Jonesy sent me a link to a wonderful project in Australia. I checked it out and received permission to post it here to inspire others. :)
I have included pictures and Cecilia's comments from their website. For the whole story and lots more pictures check out their site and let them know what you think.
http://www.duckpond-design.com.au/theduckpond/index.htm
First here are excerpts from our email's. Lots of valuable info here so am posting it.
----- Original Message -----
From: Cecilia Sharpley
Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2006 2:10 PM
Subject: Re: Our garage
Hello Glenn
> My friend, Jonesy from Hay NSW sent me a link to your site and info on
> radial sawn lumber. I assume that the boards taper to a point or
> wedge in the center so they separate?
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d184/glennkangiser/garagewalls02.jpg)
The boards are delivered as a whole tree, still whole at each end, with
a thin steel band circling the ends in case of weak spots. All that
needs to be done then is to chain saw through each end, and the boards
come free. There whould be some photos of our frame builder Erik
performing this 'trick' with the logs we used to clad the upper storey
of the main house.
> I don't know the species you used but I have some Eucalyptus over here
> - seems it needs to be nailed while wet or may not get nailed.
I'm not sure of the exact species, but it would be some sort of
eucalypt. Also don't know how green it was but the garage has been up
about three years now and doesn't seem to show much shrinkage.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d184/glennkangiser/garagewalls18.jpg)
And Jonni made a splendid door for the small doorway
(which I think weighs even more than the roller door!)
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d184/glennkangiser/garagedoor04.jpg)
It looks even more beautiful once the timber had been oiled.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d184/glennkangiser/garagewalls13.jpg)
The end next to the grass bed was finally finished.
> Thanks for taking time to post the pictures and stories. I'll check
> the rest of the site out as I get time.
I'm hoping to put up more photos in the next week or so as we've been
quite busy inside with the finishing off jobs - things like making the
blackwood bench tops, tiling, building cupboards etc.
Having running water in all the tops, and working power points is quite
a novelty. Now we just need working lights and overhead fans and we'll
be able to move into the main part of the house and I can use the single
storey part as my papermaking/bookbinding studio.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d184/glennkangiser/house13.jpg)
> Do you mind if I post links and pictures from your site in our forum?
Please feel free to go ahead and post links. I know people like to see
work in progress, and I hope that our house may inspire those who are
not in the first flush of youth (65 to be precise) that it's a wonderful
thing to do.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d184/glennkangiser/house41.jpg)
> Here is a link to my stuff on Countryplans - the site owner designs
> small cabins but lets me show my stuff too. In exchange I help take
> care of the site.
I had a look at the site - took far too long actually, when I should be
upstairs grouting in my bathroom tiles! I love your cob stairs! We have
to put in a few stairs from the drive down to our front door and that
sort of look would be perfect.
I might have to join the forum as it looks as if there are some
interesting projects going on.
I have to say I am VERY envious of all your heavy equipment. I love
bobcats and small dingo diggers. When I win the lottery I'm going to buy
a dingo with all the bells and whistles. In the meantime I love my
rideon mower with its tipper trailer! Probably the best I'll be able to
manage.
Your friend Jonesy in Hay has not been sitting on his hands either, has he?
All the best from downunder
--
***********************************
www.cecilia-letteringart.com
www.duckpond-design.com.au/theduckpond
***********************************
Cecilia Sharpley
Healesville, Victoria, Australia
Hi Cecilia, Me again.
Sorry if you just got half a message - hit the wrong key and it was gone---
As I was saying -- if using the cob outside add 4 to 7% Portland cement - Asphalt emulsion or both same of each but both not necessary- Portland cement stabilizes it so it won't wash away with water easily - asphalt emulsion waterproofs it. Freezing can still break the top loose if water gets into it. The ideal ratio is 30% clay 70% sand and aggregate including what may be in the clay -- add short cut straw to taste - it is the reinforcement -- cut the bale with a chain saw along the strings before taking the strings off. About 4 coats of linseed oil over the top makes a surface like linoleum. I understand urethane will work too. Also Styrofoam dissolved in lacquer thinner makes a clear sealed surface -per Shelley on the forum - I haven't tried it yet. Try to keep the major amounts of water draining away from it at all times. Loose gravel underneath will also help drain moisture away.
