After completing the walls, I roughed in the interior plumbing using plumbing channels and then covered it all with 3/4 drain rock. The following Spring, I finished off some rammed earth walls for windows and a sliding door.
Plumbing an electrical conduit exiting the house.
Getting in my roof drainage pipes. Designed to funnel into pool or other tank possibly as some future date.
Getting the French Drain in.
Raising floor with 1.5 feet of 3/4 drain rock.
Forming patiio door rammed earth wall.
Took me a whole Spring, Summer, and Autumn to build my Rammed Earth Walls. Shoveling 600 tons of sand and gravel and man-handling 40 KG bags of cement ain’t for the weak of spirit. I had good weather though, despite being unbearably hot at times. I drank three or four liters of liquid a day. Beginning the first wall, I had excruciating finger pain after the first day. I had to redesign the building, shrinking the planned 11 foot walls to 8 foot walls. After a weeks rest, I was back to work. I still can’t believe I built these.
Rig i designed for lifting 250 pound form for building Rammed Earth Walls.
First Form is up and fortunately NOT falling down despite winds.
Home Depot buckets full of cement and other special ingredients for mix. Ramp is for the wheel barrow. Tarp is for the hot sunny days. Everyone in awhile the wind blows them down.
Placing insulation and horizontal rebar in walls.
Forming an L-shaped wall.
Using plywood holder to lift forms up and into position.
This is how you brace a form for tricky corners.
Making progress on the walls.
Closing in on the Final Walls
Preparing side of house for drainage.
Beauty of Rammed Earth.
Getting creative (having a bit of fun). It’s always interesting when the form comes down to see what’s been created. You don’t know when you’re ramming.
Peaceful Day’s End
Water proofing the walls for drainage.
My tractor has been a real work horse from moving tons and tons of aggregates to lifting heavy beams and planks. Best purchase I made, but needs respect. Tractors don’t like hilly terrains.
Temporary roof over containers. Makes a bit of a garage to keep whatnot underneath dry. Looks good freshly constructed.
My tractor likes it’s new home for the winter.
Lifting beams to container roof.
Tractor at work.
Tractor flips and does a 360. I just manage to escape being crushed. The tractor was fifteen feet away up on a five ridge before it toppled. I was rushing and made some miscalculations backing up with the bucket high.
A new tractor counter weight. Much better at about 900 pounds instead of 2000.
The footings were very unique for this project. Over 30 cubic yards of concrete, three times what most houses use to create a snowshoe imprint to handle the weight of the Rammed Earth Walls.
Perimeter footing squared using triangle measuring techniques and laser to 1/4 inch.
Putting in 2′ ground stakes for footing support. Using 2″ x 12″. Footing is four feet wide.
Rebar before wall keys.
Ground wire attached to rebar.
Ufer Ground – Best ground there is. More than 20 feet of copper attached to rebar network.
Corner Rebar of 5/8 – Very strong!
Wall Rebar in place along with wall key
Ready for fresh concrete.
Getting ready to pour. Cement Truck is here and the Pumper Truck
Looking good
Keep the inspector happy with rebar protection
Cement Poured and Smooth
Before buying a mixer, I tested a drum mixer. Didn’t like they way the drum mixer worked. I decided on a Mortar Mixer. Much more efficient at dry mixing.
Larger Rocks Gathering at Edge – Not Good
Notice how well a Mortar Mixer with spiral blades mixes aggregates and sand. Much better than a rotary drum mixer.
Before building, I took a course with Clifton Schooley in Thailand, a Vancouver Rammed Earth Guru. Met some interesting people from all walks of life.
Cute work pants
Everybody serious at perfecting the mix
We called it the pit
My creative moment
Our leader showing off the bod
Two foot thick walls
Preparing building site with 1000 lb plate compactor to keep my GeoTec happy.
It was fun
Not a bad view from this height
The foundation site is completed.
The initial excavation was done by the “pros.” However, I wasn’t exactly pleased with the end result. The following year I had to rent a small Kubota for a week and fix everything up. Nevertheless, the pros hauled out a lot of dirt and trees?! Wasn’t suppose to be any land fill on this site?!
I felt like a kid in a sandbox
Don’t I look like I’m working hard.
Making 1 foot lifts for foundations
Some iron oxide in the soil as well as clay
It was fun watching the excavator until he struck fill and old trees
Can’t believe the developers dumped this here
Oh lovely … what else did they dump?
Nice place to put a garage.
Looks good from a geo-tecs point of view
I cleared the land with my truck, a chainsaw, and a variety of clippers, and cutters. Went to the dump about 20 times.
The berries are sweet but not the thorns
It was surprising how many old trees were under the bushes
Looks kind of spooky
Where’s my chainsaw?
The previous owner was good at cutting, but not clearing
Looking pissed off and dehydrated
What a pain in the butt
Loading Truck – 10 loads to go
That’s about 3 years of heat.
Time to bring in the excavator
Proud owner or more like – now what?
My offer was accepted, June 2013. I was able to get a very good price for the land, but I’m not sure I want to live in Lake Cowichan year around. The town of about 3,000 people is a nice town, as small towns go, but it is 30 km from the town of Duncan and 90 km from the city of Victoria (pop. 250,000). Lake Cowichan feels somewhat isolated. However, it is beautiful country. The air is clear. The lake water quality is rated as one of the highest in British Columbia. There was talk some years ago of bottling the lake water. Beyond Lake Cowichan to the West are trees, more trees, and then the Pacific Ocean. Bears and 300 pound Mountain Lions have been known to visit the town during the night. Elk and deer are common pests in gardens. In fact, any food grown in back yards is an invitation to visitors of the night.
A neighboring B&B
Point Ideal is the nicest and most convenient subdivision in the town of Lake Cowichan. This isn’t just a biased opinion. One local claims it provides half the property taxes for the town (not too pleased with that). My neighbours are mostly retired, with many B&B’s in the area. During the summer, Lake Cowichan gets quite busy with tourists. 2013 was the busiest on record with over 27,000 visitors, 9 times the population of the area. The other 10 months of the year, the town is quite sleepy … you might say, livin’ is easy, fish are jumpin’ or why all this rain??
Many attractions of the lake are minutes away on foot. I can walk to the beach and marina in 5 minutes. The town grocery store is 1.8 km. A&W, Subway, and a Bar/Restaurant are a 10 minute jaunt. And if I care to be more ambitious, I can hike to Mesachie Lake taking trails through old growth forest. The subdivision is also surrounded by small parks. Next to my property to the West is a 2 acre land reserve. It’s great to have a quiet neighbour (accept for the frogs during the summer, which make quite a racket).
A beach only 300 meters from lot
If I walk past the beach I come across Lake Cowichan’s floating dock. It is very peaceful and surprising how little it is used off-season. It’s great for a morning walk and when the water is warmer a refreshing swim. The floating dock is about 400 meters long and only a few minutes from the beach area. Some residents have tried to fish off the dock, but with little luck. The fish like to hide further up the lake and at the mouth of the river in the town.
Lake Cowichan Floating Dock – Amazing and empty 10 months of the year