Back at the Solar Compound...Starting the Walls...and Cob!!

Enough of Jack London! I'm back at the Solar Compound. It is an absolutely delightful Fall day. Squirrels are busy getting their last few calories in before winter. We've had several Stellar Jays hanging about the place...chiding us and entertaining us. Delightful!

Since our strawbales got wet, we have made a design change.

The first room to be finished will be the "Family Room". We will do the walls in "Cob" for this part of the addition. A cement pad is already the floor for this room. We have started by drilling holes into the cement pad to hold the rebar. We will build up an additional foot of rock and mortar foundation.

We are experimenting on getting the right mix of gravel, clay and straw for the walls. These buckets hold different mixtures of "Cob" in an effort to get the correct recipe (using our own soil).

This is the room that will have the "Cob" walls. There will be two large 5 x 6 foot windows in the corner on the left. That is also where the woodstove (eventually) will go.

I am so impressed with the beauty of the post and beam and the barnwood ceiling. This is another view of the left side. The door will be just passed the wood post in the foreground on the left. The windows will be one on the left side, past the second pole (just past the Buddha). The second window will be directly ahead.

The beauty of the Post and Beam (with the completed ceiling)...

We do need to get working on this. I have a few visitors arriving in November--and things are already crowded enough. We need more room! The weather is supposed to be sunny for the next week--so we hope to at least get things started.