Rammed Earth Walls

Discussion in 'Designing, building, making and powering your life' started by TLP, Sep 27, 2014.

  1. TLP

    TLP Junior Member

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    C- Question: Over in your neck of the woods are there lots of available soil colors? My guess is some areas of the world are RE haven, others need pigments? Do the pros have various soils on site the mix in different soils for a course? The other prob I see with that is having to take all these soils to lab to be tested to pass building code. A white base mix and pigments seem like a better choice, but pigmentating the total thickness can get expensive. So can hauling in different color soils, and the embodied energy.

    I get a bobcat if it were available before I sent buckets up a conveyor belt. Scaffolding and and a mix bucket a fork lift could deliver to two sides of the building to keep the rammers ramming. The bobcat does the mixing.

    I'm still not understanding this "marine ply" ....I do know that here is plastic "marine board" some of which has an oil additive for skid plates on off-road vehicles made of UHDPE. It may make some cost effective light weight smooth forms now that you mention it, and they are stiff. Plastic shops sell 4 x 8 sheets in 1/4 - 1/2 thick, and they are stiff needing no stiffeners. A machine shop could lighten them up, creating machined in stiffeners.

    I used some vegetable oil on my drain hole block outs to get them out easier. Then I found out to just taper them. The way my surfaces turned out dirt would stick to the oil. Using OSB I really didn't have alot of sticking unless my mix was too wet, then it stick to my hand rammer. I used the rammer and shovel stick as a guide to get my water level right.
     
  2. Curramore1

    Curramore1 Junior Member

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    TLP, There are pink to reddish hued decomposed granites, grey hued deco granite, yellows etc. , depends how much you want to spend to cart it, Concrete may be cheaper than cartage. The idea is to try to use your own soil on site really.
    Marine ply is just high quality plywood which used to be used to make bond-wood rowboats boats and has an outer smooth coat and water proof glues holding the plies together and is quite expensive.
    The buckets don't go up the conveyor belt, premix is loaded directly with a bobcat or by hand on to the belt on it's own and at the top of the belt just tips it straight into the form to be rammed. A bobcat will only reach so high also, what if you wish to make the walls 4 metres high? As a rule of thumb 10% water approx. by volume and if you make it into a ball and drop It, it should stay as a lump. Just remember it will already have a variable amount of water in the soil, so you have to play with it. I just mix mine with a standard cement mixer after it has been screened to leave the coarser aggregates behind. I cover mine with plastic sheet after work to let it dry as slowly as possible if the air is hot and dry.
     
  3. TLP

    TLP Junior Member

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    This video shows the belt, I been using too much large rock....there getting there with about 30% clay, 70% sand, no rock. I tried that but it was weak, I'l try again. It be easier to add oxides to the surface. I never thought of styrofoam block outs either.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0pmwYEFzgc
     

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