While I have heard from multiple sources that cow poo is a fine and admirable structural component for cob render mix, I never thought we’d try it.
But thanks to Harris, we have finally given the Earthbag dome we started building in February 2011 it’s first complete outer render, featuring mud, sand, silt and cow poo. And it seems to be working!
Raising the walls of the earthbag dome as part of a 7 day workshop in February 2011
The completion of this earthbag structure has been a bit long winded and very experimental. If we build another (which we hope to) we will have the benefit of lots of hard-learned lessons to make the process quicker!
But it is getting there. Shane, the awesome bloke who is (slowly but surely) building our tinyhouse made up some beautiful window and door frames that fit snugly in the bagwork, made from recycled wood. They’re all in place and looking great.
Window hole during construction
Window hole completed and self-supporting with bags
Window frame in place, and ready to take a small rectangular recycled window...
Removing the vaulted door form during construction, anticipating that the bag structure we built around it will be self supporting...
Hurrah! One self-supporting archway made of earthbags...
Shane's hand-made, recycled timber door frame, now in place and ready for a hand-made door...
Since the bag-work was finished on that first 7-day flurry of energy and enthusiasm, it’s been a bit of a slow road to get the earthbag dome finished… as always, it’s a matter of priorities, and this project, while awesome, just wasn’t up the top of the list.
But slowly we’ve got there. It’s been an experiment and a collaboration with many people pitching in ideas and techniques. Some we’d do again, and some we wouldn’t. But that’s ok. It’s bee a great learning experience in hands-on, radical building for everyone involved!
Earthbag walls finished, in goes the central skylight...
Making a ferrocement 'hat' for the dome to protect the lower bags from weather, with the intention that this would mean we could render the lower part of the dome in earth-based render, thereby avoiding having to render in cement entirely...
Ferrocementing all parts of the dome which will be exposed to rain...
Harris and Sophie mixing up the earth render mix
Sophie doing the final cob render mixing by foot...
Leigh, Harris and Sophie get rendering...
Earthbag dome with it's first coat of outer render finished! Yay...
Next up, Sophie and Adam start on rendering the inside...
Many thanks to everyone who’s helped with our earthbag dome thus far! It’s been quite a learning curve… particular thanks to Neil and Stella that got us going and to Harris for initiating the cow-poo render sequence. And to Leigh Hegg for his photos.
