Underground Earth Bag Construction
Episode 8
Reinforce Walls and Window Boxes for Mus-Art Studio
Growing Walls for the 2nd Floor
This week we have grown a few layers but the weather has been soaking the bags making it nearly impossible to work without compromising the strength of the walls. Watch the video and if you would like to leave a little support, smack that like button or share it on your social medias!:D
Laying the Foundation - Episode 1
http://mylittlehomestead.com/underground-earth-bag-bunker-laying-the-foundation.html
Placing the Electrical, Moisture Barrier and Dirt Chute - Episode 2
Building Considerations to Strengthen the Walls - Episode 3
Completing the Underground Walls - Episode 4
http://mylittlehomestead.com/undergound-earth-bag-construction-completing-the-walls.html
Completing the Underground Stairs - Episode 5
http://mylittlehomestead.com/undergound-earth-bag-construction-completing-the-stairs.html
Foundation for 2nd Story - Episode 6
http://mylittlehomestead.com/undergound-earth-bag-construction-foundation-for-2nd-story.html
Electrical & Window Boxes for Mus-Art Studio - Episode 7
http://mylittlehomestead.com/undergound-earth-bag-construction-electrical-and-window-boxes.html
Next Up - Bottle Lights, Headers & Fixing the Wall! - Episode 9
Shae aka Winter_Apple
September 16, 2016
Transcript of Video
Bree: Last time, we installed the electrical and window boxes in the earthbag MusArt Studio.
The bags continue to fill up. The only question is "will we run out of dirt?"
Shelly: We only have two piles left of all that Jeff dug up.
Diesel. Are you picking the beans over there? Are you eating them? Huh?
Garen: We use the pole and we run our circle around. That way we get our perfect circle we want. We take the rope and pull it tight. In this case, I'm using a knot as my marker and I just run it around...do that and mark all the way around the building. I tamp it. We just follow that all the way up the building and then our walls are relatively straight.
Bryson: we found a different way of doing this. What I found is if you just pull it up your arm and you just go like this, all the way up to about half the bag... And ...
Gary: These are tent poles and we are going to use these to reinforce the walls between the windows...like we've done in the past.
Bryson: When we are pounding this in we want to make sure there is no wires so we don't accidentally dig into the wires in there and cause an electrical short out.
Gary: There is a little bit of movement on this wall. With all the rains we have had lately... Over here, if you can get a shot of this, you can see we are out of plumb. The best way to fix these things is to just brave them off. I was hoping to avoid it but that's what happens.
Shae: There was only a half of brick.
Shelly: Are you thinking of dying your hair Bry?
Bryson: I think so. Should I?
Shelly: The kids, especially when they get into their teen age years, they want to sometimes do some little crazy things whether it is the way they dress or the way they do their hair. "You can do what ever you want to do creatively. But try not to do anything permanent. Do you want this when you're 90 years old.
Gary: A tattoo of a big lightening bolt right here or up here. But the hair is different. It all grows back.
Bryson: Should I?
Shelly: It's up to you.
Bryson: No?
Shelly: What color?
Bryson: I was going to go with green.
Shelly: It is sometimes difficult to hear some of the things they are going to do. The girls wanted to start dye their hair...I wasn't sure what I thought about that but I think they came out really cute. Bryson dying his hair...? I...I don't know how I feel about that but your know it will grow back.
Bryson: I was going to just dye this side though. What we do is we just shave this side short and this side long. I was going to just dye this side. I was hoping to give kind of a sort of unique look anyway.
Gary: I'm kind of a traditionalist, so you know... Personally, I would do it. I don't have that much to do. But you know times are different. Today.
Shelly: It's just trying to open and flexible and not getting in big arguments. Not that we would get into an arguments with them anyway. We would probably just try to discuss it with them and encourage them not to do if it was something that...
Gary: Was harmful or permanent.
Shelly: But this one is just...
Gary: Just hair.
Shelly: It's just hair.
Bryson: What do you think mom?
Shelly: Well I think as long as it is not to permanent. It's not a bad idea.
Bryson: It seems like you don't like this idea.
Shelly: No. I'm ok with it.
Shae: I think ...
