The least I wanted to have done by the end of the year was to close the building, something we call here in Poland: raw closed building. It should have all the walls, windows and doors. But not necessarily ale the stuff inside.
I was not able to spend 2-3 weeks in a row during the fall, so that I could build the walls using straw bales, and cover them with clay plaster. Because of that, I changed the idea significantly and decided to do something else.
What I wanted to do exactly is shown on the video below. And below the video you will find the translated transcript of the video.
Transcript
The previous episode of the series was recorded during very interesting workshops. This time I recorded the barrels that hold water, that eventually turns green and dirty.
The beginning of august, when these scenes were shot, was the time when massive amounts of plums started to ripen on the trees. I was sad that I didn’t have any large container to harvest them, ’cause they were so plentiful I didn’t want it to get wasted. Unfortunatelly, when I visited my land the next time, most of the fruit was lying on the ground, being eaten by ants, wasps and bees.
Not only the blue plums, but also the yellow ones (cherry plums) produced a lot of fruit. I hope to use it some day.
On the september 1st, two people from my power supplier came to connect all the cables from my meter box to the supply network. Thanks to that, I have my own electricity there.
Here you can see the frame of composting toilets. Also you can see the metal parts that will be used to put it in the ground. Installing them was not difficult.
The frame looks like it’s not straight, but it is. 😉
The barrel I planned to use in the toilet is exactly the right size. So now the toilet needed to be covered with recycled boards I got some day.
The next time I visited my lot was the following week, because I ordered a bunch of wood and OSB boards. Why do I need those boards? Like I said, the idea to cover the walls made of straw bales with clay was changed. I thought that I am not able to build the straw bale walls and cover them with clay and finish it by the end of the building season. And since I needed to have the building finished at the end of year, I changed the idea and decided it will be much faster to buy the OSB boards and install them.
Fortunatelly the wood was brought to my place and I didn’t have to carry nor unload it.
That day was rather rainy, so I could see how the rain gutters work. It seemed that everything worked great and despite the very small rain the barrels filled very quickly.
Having electric power I was able to use power tools. I was very glad because of that, as I wouldn’t want to cut the OSB boards using hand saw. Cutting wood is easier, compared to cutting OSB boards.
The boards had to be cut to size, as the distance between the poles was smaller than the lenght of the boards. The boards were nailed to the poles.
On the east side of the building we had to install a horizontal beam, because I planned two windows there. We made all the necessary measurements to see if the windows will fit the space.
When the east wall was finished, we started with installing the boards on the south wall. We installed a jamb for the door that we planned to use. The door is also recycled.
Installing the third layer of the boards was difficult, as we had no long ladder. So I had to lean far from the wall to hammer the nails. So we used a cool device that held the nails in position. Like one of the Murphy’s law says: “If it’s stupid but it works, it isn’t stupid”.
The next day we finished the south wall and after that, we worked a while on the toilet. The board that will hold the seat was installed at apropriate height, as suggested by people on the internet.
We also painted the ends of the OSB boards, as they are only moistutre-resistant on the front sides. We used Capon paint, as I don’t want to install new boards the next year…
In the building (west wall) we installed two vertical beams that will hold the garage door. They will also create two small walls, reinforced with thich wooden planks so that the open garage door would not break the walls.
At the end of that stay there I dug a small ditch below the walls so that all the ends of the OSB boards could be painted and protected from the moisture.
The next weekend we started installing the door. Later that day we used shadow cast by one of the building walls to show us where to cut the OSB boards. It was quite easy to do it this way.
On september the 23rd we installed two last boards on the west wall. In future I need to seal all the connections so that no wasps will build their nests inside.
We also added a frame for a window that is not supposed to be opened. I took some time to make the recycled door waterproof, so that no water will enter all the cracks.
The south wall is almost ready. I only need to install the window and finish the ends of the wall.
Kolejnego dnia zajęliśmy się druga częścią południowej ścianki. Po tym zajęliśmy się toaletą. Płyta która miała później służyć jako siedzisko została umieszczona na wysokości sugerowanej przez użytkowników internetu.
Kolejnym zajęciem było malowanie krawędzi płyt OSB, które, jak wiadomo, są odporne na wilgoć jednak jedynie od tych płaskich stron. Użyłem do tego Caponu, ponieważ nie mam ochoty remontować domku za rok.
W garażu zamontowaliśmy dwie pionowe belki do których zamocowane będą zawiasy i powstaną dwie małe ścianki. W zasadzie będą mocowane, albo i nie, bo do dziś nie wiem jakie zawiasy kupimy, bo drzwi nie zostały jeszcze zamontowane.
Jedna ze ścian została wzmocniona szeroką deską by drzwi garażowe nie złamały ściany.
Pod koniec pobytu obkopałem ścianki dookoła domu by mogły zostać pomalowane i zabezpieczone przed wilgocią, ponieważ obawiam się że będzie mogła ona również wnikać od tej strony.
Kolejny weekend rozpoczęliśmy od montażu drzwi. Później tnąc jedną z płyt, krawędź cięcia wyznaczał nam padający na nią cień – co okazało się całkiem wygodne.
23. Września montowaliśmy dwie ostatnie płyty na ściance zachodniej. W przyszłości trzeba będzie je uszczelnić przed osami żeby nie robiły sobie gniazd.
Została również przygotowana rama pod okno, które planowo nie będzie się otwierało. Drzwi jak już wspomniałem były z odzysku dlatego tez poświęciłem trochę silikonu na uszczelnienie ich by woda nie wnikała do środka. Były one nieco nietypowe bo o szerokości 70 cm, dlatego nie bardzo mam ochotę je wymieniać, a wizualnie bardzo ładne – tylko troszkę krzywe.
Ścianka południowa jest prawie gotowa. Brakuje jedynie okna i płyt nad nim i płyt zasłaniających na końcu konstrukcji dachu. I to by było na tyle.
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