Room Closed off

The room is now closed off, just in time for the weather turning pretty chilly, getting down in the 30s this week!

We poured the bond beam on top of the brick walls. As usual, our mix was 3:1 sand to concrete, with added fibers. We used castillos, with extra rebar at corners and above the door and window, as reinforcement.

Once the bond beam had hardened, we made the sophet (out of sheet metal), which seals the eaves, from the gutter board to the bond beam.

We also hung the last of the windows - the only one in the brick walls.

It is amazing the difference in temperature inside the rooms, now that it's all closed off. The only opening is under the door, which will have to wait until we do the floors.

Brick walls are finished

After another week of not being able to work on the house, we did get a few days done this week, and saw a lot of progress.

The bricks are now all laid. This was our first brick laying experience and on the final (5th) day, the two of us laid 180 bricks: we are getting better and faster.

We then poured the posts at the corners and at either side of the door and
window. We used wooden forms for these instead of our preferred fabric forms. The door and window frame are now in place. It is looking more and more like a real room.

We have now started framing the bond beam. We should be able to pour that on Monday.

For more photos, click here.

Back to work

After a few weeks off, we have now started working on the house again. We only ended up working a couple of days this week, due to one thing or another, and we're sort of glad - as we both feel a little stiff and sore and tired!!! It's amazing how fast you get out of shape.

We are now working on the kids' rooms (and for all those who have noticed the location of the apostrophe and wondered if Leo has a sibling on the way - no, we are just planning ahead!!).

We're doing the south and west walls first. They join onto existing walls/roof, and will be made out of ferro-cement. Abe welded the four window frames and we now have them tied into place, as well as the rebar, remesh and most of the lathing tied up. This makes for the frame of ferro-cement. We should be starting stuccing it next week. For photos of these walls, please click here.

The north, east and partition walls will all be made out of Compressed Earth Blocks, but we probably won't start laying the brick for another two weeks.

Work should no longer be called off due to rain, as that season is pretty much passed. Now we are headed into Fall - windy at times, and chilly at night. So far, the house is staying a consistent 10 degrees warmer in the house than outside at night, without any heat source. We'll have to see how it does as it starts to get really cold (so far, our low at night has been 50 degrees; daytime still sees 70s/80s).

Windows and Doors

We now have all the doors and windows hung.

We have a metal screen door, then two metal doors (going into the entranceway, and from the entranceway into the kitchen). The doors in between the other rooms so far will have curtains, so only curtain rails were needed at this stage.

The windows in the entranceway and kitchen all have screens, while the double-glazed polycarbonate windows, which take up most of the south wall of the living and dining rooms, do not open.

The day we hung the screen door and moved the mosquito netting from the door of the room we currently live in to the doorway going up into what will be the kids' rooms was a great day – the whole space is now fly and mosquito free!!!!!

Basically, everything is sealed off and weatherproof, with the exception of the doorway going up to the kids' rooms. It is still open (with a mosquito netting over it) and so lets in the rain. But this will get taken care of over the next couple of weeks, when we build the roof of the kids' rooms, thereby covering the doorway, if not closing it off.

More Photos