A simple roof over the cob even if you don't stabilize it will almost totally protect it. If you don't have enough clay or sand use what you have - add more straw. A lot of this information is from Becky Bee's book on cob. I've done most of it. Please feel free to ask any question.
Beautiful bit of framing there... and the pop-apart tree that was radially cut for the clapboards is very inventive and handsome when finished off.
I posted the last picture showing an excellent way of putting insulation over a solid wood ceiling with metal roof over it or any other material for that matter.
Very nice site.
Nice house too.
Hello Everyone
After visiting your forum this morning, after receiving Glenn's request to post some of our photos, I couldn't resist joining you here.
Thank you to all those who visited our website, and of course we'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.
We have been trying to build our house following guidelines we set ourselves.
1. Use as much recycled, salvaged materials as possible.
2. Design for energy efficiency.
3. Avoid any carcinogenic finishes or glues.
4. Use local resources wherever possible.
I'm sure there's more, but that's probably the main aims.
I should mention that the choice of radially sawn cladding boards for our garage and the upper storey of the house was not only because we loved the wobbly look of them (after all, ours is a sort of wobbly house right through!), but with this system of cutting the logs, there is hardly any wastage. Once the boards are freed you are left with just the central core of the trunk - and this can always be used for something as well.
that's it for now.
cecilia
Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia
www.duckpond-design.com.au/theduckpond
Hi Cecilia, glad to see you made it aboard. Now we can easily start bugging you with questions about your project. :)
When you get time I was wondering if you could tell us more about your mud bricks, mortar and rendering since you seem to be the rendering pro. In particular I was wondering about the materials and processes used in the makeup and use of each. Formulas etc. Below I have included some of your photo's and comments from this part of the job. I hate to think how many hours you spent documenting all of this but really appreciate your top quality work.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d184/glennkangiser/house63.jpg)
Fortunately Peter had a better idea of what to wear and his rows of bricks are beautifully straight,
despite his frustration at finding no two bricks the same size or shape
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d184/glennkangiser/house64.jpg)
In the meantime Jonni and I carried on with the wall
which Adam and Tim began on our first bricklaying day
The courses of red bricks are necessary as they are below ground level
with the greenhouse behind. The inside walls will eventually be rendered and the lower part
of this wall will be obscured by furniture.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d184/glennkangiser/house248.jpg)
The rendering is one of my jobs, but before I begin, Jonni makes sure he's masked
all that's in danger of my enthusiastic use of the broomhead!
I've been enjoying reading a heap of threads on this forum - what a fabulous collection of passion and wisdom!
Now - our mudbricks. We didn't make them ourselves as it would have delayed the start of our building for a couple of years - and we wanted to get the house built in our lifetime! Also, until we built the garage we had nowhere to store anything, and the garage was needed to store all my mother's furniture when she moved in with Jonni and I.
There are several makers of mudbricks in Victoria and they all seem to use different materials and methods. We decided we didn't want pressed bricks as they look too neat and tidy for us. Also we were always hearing them referred to as 'Weetbix' (a breakfast cereal that falls apart when wet). So we bought bricks from 'Mudlark' which are puddled bricks. They consist of mainly clay, some chopped straw, fine grit, but have no asphalt or stabiliser added. The mixture is dumped into molds, left to dry until the molds can be lifted off without distorting the shape of the brick. They are turned until completely dry, before being stacked on palets.
As far as the render goes, the traditional render in this district is cow manure and river silt. We had a nice little herd of cows lined up, but the river silt was a problem, and in the end we used a mixture of sand, cement and a specially formulated latex additive. It is applied with the head of a broom.
I was working completely by instinct when I began the rendering, and the first wall was an utter nightmare, with the broomhead getting heavier and heavier with every scoop of render, as it clogged up the bristles. It wasn't until I was on the second wall that I realised I had to keep dipping the broomhead into a bucket of water to rinse out the excess. Also the render needed to be quite sloppy and the wall dampened first.
The render is left at least a month before the colour coat is added.
We have a man in Victoria, Alan Grimes, who makes earth pigment colour coats, the mudbrick additives, timber preservative and all that sort of thing. We've found his products very good - even if his rendering advice was no help at all -
Question "How thick do I mix the render?"
