Iulia arranged for a group of 21 Belgian scouts to visit with us to work on the cellar (numerous such groups visit Romania every year). The initiative was supported by our local municipality who provided the group with the sports hall as a residence and a kitchen where they could cook and eat. The weather […]
Category Archives: Construction
Earthbag Cellar – Roof Forming
We are off to a late(r then I would have liked) start this year. This was primarily because of my allergy and a very rain season. It was also because we got stuck with the roof! Our primary plan to make a roof out of acacia vigas was deserted when we failed to source logs. […]
Our Second Second Rocket Mass Heater
We finally decided to go ahead and rebuild our second rocket stove (the one in the living room). My primary wishes were to rebuild the core (better) and to convert the relatively useless mass into a (small) bench. Iulia decided to make it a workshop and … 3 interested people showed up. During the first […]
Buried Home in Omaha Nebraska
I enjoyed this video of a house that was apparently built (~40 years ago?) by a pioneering thinker (Lloyd Texley, the former head of science for the Omaha Public School District). It gives a good idea of what is possible and I can only imagine what additional improvements and potentials lie ahead: https://youtu.be/oej6EvxBJkI
Catalan Brick Vault
What a wonderful skill … beautiful work with a basic element and basic tools. I can imagine something like this being built over eathbag walls (though I don’t know about using it for an underground roof that may carry alot of weight … will it hold?) https://youtu.be/PB8TWMKHHMQ
(Very) Passive (Not) Solar
The only place we’ve seen sunshine for the past … oh … I don’t know … at least a week, maybe two … was on a video call with Annelieke in Portugal. And this is what the 10 day forecast looks like: This is that time of the year where the sun can be absent […]
Earthbag Cellar – Walls Done!
After winding down from the full-house weekend … we got back to our “regular schedule”. Marta stayed with us a while longer and helped us get almost to the finish line. We were excited to finally get to level 21. Here we are passing over the front arch for the first time: When we finished […]
Earthbag Cellar at Level 20
Iulia was a way for a few days and I took the opportunity to do some initial finishing tests. Then Iulia came back and brought with her a wave of people. We’ve just been through a full weekend here at Bhudeva. Christina and Marta came out to help in the final levels and they were […]
Earthbag Cellar at Level 19
The day before yesterday we finished level 18. Yesterday we started level 19 by putting in the ventillation pipes (for air flowing out of the two rooms). We cobbed them in place and then continued to work aroud them. Today we focused on the arch above the entry door … and we started by adding […]
Earthbag Cellar Second Backfilling
Originally we intended to backfill only once, about half way through and then at the end when we bury the structure. But, the structure is going to be a bit higher then expected and working higher up becomes trickier, especially for two people … so … after finishing level 16 we decided to backfill again. […]