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Summary
part 1 of a 2 part podcast
Paul is with Todd who wants to talk WOFATI stuff
Todd is building a WOFATI-esque building. Some of the materials will be bought in, and he doesn't have enough lumber to harvest. It's still inspired by the WOFATI.
Todd's question is whether he needs some more solid footing under the posts so the weight of the building doesn't drive the posts into the ground. Paul's current method uses stones and gravel in the base of the hole and rams the post into it. Todd's been hearing different figures for how much weight soil can support, which obviously depends on the soil.
Paul says that some of the posts have sunk on earlier builds, such as Allerton abbey, but Paul also says that initially too much soil was put on the roof, and had to be removed. Since then lessons have been learned and especially applied to the greenhouse.
Paul suggests the poles should be at least 4 ft deep to make a solid construction. Depending on the ground and the poles, deeper could be better.
Todd says the site was a slope and some of it has already been dug out at least 3 ft. Although there are trees the roots aren't deep.
Paul feels the ground is going to be pretty compacted. In less solid ground they have been putting in "dead men" This is a big log which sits horizontally in the ground making a much bigger footing for posts to resist sinking. To fix the issue with Allerton abbey they installed a horizontal dead man log between the posts, at ground level.
Todd's ground is pretty rocky. It doesn't seem that posts should be able to sink in much. The bedrock is limestone. Paul advocates decent sized rocks (which Todd already has) and gravel in a deep hole to allow any water to drain away from the pole, then infill around the pole with more gravel.
Relevant Threads
Wofati engineering questions for Paul - real world applications and experience
the first wofati - allerton abbey- version 0.7
Wofati and Earth Berm forum
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This podcast was made possible thanks to:
Dr. Hugh Gill Kultur
Kyle Aster
Sasquatch
Bill Crim
G Cooper
Mehron Kugler
Bill Erickson
Julia Winter, world's slowest mosaic artist
Sean Benedict
Rita Bliden
Brent Lawson
Song Zheng
Dana Martin
David Lucey
Janelle
thomas adams
Clay McGowan
Shay Riggs
Dr. Jackie
Keith Kuhnsman
Cindi Duehmig
Banter Couch
Eric Tolbert
Paul Tipper
Paul F
Gerald Bernard
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