It’s been a while since an update and still I feel there’s not much “new” to report. (“What do you want to do today?” is kind of an ongoing joke around here- the answer being “how about we build some more?”) The weather is getting interesting again, being August and the end of our (altogether too short Canadian) summer. One day I was out working in a t-shirt and finding that entirely too much clothing for the +35 C temperature and the next it dropped to a high of 15 C. It’s been holding steady about there since.
So- what we have done is switched focus to one of the domes. They’re getting quite high and the corbel is progressing so better to put all our energies into one at a time and get these puppies up. The kitchen walls are now above door height, by a fair amount- I can’t recall the measurement offhand. We now have some experience with fan bags and keystones. Interesting process, but did slow us down a bit as they take longer to place and shape. A couple more rows and we’ll put in the loft space and remove the door forms- which’ll be fantastic as we weren’t thinking when we built them in three pieces and have had to crouch every time we move through.
The walls are officially too high for me to build on my own anymore. Shane has built some makeshift scaffolding but I don’t have the upper body strength to carry the amount of weight that’s in the buckets while climbing and then balance on the walls with them. (My fear of heights has kicked in as these are the same walls I had no trouble “balancing” on when they were several feet shorter. Of course, I have already fallen off a wall so the fear’s not entirely baseless.) So I’m relegated to plastering for now.
I’ve covered the bags with a very rough base coat, just enough to prevent UV damage, and I’ll focus on chinking this week. Not the easiest job (though I’m hard pressed to say what is) and I now see the value in paying as much attention to tamping the exterior of the building as the interior. We’re going to go through way more plaster as a result of inattention in the early stages.
That’s about it. Walls continue to climb, weather is a new kind of sucky, several new injuries, and we’re still trying to beat the clock… If we’re lucky we have about a month and a half before first frost. No pressure.
Coming along- soon we'll begin work on the loft
Front view- looks shorter than it is because of the sunken floor
Shane's scaffolding- not for the faint of heart
Canadian Dirtbags 