Some of you may be wondering where we’ve been these last few weeks. We’ve decided to abandon the earthbag building in favour of digging a hole in the side of a hill. Holes are notoriously cozy, animals have favoured them for years as comfortable living spaces, and we think this will get us into a natural building that much sooner. So we’ve been busy dig, dig, digging.
Okay, I jest. We’ve been hard at work getting the kitchen and living room domes to level so that we can put in the second floors and cover them for winter. That done, we’re working on the front entrance which I expect we’ll be done by end of weekend. Then we can work on the floors.
We’ll be using lengths of the telephone poles that we were fortunate enough to have donated as centre columns and we’ve purchased some inexpensive round wood that will converge at the centre, something like a wheel configuration. From there we’ll nail down our floor and then tarp the whole thing for winter, while we work inside.
I’ll post photos of the building once the floor is up, with any luck in the next week or so.
We’re also working on the plaster and it’s coming along, if not “nicely” well enough. And we’ve continued to collect materials, the best find of which was a woodstove for $75. It’s in beautiful condition and I can’t wait to try it out.
Well friends, thanks to those of who’ve been kind enough to search us out and ask where we’re at. As always, we appreciate the support and community! And on that note, I’m off to plaster…
Ready for plaster & second floor installation
Front entrance should be up to level this wknd
Gosh Dirt! Good to know you are both good. LOL it is starting to look like a castle…. but I am curious how the second floor will turn out.
You had me ther for a moment…I was going o no those poor kids in a hole in the side of a hill, I wonder where they will find a hill in the prarie, they must have hills there too o no, o no, they are going to freeze their asses off….then…you are so naughty, but fun. Thanks for the update. good luck to you. We were working on our property when we were called to go to Indiana for a job interview….got our hopes up as my hubby has been out of work for a year. If this doesn’t go…then back to the land to start our adventure like you have…we are sick of being jerked around.
Oh, I’m curious how the second floor will turn out too! LOL
Dawn, I sure hope things work out in Indiana. When will you know? And yes, definitely good to have a plan to support yourselves with an economy as fragile as ours. I’ll have to find some links for you, for building earthbag roundhouses. They’d be super simple to build and make good use of the lumber your husband managed to get a hold of.
Dawn, here is a link to a very good site for earthbag building plans: http://earthbagplans.wordpress.com/
A very simple roundhouse plan: http://earthbagplans.wordpress.com/2010/09/21/1-5-story-33-10-meter-roundhouse/
Yeah, I look at those web sites everyday, thanks anyway.
We don’t know anything yet. My gut is telling me probably not. We found Indiana pretty, and much like home, except the hills and mountains are islands amongst the endless cornfields.
Right now our plan is to buld a simple structure from found materials because we have no idea where we will be. One week it is Indiana, other weeks Kansas, Michigan, Iowa…just where ever the hubby can find work. So, if we start an earthbag house , we hay have to leave it half finished. Jerry once framed houses for a living so he can throw up a structure in a weeks time. He use to frame a whole wall inside and out and stand it himself in a few days.
We need an emergency shelter in case we loose our home, so this will do in a pinch, then later we can do something like you all are doing.
You guys are on the right track….getting prepared for freedome from all the BS….we just got “caught with our pants down” so to speak, and are scrambling now to pull them back up. LOL Keep up the good work.
Hey you guys, great job. We are very impressed with your progress. We know first hand as another couple how much work it is.
How did you do it? Did you have lots of lobor volounteers? Anyway great work!!
Geoff & Ellen
Nope, just the two of us. Hence the whining. LOL Shane works full-time so we’ve built together evenings and weekends and I generally work on it myself week days. Are you guys in your place already?
OMG! Your building a second story? ::Impressed::