We sure are getting close to culminating our work on the EcoDome. Using Earthbag technique, known locally as 'Super Adobe', you can checkout our last updates here and here. Here's where we last left off:
We had installed the mezzanine floor joists, and made several lines of progress. But one thing that was beginning to complicate things was the low roof. I was hitting my head and finally we needed to 'raise the roof'.
Continuous work, when possible, also comes with the drawback of ignoring other priorities. Last week, the weather took a turn for the worse, and one of our workers had his roof collapse in the night. We recorded over 200 millimeters of rain, more than 8 inches of rain over the last week, headed by one storm of 4 and a half inches in one night.
The dome can handle the rain, it has a deep and wide, french drain system around the outer dome.
Our team is eager for good weather, and we have prepared a lot of material, and have 8 bags of fresh cement still waiting to stabilize our earth bags.
Prepping the material is work, especially because the clays tend to clump when humid, basically our entire climate. This is the same subsoil we pulled out of the ground years ago, now we are just pulling out the roots and it is surprisingly uncontaminated. Still, its is duly noted that this work would be practically unnecessary had we built the whole project in one go.
For now, I also have my eye on the plaster, there are several parts, like the support walls, that could be plastered now, So I turn my attention to those materials. Two months back I cleaned a bracharia lot with an eye on making some hay-like stalks for our plaster.
I waited until it seeded, and the seed stalks hardened. Now, with Brayan's help, we cut and tied the hay-like material into clumps, to be dried first, then chopped to bits manually. I might like to have a fresh chopping machine and dry the bits....but with a machete and log its easier to dry first and chop later.
The work never ends, but with the Creator's help, this project will end, with success and culmination of many experiences and lessons we have learned along the way.
Already we are being contacted by community members interested in 'alternative building' techniques and opportunities, all we can say is that we are up for it - as long as we finish this dome first!!
The goal this week is to build three more rings, on which will go a small mezzanine window frame. In order to build and install the frame over the weekend, we need those three rings formed and stamped! Wish us luck and fine weather!