Tom Taber

Hey Berry,

Thanks so much for rejoining your original conversation and for all of your great information. I feel lucky for having met original thinkers and inventors like yourself on Permies.com

A deadman is an anchor that extends into the back fill and has a flat surface that's parallel to the retained wall at it's end. They can be formed from a cable that has something like a shovle blade on it's end, or it can be made from wood or concrete. Whenever you build a retaining wall, these types of anchors must be incorporated to resist hydrostatic and other lateral forces on the wall. I've include some photos below to make it more clear.

Another alternative, when building with gabions, is to place a sturdy geo grid mat between each layer of gabions and bury it into the retained soil as you back-fill it.

Hopefully this helps clarify it.

I really like your ideas about using carpet at a backing for stucco and using shipping containers for spanning roofs. I've looked into building with shipping containers quite a bit and they have lots of drawbacks, but this is an idea worth investigating more. When I've looked into buying them they have typically run $5,000 - $8,000 USD, but I'm sure they're much cheaper in large port cities. They do loose significant structural integrity once they're cut apart, but the corrugated sides could make sturdy paneling for roofs.

Hey Jennifer,

I hope your Dad's recovery goes well and that he feels better soon. It's very cool that you're taking care of him.

Awesome - I'm sure the Austin Permaculture Guild would be thrilled to have more volunteers this weekend.

Check out this video that's a bit long, but really gives a lot of great info on compressed earth blocks -

Jim Hallock - The Future of Buildings: https://youtu.be/lLa4eu9HkCI

Cheers!

Tom

Hi Mike,

First, I want to apologize for our website. We are in the midst of a major overhaul and upgrade. We will have the new site up soon.

That's amazing that you've built a cinva ram. They are super tough machines, but also a bear to operate. Have you used it to build anything?

Jim has insulated many of the buildings he has built, depending on the climate. It can be done with very unsustainable products, such as polystyrene sheets or spray foam insulation, but the idea is to use something more natural that is still effective. We have a friend in northern Canada that is planning on building with CEBs that are insulated with rock wool panels, which are much more sustainable. Our lab was recently sent two bags of cork and lime based insulation (Diathonite Evolution) from a company in Italy called Diasen. We have not started testing it, but we think it might be great. We have worked with insulation grown from mushroom mycelium. It is very cool stuff, but we can't find a source for pre-made panels of it and it's cumbersome to produce in-house.

A common way that we build with CEBs in cold climates is to build a double wall with a four to six inch gap between the walls. This gap can be filled with various types of insulation. You could use things such as vermiculite, pummice, cellulose or one of the unsustainable types. We do recommend that the insulation be breathable, because the walls are, and it would be a shame to block the transfer of water vapor through the wall.

I'm glad you're excited about compressed earth blocks and am looking forward to some great conversations.

Tom

Hi Andrew,

I'm sorry I dropped our thread for awhile. Life gets in the way sometimes

I found that there's a wide range of weights and types of geotextiles. Some are woven and others are not. I ordered some non woven heavy duty geotextile and it's good, but the woven type seems much stronger. It also depends on how they are used (or abused). The article at this link says that they can last over a hundred years, in some circumstances:

http://www.infogeos.com/files/news/document/G37.575.pdf

The compaction of soils in gabions is something I'm going to start testing next month. I've already built my prototype.

I've never worked with Foamed Loam, but I know that Gernot Minke's talks about it in his book. It's really cool idea, but I would definitely want some steel or basalt reinforcement for arches and domes. Have you ever worked with it? How strong is it?

I'm looking into ways to seal the surfaces of gabions. I'm interested in trying to find a way to use bentonite clay plasters. These form a waterproof barrier that are self healing. I've found a few resources that talk about them, but I don't have direct experience with them yet.

Let me know your thoughts. They're always greatly appreciated.

Tom

Hey Jennifer,

Thanks for the suggestion on the PRI profile. I just created one and sent you a message there too. Your plants spreadsheet is very cool. I've been looking for something like that. I will let you know if I come across more plants to add to your list.

