Broken Foam Glass - REFAGLASS
70m3 is a lot of material...
Nice lorry!
Here it goes...!
Boxes will make later installation of the columns much easier
Foam glass on the edge for drainage and deeper insulation.
Lots of work to distribute the foam glass.
The boxes to keep the foundations accessible.
Foam glass REFAGLASS - Czech product
After 2 days of work... one day more and we can compress the foam glass and install the wooden elements that arrive on monday.
Earth cover - windows and also walls will look slightly different
Strawbale construction - Vaults and Dome
Ringbeam with ventilation channel
One of 6 air outlets
Outside wall element
Wooden elements arrived in a second lorry today.
Our electrician friend at work...
"Woodhenge"
Fixed columns
Foam glass around columns
Ringbeam nearly finished
Crane lifting the elements in place
Putting foam glass under the outer walls
Master carpenters Jaro and Ivan
Placing the middle wall element
Sunset - only 2 of 8 sides to finish left for tomorrow.
Aerial view...
Preparing the wooden constructin for the makeshift roof
One leg up
Third leg...
Teh tarp is not easy to put on
The tarp falling down... ups!
Safety?
The nails hove to hold in strong winds
Pulling the fabric over the construction is not an easy task
Minke arrives just after finishing the roof
Evening meal
Lunch time
Mixing clay floor
The clay floor is tirectly on the foam glass
A layer of about 4-5cm
Clay floor on foam glass REFAGLASS
Some floor areas are finished
First successful cutting of strawbale after some adjustment to the machine
Very strong bales - do not budge a bit even with 2 people standing on it.
Cut surface at an agle - nearly too precise...
Evening meal - Katarina from Portugal got melted chocolate on her vafles!
Our cooks, Franta and Jakub
Our cabinet - finally organized by our cooks
On the terrace
Friendships
Study time
Minke at his lecture
Spectators at the lecture
Right: strawbales - left: ready cut building blocks... :-)
Straw bale logistics: Cutting angles and count
Straw bale logistics
Lot of free straw when cutting bales
Trimming the edges
Straw cuts can be easily moved in big bags
After a rainfall great for making a path through the mud...
Sharpening wooden nails
Foundations for the rotational guide
Waiting for the concrete foundations to cure
Time off
Sharpening sticks
Sharpened sticks
Scaffolding for building the dome
First bale in - taped OSB boards
Prepared formwork for mounting the bales
Cutting straw bales in process - one pushing, one pulling, two removing the straw on the sides
Filling Foam glass REFAGLASS in bags
More sharpening of sticks
Wood treated with diluted linseed oil
Two boards help sliding in the last bale
What a precise strawbale building
Pushing the last strawbale in
A hammer is always useful - for strawbles you need a big one!
Putting straps on the vaults for tensile strength
Strapping the vaults down
Finished self supporting vault without formwork
The vault is holding up! Even my weight.
Happy participatns on the ring beam
Everything is more difficult when you do it too late - the airtightness layer
Eduard with a special made tool for stuffing the gaps with straw
Duck for non-vegetarians
Minkes Q&A in the evening - in our living room.
Before starting the dome construction
Fixing the outer walls to the ring beam
Blowing cellulose
The weight of the material defines the density
Testing the density of the insulation
Air tighness - pulling a piece of tape over the pointed sticks
Adding some height to the ring beam to compensate for the rounded dome geometry meeting an octogonal slanted ring beam
Plastering the top of the foam glass
Our cooks with the bread
Minke inspecting the work done
Attaching reed mats before plastering
Sockets prepared for electricity
A fish eye view
A very precise surface of the cut bales gives a high precision
Airtighness paper to be plastered
Bending the bales
Driving in a stick trough 2 and 1/2 straw bales
Minke with the rotational guide
Sticks to hold the bales in place - works very well.
30 people working at once, inside and outside
Even asfalt and tar paper looks like a lot of fun...
Taking apart the infill - has to be redone. No bad feelings.
The Latvians in action
Group B satisfied with finishing row 6
Dietmar and the last missing strawbale...
Bale jumping
A soft landing in the straw...
Circus Circus
Some fun with backwards salto into the straw
Straw Girl!
After 6th row of straw bales in the dome!
The rotational guide
Gernot Minke satisfied with the structural strength of the Straw Bale Dome
Stuffing the gaps on the outside form the inside
Building row no. 6 in the dome
Ladders to access the dome from the outside
Electrical heating ready to be plastered
Ventilation system - inlet-outlet to the left
The skylight ring arriving on sunday on the roof of the carpenters car
Checking the assembly with the skylight
Straw bale dome going from vertical to horizontal...
Slowly closing the dome
Putting in a bale at the top
The dome nearly finished
Our "electricians" putting in internet cables.
The vaults need a "haircut" before plastering
Piet the plasterer
The "mud" machine
Spaying the clay
Also girls can do plastering
Smoothening the surface after spraying
The first layer starting to dry
Plastered vaults and nearly finished dome
Group photo of first workshop
