Build Your Own House

Thanks both for your replies, very interesting and informative



Ahh, that makes perfect sense. I had an instinctive understanding that 90º angles were a no-no, but I didn't anticipate having material caught behind the fillets. That'll definitely do it, the silicone trick is a good one



No need at all, that's perfectly clear



Duh!! Sometimes I feel like such an idiot for not thinking of these things Although when I first read your assertion that 1000L = 1m3 I thought "No! That's only true of water!" - but of course you're correct, I'm confusing volume with weight. 1 litre of any solid or liquid at a given temperature occupies the same volume

Homeless, I'm looking forward to seeing your second set of walls!

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Simon.

The adventures of an owner-builder in the Tallarook Ranges

Its been almost a month since commencing ramming the walls
steady progress has been made and many lessons learned

after a brilliant run of beautiful weather its time to take a breather and recuperate and report on progress

batching , mixing and delivering material to formwork has never been a problem on this job thanks to the array of equipment on hand
2m3 mix of material takes approx 1 hour from stack to delivery vehicle with minimal manual labour necessary

thanks to a level and square concrete slab initial setup of the forms is fairly straight forward however i found it necessary to introduce some adjustable props to hold the end shutters plumb , they have performed perfectly , reward for the effort constructing them







ramming is fairly simple with the backfill tamper although i am about to investigate a pressure regulator between tamper and compressor which may add some fine tuning to aid control of the tamper and minimise some stress on the operator (me)

it would seem that mastering the correct moisture level of the mix is central to controlling any tear
out when stripping the forms , if it seems too dry then its probably about right.

so some of the unknowns , known unknowns and unknown unknowns have been experienced and we commence the next month of wall construction with a bit more of an idea of whats involved

i feel confident to place the order for the roof trusses this week ready to lift to top plate in the last week of may

here is a few photos from along the way

Wow, what fantastic progress!!

I'm envious of your forms, those adjustable props are the duck's guts!

What's the story with the colouring of the panels between your corners? Is it just that they're not yet fully dry, or did you get some variance with your batching?

Looking awesome, Homeless - you'll have to change your forum name very shortly, with the speed you're working

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Simon.

The adventures of an owner-builder in the Tallarook Ranges

Thanks simon
the props are especially useful as they push or pull the end shutters plumb all i used was telecopic sections of steel round tube and a 20 mm turnbuckle cut and welded to the ends .. i think they will be useful later in the roof truss erection department

you are correct the colour difference is all to do with the drying of the wall
most of that wall was rammed over the last week with the final 2 window infills done solo on saturday before the rain.....hence the recuperation now

i have not any photos but found it useful to add a sacrificial timber 2"x 2" pine to the top forms which helps when ramming to the top of the form it protects the ply and speeds up the final process heaps

i would not bother using conduit on the bolts as if you unscrew the bolts with a brace and socket carefully there is virtually no problem with tearout

congratulations on your fine effort...it would be difficult to do this part time , commuting with a young family keep up the good work

have you seen these guys work http://www.earthhomes.co.nz/ great inspiration

Nice work! It is all coming together so quickly.



I think you should change the title too. Certainly not what I would call 'Bog Ugly'. I really like the texture that you are getting within each layer.

Bluey.

Its raining...must be bored

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfh2rcxK_fA

Hehehehehe Love your work!

I know how you feel, I'm not getting much done on site at the moment either - it'll be a quiet building weekend for me, too wet

I've found something to keep me occupied though - I'm building an microcontroller-based electronic timing board for the local swim club

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Simon.

