clay render on a straw bale house

Anaig is a specialist in clay renders and I have worked along side her on a couple of straw bale build projects.  Here was slightly different, it was her project.  For years she has put her time, energy and expertise into building houses for others and now it is her turn.  I wasn’t sure how the experience was going to unfold.  Either there was going to be stress, angst and aiming for perfection or else a very laid back attitude.  Thankfully it was the latter.  A great team of volunteers, mainly there to gain experience before their own builds and some just for the sheer heck of participation and in return for the great work they have already received.  I think that once you’ve done some clay rendering there is always a hankering to do a bit more.  It gets into your blood so to speak.

I’d missed the first week, where they’d concentrated on rendering the outside of the building and arrived just as the interior was commencing. There had just been raw bales of straw at the start, which need to be promptly covered to protect them from the elements and rodent attack.  We worked at an unpressured pace, achieving a huge amount of work within the allotted time.  Just a small section upstairs to complete at a later date and a couple of patches that needed quiet, undivided attention to get right.  I got stuck in to some of the more challenging tasks such as corners and getting the two sides of doorway and window openings to match.  It was great to be given the opportunity, wonderful to have advice and guidance of a professional within the field and a proud moment to be told that my work was ‘superb’ by someone as exacting as Anaig.  

The week flew by, we never left the building site, dining in the adjacent barn or outside when it was fine, showering in a makeshift shower room with camping showers hoisted up by a pulley system and spending the evenings discussing our various projects and plans for the future.  

I’ll have to pop back again later in the year to see how work is progressing.  The site stops and starts as Anaig is still working on other projects to fund her build. 

what a beautiful setting

waiting for windows, doors, cladding and a roof

core render complete

straw walls before render

now that's a picture frame

some of the tools we used

wooden framework

Two weeks in already, time is flying and I’m partly wishing that I could stay here for ages and see this project advance much further than I will be able too. Mainly though, I am excited to be getting closer and closer to the magic date when my own project can start in earnest.

It’s great to be working on a project with a good team of knowledgeable people who know what they are doing, with plans to be followed and a decent amount of organisation.  The foundations are already in place, we took off the formwork last week and since then have been flat out building the five  wooden structures that will hold the weight of the building. 

foundations

 It’s been touch and go with the weather as its been cold and showery, but progress has been swift between the showers.  I am now becoming expert at using a router, a drill like machine that we are using for cutting notches in all the beams and rafters so that they hold together and for supporting the rest of the structure once it is in position.  Hopefully this will become clearer once the structure is upright and the next stage is underway.

We’ve spent the last ten days or so constructing five very similar structures, all slightly different, from massive lengths of timber.  The wood comes direct from the saw mill which, fortunately, is a stones throw from the building site, tree trunks are fed in at one end and our pieces, along with an impressive quantity of waste, comes out the other end, directly to where we are building the forms.  A lot of the offcuts are resized for planks and smaller posts, the rest is being rescued for building raised beds for the garden.

the sawmill

one of our beams

Our timbers of varying dimensions are then cut precisely, fitted together with varying joints and marked to ensure that they are complete before they are transported to the building site.  It involves a lot of maneuvering, sawing, cutting, planing and moving, just as I wanted, an opportunity to improve my carpentry skills, it’s great.  Everything is now done for this stage of the build.  

technical bits

even more technical bits

Next week the frames be transported, reassembled in site and lifted into position, bolted into position and then we’ll immediately see the outline framework of a new house.  It’s going to be an exciting week.

In the meantime, when the weather has been less kind, there’s been plenty to keep us occupied indoors.  Swaan and Bert are starting a new venture at the same time as building, to keep money coming in.  Making biscuits.  There’s a cute little building in the village that they’ve rented and turned into a ‘biscuiterie’ so we go there and get stuck into baking.  It’s a completely new project that’s been going for just a couple of weeks and a great opportunity get warm and dry out from time to time.  (the weather has turned much colder than it was a month ago, the usual upside down spring that were becoming accustomed to)

two frames nearing completion

revisits to Nic and Brigitte and on....

And then to Nic’s for a week, more of a catch up visit and to see how he’s getting on with the various projects that he has on the go.  I haven’t been to the tower for a couple of years so it’ll be interesting to see the changes.

In fact Nic has been concentrating on another property he has in the village with the idea of selling it on to finance further developments of the main building, that way he can do it properly without scrimping to get decent materials.  He has spent most of his time refurbishing the house, which is coming close to being ready to go on the market.