Answer "As thick or as thin as you want"
Q. "How many coats of render to I put on?"
A. "As many as you want, depending on how smooth you want the finish"
Q. "What do a use to put it on with?"
A. "Use anything you like - a broomhead is the normal thing"
I could have coped with all that, if only he'd divulged the secret of keeping my broomhead clean!
Well that's probably enough of me for the moment.
cecilia
www.duckpond-design.com.au/theduckpond
Cecilia, I noticed that the wood you are using -Macro Carpa -(hope that's right - please correct me if not- on dial up today -not enough time to check) is originally a California tree called Monterey Cypress. I hadn't heard of it before so looked it up.
I'm working in Carmel today -- the town where the working man sits in the back of the restaurant- It is at the original groves of it --I may try to see one.
That's it Glenn you can find some information here. http://www.bowerbirdtimber.com/tech_info.htm
There is also a Eucalyptus macrocarpa, information on that can be found here. http://farrer.riv.csu.edu.au/ASGAP/e-macro.html
There are a number of Eucalyptus types in Australia; this site will give you a look at them You can also get a look at some of the native plants in Australia
Macrocarpa is also used for building in New Zealand. It was once considered a rubbish tree, used mostly for firewood. With the crackdown on the cutting of native timber over there it is now used widely.
Common Name(s): Macrocarpa, Macro
Botanical Name: Cupressus macrocarpa
DISTRIBUTION
The species originates in California.
In New Zealand, the species is grown throughout the country, primarily as shelterbelts on farms. There are no specific forests of Macrocarpa, and there have not been any commercial planting's.
QUALITY STANDARDS AND GENERAL PROPERTIES
In New Zealand, the timber is graded into Clear grade, Dressing grade, and a Utility grade.
The timber machines and sands well and is suitable for end use applications requiring a high quality finish.
TYPICAL END USE APPLICATIONS
Macrocarpa performs well in furniture manufacture, joinery manufacture, panelling, and flooring. The Utility grade is a general-purpose grade suitable for a diverse range of low-grade applications.
Hi Glenn
How strange that you should have Australian Eucalypts (which particular one is the most common?) while we had so many of your Monterey Pines.
When the Yarra Valley was established in the late 1800s early 1900s, the winds swept through the valley and farmers planted windbreaks of cypress trees to create windbreaks for the sheep and cattle.
In the past ten or fifteen years, the sheep and cattle have gradually been replaced by vineyards and the windrows were pulled out to allow free airways once again - I guess to minimise disease and give maximum exposure to the sun on the vines.
In this area our local species of eucalypts are E.viminalis (manna gum) and E.rubida (candlebark). I probably have about twenty other varieties of eucalyptus growing in our garden. Some drop bark and others drop branches!! The ironbarks, with their corky black trunks and drooping grey leaves and pink or white flowers are probably my favourites.
Still enjoying reading all the threads - will be a long time before I get through them all - and sometimes I still have to work on the house.
all the best from downunder
cecilia
www.duckpond-design.com.au/theduckpond
Off work for the day -
The eucalyptus I planted on my place in 1983 were E. Rostrata -common name is River Red Gum. Many are about 60 feet tall now and some are over 2 feet in diameter. They average 12 feet growth per year when young.
There are lots of other types in California also.
I guess I messed up the state tree - it is Redwood-- I think the article I read just said the Eucalyptus was very important to the state. There have been several firewood and paper get rich quick schemes over the years. It does make good firewood and is used for windbreaks - trees along roads and property lines etc. I planted them to keep the canal company from stealing my land.
Hi Glenn
Just make sure you don't set up your tent underneath the canopy of the River Red Gum - notious for dropping large branches, with no need of a breath of wind to do it.
cecilia
www.duckpond-design.com.au/theduckpond
I'll remind my son of that - he has been pruning some - they are close to his mobile home.
