1st May 2008
I stupidly said in my last update that "Hopefully it'll stay dry-ish over the summer" and we should get lots done. We then got the wettest summer on record.
This time I'd like to start by saying "hopefully it'll piss down all year".
Im now starting to see why they mostly build Earthships in deserts.
Anyway, now I've got that of my chest, an update.
As you might have guessed, work on the house was very limited last year. We did get the three layers of tyres for the foundations finished, but that was about it.
On a brighter note, we are now up and running again. Our earth for the tyres is dry enough to use without it squishing out when its hit with the sledgehammer! We are now working on the third row of tyres above ground and the house is actually starting to look like a building and not a muddy pit (although it still has that low-walled Roman look about it!)
We are however starting to have a bit of an issue with finding subsoil for the infill. I think that what we had excavated at the site has either been washed away in the rain of blown away in the gales! As a result we are having to dig into more and more of the croft to get the stuff and I'm starting to worry that by the time were done we will have a house perched on a thin pinnicle of rock that can only be accessed by rope ladder!
This time I'd like to start by saying "hopefully it'll piss down all year".
Im now starting to see why they mostly build Earthships in deserts.
Anyway, now I've got that of my chest, an update.
As you might have guessed, work on the house was very limited last year. We did get the three layers of tyres for the foundations finished, but that was about it.
On a brighter note, we are now up and running again. Our earth for the tyres is dry enough to use without it squishing out when its hit with the sledgehammer! We are now working on the third row of tyres above ground and the house is actually starting to look like a building and not a muddy pit (although it still has that low-walled Roman look about it!)
We are however starting to have a bit of an issue with finding subsoil for the infill. I think that what we had excavated at the site has either been washed away in the rain of blown away in the gales! As a result we are having to dig into more and more of the croft to get the stuff and I'm starting to worry that by the time were done we will have a house perched on a thin pinnicle of rock that can only be accessed by rope ladder!
click on image for larger view
Pounding Tyres
Kitchen/mezzanine wall