We couldn't start on the wall until the slab had set and our foam glass plinth was in place. The foam glass is a thermal break - without it our wall would conduct chilly winter temperatures up from the slab and into the house. It was fitted yesterday, so today has been our first working on the wall. It's great to get started ... the anticipation has been building and nerves have been on edge!
The foam glass needed a re-gig this morning - 50mm out, but not too hard to sort out fortunately. Michael was with us by mid morning with another load of wood and shuttering to unload and Nick and he have been busy getting the site set up.
We have decided we're going to build the wall without any cement. Michael usually 'stabilises' his rammed earth building by adding 5% cement but the walls at the CAT Centre and also the rammed chalk walls at Pines Calyx Centre in Kent don't have any in. We have made quite a few test blocks and prefer the look of the earth without the cement. It should also have better hygroscopic qualities without - be better for humidity control. Since the wall is not structural (we've designed the house around it) and won't be exposed to the elements we reckon we should be safe to ram with just good old earth. Here's hoping anyway!
It was mid afternoon by the time the first lot of shuttering was set up so it was decided to start the earth mixing bright and early tomorrow ...
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