Cecilia is bang on the money with that one. The River red gum is the common tree in our area. It grows all along the Murrumbidgee River and was milled mostly for railway sleepers (you can still find old dumps of off cuts in the river bends). I think it was also used on the river steamers to fire the boilers. The tree can grow quite large but older trees tend to be hollow, the termites eat the softer centre out. It requires periodic flooding to maintain good healthy stands, so since the river has been altered for irrigation purposes a lot of it is dieing off. The timber is real hard when dry and it's almost impossible to get a nail into, even drilling it is hard. It has a beautiful red colour when polished but because it is so hard to work it's not used much for building. Deaths from limb fall are not uncommon in this area. On hot calm days the tree takes up large amounts of water into the leaves and branches making them extremely heavy, it is best to stay clear of them on those sort of days as they will lose large branches without warning
Ours are near an irrigation canal and a vineyard that is irrigated regularly. I guess we better get to cutting them back more --one of them in 23 years is probably 4' dia. I know the thing about nails - green OK - dry I have bent 6" spikes without getting them to go through.
Is it rude to ask how much this house has cost so far? Specifically, the framing and bricks. I'm not really wondering about cabinets and flooring and such.
Jared Drake
Hi Jaren
No - it's not rude at all to ask about the cost of our home.
I'm not able to tell you right at this moment as my husband Jonni is the numbers man (thankfully) and has all the details on his computer. At the moment he's escaped early as we're trying to finish lining the last timber walls in the kitchen in time for our first family roast dinner at The Duckpond on Wednesday evening. We need to line and oil the walls before we can push the fridge into place and switch it on.
When I can hogtie Jonni to his computer chair I'll see if I can get him to do a breakdown of the costs so far.
You have to realise though that the home we're building was originally sort of two homes in one. A single storey part for my mother and the double storey part for Jonni and I, with a greenhouse and entrance hall joining the two sections. As Mum died suddenly when we were two far to change plans (slab laid and frame already built), we had no option but to continue to completion. Of course I will have no problem utilising all the extra space, but we both wish Mum could be here to enjoy living in this idyllic place.
Will get back to you soon.
cecilia
www.duckpond-design.com.au/theduckpond
Hello Jared
I've finally managed to get Jonni to sit still long enough to give me a few figures about the cost of the house.
First, I'd better mention that all figures are in Australian dollars. Secondly, the size of the house is about 30 square (300 square feet) counting both sections and including the joining greenhouse and entrance hall. The double storey section is about 20 squares and the single one about 10.
At this (almost finished stage) it has cost about $250,000.
Of this amount, about $180,000 has been spent on the two storey section and $70,000 on the single storey section.
To break it down a bit:
The total concrete slab and the frame cost $97,000.
The mudbricks cost $7,000. (we have about 200 left over)
Windows (openable plus flyscreens) cost $11,000.
The amount of $250,000 includes all materials and also any outside labour employed, but of course doesn't allow for our own labour.
Jonni and I have done all the bricklaying, carpentry (except the frame, upstairs floor, and a part of the upstairs cladding), tiling, plastering, etc.,
Well that's about all I can think of, so I hope it's of some help.
Feel free to ask for anything else you want to know.
all the best from downunder
cecilia
www.duckpond-design.com.au/theduckpond
Wouldn't that be around 300 square meters or 3000 square feet, Cecilia? Just guessing something may be lost in the conversion.
BTW, here is a pix of the Macro Carpa -Monterey Cypress in it's home environment behind the frames past my welding truck.
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d184/glennkangiser/arvance-carmelsafeway003.jpg)
Glenn,
In the old system, before metric, floor area of houses in Australia was measured in 'squares' (one square is 100 square feet, or 9.29 square metres) 30 squares in Cecilia's case is about 3000 sq ft or in metric 278.7 sq meters. Some folk still use that system, my house for example; living area only, not including deck and carport is around 12.5 squares or 1250 sq ft.
Thanks Jonesy.
It's been a while since I've managed to post here for you good people - but I do visit at least once a week.
Finally managed to update the website which chronicles our building adventure.
www.duckpond-design.com.au/theduckpond
I've been busy papermaking (from wombat poo) and plants, but Jonni has embarked on the making of our new bed - basically from salvaged branches. So I hope to have slightly more frequent updates of the website from now on. (fingers crossed).
cecilia
www.duckpond-design.com.au/theduckpond
www.cecilia-letteringart.com
I love your house.
Looking forward to seeing the bed.
OK, I vote we go to Cecilia's for a workshop on....anything!
It's beautiful and I especially like your copper door. What does the surface feel like?
Judy
Nice to hear from you again Cecilia. Your house and place is looking great. You and Jonni always do a great job on everything.