Shelly: You can try it out.
Gary: We are getting a little wobble in the walls. It's been pretty wet. We are concerned about the walls wiggling a little bit. It is not unusual for us to put a stake but we're going to go with something a little larger this time like a t-fence post.
Bryson: The electrical I believe is at this layer right here. And the pipe comes in somewhere right in here. ...not all the way down, so it dent go into the wire.
Bryson's: We wanted to put in a lot more cleats around the outside for hanging things...about 3 feet apart, all the way around the room. Because I found in my room there are places I wish I had these, but I didn't have them. So you don't know what going to be in this room.
Garen: It rained, like a lot. I mean we had a giant storm come through. It gets the bags wet.
Bryson: It blows off our tarps.
Garen: When we have such a bad storm, they will get wet a lower down too. So, everything will be soaked. When they get that wet and muddy and you can feel it through the bags, they just fall apart. If you put any weight on them...I mean if you don't touch them, they will actually set better. They get real soaked and muddy and they harden really good. But you just do anything with them (when they are really wet) Otherwise you will lose a wall. It's been really good for our bags, getting really wet then drying out, it really hardens the walls up.
Gary: Out here when it gets really damp and pretty wet outside, we sometimes get into our area here...we can't touch them. We can't get in there and move them around a lot, because of solidification. The bags a little mushy and "splish". So here, we're staking off our windows. They have gotten really wet. And we are just taking a precaution.
Gary: So, right around the windows, for instance, it was a little on the wobbly side, so why not shore those up. So we have been putting in braces around the windows.
Garen: The top layer will tie it all together and the roof on will tie it even more together.
Gary: We have a cool little cable thing we want to do.
Garen: Ya...
Bryson: We have had quite a lot of rain storms. We should go down a take a look underneath here. Woop. I almost fell. That would be a bummer. It seems like it is actually holding up really well. I don't see any like bulging or collapsing anywhere. Which is good. And you can see water has pooled down here definitely. Ya. It seems to be holding up really nice actually. Solid as ever. Looks Nice. Holding up good.
Bree: stay tunes next time as we install the bottle lights, race to finish the walls and start the planning and layout of the roof. Thanks for watching and have a fantastic week.
All: Thank you.
Shelly: We just to say a special think you to Christina Martinas and the
Gary: Planned B orchard and farm.
Shelly: and anyone else that we might have forgotten to mention for suggesting the solid state drive on our Mac....in the video editing. It has made a significant improvement in the performance, something we would have never thought of to do. Thank you.
Gary: Lots more speed.
Shelly: ya, it has really helped, so thank you so much for that suggestion.
Shae: Our family moved from the city to the country. Thanks for taking part in our adventure.
Shae: We have new videos every Friday evening. If you would like to help us out, you can like this video, share it, subscribe or support us on Patreon. See the links below in the description.
Bryson: Ready?
Shelly: Ya.
Bryson: Are you sure? Because I've said this twice now.
Shelly: Ok
Bryson: Ok. Do you have the mic on?
Shelly: Ya.
Bryson: Double check that there is a red dot.
Shelly: Um Hum....
Bree: Stretch out the mouth. It is like stretching out for a workout. Don't judge.
Gary: We should sing our parts. "It has been Raining."
Bryson: "Singing"
Bree: Too many musicals for you guys.
Gary: It's been raining...(Singing)
Garen: I'm talking here.
Gary: He can dye it on one side and then the back side could be like a nine millimeter, he can just carve that in.
Shelly: Sure...sounds good.
As long as he did an NFL Symbol.
Step by Step - Building of Bry's Earth Bag Room
Full Verion - Building of Bry's Earth Bag Bedroom
Walk Thru Our First Earth Bag Construction Project!
Garen's Earth Bag Interior with Rocket Stove
Garen's Earth Bag Room - the Exterior
Bree's Earth Bag Room
Partners
Resources
www.greenhomebuilding.com/adobe.htm
www.earthbagbuilding.com/articles.htm
www.earthbagplans.wordpress.com
We moved from the city to the country in 2005. Since then, we have been building structures, raising livestock and growing some of our own foods. We are crazy about family, nutrition and want the best for our growing family.
