Because we have so little soil on our mountain with which to spare we had to buy some in. Unfortunately it came in lumps which meant we had to sift through it before we could use any of it.
We then had to move close to 20 tonnes of soil as lo and behold it had been dropped off in the wrong place.
Before we could even think of laying the first layer of earthbags.
Thankfully I had the help of Bex (from the UK)
Christopher,
And Nikolene (from Denmark, she's behind the white coated, orange beanie hatted me)
Whilst the weather went from warm, to freezing cold back to warm.
During which we lay layer upon layer of earthbags, building the walls higher and higher.
Till we had to bring out the scaffolding in order to continue.
We even had help from Carol (my son Christopher's girlfriend) when she came over for a visit.
Of course choosing the sew up the ends of the bags may seem to have been a bit of a mistake regards how much time it took, but trust me, it beats tying huge lumpy knots in the end or worse simply folding them over,
Because when you bash those bags with the pounder you need those ends to hold firm.
As the height of the walls grew we noticed they weren't as solid as we would have liked. This we learnt was because we needed to build buttresses along their length, (who knew, not us that is for sure). So we mixed up some concrete, Stephanie (from France) was a whizz on the mixer.
Whilst Christopher lay it down so that we had a level area on which to build one in the middle of each wall.
In between mixes Christopher took the opportunity to catch some rays. lol!
But work soon called and even when we sat down after lunch we found things needed to be done. Things like sewing up one the end of the bags so it was ready to be filled the next day.
As well as cutting out the bags so that they could be sewn and filled.
Yet more goodbyes were said and hello's too as thankfully new people came to help us.
Tracy (from USA)
And Jonas (from Germany)
We put rebar into the walls to help bind the different levels together.
And planked (kinda, sorta, lol) along the walls as they grew higher
Or simply tried to get a tan as we worked.
New people arrived as we said goodbye to Jonas.
Theo and Phoebe (from New Zealand)
And the walls grew higher and higher.
We said another goodbye, another hello!
This time to Ana, (from Mexico. She was a demon with the big drill and a real angel at sewing.
There were two more buttresses to build. Building as we did one and a half before we had to say goodbye to Theo, Phoebe and Ana.
Followed by 'hello' to Tyler and Sam (from Australia)
Who helped raise up the walls a few courses higher as well as finish off one of the buttresses before we turned our attention to the roof.
We also welcomed Ciaran (from Ireland)
And before we knew it, delivery day for the roof arrived.
Barry (my hubby) was on hand to check if everything was lined up straight.
And as the day got hotter and hotter Christopher found a way of keeping cool.
Unfortunately the heat intensified when he had to manually lift the Vega's (the big concrete roof strutts so that chocks could be put underneath them as we needed a little more fall on the roof to help
water run off.
Those beauties weigh in excess of 500 kilos a piece. My hat goes off to Christopher because with the best will in the world I know for a fact I couldn't lift one of those things like he did.
Tyler and Ciaran soon got to grips with lifing the roofing panels onto the shelter.
As well as helped yours truly and Christopher slide them into place.
They also put the roof fasteners in place
.
Till finally the roof was on. YAY!
As we journeyed down the road we learnt so much about this kind of building. And whilst it is true we are a little daunted by the thought of doing it again, we have to admit we are smitten and because of we are seriously thinking about our next project. In all honesty earthbags are such a brilliant idea, simple, yet effective and without a shadow of doubt, eco through and through.
Now all that remains to do with regards finishing is a few coats of render. But until we get that done I think you will agree it is a magnificent achievement, made possible only with the help of our wonderful volunteers and Christopher our son.
Thank you one and all.
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