Friday June 23, day 36
So as you may have heard, we stripped the first wall.
We did a bunch of other things too, like eat watermelon! Megan did a great job with the watermelon saw.
Megan also did a great job with the insulation.
Rammed Earth Builder Mike Wilson of Terra-Sol has made the request that we share with the world the story of this insulation.
This insulation comes from Happy Harry's.
I'm sure you've seen those (unfortunately often times hideous) doors with the aluminium exterior, the insulated middle and the large rectangular window in the middle. Rather than let them accumulate at the bottom of the ocean, Happy Harry acquires the centers of those doors once they've been cut out to accomodate the window. Some of the panels are made into Happy Harry's signature "Happy Shack". Some of the panels are simply stripped of the aluminium sheathing, revealing a 2" thick 2' x5' strip of polyisocyanurate --perfect for the middle of the rammed earth walls. Megan combined them to make 4" thick batts, wrapped the edges with tape, and put old screws through the batts to hold them together. Megan also came up with the genius concept to label the insulation for easy access. Let's hear it for Megan! Let's hear it for lo-fi! The best part is this: had we purchased the insulation at Deth Kulture Tools R Us, it would have been $4,000. Happy Harry's was 1/10th that.
And we rammed. Oh how we rammed. The whole gang was there. Roland worked through his cold with aplomb. Roland also pointed the now functioning rammers at the so-called "clouds" of so-called "water vapor" that turned a beautiful blue morning into white out conditions.
No matter, we got that PMA, and so we rammed to the top, poured the puddled earth cap and were home by 8pm--for most of us a quick 12 and a half hour day. For Grant, the morning mixer, a lucky 13.
Cherries were eaten. A Volvo drove its final mile. Tomorrow taking down and building up. Alpha and Omega--that sort of thing.
We did a bunch of other things too, like eat watermelon! Megan did a great job with the watermelon saw.
Megan also did a great job with the insulation.
Rammed Earth Builder Mike Wilson of Terra-Sol has made the request that we share with the world the story of this insulation.
This insulation comes from Happy Harry's.
I'm sure you've seen those (unfortunately often times hideous) doors with the aluminium exterior, the insulated middle and the large rectangular window in the middle. Rather than let them accumulate at the bottom of the ocean, Happy Harry acquires the centers of those doors once they've been cut out to accomodate the window. Some of the panels are made into Happy Harry's signature "Happy Shack". Some of the panels are simply stripped of the aluminium sheathing, revealing a 2" thick 2' x5' strip of polyisocyanurate --perfect for the middle of the rammed earth walls. Megan combined them to make 4" thick batts, wrapped the edges with tape, and put old screws through the batts to hold them together. Megan also came up with the genius concept to label the insulation for easy access. Let's hear it for Megan! Let's hear it for lo-fi! The best part is this: had we purchased the insulation at Deth Kulture Tools R Us, it would have been $4,000. Happy Harry's was 1/10th that.
And we rammed. Oh how we rammed. The whole gang was there. Roland worked through his cold with aplomb. Roland also pointed the now functioning rammers at the so-called "clouds" of so-called "water vapor" that turned a beautiful blue morning into white out conditions.
No matter, we got that PMA, and so we rammed to the top, poured the puddled earth cap and were home by 8pm--for most of us a quick 12 and a half hour day. For Grant, the morning mixer, a lucky 13.
Cherries were eaten. A Volvo drove its final mile. Tomorrow taking down and building up. Alpha and Omega--that sort of thing.
posted by Rammed Earth at 10:34 PM
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