Super ridiculously busy around here and not expecting things to let up until oh, I don’t know, winter but figured I should post some pictures of our progress. We’re a few weeks into the building season and things are moving quickly, if not as quickly as we’d (I’d?) like. I’m focusing on the master bedroom during the week while Shane’s at work and it’s coming along nicely. I have several new injuries that may prevent me from wearing any skirts in public this summer but that hasn’t slowed me down any. I really need to stop falling off walls though, or slashing myself with sharp objects, or not so sharp objects that just seem really sharp when applied with force…
Anyway, the domestead is further along than this already but these are the last pictures that we took. π
Great work. Is that your current house in the back ground? I’m looking forward to seeing the progress this summer.
Yes, that’s our house in the background. Nice to live so close to the work site. π
Beautiful work – I’m so impressed and envious! I have a million questions for you but I’ll keep it to three so you can get back to work. How are your rounds connected – are they totally independent structures touching each other and with matching arched doorways, or are their walls somehow integrated? Have you decided about second stories? And if you’ve designed your roof system, what’s it going to be and how do you plan to do your bond beam? (I kinda snuck in a fourth there -sorry!)
Again, amazing bag work that master bedroom looks like it was done by a machine. Fantastic.
Hi Zafra! The domes are actually interconnected, mostly at the lower levels though. I’ll have to review my photos some time and see if I can find a picture to show you, but we connected every second row to the adjoining dome at the lower levels. From what I understand this isn’t entirely necessary though as some people are adding domes at later dates… We decided (at last!) to go with second floors. There would simply be too much wasted space otherwise. We’ll build an office for Shane above the living room and a library for me above the kitchen. It will also help with heating the main floor in the very cold winter. I will post our plans once we’re closer. We aren’t going with a traditional roof but rather building domes. Structurally they are the most sound and have the added benefit of requiring no additional skill or materials. Our area is very windy as well as getting occasional heavy snow loads so it’s a practical choice for us.
Thank you for your kind words and support! π
What are you using to plaster the bags?
We’ve used a bunch of mixes for the rough plaster, whatever we have on hand at the time just to protect the bags… Mostly a mixture of gravel reject, clay and the tiniest bit of cement, sometimes we’ve had sand on hand and have used that in the mix. Our final plaster will be lime so we are keeping cement to a minimum.
We’ve been following your progress for a while now and it’s looking great – very inspiring for our plans for a homestead in NE Georgia. How has the rough plaster coat stood up on the sections that have been out over a winter and been hit with moisture and freeze-thaw cycles? Do you think the smidge of cement has been truly necessary? We’ve gotten really down on cement lately, but our concerns are with the immense humidity in our part of the world.
Thanks,
Doug and Krista
Having worked on a couple of projects now no, I don’t think the cement is necessary unless you’re in a real rush (and I generally am these days). The thin coat of plaster that we did last year to protect the bags held up “alright” but there were sections that got hit particularly hard with winds and snow loads that were pretty much washed clean by spring. Our sauna on the other hand has held up quite well and there was no cement in that plaster. I’d planned on getting to it with a final coat (with lime) at some point down the line but haven’t yet and it’s still doing well. What we did with that building was about 4 inches of cob to even out the shape of the structure topped with about an inch of clay-sand plaster. Honestly, I didn’t even make it all the way around the cob with the plaster and it’s held up fine too. I’m not sure how many years it’ll handle the stress of winter and wind around here but it’s made two winters so far- with any luck I’ll have time to finish it with lime next year.
The plaster we’re doing right now is only meant to protect the bags from UV damage and give our “good” plaster something to adhere to. Adding a tiny bit of cement allows me to move quickly compared to a cement-less mix. Once the entire structure is complete I’ll be switching to a nicer clay-sand mix (I’m not even straining rocks out of the plaster right now) and then finishing it with a lime-sand mix to protect it long term from the moisture. If you can get your hands on some lime, and have the time, try the straight clay-sand plaster and use the lime only to finish it. Hope that helps! π
Looking really good. And no project is complete until a little blood spills, got the scars from it myself : )
I’m not an entirely careful person (there’s an understatement) so I’m pretty used to bloodshed. I have favourite scars from through the years and I’m certainly adding to them on this project. Wouldn’t mind if I could stop falling on my tailbone though, even for a few weeks would be nice… π
Thanks for the post nice to see the progress..
Awesome work! I can’t wait until we are at that stage in our building! You are such a trooper to get up at 5am and work till 10pm at night, I would be dead tired! It will all pay off in the long run! Best of luck to you in your building!!
Wow,you guys are really making progress! A lot of work and apparently blood loss involved but man just wait for the payoff! Tell the Mr. China sez hi!
China
III
So did you guys put up a manufactured or modular home until the home is finished, and then are you going to resell it?
Or are you going to have two homes?
We bought the property before we had any natural building plans and it has two houses on it. The one we’re living in is an older house and I think we’ll probably parts it out once we’ve moved into the new place, use it for future projects. The other one is a mobile home and with any luck we’ll sell it to someone who is willing to move it. Fingers crossed! Ah, the wisdom of hindsight…