BATTENING DOWN THE HATCHES

A big winter storm (not forecast before Jeff left for the week) with temperatures reaching the mid 20's F (-3 C) and snow level dropping down to about 2500' (house sits at about 3500') was approaching so Jeff made a quick trip back from Safford to get everything at the build site and our house winterized.

 The first order of business was making sure the bale walls were protected from the rain.  This has been an ongoing challenge ever since the walls were raised back in September. We have tried multiple techniques, from simply stapling the plastic to the box beam and sole plate to putting nails in and then bending them back on to the plastic, but nothing seemed to work for more than a day or so.  This was painfully evident when Jeff arrived at the build site and found the wind beginning to howl and the plastic loudly flapping.  

Maybe it's not that bad?

Oh yes it is!

The newest technique was to use the left over strips of plywood from sheathing the roof to hold the plastic in place.  The plywood strips were 8' long so they could be nailed into both the box beam at the top and the sole plate at the bottom.  This actually worked pretty well.

You think you have it all secure ...

And then the wind comes along!

When Jeff first arrived the sun was still out and the wind wasn't that bad, but as he was busy working on the plastic the sky was darkening behind him.

The storm is looming on the horizon!

The wind was relentless!  Jeff had been working on securing the plastic on the south and west side of the house when he heard a big crash.  When he looked around the corner he saw that the entire sheet of plastic on the east side of the house had blown off!  

The bare east wall

It was at this point that he realized he wasn't going to be able to do it all himself before he had to head back to work in Safford ... he called in Tom for some help.  Luckily Tom was out at another project on the east side of Tucson and was able to come over and lend a hand.

While Tom worked on the plastic Jeff moved onto the next task of winterizing the well head and the out flow pipe and spigot up at the water tank.  The good thing about building a home with sustainability in mind is that all the lumber scraps are not being hauled off to the landfill.  Thus Jeff was able to raid the scrap lumber pile for the lumber needed to build the boxes needed to protect the well head and tank out flow pipe.

Well head box

 

Tank out flow pipe box

The spigot was easier as he put some pipe insulation foam on it and then wrapped it in tape ... he had perfected the technique earlier in the day at our current house.

No freezing allowed!

Tom finished up on the plastic just as the rain was starting and Jeff was headed back up to Safford.  We can't wait to watch the storms roll in from the comfort of a completed home!

The rains start and the mountains disappear

 STARTING THE EARTHEN PLASTER AND MORE ELECTRICAL

With the windows in it was time to start thinking about getting the bales plastered.  The lime plaster is expensive so we want to prep the bales with earthen plaster before we put on the three coats of lime plaster.  

The first step in the plastering process is to fill in all the big gaps and holes with cob.  Cob is a natural building material that is a mix of dirt (with a specific ratio of clay to sand), water and a fibrous organic material (typically straw).  It is fireproof, resistant to seismic activity, uses low-cost materials, but can be somewhat labor intensive to use.  It is used when there are large voids in and between the bales that need to be filled.  Once it is cured/hard it is a very strong material.  In fact, they build entire houses out of cob!

Unfortunately our soil on site did not have the correct ratio of clay to sand, thus we had to have several loads of "special" dirt delivered.  As the buildings have gone up our usable space has shrunk.  We are trying really hard to limit the amount of area we disturb during the build in order to keep as much of our property in it's native state.  So we squeezed the load of dirt onto the pad on the east side of the house where we will eventually put our rainwater collection cisterns.

Getting a load of dirt for the cobbing and earthen plaster

Ray, our architect and sustainability expert, was on sight to guide us all through the cobbing process.  He did an internship up at the Earthship Center in Taos, NM which makes him the duty expert when it comes to all things related to natural building.  To assist in the cob making process Tom brought out his tow-behind cement mixer.  It makes the whole process more efficient and faster than the alternative, which is mixing it all by hand.

Lucas and Ray making cob

Before you start cobbing you need to make sure all the loose straw is scraped out of the gaps and holes in the bales.  We want to give the cob and earthen plaster a solid surface on which to adhere.

Any earthen plaster substance, cob or plaster, won't stick to directly to the bales and thus create the desired strong structural bond with the straw bales.  So the first step is to cover the area where you want to put the cob with a slip coat.  This slip coat is made out of the clay soil and water, mixed to the consistency of runny chocolate pudding.  There is no real need to be too neat when you put the slip coat onto the bales.  Lucas, Spencer and Luis quickly learned that it is better to just reach in the bucket, grab a handful of slip and then just throw it onto the bales.  To get it back into the crevices you have to work a little harder.

Luis putting on the slip coat

Nancy trying out her slip technique

You don't have to wait until slip coat dries to start adding the cob.  The slip coat gets into all the little spaces between the blades of straw and then the cob binds to the slip, thus a strong union is created!

Spencer cobbing around a window

There were a couple of corners, both on the house and the casita, where the bales didn't line up just right.  So in addition to filling in the small holes and gaps around the windows and where the bales meet along the walls, we used cob to build out the walls so they are flush.  This is one area in particular where it is much cheaper and actually more structurally sound to use cob instead of plaster.  You can't fill in all the big areas all at one time, which we learned the hard way.  You need to put on a couple of layers, allowing the cob to harden a little between applying the layers.

Spencer cobbing the southwest corner of the house

Nancy putting another layer of cob on the southwest house corner

Once the cob is in place it needs to dry a little, not all the way, before putting on the earthen plaster.

 

West wall of the house

Craft Room north wall

North living room wall

Outside the north kitchen window

Main bedroom north wall

There were a few areas in the house we needed to embed 2' x 6' boards into the straw bale walls.  We did this to establish anchoring surfaces for future items.  The main area we did this in was the kitchen so that we would have some place to securely anchor the cabinets to the walls.  We also did this in the toilet rooms for future installation of grab bars.

Kitchen wall with blocking for the cabinets (to the left of the window)

All the electrical wires needed to be installed in and on the surface of the walls before they were cobbed and eventually covered with plaster.

Exterior wall to the west of the front door with the electrical boxes installed

It takes a whole team to build a house and one of the often forgotten team members is the guy that empties the Honey Buckets.  Not sure how often they do it but we were lucky to capture them in the act!

Emptying out the Honey Buckets

While the house and casita were being cobbed, the electricians were busy in the garage.  It was a little easier in there as it is a traditional stick frame structure which is what they are used to, thus no pounding blocks into the walls on which to hang outlet boxes.  Now the garage looks like it has a case of the square blue measles.

North wall of the garage where the RV-port will go

The garage door into the courtyard

A winter storm is on the way so stay tuned as we weatherize the build and start on the mechanicals.