The adventures of an owner-builder in the Tallarook Ranges

simon
the video was a bit of fun although i do wonder what the neighbours think with some of the noises coming from here
enjoy the electronics project ...i have often used picaxe micros to build useful devices .....digital saves wracking the brain with analog magik imho

not much happening here apart from frustrating showery weather...heeding the forecast has lost me some good days work..think i may be better to interpret the the chart and decide for myself in the future...loosing 4 weeks on the slab is coming back to bite me now
i only have approx 7 days work on the walls to go and the clock is ticking on the roof truss delivery ...hoping its not too late to get the semi close to building

We had minor setback with the smallest wall section...after working very hard solo to get it done on removal of the formwork one of the ends crumbled it turned out that the end shutter although well gusseted with 2 @ 2 x 4" timbers running the full height ,bowed under the pressure and i did not pick it up leaving a section halfway up the end uncompressed and the remainder out of line
it was very annoying to waste all the effort but reinforces the point that the forces involved in ramming are massive and capable of distorting what would seem well supported forms and shutters




it reminded me of blueys experience

Bluey wrote 15 th nov 2011
"The final large panel of rammed earth was the back corner of the deck. I hadn't noticed until after the wall was complete that one end of the formwork had moved during the ramming process. "

I also thought about a solution to the problem but decided anything i do will most likely take a day of mucking around and then still no guarantee it would work or bite the bullet put it down to experience and redo the section which should only take a day anyhow...so down it came with some help from the excavator

the pleasing thing is that armed with this experience the next section came out the best to date


My mind is now concerned with (among other things) window sill detailing and investigating some of the imported cut bluestone.

I like this style very much

But maybe just getting a little ahead of myself ....so just concentrate on finishing the walls for now

Ahhh! So that's what he's building in there. Some very schmick walls I see. That last full wall panel is a work of art.

Love the video. It is a great overview of the process so far.

Bugger about that wall but I think knocking it down while it is fresh is the best approach. It took me ages with a demo saw to cut up my crooked panel and demo saws have to be the most poorly designed tools out there for cutting anything that is not at ground level. Heavy to hold up and when used with the water hose, designed to coat you with as much mud as possible (maybe I was using it wrong ).

I hope the rain eases up for you soon. If it's any consolation, it is providing some great curing conditions for those walls .

Bluey

Finally the rain stopped and work recommenced.
A challenging section of wall due to its proximity to a concrete water tank was the next to do.
i had been thinking of a solution to getting the material into the formwork without resorting to 20 lt buckets or shovel's and it worked a treat







with that awkward section out of the way it was time to rebuild the demolished section with the associated window infills




With 3 reasonable days we should complete the rammed earth section of our build.. all seems to have gone too fast although i am glad its done
still expecting delivery of roof trusses in next 2 weeks ... hope to be able to get them dropped off close to building or better still lifted to top plate

Wow, Homeless...

Seriously, that work looks sensational! I only wish mine looked as good

I love your soil hopper, that's a stroke of genius for working in tight spaces. Thankfully I don't have any of those so I'm able to lift all of my soil up to height with the bobcat alone.

You've gotta be happy with the quality of your finish, it's looking a million dollars!

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Simon.

The adventures of an owner-builder in the Tallarook Ranges

Enjoying the lovely weather
days are really short
two days ramming to go
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbUercjCnOw

Off-topic I know, but since you mentioned the PicAxe I thought you might be interested in what I cooked up. Rather than pollute your build thread with the details, I'll just point you here

Back on topic, how's your build coming along?

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Simon.

The adventures of an owner-builder in the Tallarook Ranges

Progress has been slow and steady since last post.

We are ready to paint inside and under raked eaves
complete tiling window sills
Stain and seal the concrete floor
fit off electricals and plumbing
hang internal doors
trim arch's & skirts

install slow combustion stove / boiler and associated heating radiators
waterproof and fit out bathroom and ensuite
install kitchen and laundry cabinetry
install wir and wip shelving and drawers

no doubt 1000 other jobs as well

then the outside landscaping and drainage will begin
including 6' rammed earth wall to south , west and northwest
vertical gardens on southwest , west and north west rammed earth walls
concrete veranda apron and car park entrance to the north and east

hoping to be ready to move in before winter (AD 201???)

Have enjoyed the journey and would love to do it again with the experience now gained

Homeless,

Thanks for the update. I was hoping that you hadn't disappeared from this forum.

You have made great progress .

The layering and colour in your rammed earth is beautiful and it must be nice to get into the interior fitout. While there is always a list of jobs to do I am sure that you are proud of the work you have completed and it is great to hear that you would do it all again.

Bluey.