Peter Sedgwick

You folks have really been such an amazing inspiration us.

Will keep you posted.

Forever in debt...

Peter & Co. 🙏🏽

Gerry Parent wrote:I second the motion!
After all, with the break from building and all that free time you must now have on your hands (when their not busy feeding your rmh or petting your girls) what a great way to pass on your fountain of knowledge.

...can you tell we miss your updates Peter?  

I know!

Thanks so much for reaching out. It’s been a bit of a struggle for me the past few months. House is definitely on hold for the time being. Begin to think of just abandoning the project all together to be honest. Finding it more and more difficult to justify trying to spend all my time and creative energy trying to devise a means of staying warm in a cold place.

Simplest solution, move to a warmer place.

That I’m sure will have it’s own kettle of fish for sure, but we will see.

I truest do appreciate all the support and have been meaning to update.

We will keep searching and exploring.

Hope everyone is safe and smiling.

Cheers, Peter

Thanks for the info!

To be honest I’ve kind of abandoned the experiment. In the end I could seem to find any reason to use this as a form of insulation in our present situation. Did learn a bunch about the binding properties of clay however. In the long run, lime may not be a good additive, but it was one of the only samples that did not exhibit any signs of mold during the drying process.
Adding wheat paste was not a good idea.

Thanks for showing interest and best of luck in all your endeavors.

Cheers, Peter

Aloha my friends!

A much needed update on our tiny house adventure. We finished the foundation and most of the stem wall for now. I’ve decided to put the project on pause for the time being, leaving it in a state that won’t be effected very much by weather. Just came to the conclusion it was better to continue this project later, rather than trying to race against the clock to beat Mother Nature. And to be honest I’m glad I did. Giving me a chance to reflect on what we’ve done and where we need to go. Also giving me time to breath a bit. My body was getting worked from lifting and banging and digging etc.

We will be in the old house for the fall and then likely stay with the family when it gets too cold. Most likely shooting down to Tokyo for work from time to time in the winter for film work.

Many thanks to everyone who has shared their advice and insight thus far. The adventure will continue and we will keep sharing.

Peace, love and hand sanitizer...

Peter & Co. 🌈🖤🌈

First two courses of blocks are finally up. Took a while as we had to get use to the process and make up for a 4.5cm hight discrepancie between the front and the back of the beam foundation block. Now back to level and everything seems relatively straight. Final starting to feel more comfortable with string lines and understand where mistakes can be made and easily overlooked. The weather has been a bit sporadic as well, so constantly changing the mix to adapt to the heat and sunlight.

Will keep working away and keep updating as we go.

Hope all is well around the world.

Cheers, Peter👨🏻‍🚀

Gerry Parent wrote: I know all about obsessing over making everything perfect while building many stick frame houses and sheds over the years when dealing with conventional materials, but for a natural house, imperfections are kind of the norm.  I know you want to do nothing but your best with this construction, and it shows with all your hard work and dedication but don't let it rob you of your creativity by remembering to keep be out of the lines every so often!  :)

I hear ya loud and clear and I’m with you all the way. I’m 100% on the arty farty tip with the overall look and feel of the building. It’s just the “ah it’ll be alright” is what gave me the the 3cm Discrepancy in the foundation. Now I’ve got to make up for that in mortar on one end of the wall to get it back to level. I may be a bit of a perfectionist at times, however I don’t feel good with compounding issues that rear their ugly heads further on in the build. Once the stick frame is up and straight the cob covered façade can be all lumpy bumpy and most like will be finished with lime plaster polkadots in the end.

You can have an abstract expressionist painting, but if the frame is crooked there’s more of the likelihood it’ll fall off the wall.

Guess that my Philosophy in a nutshell for better or for worse.

Peter👨🏻‍🔧👨🏻‍🎨👨🏻‍🔬

P.S there still a 3mm discrepancy, after reading your comment Gerry, I’m gonna leave it there...🥳

Having a wicked time with these sting lines. The foundation is about 3.5cm out of square. All the sides are the proper length, but the rectangle is skewed so I’ve got to bring it back before we go any further. Doing this with string, suspended in space, is proving to be nothing short of a challenge.

The fight goes on...🌞

I really get so much out of these. Will try soon to get involved with the live show. Thanks guys for all your input.

Really amazing.

I’m learning so much.

Peter🔥🙏🏼🔥

Words of wisdom as alway. Thanks again Gerry. Really appreciate the time you take to give us advice and insight on all the details of our projects.

A redo is the last thing I’m interested in for sure.

Will leave as is for now. On to some block work stating tomorrow. Hopefully we can bang this section out quick and get into framing in the next week or so, depending on weather.

Mr. Yoshida is gold for sure. He’s 81 and no matter what the topic of conversation he always is somehow able to relate that back to a man’s penis size. Fun for all...🥴

Will keep punching away.

Cheers, Peter👻

Gerry Parent wrote:

Peter Sedgwick wrote:My question is how much is enough gravel? I’ve read that we should have 6”/15cm under an earthen floor. Is this accurate?

.....and I have read that 4”–8” of drainage gravel was the recommended amount to use. Such a wide margin as to the soil type and climate I'm sure.

I’m not sure I understand exactly how the drainage gravel Inside the room functions. If there is a perimeter beam foundation trench filled with drainage gravel how could water even get to/infiltrate the drainage gravel inside the room? It would have to travel up through wicking?

The gravel needs to be washed? I read stuff like this. “ The big thing is that none of these "washed gravel" sizes should have fines in them. No dirt, silt, clay or even fine sand. You want discreet stones that have a bit of airspace between their corners once they're in place. It is the airspaces that promote drainage. If the airspaces are filled with dirt, it doesn't drain as well. The fine dirt also wicks water up from below, defeating the purpose of the "capillary separation" that is intended with the gravel.”

Mr. Yoshida says that water won’t be an issue in this soil type and that the type of gravel is not that important. He’s suggesting a vapor barrier and not to include carpet, as the carpet will promote mold spores.

I’m a bit confused as to what the “right” thing to do is.

Any thoughts Gerry?

Peter