Post Frame Gabion Wall Berm House Build

Hey Will it is occurring to me that i might have come off sounding like i was putting your idea down in my above post 46.  Not at all.  To clarify i was just saying that the vertical orientated insulation will outperform the sloped orientated insulation due to simple mechanics of what direction the settling is occurring, that is all.  Dispite that drawback of the sloped insulation, im still planning on using it due to its other benefits.  Sorry i should have worded it better the first time, wasnt trying to be a jerk.

To be honest, I didnt completely understand what the bar was doing in the fence idea (why i was suggesting a visual) but i think i grasp the rest of it and it sounds like a good idea.  Im interested in compiling all thoughts and ideas, heck ive already posted 3 or 4 different variations of how i might attach the insulation and ill probably still be modifying and fine tuning them up until i finally make it and even then it will no doubt still need fine tuning after the wall starts settling.  That is just the nature of doing something that has never been done, we can make our best guess, but its going to do whatever its going to do.  I enjoy inventing things, i do lots of experiments on all kinds of stuff so all this is right up my ally and im having fun with it all.  

My excitement has had me losing sleep, so many ideas racing.  Bloodshot eyes from staring at the computer designing the house. But i love it!

This thing is practically designing itself at this point, just riding the wave now!  Ok check out this setup i come up with.  The living room and kitchen have these exposed timbers, probably will have wood plank on top.  The living room area is bumped up sitting on these 4 pillars,  Im imagining having hanging chairs and plants hanging from the big beams going between them.  In the center of the living room bumped up cieling im going to put one of those solar tube lights which will light up a bottle wall dome light diffuser thing i got in mind to make.  You know the bottle walls with the colored bottles, that but on a big domed light diffuser ceiling light powered by the sun.  Freaking cool!  And i got that compass planned into the floor design, not sure if im going to keep those colors or go more earth tones, but it will have the glowing colored bottles above so either way im thinking. Guess it would be concrete and epoxy to do that.  I wanted the room to have good views, very communal, and good acoustics and a smooth floor as i like playing music and dancing.  Going to be amazing

Im thinking the acoustics off a ferrocement dome are going to be killer, and that light bro... what...  

I see your ferrocement dome and raise you one timbrel vault!

Phil Stevens wrote:I see your ferrocement dome and raise you one timbrel vault!

https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2008/11/tiles-as-a-substitute-for-steel-the-art-of-the-timbrel-vault/

John Ochsendorf's book, "Guastavino Vaulting: The Art of Structural Tile" is also worth tracking down.  There are quite a few Spanish language resources available, too.  Angel Truno's "Construccion de Bovedas Tabicadas" has lots of "how to".  And, there are lots of YT videos of Spanish masons constructing tile vaults, domes, helicoid staircases, etc.  Philippe Block's group at ETH Zurich has quite a lot of stuff on design and analysis - the engineering end, as opposed to the construction end, of the process.

Interesting links Kevin! Thanks for that diversion. Led me to this excellent looking (didn't watch yet) documentary film surrounding several inventive projects in 60s Cuba:

https://www.ajnafilms.com/work/unfinishedspaces

Ben Brownell wrote:Interesting links Kevin! Thanks for that diversion. Led me to this excellent looking (didn't watch yet) documentary film surrounding several inventive projects in 60s Cuba:

https://www.ajnafilms.com/work/unfinishedspaces

You're welcome.

I have a "thing" for thin tile vaults - actually, for masonry vaults and domes, in general, but tile vaults, in particular - though I haven't built any, yet, not even small scale models.  However, I did briefly correspond via email a few years ago with Anne Fitchett, who designed the structural tile for the Mapungubwe visitor's center project.  In that case, they site mixed, pressed and cured the tiles using a slightly modernized manual CINVA-style press, with hardboard separators between tiles, so that they could press 3 tiles for each cycle of the press.  This layer cake approach gave the correct thickness of the entire assemblage to allow for proper compression of the tiles.  The tiles were stabilized with Portland cement, and cured.  (Under plastic sheeting?  I forget, now.  But, it's quite dry there, so I'm sure they needed to take steps to prevent excessive drying before the cure was complete.)  I don't recall the percentage of OPC used, but that would vary, depending on the local mineral soil being used, in any case.  The Mapungubwe tile-making process was quite labor intensive, but that wasn't considered detrimental in that project, since high labor provided more employment for more people for a longer period of time.  If I recall correctly, at least some of the pay was in cooking oil, maize meal and other foodstuff.

The manual Auram compressed earth block press seems ideal for pressing carefully engineered components like structural tiles, since the compression ratio is adjustable and highly repeatable, and it is built to take interchangeable dies.  But, the Auram press is not cheap, even the fully manual version, and it is apparent that the CINVA style press is adequate with reasonable care and can be cheaply locally manufactured.

It ought to be possible to use other stabilizer chemistries  than OPC for tiles which are cured rather than fired (or, perhaps are only low fired - essentially baked).  Lime may be possible, even if slow to cure (but also tends to be self-healing of small cracks).  If using lime, hot mixes may be useful.  Some of the geopolymer binders also seem promising, including the "low temperature geopolymer setting" (LTGS) chemistry of Davidovits, which can be cured to reasonable compressive strengths at the sort of temperatures reach under black plastic in the summer sun.  But, I need to brush up on my chemistry, or co-opt one of my cronies into assisting.

Guastavino introduced the use of Portland cement based mortars into timbrel vault construction when he was still working in Catalonia, which sped up construction, but prior to that, lime mortars had been used, all the way back to the High Middle Ages when this tech first appeared (or, at least, the earliest I'm aware of it being used).

I think this tried and true technology has much promise for lower cost underground structures (cisterns under courtyards or wine cellars under kitchens, wofatis and hobbit holes, root cellars, tunnels for qanats and aquaducts, toilet vaults, etc.) and for above ground applications (flat roofed portions of a residence with rooftop gardens, or intermediate floors for multistory buildings, Yemeni high rise style, for example).  It seems like it would be a good complement to rammed earth or compressed earth block.  Though, it might require a bit more care if used with adobe, since the compressive strength of adobe is quite low - avoiding concentrated loads at the springing and supporting thrust loads would be key, I suspect.  Not insurmountable, but requiring some forethought.

I've probably high-jacked this thread enough, so I'll cease and desist.

And, thanks for the link to the film.  I wasn't aware of this one.  Looks like good stuff.

Those timbrels look awesome!  Ive been watching vids lately of people making dome homes doing something similar with aircrete.

Ive been busy figuring out all the roof stuff.  Gonna do rafters on 4' centers throughout the house to get over all the cieling stuff i got going on through the kitchen and living room.  This will allow me to use perlins laid flat, much easier to walk on.  Then the front porch i switch to trusses  at a wider spacing to save lumber and look better in the porch, have to turn the perlins on end there.  The earthberm wings were kind of interesting, they are wider spacing to but i found it difficult to just keep an 8' spacing down them as it seems to work out better with a post at the beginings and ending of each interior room, so i got some goofy spacings there.  

Thanks Kevin for the details of the vaults and the Low technology link, very interesting.

Hi Cody, great vision of your home base.  You've included so many artistic and utilitarian ideas.   Please keep us all apprised  of your work, as I'm interested to follow along this winding road.

There are times when I'm completely blown away by the genius ideas people come up with on this site.  This is one of those times.