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Our freshly raised black walnut bent
In this post, I’m going to rewind back to June of this year when Wabi-sabi hoisted its first timber frame bent to vertical. (A “bent” is a cross-sectional assembly of posts and beams, part of the framing of a timber frame structure.) This particular bent was composed of two roundwood oak posts, and a hewn black walnut beam, with a span of around 18 feet. No small feat!
Removing the original earthen floor
The project of replacing the earthen floor is still continuing, as we wait for the base layer of earthen floor to dry before we proceed with applying a finish layer. This gives me a chance to describe what we have done so far to tear up the floor and insulate a brand new earthen floor.
Wow, I am way behind in reporting news on Wabi-sabi’s kitchen construction. Things are happening, I assure you. Even though it might not look like it when you walk by our site every day. (Timber framing ain’t a quick job…)
The biggest thing to have happened in some time just took place last week when we raised our biggest bent yet – a lunker composed of three posts, and one long beam with a scarf joint, the same assembly we worked on during our timber frame workshop in May. The thing must have weighed nearly 2000 pounds, and we used a super slick system of pulleys and human power to raise the beast.
Anyway, you’ll have to wait for my own personal account of the event (I swear I’ll post some video soon!), but thankfullly Alline of Dancing Rabbit has posted her own eyewitness account of the event with plenty of photos.
It was an intensely exciting and rewarding day, I’ll say. More soon! I mean it, Mom and Dad (and all you other readers that don’t pester me as much).
Strangely enough, my house has been featured in another magazine — this one a rather strange one. Popular Mechanics recently interviewed me for their so-called “Backyard Genius” Top Ten. Alongside all the praise for gloss and high tech gadgets in the mag is a little piece about my house, built out of mud.
I like that its inclusion is kinda subversive, in a way. Ha!
A small blurb can be found in the latest issue (September 2011), and in their online feature.
Check it out.
I finally have some promising moisture news to report. After removing the original earthen floor in Gobcobatron, we put down a 6 mil poly liner, and our 1.5″ of rigid foam insulation.
The new floor is not yet fully in, but our hygrometer is reading lower than ever humidity levels! Previously, it was rare for the humidity to dip lower than 75-80% (yikes, yes). 65% was welcome when there was a strong breeze through the house.
Well, now that same hygrometer is reading more around 50% humidity, a much more acceptable level of moisture. Wow! I’m trying to not get too-too excited yet, because of course the floor is not yet complete, but I do believe this is an excellent sign for positive change. It suggests that moisture was indeed rising up through the gravel in the floor.
More on that later!
Here’s yet another video of me destroying something in or around my cob house. This time, I take a pickaxe to the earthen floor inside Gobcobatron. Breaking it up was fairly tough work, but worse is trying to cleanly scoop up the material and carry it out of the house in buckets. Yuck. Well, I’m glad that’s over with, at least! It took a bit more than a day to complete, not without the help of a few hands throughout the process.
I must confess: I’ve decided to use some pink foam insulation. I hate the stuff: it’s plastic, it’s a product of a polluting industry, it’s gross to work with, it’s non-biodegradable. And it has no redeeming ecological value. (Am I being harsh?)
It’s become clear that in my particular floor, at this particular time, and with my particular lack of willingness to experiment at this moment, it’s the “right choice”. Just over a week ago, April and I decided to go ahead and replace the entire earthen floor in the house, in hopes of continuing to alleviate the high humidity in Gobcobatron.
To keep myself from typing the same thing over again, I’m going to simply copy the text of an email I sent to Bill and Athena Steen, in my hope to determine an appropriate natural insulation layer in an earthen floor installation.
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I’ve been living in my cob house for two years now, and I’m preparing to re-do the earthen floor. We think it’s a source of the major moisture issues we’ve been experiencing. It currently doesn’t have a vapor barrier, and that’s the main reason we are considering re-doing it.
Actually, I have two questions about our floor project. One is: if you use vapor barriers, what is your preferred type of membrane?
And more importantly, do you insulate your earthen floors? Can you recommend a material that would be suitable? I am not thinking a light clay straw insulation layer would be appropriate, because of the thickness necessary, and thus the change in floor height. Have you ever heard of anyone doing a sawdust-clay insulation layer? I did a sawdust insulation layer over the earthen oven I built two summers ago, but I’ve never heard of anyone doing something similar in a floor.
Any ideas? We want to avoid manufactured products as much as possible. (Not possible with the membrane, of course.)
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Well, there you have it. Ideas greatly welcomed!
Conceptual drawing of our new house (north view)
Things are definitely shaping up in our new house design process. We are super excited to be collaborating with a few folks on this project, very notably Tom Cundiff of The Edgeworks, who is assisting with the design of a slick timber frame for what we are calling “Strawtron”, our new straw bale timber frame house project.
This fall, we plan on breaking ground for Strawtron, a three room, passive solar, straw bale-insulated house with a timber frame, greenhouse for passive heat and extended living space, screened-in north porch, and 1/2 story loft with a west-facing balcony.
But there’s plenty to do before that happens…
About The Year of Mud
Hi there, I’m Ziggy. In 2008, I launched The Year of Mud while building my first natural home. This blog is a collection of personal stories and experiences building with clay, straw, and wood over the past 15+ years. A few of the things that get me fired up are natural plasters, timber framing, & Japanese architecture. Since 2012, we’ve been hosting Natural Building Workshops so you can learn essential skills to build your own natural home.