It has been a great week,  sorting out the ground outside and sowing grass seed for a lawn, scraping ceilings in preparation for a coat of paint, putting up stair banisters.  He enjoys me being here as I take over the kitchen and give him a good break from cooking, which he finds tedious and struggles with inspiration for meals.  I’ve loved throwing together meals with minimal ingredients on an ever more healthy theme.  Each time I visit, we find that our knowledge of food has increased and we both err towards a more natural, home produced diet.  This time cows milk products have been struck off the list, goat and sheep cheeses and yoghurts are still allowed, the reasoning being that unless very locally produced, the poor cows are now fed an increasingly unnatural diet of grains, industrial food processing waste, live inside for most of the year and are kept going with antibiotics and a range of productivity enhancing drugs.  The natural grass diet of a cow is becoming a rarity rather than the norm.

Enough of that for now.

I continue writing ten days later, having not had chance to use the wifi before moving on.  

The last week at Brigitte’s was wonderful, so nice to return and help a lovely lady and good to see that she is well on the mend after a winter of illness.  The aim was to help get the garden up and running again, but I was beaten to the post by Gareth who had arrived earlier in the year for a couple of weeks  but has decided to stay, almost indefinitely by the sounds of things, and is busy settling into the region.  

Gareth is a great gardener and he’d gotten most of it under control, a botanist by training and brilliant at wild plant foraging, so as you can imagine, our conversations were in-depth, endless and fascinating for the two of us, both learning loads from each other.  I don’t think I have eaten so many different wild plants in such a short period ever, mainly a tasting, but occasionally more of a meal, including the ever popular nettle soup and several almost completely wild salads.  

We got on and did several jobs that were much easier done with a couple of pairs of hands.  Replacing the roof on a sun terrace awning, clearing and strimming an enormous patch of semi wild land near the property and burning loads of garden waste, chatting on for most of the time. A third helper arrived too, Trina, a canadian, who helped out more with spring cleaning and sorting out the cellar and summer house whilst I was there.  It was as interesting week language wise, with Brigitte and I being accustomed to speaking french to each other whilst Gareth and Trina in the early learning stages, we swapped back and forth between english and french continually which was great for everyone.  

I was sad to leave after a week, two or three would have been much more agreeable, but I was on a promise and have had a long long drive to get where I am now.  It’s not that far on the map, as the crow flies, but climbing mountain roads takes time in a van like Percy, going up is slow and down is no better, gently does it so as not to overheat the breaks - it smells terrible and is slightly worrying when smoke billows from the wheels when you stop, so a low gear is more the order of the day.  1200m was the first pass then a long descent before climbing almost immediately to 850m and down again.  

I’m somewhere in the Ardeche, south of Lyon, high in the hills with marvelous views, helping a Belgian family build their first ever straw bale house that has only just begun.  I’ll tell you more next time......

It's starting well, 2014

I know, I know, it’s been over a month since I last wrote and I am starting to get emails from close friends checking that I am OK.  Yes, all is well with me, I’ve just been rather busy and not often with internet access.  

The second week of January, I stayed with my good friend Pierre in the mountains, we skied twice, went out on racquets in the snow and generally enjoyed a few cold and sunny days in winter wonderland, though, after November the scenery wasn’t quite as spectacularly snowy.  We even spent a day at Chalet Lou Rider with Clare and her team which was great.  A really good crowd, great fun, but with all that is going on with my land purchase, I am glad that I’m not there this year. 

On that front, things are progressing slowly.  Problems with a farmer neighbour (involving the present owner) have been sorted and all that is needed now is a reply to a legal letter confirming the outcome.  I met the farmer a couple of weeks ago and we have agreed ongoing rights of passage and his use of part of my future land, for an indeterminate period of time, this is an additional area that the present owners are pleased to sell rather than the initial plot.  

For two weeks I have been working flat out with a semi professional team, endeavoring to finish the ground floor plastering of Pierlo and Sandrine’s house as quickly as possible due to a change in family circumstances..  I’ve helped them periodically during the last four years and when I discovered that their son, Jules, had been in a swimming accident last autumn and is still quite disabled, decided to lend a hand.  He suffered an apnea attack as he dived into the pool and was without air for some time before he was rescued.  His lungs did not fill with water, so he had not drowned, but still, spent a couple of months in a coma.  He is slowly gaining his senses, movement and comprehension, but it appears that it may take several years before he returns to some sort of normality.  A huge shock and life changing for the family.  They hope to get Jules home as soon as it is in a fit state to receive him and a great group of friends are rallying round to give support. I’ll no doubt be back to help from time to time, but for the moment have committed myself to another project.

