming would have to answer to the government or be at great personal risk.  People taking video would possibly risk jail time and confiscation of equipment ... or even disappear....

Hopefully reforms will continue and the current Buddhist Muslim ... or Majority/minority civil unrest will come to be under control. 

I had no problems whatsoever and never once noticed a tail on me.... A year ago that would not have been the case.  Even now the locals are not totally sure everything is OK and there were a few who requested no pix... likely out of bad past experiences.

I was watching a video last night about Myanmar that I had seen once before and recognized the same little salesgirl (Postcards - fans etc.)  I met on the first day of my trip with Myat.  No mistake ... I'm sure it was her and even her story of how she learned English was the same.  [ouch]

I have video of her - don't think I put it on the net yet...she was a sweetheart. 

[glenn kangiser]

I am working on putting tile on the floor of the bathroom here at the underground complex.  It was originally going to be slate but that was too much trouble and too hard to clean. [ouch]

Sassy found some tile at a garage sale a few years ago, so that does not violate the prime directive of the Underground Complex... used, surplus, recycled, left over...etc.  Things that don't fatten the bottom line of the big industry/corporate sales serving codes...etc. 



Here it is with the few tools I use.  This is a type of marble I believe, so scoring and breaking like ceramic tile doesn't work.  I use a 4" wet or dry diamond blade on my hand held grinder.  The scriber marks around the logs or whatever object that needs to be cut out for.  I allow enough room for grout so in most cases there is at least 1/8 to 3/16 inch around all objects and 3/16 spacers are used to keep things aligned and square corners that match.  The spacers can be used on top or flat in the corners. 

I am using white bed mortar that is special for marble and other natural stone.  I will grout with a color similar to the dust around here as it will match well with the tile and not show dust as easily as white.   

[glenn kangiser]

For the more complicated cuts I take a cardboard template the size of the tile and trim it to fit into the space around objects or walls as needed,  The pattern can then be copied onto both sides of the tile to make cutting with the diamond saw easier...going half or so from each side. 

You do want to be sure to carefully cut from the top first though to give a smooth finished edge to the good side you will have up.  It may not be as important if the edge breaks a little on the bottom then.

Lots of dust if dry cutting so ...do it outside is a good plan... ideally wear a face mask to prevent breathing the dust.  [idea]

Did I, you ask... uhhh.. no...

[Redoverfarm]

Glenn you might think twice about grouting the edges.  If anything moves  it will crack the grout.  I would find some chaulk about the same color to go around the outside edge.  If it is marble product make sure that you seal it.  Being it is in the bathroom it will leave water marks if not sealed. 

[glenn kangiser]

Thanks, John.  The outer edges I will likely just trim over with wood instead of using tile and leave the edges ungrouted.  I know tile should go up the walls a few inches but I am short on it and don't really care much anyway.

I should have cleaned and polished the tops off a bit as there is some oxidation from it sitting out for years, then sealed it before installing it, but I have done it before without much problem.  I will clean it all good then seal it and the grout.  I have the sealer for it already.  Near the walls at the back you will see the top of galvanized angle.  It is holding up the tile over the sumps I put in.  I will put shelves back over it to keep loading light so it should not be a problem.

I think I have some DEFY left that will waterproof the wood if necessary.  [ouch]

[Ernest T. Bass]

Cool, Glenn.. Are you installing them directly over your jute-reinforced floating slab?