Workshop Update

25 May 2013 4 Comments

by inspirationalvillage in Natural Building Tags: , , , , , , , ,

cob workshopThings have been progressing slowly but steadily in the workshop since we finally got the roof finished in the winter.

Colin focused on getting the doors in right away, refining two old doors that came from his Dad’s work of deconstructing old houses on the island, and refitting a pair of salvaged french doors.  He also built a raised stone hearth from the pile of stones we have on the property, put in the stove pipe, and wired in the rough electrical circuits.  We got the insulation in the ceiling and the plastic vapour barrier secured over that and ready for the finished ceiling layer, which we think will be some kind of bamboo or sea grass mat.

rough sculptureI spent a couple of weeks on and off getting the rough coat of plaster on the inside and outside of the building.  This layer of clay plaster is the only rough coat needed on a cob wall, and is the same layer as the third layer that we put on the strawbale house.  (See my previous post called Natural Plaster for full details).  A mix of 4 parts sand, 2 parts clay, and 1 part straw with water to mix it to a troweling consistency kept me busy in the warmer days of late winter. rough plastered windows I cleaned up and shaped the sculptural aspects of the walls so they were ready for the final layer of plaster, which Tracy and I completed earlier in May, while the temperatures were still cool enough to give the plaster time to dry.  The final clay plaster took us 2 days to put on, a seemingly record pace for any one job to be completed in.  We mixed up the kaolin clay, sand, straw, paper pulp and whiting in the buckets the day before, and then added the rice flour paste, and borax and mixed multiple buckets together the morning we started plastering.  (See my older post Final Plastering for more exact details).  We got much of the simple walls done on the first day, then completed the wall with the windows and arched shelf the next day, cleaning up our tools by the afternoon.  I am always so amazed at how quickly the finishing layer goes, compared to the time it takes to get all the other layers beneath it built.final plaster

Last weekend, Colin and I built the one interior wall that separates the workshop from a small storage room.  It will also be the wall against which will be built Colin’s work bench.  It holds the majority of the electrical outlets and is a standard 2×4 construction filled with rock wool (Roxul) insulation and covered in plywood.  final plastered windows

There is not too much left to do in this simple building for Colin to finally move in and use the space for his wood working.  Right now he is coming to the end of a giant stone facing job and is looking forwards to working with the more forgiving medium of cedar wood.  I can turn my attention to finishing the outside of the building later this summer, playing with some creative designs for sculpture as well as getting the last coat of lime plaster done when the weather begins to cool off once again.     interior wall

Eco-Homes Tour and Symposium

23 Aug 2011 Leave a comment

by inspirationalvillage in Natural Building Tags: , , , , , ,

A comment that we hear regularly from those visiting our strawbale house is that not everyone who wants to have a naturally built house is capable of doing it themselves.  Indeed, it takes a lot of hard work, research, material searching, building skills, tools, and time to go through the process as a home builder of any type of project.  Anyone without such prerequisites but with a desire and willingness to learn certainly can go for it, but there are many out there for whom it is more realistic to hire someone else to build them a home.  This is prevalent within the conventional building industry, but where does one look to find a straw bale crew?  A natural plaster expert to source materials and use their knowledge of crafting healthy walls?  What about an architect who will consider the natural light and water conditions of your chosen spot?  All of these job positions are readily available for the standard house, but difficult to find for alternatives.

On Pender Island, a group of people wanting to promote various aspects of natural building have formed the Eco-Homes Network, in hopes of being able to provide services and information for anyone seeking to build a healthy home, as well as networking with other builders in the community to create a greater awareness of alternative materials and systems.  Education for clients as well as builders is a large step towards integrating healthier building practices into any house or project, whether it is classified as “eco-friendly” or not.  Why limit ourselves with labels and categories?  Any system that takes pressure off the resources of the earth and saves money in the long term is just a good idea to consider.  The Eco-Homes Network consists of Rob Zuk – a solar systems consultant, Ken Rempel – an architectural designer, Garrett McLeod – a traditional timber framer and carpenter, Colin Hamilton – artistic woodworker and natural builder, Tracy Calvert – an extensive natural builder and master of earthen plastering, and Jude Farmer –  a woodworker and man of many skills.  In fact, everyone in the group has many crossover skills and knowledge spanning many years of different experiences within the building industry, including roofing, tiling, stonework, workshop leadership, landscaping, flooring, and planning.

