building
'Morning Mist' courtesy of my partner, Susanne, an avid nature photographer and artist.
November 25th... As I write I am on my way back to Vancouver Island on the Ferry after a productive day picking up samples of Pumice, Perlite and Compression test cylinders.
The pumice, which I picked up in Squamish (about an hours drive north of Vancouver) comes from a large lava flow a little further north near Pemberton. The Perlite, another form of volcanic rock, comes from Oregon. Both of these will be used to replace some or all of the regular aggregates (rock and sand) as a way of increasing the insulative value in the rammed earth samples that we start making next week.
The samples will be made in collaboration with Clifton Schooley, a rammed earth builder from Saltspring Island. (www.rammedearth.info) Clifton has several years experience building rammed earth walls and will be my guide during this phase of the construction. However, using lime instead of cement, and pumice/perlite for insulation are new to him so we will both be learning from this project! Over the next few days he and I will decide what ratios of the various materials we will use in our initial samples.
Based on the results from these first tests, we will then start to 'fine tune' the mixture of soil and lime and pumice/perlite to get the best balance of strength and insulation. A third stage in the testing will be to add fibre - either hemp or horse hair - and also Linseed oil or other additives designed to increase the tensile strength and durability of the rammed earth.
In addition to preparations for compression testing, work has continued on the actual design of the building. I hope that I will be able to post a new image in the next few days, showing the 'new' roof line that was the result of John Gower's generous input to the project (Gower Design Group).
The pumice, which I picked up in Squamish (about an hours drive north of Vancouver) comes from a large lava flow a little further north near Pemberton. The Perlite, another form of volcanic rock, comes from Oregon. Both of these will be used to replace some or all of the regular aggregates (rock and sand) as a way of increasing the insulative value in the rammed earth samples that we start making next week.
The samples will be made in collaboration with Clifton Schooley, a rammed earth builder from Saltspring Island. (www.rammedearth.info) Clifton has several years experience building rammed earth walls and will be my guide during this phase of the construction. However, using lime instead of cement, and pumice/perlite for insulation are new to him so we will both be learning from this project! Over the next few days he and I will decide what ratios of the various materials we will use in our initial samples.
Based on the results from these first tests, we will then start to 'fine tune' the mixture of soil and lime and pumice/perlite to get the best balance of strength and insulation. A third stage in the testing will be to add fibre - either hemp or horse hair - and also Linseed oil or other additives designed to increase the tensile strength and durability of the rammed earth.
In addition to preparations for compression testing, work has continued on the actual design of the building. I hope that I will be able to post a new image in the next few days, showing the 'new' roof line that was the result of John Gower's generous input to the project (Gower Design Group).