Please feel free to pop in whenever you have time.
Beds from branch's and paper from poop who'd a thunk ;D You Aussie's sure do some , eh weird , things ;D No offence eh mates! :) Or would that be Shellia's ?? Or can mates be used like we Americans use "guys" sort of unisexed term.
I like to see the stick/ limb bed :) Not to sure I wanta get a snail mail letter from ya though ;D
PEG
Celia
Thew mudbrick are gorgeous...What are their dimensions...They look about the perfect size to handle....
Judy - the door itself isn't copper (that's made of spotted gum), it's just the two panels either side of the front door that I patinated. It has given it a slightly rough texture, and if it was in an exposed area I probably would have had to protect it with a wax of some sort, but as it's under the wide eaves the weather doesn't affect it (well, not so far!)
PEG - The Aussies do use the word mate in that same way, but being English myself, I tend to use 'bloke' or 'folk' more than mate (unless I'm being sarcastic).
Benevolence - Mudbricks are 10"deep x 5" high x 13" long. They weigh roughly between 17 and 21kg, which makes them manageable, but no lightweight to handle when you have several hundred of them to be shifted from one spot to another.
Bear in mind that Jonni and I are no spring chickens - my 66th birthday this year.
Amanda - Sorry you don't want me to send you a snail mail. If you change your mind, just give me your address and it'll be on its way.
cecilia
www.duckpond-design.com.au/theduckpond
Celia
Well I am not young anymore either...32 in a few weeks...It is a long steep downward slope from here on out I reckon
As for the blocks...I want to make them as large as possible...Less work... even if each block is heavier for me to lift...I was thinking 10 inches deep 12 inches high...and either 18 or 24 inches long
As long as each block is not more than 100-120 pounds I should be okay
I wonder if there is a scale or a method used to calculate the weight....
Surely Glenn or Peg will know...They know everything else :P
Solid rock is 165 lbs per cu. ft avg. Soil compressed can be 100 lbs or more per cu. ft. Looks like you want some healthy ones. You may not be able to press blocks that big with the ram.
well thank you for the info...I will have to make some blocks and wait a few days and cut into some with the chop saw I guess to have a look
Cement gains most of its strength in the first 7 days - a bit more up to 28 days then slowly is supposed to gain a bit more over its life, of course the hardest thing in the soil cement will be the aggregate. It will be interesting to see how the ram works on it.
I nearly fell off my chair when I saw how big you wanted to make your mud bricks!
I would like to alert you to the fact that there are only about two courses of bricks that are at 'ideal height' to work with (from my experience).
If you are planning high walls - like some of ours, the bricks don't just have to be stuck on the wall as you build - they have to be GOT UP THERE! We didn't have anything fancy like one of those nice little conveyor belt thingies. We had to lift them one by one, onto each height of the scaffolding tower.
I'm certainly glad they weren't any heavier.
You sound like a real muscle man.............. but if other people are going to be helping you, they may not be so keen if they have to heave around larger, heavier bricks. Cutting the halves and quarter bricks would also be a bit of a pain.
With larger bricks you'll have to work out very carefully the lengths of your walls or you're going to have an awful lot of brick cutting to do. Not one of my favourite jobs I have to say, although I did most of ours as I was more patient to take it slower than Jonni, and therefore managed to get them cut where I wanted, instead of them falling in a mess because I'd hit them too hard. Our bricks have a fair amount of small stones in them so they couldn't be sawn.
Best of luck - I'll be interested to know what you decide.
cecilia
www.duckpond-design.com.au/theduckpond
I am not a muscle man....Just a little bit of a runt...under 6 feet tall...185 pounds....But lifting 120 pounds is easy for me...
Kinds of forced to do it as a kid lifting transmissions and rear axles in my dads auto salvage...and then working in the woods later lifting logs...(like an idiot)
Maybe it is smarter to use smaller bricks...I just thought that if it took the same amount of time to make the blocks with the press machine....I could do twice the wall in the same amount of time....
So making 200 blocks a day would go twice as far.... I am sure I am missing something awfully important.... I will proceed with caution and let a block sit for a week and cut it open with the chop saw to test for strength and all of that.
the minimum I would want the blocks to be is 12x 12 x 18
With a chop saw cutting the blocks is easy.....And I would always alter the building design length if it meant less block cutting...
