Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Rammed earth progress

Up to the lintel on first rammed earth building.  



After building maybe 200m(2) of garden walls we are working on this small garage.  some things learned:
-the mixture should be dry as possible.
-lime combines better with clay than cement
-it is possible to do soil-sand.  only do first line with lime
-form work should overlap more on bottom, makes easier to go up straight.
-cut pipe for putting bolt thought exactly width of desired form work and pound them out immediately.
-last layer put in lime again for water proofing.
-maybe there should not be staggered joints as it will crack through sometimes, at least he crack would follow the joint.
-keep checking vertical as you ram
-after removing form work it takes a day or two to become very hard.
-marine board means it will stick a bit, real wood is better, but leaves design.