The pace of our ferrocement roof construction picks up as we get into a rhythm. Here, I've just taken a wheelbarrow load of cement onto the top of the large barrel vault arch. You can see the north side of the arch has fresh cement on it. I've just dropped my load of cement onto the south side of the arch and will begin hand-troweling it into the layer of red nylon mesh placed on the surface. The red arrow points to the smaller arch over my recording studio which echoes the larger arch in the design of the house.
Since we've been applying the finish layer to this section of the roof, I cover it with a blanket and thoroughly wet the blanket with the hose. This will keep the fresh cement (actually a layer of meshcrete) moist and out of the hot Texas sun while it cures. Proper curing is important for strength and resistance to cracking. The drainage port pictured below can be seen to the right in the parapet in this photo.
This drainage port (or sepa as the Spanish called them) will take care of rain for the southwest corner of the house. Unseen in this photo, there is a spillway made of sheet styrofoam just below the edge of the roof in this sepa which was also covered with ferrocement. We'll still need to put a finish layer of meshcrete here, but this is a good example of how versatile and easy cement can be to build with.
This is the side of the barrel vault roof we were getting set to put a finish layer on in the first photo above. Notice how smooth and adobe-like our finish is, perfect for taking a thick coat of white elastomeric reflective paint which will also waterproof the roof. We've accomplished a very cutting edge building concept, laminated concrete, by working with the oldest construction methodology known to humankind, building it by hand a little bit at a time.
A look from the southeast corner of the roof. The side of the barrel vault seen above is off to the right just out of the picture. This roofing won't need to be replaced within the next 500 years with just a little maintenance every decade. Being monolithic, there are no seams for water to enter and no gutters to clean, maintain or replace. Now that is my kind of roof...
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