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.
indo-dreaming wrote:I dont have anything that exiting but currently doing a quite a big owner builder project doing everything myself except trades i need ticked off. (framing even stick framed)
This week got close to finishing some bedrooms decided to do bedroom cupboards a bit different, cypress post cut to L shape to sit in front of plaster board snuggly (no gap) sanded and stained ebony with clear coat (so can still see grain), then doors hang off them.
Will give a solid Asian feel skirting boards and doors still standard. (next step)
BTW. looks a bit smaller than it is, due to camera setting its a 1,650 mm X 2,100mm opening (two 820mmm doors)
IndoDreaming. Hi.
Good stuff. I love using cypress pine especially outside and or for small pieces of furniture.
Alas, it’s dimensional and you can use it anyway you need.
Used outside, you’ve gotta coat it very quickly otherwise it cracks, it loses its internal moisture rapidly, best to do it on the day you install it, three coats 24 hours apart using a water based , clear polymer based marine grade sealer like UltraClear.
The cypress pine posts and gates facade on that pond garden job i showed,had their first coat, only an hour after installation.
True, at yours inside it will create an Asian style, eliminating any extra tasks like sanding, filling and caulking is always a bonus.
Good stuff, look forward to more updates. AW
AlfredWallace wrote: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
Make sure you do! We've been really hobbit-like in the last 15 years with getting kids through high school but I can feel the (self funded this time) wanderlust returning... That job was 1 in a million chance and I looked at the internally advertised position for 2 weeks dreaming (it was along the lines of 'got a 4x4? want to work remote?) - and I did - so took it back to the Ms and she said 'when do we leave?'... Best work decision ever, my salary tripled and we were our own bosses, homeschooled the kids as we went. When I came back I'd done over 1000 sites, in the remotest of places, and I knew my field and was competent... After that it was adventures up on the mines and flat stick until I got sick.
The work on Flinders took me up to Killecrankie and NE River (I think that's the name) and I thought it was much like NE Tas, which I loved.
Supafreak wrote:@VJ , how’s your health going ? Have you managed to dodge the covid waves ?
Hi Supa how you going? Been a challenging year, tore the supra spinatus in early Feb and honestly it's the first actual surfing injury I've had in 33 years of surfing. Got pitched upside down on a 4ft wave and landed badly wrenching the right arm. Was tough on the way back and did my head in, but I'm out there now. Going back to little waves and learners spots as I have recovered has been cathartic. Also a few things going on about getting older, not out of the woods yet but will know by end of year, so it's a medical year. Yes I've dodged the covid so far, we will see how it finishes. Generally I don't interact out in the community too much these days, prefer to listen to nature, go for a surf (I will talk to the crew in the water, this is nice) and just build things. Thanks to all of you on these forums, it's social and I appreciate it and I get to be happy for you with all the incredible stuff you achieve. AW and Indo's work is brilliant - I'm working to much much smaller scales these days, fractions of a millimetre... This year has been solving the composites problem - I want to lay glass but sniff nothing, and with help from OH&S suppliers & young carpenter have achieved this with an internal workspace box which works really well. Have begun to lay own glass, CAD and CNC I already know so a year of prototyping my own fins start to finish awaits which I'm frothing for. Have also worked out how to CAD old steamships from vintage plans and I can carve them out now in precise scales, the hulls are complex and I have this nearly nailed (always wanted to be a naval architect...), what a joy it is to see the lines take form in physical reality after a century of being vanished, and with a shaper's eye some of the lines they drew back then were sexy as, great water flow, I will do Rawalpindi one day Supa...
inspiring stuff, gents, (the wanderlust returns fer sure @vj.. while the previous gen go on cruises, most of us now getting to the end of doing-the-do dream of doing what @AW dreams up.. empty nest? if my kids are half the humans I think they are, they'll get a real kick out of the dusty poscards heading their way over the next decade - hope they send me some too).
@VJ , good to read you’re battling on . Surfing injuries suck as we age . That lifestyle you had earlier sounds amazing .
How is Indo Supa? That move seems legendary, some great waves there, and I've read your posts and loved the surf pics. Maybe I'll bite the bullet and get a pic hosting account somewhere. Also, main medical condition is being managed well, that's really good here.
Staff at work used to have my field pics as screensavers... That lifestyle was awesome, very free for the kids, my Ms was great and would have the homeschool done in 1/2 day while I was on site, then we could explore the other half. If my work was busy we put heads down, if I'd worked ahead of schedule we took time off as a family and living in each area for more time than tourists generally stay (or further off beaten path) you get to discover more things to do.
True B6, we've had only a couple of empty nest times so far and it was fun! Most recent run over Nullarbor returning mum's old Holden wagon saw snacks and drinks out the back tailgate watching the sunset at the Eucla cliffs, that felt a bit more deluxe than a cruise, it was so good!
I think I'd like to be productive until the end, as well. Which is a bit weird as most seem to want to do less as they age? That's a discussion in itself.
@VJ , how’s indo you ask , I’m loving it .Just had a 2 hour surf at the wreck . Overhead on the sets but was onshore and wobbly from the wind which was strong early morning. Had a bit of a gap from the wind between 10 & 11 . Best thing was there were only 3 of us out . I reckon the east coast would be going off , I will be over there on Monday for a week , swell on the way so should be pumping . Can’t see myself returning to oz any time soon, making the most of the year’s that I can still surf . Hope you have a surfing summer .
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.