Continuation of the build (A post from December, 2011)

December, 2011

Making rubble with the rubble crusher. Not ideal for plastering with, but useful in other applications.

I haven't posted photos of our house for awhile, so thought I'd do that today. Our little load bearing building is coming along.  It feels like we're making progress, and that maybe some plastering can happen before I leave. Martin is only here for one more day of work, and he leaves on Friday, so I want to make sure he finishes the electrical inside, and the fabrication of the window & door bucks. Actually, Jean-Louis & Annio could continue on with that. So, with the roof complete, now we are  installing window & door bucks with jacks from the foundation to the top plate (I know, backwards- at home, we would have installed these in the beginning, but here, there are temporary floating bucks in there currently). Once the window & door bucks are installed, we can cinch down compression straps (I know, also something we would have done already at home, but in this case, true to the Nebraska style of building, we let the weight of the roof squish down the bales). The rice bales were made by a farmer in the Artibonite (sp?) Valley, using a bale press provided by Builders without Borders. Unfortunately, the batch of bales weren't tied very tightly (in my opinion!), and these bales have settled a whole foot! If you've ever built load bearing with good, tight bales, you know that sometimes it's hard to compress a wall 2"! We have to install X-bracing for hurricane resistance around the building, which is tedious, now that the bamboo & some mesh is already installed. There won't be much mesh used on this building- at corners, and over the earthbag foundation.

We are planning on an earthen plaster for the inside, possibly using bagasse (fibrous matter left after extracting juice from sugar cane). I haven't yet been able to find any natural additives for earthen plasters to assist with water repellency, which is critical here in Haiti. I need to get out and investigate more plastered buildings, and talk to more people who have experience with materials here.

The building is already cooler with the roof on. I'm imagining that perhaps we can get some plastering done December 26, 27 and 28th...before my departure on the 29th. Maybe I'm more hoping than imagining...time will tell.