I am back with Cherry and Chris, where I stayed over Christmas and the New Year, where I planted over a hundred trees in the autumn and house sat on a couple of occasions.  They move house at the start of March and have an enormous list of chores.  The offer of £££ for extra hours was a tempting one, so I am working more than full time for them till the end of the month.  The new house is in the process of being renovated and will be no where near ready , so I shall be heading back to  give Pierlo a hand when I finish here.

Looking further into the spring, hopefully I will have signed for the purchase of the land by then, I have 2-4 months for searches and official paperwork before completion.   There are already three possible straw bale building projects available that want help (more arrive as we get closer to spring) and with Percy at the ready I am easily able to move from place to place to head off and lend a hand, learn still more skills and better formulate how I plan to proceed.  Hopefully the current owners will allow me to plant a vegetable plot during the transition period so I am not too far behind with the season and then in early summer there is the possibility of a 6 day professional course in straw bale building near La Rochelle.  I can use the trip north to visit other friends on route and then head back to the UK for Percy’s MOT and a long awaited visit.

Not sure how it’s all going to pan out and in what order it’s all going to happen but its going to be a challenging, exciting and demanding year.  I am almost bursting with anticipation and am finding it difficult to hold back on planning and getting stuck in to my next chapter.  I must be patient and bide my time until the formalities are over.  There’ll be plenty of time afterwards for it all to unfold.

snow capped Pyrénées

winter sunset

my current abode

Suzy, the bestest french dog I know

stripey

Suzy

newly planted beech hedge

the new residence

the roundwood house is getting there

NW bale wall finishing.  We discussed endless possibilities for finishing the end of the bale walls.  Due to the nature of the building and the fragile nature of straw, when it comes to moisture and rot, there were not a huge number of feasable options.  The straw had to be covered and kept dry whilst the earth needed to fall and look fairly natural down the side of the building.  Here, the waterproof layers continue to encapsulate the straw behind the willow horizontals and are secured with the large vertical trunk.  The tyres hold the willow in place at the other end without damaging the layers behind.

SE side, needed a different solution of finishing and retaining, so we used oak planks to hold the soil back and finish the straw wall.  The shower tray is still visible as the final wall isn't in place yet.

Interior straw walls clipped neatly ready for rendering.  The cloth protects the plumbing for the kitchen sink.  For the moment the tyres will remain visible.  They protect the bales from the damp floor/ground and are filled with large stones.

Adam working the first layer of lime mortar well into the bales.  The further into the bales this layer goes the better supported the final wall will be.  Not particularly strenuous work but hard on the fingers with constant forcing of mix into the straw.  3 parts sharp sand, 1 part lime and enough water to form a slurry.

Cordwood wall sections under construction.  They rest on horizontal beams of cleaved chestnut wrapped in polythene to keep them off the ground.  The two sides of the wall are mortared and the central area is filled with wood chippings, this reduces the amount of mortar used and in enclosed buildings provided an added layer of insulation.  

Second layer of lime mortar in position, scratched to take the final finish coat once dry.

Evening sunshine on a portion of finished cordwood wall.  It's starting to look good.

willow roofing

Matty and I starting to weave the roof support layer.  We nailed lengths of willow to each rafter then wove them round in a giant structure.  Their length and solidity made it strenuous work to bend each branch into position.

As the willow would be seen from underneath, it was important to check that it looked good from below.  

Three days later the weaving is complete.  It got more and more challenging to bend the branches into position, even choosing lighter more supple lengths made for interesting work.  The surface covered a multitude of unevenness underneath and looked almost too good to support further layers.

From ground level the structure is starting to resemble a building.  

Layers of protective material, waterproofing and further protective surfaces are added to make the structure waterproof.  Folding the layers proved challenging as there was a huge surplus at the centre that had to be folded to keep the whole thing water tight.

