The Footings are In

It has been a fantastic summer weather wise and we got quite a lot done.
I was blessed to have Peter Wilkening recommended to me as a great person to do the footings.  When he came over for our first meeting he suggested filling in the trenches we had dug down into the site and to build up instead. This was perfect as the site is on a hill and this means there will be less of a drop off to the house.  With the plans to terrace back up the hill, this is a really amazing solution for me. I also really appreciated that he called in the building inspector to check the site was sound and that there would be no problems down the road regarding the footings. :-)

After we got the OK, he started building the frames.

  Peter came up with all kinds of creative solutions as to how to deal with the curved walls etc. By building big rectangular footings we have the base needed to build the dry stack foundation on, free forming the curves.  It will work out perfectly. The engineer concurred.

 The interior supporting walls needed a taller frame.

After building the wooden forms he put in all the rebar and called for the inspection. It was passed and the engineer inspected the photos of the work done and signed off on it.

Last Monday the concrete was poured.

This is a big step towards building. It is all I am doing this year, as I have my thesis to write by October/November and then I am off on my travels for six months.

Next summer we will build the rock foundation on top of the footings, and fill in the middle so we can lay the radiant floor heating hose and the natural floor when the time comes. Some of the rock is already on site and whatever else we need I will source next summer.

I am so grateful to be at this stage of the building. I could not have done it without the expertise of Peter and Gary and the help of Matt Taylor and Andrew Money with their JCB/backhoe.  I must find out what they call it in Canada lol.

Foundations and Footing Begin on July 22nd: Plus Video on Building Walls from Cob

We have a date for starting the foundations, Elliot has said that July 22nd is a go. So fingers crossed that the building permits come in by then. Everything is actually lining up perfectly. The septic field and tank should be in just as all the paperwork for my permits is processed. :-)

As we get closer to the foundations going in and then the posts and beams, I start thinking about mixing the cob and putting in the walls.

I have been going back over the video I shot up in Summerland and realize how much wisdom Patrick Heneberry has on every aspect of building with cob. I am so privileged to have had the chance to do a workshop with him.  Here he is explaining how to add the cob to the wall, how to tie it to the posts and how the spluge can be trimmed.