For two years, the Eco-Homes Network has set up a demonstration zone at the Pender Fall Fair and has hosted an eco-homes tour as part of an effort to educate people about natural building practices, and to showcase the many beautiful homes around us that incorporate different aspects of the industry.  At the Fall Fair, everyone has been invited to squish their toes in cob and plaster mixes, and try their hands at spreading the mix over a demonstration wall of bales in a timber frame.  There also has been many books to gaze through, knowledgeable people to talk to, and a photo board of projects to look over.  Many people get a good sense of the simplicity, creativity, and beauty that encompasses the building of a natural house.  The Eco-Homes tour, which takes place a week later on Labour Day, is a self directed tour of up to 10 houses around the island, and has showcased houses made with chip-slip walls, strawbale, cob, cordwood and Faswall blocks (compressed recycled wood chip blocks), and including features such as earthen floors, living roofs, natural plaster, rain water catchment systems, hydronic in-floor heating, solar hot water, passive solar, composting toilets, and countless other details and creative touches that make up a complete picture of a natural house.  Some of the houses have been in the construction phase, allowing visitors to see the layers of some of the processes.  There have been over 150 people from the locals to travellers from the mainland and Vancouver Island each year, asking many questions and hopefully taking some ideas back to their own homes.  All proceeds from the previous tours have gone to the Pender Community Hall and to the Pender Island Farmland Acquisition Project.  This year, proceeds will help the growing Pender Community Transition movement, to build a more sustainable island.

The Eco-Homes Network is adding a new element to the tour this year.  On Sunday, September 4th, The Building Around Water Symposium will be a day  focusing on water systems and living roofs as well as a mini tour featuring houses with such systems for viewing.  The six houses on the tour will be open for visitors in the morning, then symposium events will be commencing at the community hall in the afternoon.  All the homes are located along Port Washington road, within a few kilometers of the hall, and would make a beautiful morning walk, jog, bike ride, or car stop!  Lunch will be available for purchase at the hall at noon, with speakers beginning at one o’clock.  Water on the gulf islands, as well as in many other climates world wide, is a concern needing immediate addressing and rethinking in terms of efficient usage and collection systems.  Droughts and shortages have become more widespread as our climates shift, reminding us of the valuable place that water holds in our lives.  Adam Scheuer, president of Water Tiger Rainwater Harvesting, will give a talk and answer questions regarding rainwater collection systems.  Living roofs are a great way to incorporate water catchment, as well as maximize water absorption and minimize water evaporation while providing more habitat for birds and bees.  Living roofs are gaining lots of attention as features of large commercial scale developments, but they are also beneficial for residential homes, and so there will be a presentation on the installing and maintenance of green roof systems.  In our marine climate zone, there is much concern around the use of vapour barriers.  Many alternative wall systems, such as strawbale, cob or chip slip, provide a breathable wall which does not require a vapour barrier but does now require an envelope engineer such as Ben Martin, who will talk about designing and building with thermal mass wall assemblies, vapour barriers and codes.  Starting at 6:30, there will be a show and tell slideshow by our local builders demonstrating their own creative, recycled, sustainable, and artistic projects.

Building with Pop Cans

21 Jul 2011 1 Comment

by inspirationalvillage in Natural Building Tags: , ,

One of our very first introductions into the world of sustainably built and functioning houses was in Colorado where we attended a presentation by Michael Reynolds, an experimental architect/builder from New Mexico.  Michael is well known for his Earthship buildings, which are built with recycled materials and designed with self- sufficient systems of water, heat, cooling, and light.  They are like permaculture houses, where each aspect of design is multi-functional and supportive to other systems.  These are not high-tech modern houses with computerized regulators though- they are designed with the observations and functions of nature, such as passive solar, complete water systems from rain to grey water recycling and irrigation within the house, sewage treatment, natural light, and air flow circulation that follows natural patterns.  Michael had also taken the important step of building these houses with materials that would otherwise become garbage, like car tires, plastic bottles, and aluminum cans, among other things.  He has taken these ideas and travelled to impoverished countries, demonstrating the possibilities of creating cool, water capturing, ventilated houses for those in hot countries with no electricity and clean water, built with free materials from overflowing garbage dumps.  Despite much conflict with the states’ building industry on the parliamentary level, Michael has continued to fight with a  passion to build healthy, non-dependent homes that span classes and climates.  An awesome documentary called Garbage Warrior follows Michael through his dreams and his journeys.  Check out amazingly beautiful houses and innovative design principles at this site, Earthship Biotecture Green Buildings, http://earthship.com/.

Colin’s design of the bathroom has a round shower space situated almost in the middle of the house, with a tight curve that would be difficult to frame out of wood.  So we used Michael Reynolds’ technique of creating an interior wall out of pop cans, mortared together like bricks in concrete, which made the curve easy to achieve.  Every once in awhile we placed two glass bottle ends taped together into the row to let extra light in, since there are no windows at all in the bathroom.  We had collected a bunch of square, blue gin bottles from the recycling depot here, and instead of trying to cut them we placed them upright around the top, which ended up giving our round wall a bit of a castle turret look.  We placed the height of the wall at just over 6 feet high, so more light can come in over the top.  Colin built a wood cap that sits an inch wider than the wall so we can put plants up there, and the  outside of the wall got a layer of clay plaster, and will be finished with the same earth plaster that the rest of the walls will have.  On the inside, Colin plans to build a small seat in the corner out of cans as well, and we will then coat the whole inside with red pigmented concrete, leaving the glass bottles exposed and glowing.

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