The ground is broken on the new Skyhouse and we're ready to begin the formwork for the foundation. And while right now it's hot and sunny out we can already feel the pressure of winter's approach as we try to get the ball rolling on our new home.
We were excited to break ground on schedule, June 1st, but since then progress has been slow on the actual building site with designs still being finalized and materials research and acquisition taking up a lot of time. Also our construction crew is still focusing on finishing some of last year's buildings and we took some time off to focus on our women's building workshop. Ah, once again building projects seem to take twice as long as you'd ever expect.
But last time we promised a description of the design and the design process. We had a wonderful two days with Dan Smith and Bob Theis from Dan Smith and Associates, an architectural firm from Berkeley, CA that specializes in strawbale. They were excited to work with us because we had the freedom and the desire to push the envelope on alternative building and try some innovative techniques. Plus we were an opportunity to design something besides a single family home, skyhouse being a community common house.
We ended up with a plan for a 3400 square foot, two-story, six bedroom, post and beam structure. It will include kitchen, dining room, common space, bathrooms, office, the whole works. While that's all pretty standard, we've got some pretty innovative ideas being used as well. Here's a quick look at some of the ideas we are excited about in our new home:
- Foundation
- In our ongoing attempt to minimize our use of concrete we are using a rubble trench for the skyhouse foundation. We dug down 4 feet to the frost line, laid drainage pipe in our foundation and then filled in with gravel. On top of the gravel we will be using what people call 'urbanite' or rip rap, which is broken up concrete. We will essentially build a small 'stone' wall and then pour a minimal amount of concrete on top of this to create a smooth, level grade beam far enough above grade for drainage purposes.
- Reused Lumber
- We've been busy taking down houses and barns and now it is time to use that old wood to create a new building. But we don't have all the wood we need for the new Skyhouse so we have contacted brokers who deal in reclaimed or antique wood looking for posts and beams that they have pulled out of old buildings. And if we do end up using any new wood we are looking into certified sustainably harvested wood. These sources are a little more pricey but we are committed to this and want to set a good example. (News flash: We found our reclaimed lumber from a WWI parachute factory in Gary, Indiana. Eight foot long 4x13 Douglas fir!)
- Floor
- For our floor we have an exciting plan. We will be laying strawbales in the floor as insulation with a few inches of spacing between. We will then pour in what is called 'roadbase'. Roadbase is a mixture of various sizes of gravel, sand, and finer particles which the highway department uses to create a firm base for building paved roads. For a final layer we will sift out the larger particles until we are left just with the fine particles and with a minimum amount of water we can trowel it smooth for an adobe-like floor without waiting for it to dry for weeks.
- Jet Stoves
- Our architects have great connections in the alternative building scene and they brought to us an idea from Ianto Evans of Cob Cottage Company in Oregon. A Jet Stove is a thermal mass stove with a unique and low budget design that uses a couple of metal drums as the combustion chamber and cob (clay, sand and straw) as the thermal mass. It has a ³downdraft system² where the wood is fed downwards and the air is taken in through the same opening as the wood. The thermal mass allows us to burn our fires at full blast for hot, complete combustion. The mass absorbs the heat and then radiates it into the house slowly to keep our temperatures moderated. Combined with the thermal mass of our walls and floors, we hope to have a warm home with a minimum of wood use and pollution.
- Lime Plaster
- Speaking of plaster we are excited to be experimenting with lime based plasters. With the help of our architects and our women's workshop leaders, we have some basic knowledge about lime and how we can use it to create waterproof, durable plasters. Lime is made by heating limestone to 1800 degrees causing a chemical reaction which is then reversed as the lime plaster dries, turning your plaster back into limestone on your walls. Because of the heating, lime does have a lot of embodied energy, but unlike cement, lime will reabsorb all the CO2 that is given off during its creation so it doesn't create the same greenhouse gases. In addition lime "breathes" much more than cement and thus is much more suited to working with straw and clay.
- Light Clay Straw
- We also hope to employ a technique called 'Light Clay Straw' to insulate our 1st floor ceiling and some interior walls. Basically you create a clay "slip" which is a mixture of clay and water, about as thick as paint or heavy cream. The straw is then tossed in this like a salad until each bit of straw is coated with clay. The straw is then packed into a form or a wall cavity and as it dries it is fire resistant, insulative, and sound deadening. And it can be plastered just like strawbales.
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