Hello again,
The winter was long and cold AF, finally the weather is decent enough to work outside.
So i continued with the 2"x 6" beaming on top of the rammed earth walls. The plates are bolted down with 1/2" concrete anchors, triple 2" x 6" over the windows and doorways.
Then proceeded to start with the trusses, this is when it changes shape. How Exciting!
But first farm duties, we had our first calf.
There's quite the pile of trusses!
To speed up the process i nailed joist hangers in position while on the ground to the two end trusses.
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| First one is up! |
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| Top of the Morning |
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| Coming together nicely |
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| The excavator sure came in handy as i was working alone for a couple days |
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| Starting to look like a house, not Stonehenge anymore. |
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| So there's my progress, time to go back to my job. Just in time as I'm sore, lol. |
Great work! I read all your entries because I'm interested in building a fence with rammed earth. I have a few questions that hopefully you are willing to answer. I noticed you purchased your soils, what kind of soils did you buy for best mix? I don't have any suitable soil in my back yard(red hard clay) with little else. My plan is to either build a long (80") 6 feet tall wall or build columns and attach wood panels in between. Although, the long wall would be better to stop highway traffic noise. What type of form do you recommend for a 6 foot tall by 80 feet long? Do short sections at a time? Long section? I'm new at this but have good construction experience. How thick would you do a garden wall? 1 foot ? Or more? Anyway, I know your are busy and don't want to take too much of your time.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work
Gabriel from Oakville Ontario
Thanks Gabriel,
DeleteThat sounds like a super cool project.
We too have clay in the backyard, we purchased pit run screened to 1". Basically it's like road base, consists of slit clay sand and gravel. About 15% clay & silt 60% sand, 25% gravel.
Short sections are easier to deal with for sure. A long wall would look super Cool, so either doing a continuous wall or sections then ram between them.12" is a good thickness for wall 6' tall and ram 7' long sections. As the wall build progresses you may make longer sections.
When you ask about a garden wall is that for "retaining" or like a raised garden?
Paul
Thanks Gabriel,
DeleteThat sounds like a super cool project.
We too have clay in the backyard, we purchased pit run screened to 1". Basically it's like road base, consists of slit clay sand and gravel. About 15% clay & silt 60% sand, 25% gravel.
Short sections are easier to deal with for sure. A long wall would look super Cool, so either doing a continuous wall or sections then ram between them.12" is a good thickness for wall 6' tall and ram 7' long sections. As the wall build progresses you may make longer sections.
When you ask about a garden wall is that for "retaining" or like a raised garden?
Paul
Thanks for the reply. It's more like a fence And noise barrier. In the future if my back allows it, i have plans of doing some raise garden planters and a street number sing wall like you did on your first post. I've watched many videos and have read David Easton's book, online articles and the form work seems to be the most challenging. I noticed some people use the simple traditional form work with the metal rods at the bottom and top that makes it fairly easy to manage by one person and to set up for 2' by 6' Wall sections, but probably takes up a lot of time to set up and take apart and it leaves holes in the walls to fill in later on. I also think your technique isn't too complicated except for those long walls that took you a few days to set up.
ReplyDeleteLooking great you two...can't wait to see it finished!
ReplyDelete