The long and labor-intensive job of cladding the dry stack concrete block walls is finished with the completion of this corner of the courtyard. Notice how smoothly these projecting blocks fit in with the rest of the walls? The crescent of 5 projecting blocks on this wall (seen elsewhere on this website) will be part of a cascading water feature for the courtyard. The cladding was done with meshcrete, an innovation of ours, comprised of cement troweled into nylon mesh fabric.
We finally get to start the cement work for the roof. We change our formula for the cement mix to use more sand and Perlite (the white talc-like material in my hand) as an aggregate. The Perlite lightens the weight of concrete and also has insulating qualities but is *extremely* dusty due to its light weight. In other words, everything will taste like Perlite by the end of the day...
Due to the danger of silicosis from breathing sand, cement and Perlite particles, I water this batch from a distance. Note the cloud of dust near the mixer - a definite breathing hazard when you're mixing as much concrete as we do.
We have fastened 3/4 inch sheets of insulating foam board to the 2x6 joists, then hammered longer galvanized nails through the foam board into the joists, leaving an inch of nail exposed. We stretch chicken wire between the wires to keep it taut and lifted above the foam board about halfway up the nails. Note the nylon mesh from the walls which will fold over into the roof. Our ferrocement barrel vault arch/thermal chimney is seen in back.
Next, we bring up the lightweight concrete we've been mixing and trowel it in. Note the white flecks of Perlite visible in the concrete. Our use of Perlite will reduce the weight of the ferrocement roof, as well as adding to the roof's insulation value. We will be using a concrete laminating technique to achieve maximum strength and ultra low weight for our roof, combining cutting-edge construction with low-tech methodology, which pretty much describes us in the proverbial nutshell...
Want to see a rough floor plan? Want to be notified when we post new pictures? Just e-mail us! Want to see the rest of the story? Click on Gimme Shelter Home Page.
Next installment: Flat Top Click HERE

All music and data on this site ©2001 and 2003 TexasMusicForge.com. Any unauthorized usage of music and/or data from this site is strictly prohibited and will get you tied up and dragged behind my horse.
E.M. Kliman, Proprietor.