Doing battle with the final layer of geotextile membrane 

Finishing touches to the layer of earth.  We barrowed about 6 tons of soil onto the roof, sufficient to suport vegetation throughout the year with a bit of watering through the summer.  The whole building remained solid and comfortable to walk on even with all this weight.  Most of the planting will happen in the autumn as it is a better time to get plants to establish.  By this time next year the roof should be vibrant and green.

roundhouse walling

reciprocal roof detail

the roundhouse before the walls went up

straw retaining walls pinned with chestnut stakes

protecting the straw from moisture and the liner from damage

backfilled with soil

A couple of weeks ago, after getting the garden up to speed I became involved in the roundhouse project.  The round ‘henge’ complete with reciprocal roof were already in place.  We have since worked on the back, straw wall, its protection from the earth backfill.  We used a wooden trellis behind the bales to allow the wall to breathe, followed by an old padded pool layer to provide cushioning and then a double layer of heavy duty polyethene which drops way below ground level and is held in place with a land drain.  All of which is then protected with a layer of woven landscape fabric.  Where there are protruberances, they are further cushioned with squares of pool cover, not exactly ecological, but great use of something that would otherwise contribute to landfill.

Backfilling and compressing of the earth was hot, time consuming work and me being the thinnest spent most of the day squeezed between the back wall and the earth tucking in the layers of protection and then guiding and compressing the earth into place.  Happy days.

making things

Tying a yurt wall

the floor deck being constructed in sections so that 

it can be moved into position later

yurt walls and willow working in the background

sunset dinner location

Woodworking?  Not yet, I spent my third and fourth day in the kitchen helping deal with two slaughtered pigs.  Processing offal into pate and faggots.  Not something that I had expected, but as life never goes exactly as planned, a good bit of experience which may well come in handy at a later date.  Sausages followed, but I managed to escape outside to help with yurt walls that had to be retied.  It’ll be slicing bacon next, once it has cured for a while.

The project is picking up pace here, eight days to go and still about a months work to complete.  I am looking at it as the possibility to gain experience and to embrace the madness that is sure to arrive as and when I get my own place.  I have been here ten days and have worked every one of them.  However hard we work there always seems to be more to do, new challenges to face, unexpected problems to resolve and endlessly changing weather to keep us on our toes.  There is no stress, no harsh words or pressure the team jovially embrace the challenge and several have prolonged their stay to see it through to completion.  Wendy and Matt, the hosts look after us all admirably and we end each day with a great meal, plenty to drink and a good evening round an open air fire.

I don’t think that I have ever spent time with such a committed bunch of volunteers.  My time in the vegetable garden is over and my ‘expertise’ with straw bale construction is being stretched to the max.  Being the only person here with any experience of working with this medium all eyes are on me for the wall building and shaping the walls of the round house.  I am so glad that I have read so many books on the subject, even things that I have never done seem to be familiar and the project is coming on a treat.  Everyone seems to have fallen into specific rolls, each contributing their unique skills.  With a boat builder, architect, stonemason landscaper, bodger woodworker, conservator, pub manager and all round handyman on the case, it appears that every base is covered.  We have some great conversations and discussions, everyone puts their point of view forward when they think it is needed and the project advances.  Steps are built, retaining walls are fashioned out of old tyres, planting is organised, whittling, weaving and construction continues.  There are always numerous books open on the giant farmhouse table for reference so we eat outside under the shade of beautiful elms next to a field of sheep or if a beautiful sunset presents itself we move ourselves to a prime viewing on top of the hill.

glamping

Wow, that all happened a bit fast.  One minute I am with french friends planning the summer, playing boule and chilling french style.  Forty minutes later I am in another hamlet a few miles away, seemingly back in england, surrounded by english speaking people drinking a good cup of tea (with milk) and discussing the weather.  I had been warned that the Dordogne was like little england and whoever it was, wasn’t wrong.  That statement was reaffirmed this morning at the local market when the stall holders automatically speak english to you and the dominantly overheard voice is not of the local tongue.

I feel as if I have been transported into a different world.  The weather has been scorching hot and sunny all day, my bedroom is a yurt in the corner of a sloping field overlooking rolling arable countryside and my main task for the day has been weeding along side a New Zealand girl called Nic. She is one of 6 other helpers here, all the rest are english through and through.  Disappointingly so are the hosts, so I won’t be getting much french practice here.  On the positive side the location has been on my favourites list on HelpX for at least two years and have been invited a couple of times in the past.  

The location is an off grid luxury camp site that is in the process of getting off the ground.  Two yurts up and running and a third in the process of construction.  The wooden frames are hand crafted on site and the canvas cut and sewn to fit. Alongside the third yurt site is a partially build ‘hobbit’ style round house that is to serve as a kitchen and showering area for the accommodation. It will be semi underground, with a grass roof, solar shower and old style larder food storage.  