With 18 inch long blocks....I should get the needed width of 12 feet for the internal greenhouse structure I am looking for....The inside shed of the greenhouse is going to be 12 x 24...8 blocks wide and 16 blocks long...Staggering the joint by tier there should be no cutting except for windows and or doors......But for that I had a plan also....I was going to make a run of blocks 12x12x 12 so I could turn insert a shorter block every second row and not need to cut any blocks for door openings and window openings...
Might not be a good plan....It is what seemed logical to me...
But I have been told this is a hair brained scheme...One of my neighbors told me it was not possible to build my own greenhouse with somne block machine contraption....
First batch of Tomatoes grown in it need to be delivered to them with a card....
Courtesy of the greenhouse that could not be built or some such ;D
For me in life there is not many better feelings than doing what other people say you cannot do....It is very, very rewarding.
No worries Celia I have no intentions of trying to take the title away from you and your husband....Your block work is the best I have seen...The house is absolutely breathtaking....So many neat features...Everything is where it was meant to me....It is just perfect down to all the corners in it...
All of us here have really high standards to live upto....If we hope to follow your example
I would like to know about rendering and painting the block walls and mud bricks though....I think my wife would like a earthy sandstone brown for the greenhouse...She thinks it will look great with green windows and ivy growing on the outside of it.
It was PEG, not Amanda who didn't wan't snail mail.
But he may have been thinking about real snails. ;)
I think I can wait for a picture here.
Well now Benevolence - this statement was a bit of a worry to me.........
"The house is absolutely breathtaking....So many neat features...Everything is where it was meant to me....It is just perfect down to all the corners in it..."
We are really going for the 'rough' look, so the word 'perfect' makes me think we've missed our way somewhat. Whenever Jonni complains that something doesn't fit perfectly I hasten to remind him that if we'd wanted 'perfect' we never would have chosen to build with 'puddled' mudbricks and would have chosen the neater shaped ones.
As for the render - we were going to put on a traditional cow poo plus river silt mix, and although we had the neatest little herd of Aberdeen Angus lined up for the cow poo, the river silt was a problem, so we ended up with a cement render with an elasticiser mixed in with it. That gave us a dark grey wall, which we left to dry for a month before applying the colour coat - an earth pigment (real thick stuff) which we could choose in quite a range of earthy colours.
I'd caution against growing ivy on any mudbrick wall as it really gets its roots into both brick and mortar, and is inclined to crack the walls.
The only thing I consider to be pretty inoffensive is a little tiny blue flowered creeper called by the names of toadflax, or Kenilworth ivy. No deep suckers, and easy to pull away where you don't want it. It will find any little chink and grow through it to the inside and then hang down the walls - I just love it!
Sorry Amanda - maybe you'd like snail mail on wombat poo paper? PEG doesn't know what he's missing.
cecilia
www.duckpond-design.com.au/theduckpond
www.cecilia-letteringart.com
QuoteIt was PEG, not Amanda who didn't wan't snail mail.
But he may have been thinking about real snails. ;)
I was thinkin about paper made outta wombat &hit/poo ;D
And I may not know what I'm missing but I'll take my chances on that ;)
G'day mates :)
PEG
I'll bet if you had some of that Wombat Poo Paper, you'd take up smoking just so you could roll your smokes out of it, PEG. :)
Celia
The house is perfect...Perfect because it is functional, thoughtful and beautiful...Everywhere you look you see excellent craftsmanship and a lot of hard work...
People pay millions to have some architect try to re-create the same effect...your house has this oozing out of it in spades.
As for the ivy....well I thought that if the brick were stabilized with cement and let to harden they would be imperveous to cracking from the ivy....I am aware that they are clingy and take a pretty good hold onto bricks
Rick built the hearth for the wood stove from what passes for adobe here in AZ these days. Besides being ugly :P they were heavy-lifting just a few not a problem, building something large scale with just one or 2 people doable only if time is no issue.
These were stabilized adobe and boy were they crumbly, moreso than the "earth"blocks I made from leftover mud and straw. Plus the earth/straw bricks are light.
