Building Surf
indo-dreaming wrote:AlfredWallace wrote:
Nice, not sure why but as a grommet i was always interested in this and mud brick construction, i even use to buy the odd magazine.
IndoDreaming. Hi.
Stabilised Rammed Earth is as I’ve said , a particular aggregate , generally alluvial or colluvial, rounded, sometimes angular or oval stone, anywhere from 5mm-20mm in diameter particle size, couple with fine grained clay fines, like the Anglesea Gravels.
To 1m3 of earth/gravel you add 80kg of off-white cement, it’s all mixed together, not too wet, not too dry, clasped in your hand it should just stick together but also feel slightly crumbly.
Turning over the mix with a bobcat bucket about 5 or 6 times until the right consistency is achieved.
You only mix what you need , simply you can’t wet it again, you’d change the cement/ ratio and that leads to cracking.
Then with a pneumatic ramming tool, you pound the fuck out of it in 150mm incremental layers.
It’s such a rewarding build, walls are 300mm thick with a 10 hour thermal lag.
I love it.
Best part, the gravel we used from the quarry on the Surf Coast was actually the overburden fines that had passed through a sieve whilst they extracted 20-25mm quartz pebbles for the landscape industry, inadvertently we were using their waste, ultimate recycling costing me at the time $7.20/tonne, can’t beat that, it was win, win, win.
Never paid for any timber to build the rest of the cottage , got it all for free from a school that had just been pulled down. AW
This is a great thread, rammed earth is mint, quite a bit of it in WA, can look so nice with jarrah or other timber window surrounds.
I'm hopeless at this kind of thing, but can do labourer and let my young one direct, cut and install properly.
That Furneaux book looks great, a boat trip AW to visit all 100 islands? Oh wow. Got sent into Flinders and Cape Barren for work, was given hire car so did as much exploring as could after work, it's quite unique and you can get also a great view in the winter sun from Mt Waterhouse in N Tassie as well... Got the Rainforest Plants of Tasmania and Alpine Wildflowers of Tasmania booklets on the desk at present.
velocityjohnno wrote:This is a great thread, rammed earth is mint, quite a bit of it in WA, can look so nice with jarrah or other timber window surrounds.
I'm hopeless at this kind of thing, but can do labourer and let my young one direct, cut and install properly.
VJ. Morning mate.
Correct plenty in WA. Australia and California are the two areas of the world with the greatest use of S.R.Earth building.
I’ve visited builds in California, not biased in any way, our results are much better.
Our form-work kits and methods are better also. Just my opinion.
It’s only your imagination that limits what you can build and with what timbers. I’ve been involved in around 15 Rammed Earth projects, some , my own jobs, others for mates who have S.R. E.businesses. AW
velocityjohnno wrote:That Furneaux book looks great, a boat trip AW to visit all 100 islands? Oh wow. Got sent into Flinders and Cape Barren for work, was given hire car so did as much exploring as could after work, it's quite unique and you can get also a great view in the winter sun from Mt Waterhouse in N Tassie as well... Got the Rainforest Plants of Tasmania and Alpine Wildflowers of Tasmania booklets on the desk at present.
VelocityJohnno. You have had a great life with the different geographical locations your employment has taken you to. Most would envy.
There’s something about all the Bass Strait islands from the Hunter Group in the West to the Furneaux Group in the east, many places to visit and explore. I gotta do it before I become compost. AW
@VJ , how’s your health going ? Have you managed to dodge the covid waves ?
AlfredWallace wrote:AndyM wrote:What a beautiful looking book, even at first glance.
Reminds me of a book here on my shelf.AndyM. Hi fella, hope all is good with you.
On the cover is the very rare Lily in the Asphodelaceae family, Bulbine semibarbata, it’s only on some of those islands.
Books, I love them, looks like you do also, plethora of info and experiences.
My book was not expensive and it was actually produced in 2001.
I grabbed it as soon as I saw it, a small group of like minded folk visited all of the one hundred islands of the Furneaux Group.
I’ve an interest in everything, in particular, locally, the land bridge that connected us with Tassie 18-25,000 years ago, especially with regard to species distribution on Tassie today, many east coast mainland plants are found in Northern Tassie as a result of the connection.
Alas, as I’m from a fishing and boat building family, our forebears ploughed those areas in Bass Strait and they have piqued my interest.
When I get my settlement from our house sale, I’m considering getting a boat and visiting all 100 islands to do a current bird and plant list. I mentioned garyg1412 because he’s visited a few of those islands and I know he’d be a bit interested. All aboard. AWYour book looks fascinating also, update me of its contents please, I’m interested for sure.
All good here AW, a new job and a new chapter at the moment so lots of learning, which is something to be valued.
"I’m considering getting a boat and visiting all 100 islands"
Now in my opinion, that's an epic and worthy ambition - camping gear and fishing gear and spending time on remote and empty beaches.
Paradise.
Regarding that Atlas of Remote Islands, it sounds like you've got one coming your way so I don't want to spoil any surprises, but here's an example of the well-written prose accompanying each site.
Hope it's easy enough to read.
It’s about time. Whether you are a ‘tradie’ or just a ‘weekend warrior’, us surfers like to think we can build stuff. So let it rip, let’s talk about anything to do with construction, be it, carpentry, timber, steel, painting, building, roofing, plumbing, drainage, paving, concreting, decks, pergolas, gazebos, retaining walls ( timber & masonry ), bricklaying, sheds, carports, garages, landscape construction, balconies, steps & stairs, skateboard ramps and half-pipes, cupboards, kitchens, bench tops and just about anything else your hands and brains can put together.