My friends and I are a week away from buying our 7 acres and are very excited to dig in and get started. There's a lot of work to do! Here's a video that shows the land in it's current state (well, actually it's much greener since I shot this video a few months ago):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc6tZfi5kzQ

I'm planning on going the the Austin Permaculture Guild's PermaBlitz this weekend. It's just east of Austin. Let me know if you want to meetup there. It should be very cool and great way to learn while volunteering.

http://www.austinperm.com/permablitz/upcoming-blitzes/?utm_source=MadMimi&utm_medium=email&utm_content=APG+April+Newsletter!&utm_campaign=20150421_m125414276_APG+April+Newsletter!&utm_term=Permablitz_Munkebo_Farm_jpg_3F1429575798

Cheers!

Tom

Hi Andrew,

Gernot Minke is a distinguished leader in our field and we certainly are a fan of his. My partner has had the occasion to meet Mr. Minke at an earthen construction conference several years ago.

My partner has built numerous compressed earth block structures in earthquake prone areas, such as Haiti, but he has avoided domed and vaulted roofs in those regions. The wall system is rock solid in earthquake zones, if built well.

The blocks are heavy and we like them that way. They have more thermal mass and perform a key climate control feature, breathability of the wall. A 10in x 14in x 3.75in block is typically 35 lbs (US). Adding vermiculite or expanded clay would likely have a detrimental effect on their strength.

We've seen numerous issues with straw bale structures, such as mold, rodents and cracked plaster, just to name a few. We try to steer people away from them, but understand that they have a big following in the sustainable building movement.

I'm really enjoying this thread and am glad to have found a kindred spirit that is knowledgeable in numerous alternative building techniques.

Cheers!

Tom

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the clarification and your diplomacy. I just went back and read the original post and realize that the original poster suggested domes that were made of superadobe. I get it now. That would make sense and even seems workable. As the OP mentions, waterproofing them and cost are the two biggest factors.

My partners and I are currrently making vaulted roofs and domes (bovadas) in Texas using compressed earth blocks that are extremely strong. They're not dirt cheap either, but very beautiful.

I'm still learning about wofati design and how the insulation integrates with it. I'll read up more about it to see how best to integrate insulation.

I'm not the OP for House Dam post. That was a different Tom (Tom Harner). I just watched the video on it and I'm not impressed with that design. It seems dangerous, unless the walls are shored up with posts or gabions. I agree with your suggestion in that post that the interior walls should be sloped to an appropriate angle for safety.

I'm working on some gabion wall systems designs in Sketchup now. I'll create a new thread to display them and ask for critical feedback.

Thanks!

Tom

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for keeping the thread going. Adding a geotextile inside the gabions so that they can be filled with soil is exactly what I had in mind too. I agree that these would be super duper adobes. I'm curious if anyone has any reasons why these would not make suitable building elements? I'm aware that tall walls may need internal bracing posts. Also, that if they're used as a retaining wall in an underground building, a geogrid should placed between each layer and then imbedded hozontally in the embanked wall (as a deadman brace). Other than these caveats, I can't see why these wouldn't be amazing to build with. I do intend to experiment with these ideas after my land purchase in April.

I'm a huge fan of domed and vaulted structures. I'm not sure how gabions could be used to make them safely without using a Lot of cement. You could make a stair step arch/vault by offsetting them slightly towards the center as you placed each layer in two parallel rows. Is that what you had in mind?

I've sifted a lot of dirt with screens, such as the ones you describe. You sound like you were lucky to be raised by a clever and resourceful father.

That's a good question about insulation. My thought was that if the super duper soil gabion adobes were three feet thick and had tough clay and/or lime plasters protecting them from wind and water, then they wouldn't need any insulation. They would have enough thermal mass to resist swings in external temperatures. I live in the fairly mild climate of the central Texas Hill Country, though. If insulation was required, for a particular climate, then I would be drawn to an all natural insulation, such as perlite , rock wool or pumice.

Great Questions! Keep 'em coming

Hi Berry,

It's been a few years since your post, but I just came across it now. This sounds like a very interesting and practical way to build in Greece without using the concrete that is so common there. What ever happened? Did you buy land and build something? I think that your gabion idea has lots of promise, but I'm still researching that avenue myself.

Cheers!

Tom

Great Article Cassie! Very well written and the submitted pictures are great too! I had not hear of these until a week ago on Permies. It is the first thing I'm going to do when we purchase the land for our eco-village in Texas. The property already has large piles of dead and dry oak trees really for the task.