Judy
Well I got the plans for the cinva ram press today and I am going to sit down after supper and read the information...I talked with the person that sold me the plans and they assured me that there was detailed exact information on mixtures textures strength...to avoid crumbling messes.....
So I am hoping for the best....I get to start welding later this week on it...I have scrounged up the 3/8 steel plate and a couple pieces of rail road iron to set it on....
I really don't mind the heavy lifting if it means that I get what I want....Too often in life we are like that dude from myth that was forced to push the boulder up the hill only to have it roll back down the hill for him to roll back up the same hill over and over for eternity....I think it was sisyphus
At any rate When there is a finish line you can(I can) rationalise the hard work the achy muscles....I motivate myself with things like....Only 1400 more of these and you are finished..... :) It does work....You get going and it is 1000 and then 500....It gets done....
Hoping to hire a local kid in the neighborhood....Someone 15 or 16 who has a good strong back...and will work cheap...hehe...I used to be that kid in the neighborhood....
Going to figure out how many blocks I need for the walls, the greenhouse and then for the landscaping of the banks of the creek....And try to break it down to so many days of making the blocks....If I make 200 a day for 10 days or whatever....And by then the first of the blocks will be ready for use....Hopefully
I need to make sure all this heavy lifting and manual labour is done here by may....After that here down by Savanah Georgia....It is so hot that you cannot think or Breathe
when it is stupid hot and humid here I plan to be in the House with the central air on sanding, and removing trim....etc....Inside work....
Cecilia, your home is so unique - the wonderful woodwork & all the other beautiful touches - I am sure you & Jonni are thoroughly enjoying the place, now.
I refuse to show my wife pictures of the duckpond and cabin...
It is so gorgeous with so many unique one of a kind features... I do not now or ever want my wife thinking that anything I do will ever be of that stature
Seriously it is breathtaking...Something so wonderful about the blend of wood and brick...Tasteful splashes of color....I bet it is very relaxing and comfortable
Hi Sassy and Benevolence
You are very kind saying all those good things about our house.
People find it hard to believe that Jonni had never built anything except a chest of drawers and a shed in the paddock for his horses before tackling the house.
I have to say it's been the highlight of my life and yes, the house feels wonderful to live in. For the first time since being in Australia (since 1956) I feel as if I'm in the place I belong - and am even contemplating becoming an Australian citizen!!
At the moment we're working on a repeat of the higgledy piggledy bookcases which we have downstairs, but this time they're upstairs. The bookcase part should be finished in the next few days and the cupboards too, except they won't have doors yet.
The weather here is very hot - about 38C every day, but downstairs stays cool.
The architraves and skirtings upstairs are now all finished - it's amazing how different they make the room look.
More photos will come once I've oiled the new bookcase and walls upstairs.
I'll also take a photo of the beautiful eucalypt tree that the fallen branch is providing us with the timber for our new bed. I keep looking up at the trees and seeing promising looking branches - but they're unfortunately still attached to the tree!
cheers
cecilia
www.duckpond-design.com.au/theduckpond
If you had your own sawmill, Cecilia, you would lust after every tree you see, not for it's natural beauty, but for how many boards you could make out of it.
Always great to hear from you and looking forward to the photos. :)
Glenn
I disagree with that statement... Trees are the lifeblood of the earth...They provide for us sustain us clean up after us.. shelter us...
I know they need to be cut down and used for human beings to maintain their lifestyle of paper and cardboard...
I loathe cutting down trees... I have always done what I can to prevent people from chopping them down...
As a nation a lot of progress has been made in re-forestation....But a lot more progress needs to be made to ensure that there is always old forest growth nationwide....
For all the progress made in the rain forests and in Europe...It is still lacking if we are going to preserve and maintain the forests of the planet
You may not do it, but you will still think about it. :) Besides -- who knows -- you may have a good policy of planting several trees for every one you cut down. You could be your own little mini Sierra Club.
This topic morphed into a discussion on trees, nature and the life/death cycle. I have moved it to HERE (http://www.countryplans.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1172251059).
Sorry John
My wife always complains I am way too stream of consciousness in real life and I guess that parlays into this medium...Sorry for hijacking the thread...You were nice and called it a morphing... ;)
Cecilia, I saw this and thought of you and your wombat poo paper. :)
http://www.poopoopaper.com/