For a long time, I have done little sharing and a very small bit of complaining about an earthbag dome in my life, finally after many years of pushing and slowly progressing, sometimes seeming like saving money just to throw it into a hole....we are within a stone's throw of completion.
It had been such a rainy July, that I just left the plastic on and worked on other things, such as an outside picnic bench Part 1 and Part 2, cleaning coffee contours and working with the biological corridor reforestation.
All covered up, it can start to seem a bit depressing:
So we first took our machetes and cleaned all around the dome, opening up clear space to work, see and think. Over the years we have worked hard to do much the opposite, but I have to admit that things look exciting and more promising when everything is all cleaned up.
We needed to redo the roof, and since we cut some bamboo in the last new moon, (and cut and organized it before ecoinstante's birthday party), we have plenty to choose from as we build a roof made of shading plastic, to block against the direct sunlight. This is as much for us as it is for the dome, the direct UV especially here in the tropics is one enemy the plastic bags do have.
Here she is! Getting ready for the mezzanine, just how we left her several months back, when we finished the arcs for the window and door, and we started thinking about installing the floor joists and how we would do that. One of the reasons it takes so long, other than having to stop to go find more money to continue, is that each new step or task I must research to make sure I don't mess everything up at this late stage.
The original designer of the dome is long gone, and left shortly after the original budget he proposed was all spent; surely he never anticipated we would still be building the same dome 4-5 years later. Luckily he left me the plan (and the pdf book on earthbag building), so I could finish what had been started.
Using 14 and a half inch blocks to space the joists, I am a little off the accustomed 16 inch floor joist spacing because my 2x6 joists are actually 1 inch and 3/4 instead of one and a half. Just an observation from a non-expert attempting their hand at engineering.
These joists have previously been immunized with boric acid treatment, which is something I make at home (and order the propylene glycol online). I think I will apply another coat when we are all done, before possibly painting the wood with something as a final coat.
Tomorrow the electrician comes, but we have made great progress so far in just the last two days (after softening the new guys up on some road work). We managed to get the new team trained, watched the instructional video, reviewed the process, cleaned the area, built the roof, carried in the cement on horses, installed the floor joists and blocking, and have now started bagging the joist gaps.
As the long as the electricians work allows, we will be bagging more tomorrow, with pictures all week as we strive to finish this dome for good.
Look forward to the upcoming photographic updates - this dry month of August is a great blessing, finding motivated workers is a blessing, having all of the materials is a great blessing.
To be able to sell a bit of crypto to keep working and building our dreams? This is one of the greatest blessings we have found, and it is now not just changing our lives, but also creating employment, training and mastery, along with some documentation!