At present the framework for the third yurt is being whittled, drilled and threaded, the roof poles are ready and a large roll of canvas awaits final measurements before being transformed into a weatherproof cover.  There are no straw bale walls to the roundhouse, nor flooring, water supply or roof.  The area is a building site and has to be completely transformed by early next month when the first paying guests are due to arrive for a relaxing and tranquil holiday.

I know that I have been weeding today, but I can hardly wait to get stuck in to helping out with these projects on hand.  A brilliant opportunity is unfolding before my very eyes to pick up those carpentry skills (and more) that I have been pondering about for the last few months, to glean first hand information about yurt building and rustic constructions that have been on my mind and to see just what it is like to run a camp site.  It is fortuitous, I feel, that the french hosts that I originally asked to stay with were unable to find space for me at this time.  Hopefully I will get to visit them a bit later on this summer.

at julien's uncle's house

Now that I am back in france it’s easy to start writing again.  My last postings will have explained my plan and so far everything is going swimmingly, except, that is, for the weather.  

The weather has been appalling since I arrived, cold and rather wet, though thankfully I managed to get to my destination the first afternoon in glorious sunshine.  It hasn’t mattered that much as we have busied ourselves with planning the summer and discussing possible projects in more detail.  

There are still three interested parties which we have decided is sufficient as too many different ideas and needs could well make it impossible to decide anything.

On reflection, everyone wants to be close to the mountains, so the plan is to head south and start our search in earnest next month.  Julien and Vivien both have plans until then and need time to get other things sorted in the north of france.  I shall stay in the region for now and see what tempts me in the way of helpX or wwoofing sites in the mean time.  There are plenty of interesting hosts but they are taking time to respond.

We have already visited an Eco Centre not that far from here and explored straw, adobe, hempcrete, wood and canvas structures.  It’s interesting to get a real feeling of all the different types of building in close succession as it makes comparisons much easier.  More in a later post. We’ve BBQ’d with friends, sneaked a rather wet tour of a wonderful permaculture garden complete with “Belier Hydraulic” a water powered pump that can lift water far higher than its source. Once plumbed in, it works all on its own, day and night for ages without attention. Dined out with a lovely couple in the village and hosted most of the folks that we have visited for dinner last night.  It’s wonderful to be on holiday without work obligations getting to know folk that I may well be spending a lot of time with in the future.  

After shopping at the local town yesterday, we managed a walk in the afternoon sun round Brantome, before the heavens opened again.  It feels odd to be so far south and still be lighting a fire at night to feel warm.  My shorts haven’t seen the light of day yet and I have embraced the foul habit of wearing socks and flip flops indoors for the sole purpose of keeping my feet warm.  Meteo France promises warmer sunnier weather for the end of the week, but no promises thereafter. 

The pool is getting plenty of use.  I must say that it is odd to swim outside in the rain in very smart swimming pool on an overgrown plot of land.  The house is still under renovation and very little attention has been given to the outside areas for several years, except that is for the instillation of the pool.  I imagine a natural swimming pond for the future if space and budget allow.

clay and sieving

Mixing a sifted clay earth with water to make a ‘slip’, a smooth mix with a consistency similar to

 apple purée.  Straw is then soaked in the mixture and subsequently wrung out and used

 to fill gaps and holes in walls before the final surface is applied.

Clayey straw being prepared to fill the gaps.  It is then left to dry before the final surface is attached.

Home made ladders that will allow easy access from each bedroom into the loft space above.

The household can then choose how they use their space.

Installing the water pump and pressure balloon so that the recuperated rainwater can be used.

The gutters drain into six underground tanks that are capable of holding

30000 litres of water in total.

Bedroom ceilings nearing completion.  A coat of linseed oil is all that’s needed.

 Smart shelves in the loft space.  Eventually they will be backed with wood, but for the moment 

stapled blankets will suffice to provide visual seclusion.  

(I hope they leave the blankets too, as i think they look rather smart.)

Mealtime for those of you who don’t believe that it is possible to live in a building site!!

Finely cutting straw to go into the final coat of clay plaster, it helps bind the mixture and reduces the quantity of sand needed in the mix.

The strimmer does a great job in super quick time.  A bit dusty at times.

Sieving, you’ve got to love sieving if you’re going to build a house out of straw and clay.

The ingredients of every layer are sieved, thankfully most to a farily large grade, but the final layer is to 2mm.

That amounts  to bins and bins of sieved clay particles, sand and also straw.

I love sieving, really I do.