This post is all about erecting the steel arches and rebar for the radial roof vaults. This process took us a few weeks to get done and really looked great. I’ll put details and a lot of pictures down below, but first, the time lapse videos…
The Video(s)
Yes, I had to break this one into two videos.
Here is the first 6 vaults going in…
And here are the remaining 4 and a final walk thru.
The Gallery
A picture is worth a thousand words, so lets talk about things in the context of a gallery…
We passed the inspection without any trouble.
Another exterior view
After chisteling out the concrete for the hole, I also cut that piece of rebar and then cleaned it up nicely.
I had forgotten to leave a whole for an 8 inch duct to get thru this concrete wall. So I had to drill one out.
The kitchen vault before starting on the dining room.
This is the fresh stucco on the outside of my office window.
While I worked on Steel, Sherri worked on Stucco…
We welded each steel arch to rebar pegs (#5) drilled into the concrete ribs.
Pic of the first 3 vaults in
A sunset view from the bedroom roof
View from the bedrooms
This room as 3 vaults and covers 90 degrees of the circle (the fish eye lens flattens it out). Eventually, we will have our TV in here, etc.
This room was easy to work in because of the nice floor.
David in the playroom
I needed all the vaults to be the same height, so I used a laser to set the height of the scaffold when it was out in the uneven dirt. Then we set the steel arches a fixed distance above the scaffold deck using a car jack to make the final adjustments.
Here I am just trying out one of the steel arches to see how it “fits” and how it looks
In this shot you can see rebar arches lined up and ready to go while Sherri continues to work on stucco.
While I was focused on the steel arches, Sherri looked after stucco work.
Michael helping me work on one of the vaults.
The kids treated the place like a jungle gym
While working on the living room vaults, I looked down and noticed that the steel columns had filled with rain water. So I drilled holes to let it all out.
It sprayed for quite a while.
Close up on the bedroom dormer stucco
It was nice having a skid steer to move heavy things around.
In this case, we got a delivery of 2 tons of rebar and i could just move it to where I wanted it.
I bought a much smaller tractor to replace the skid steer and it couldn’t even lift one of these bundles.
Working under the vaults felt a little surreal at times
A closer view
IN this view, you can see my form material experiment
We knew that we would eventually need to attach formwork below the rebar, but I wasn’t sure how well my options would hold up to the environment…
I ended up using just the un-urethaned brown board, more on that in an upcoming video.
We celebrated the 4th from the roof with some friends…
We bought a Kubota to replace the skidsteer. It has only 1/3rd of the power, but it won’t tear up the ground.
Here Sherri is putting the rebar chairs up in the guest room ceiling.
The top of the guest vault. This one already has the lath, etc. and is ready to shoot.
Not sure why I don’t have any video footage of the guest room being done. Maybe it will turn up later or maybe it is lost forever.
Shot from the kitchen looking toward the dining room and living room
In the kitchen taking a pick of the dining room. The kitchen island will go under that concrete rib
In the dining room looking toward the living room
Standing in the living room looking toward the kitchen…
Backing up with the camera
Just another shot
The living room, dining room and kitchen are all open concept
In order to bury the office apse at the front of our earth sheltered home, I needed to build a retaining wall with a window in it. For this corner of the build, I decided to use CMU’s, Concrete Masonry Units, AKA concrete blocks. We also had to insulate the apse structure.
I may come back and add some detail here. For now, I’ll just post the video and gallery of pics to tell the story.
The Video
The Gallery
Here are some pics to help tell the story.
Sherri getting a selfie
Sherri and I decided to roughly imitate the “American Gothic” paining.
Sherri and I decided to roughly imitate the “American Gothic” paining.
Couldn’t hold the straight face
And back to work…
Camera caught a block drop in mid air and I thought it looked worth keeping.
Michael’s turn to get a selfie
We put 4 inches of XPS between the apse and the retaining wall. This first 4 feet were easy because of the simple curvature.
My mother faithfully working on the insulation dome.
Here Michael is cranking away on the dome. You know this process is decent when an 11 year old kid can crank it out.
Posing with my subway vinyl. In theory, you are only supposed to use these with the image downward, but I couldn’t resist.
We glued the vinyls together with HH-66 vinyl cement. It basically melts them together with a chemical bond.
Perspective…
Here you can see that the insulation layer completely separates the inner and outer walls. The rebar and lath were covered in concrete, ferro-cement style.
It was getting dark by the time I got that concrete up on the eyebrow.
The insulation mosaic was rough looking, but functional.
Go pro caught this fun one as I drove by… I guess I was looking at the camera to avoid driving over the tripod.
While prepping the tower and mezzanine, we also worked on the bedroom eyebrows. It was just too big for one video. More on what “bedroom eyebrows” are after the video.
The Video
Bedroom Eyebrows
Bedroom eyebrows are not some sort of double entendre that only earth sheltered home builders get after a long hard day. They are simply the structures we used to keep dirt off the windows while still having a hilly appearance. You see them in Peter Vetsch earth shelters all the time. However, I suspect (from construction photos) that Peter’s eyebrows are big heat radiators that drastically reduce the thermal efficiency of his buildings. I wanted to avoid that problem, so I needed mine to be thermally isolated from the actual home.
I did this by separating the shotcrete into two phases. After completing the bedroom shotcrete and waterproofing it, I added a saddle of 4 inch thick XPS Foamular 250… This is the kind that can handle 25 psi of pressure and is intended for burial. Above the XPS, I build another rebar framework and put shotcrete over that. Or at least, that is what I wanted to do.
In more practical terms, I used tapcon screws to mount treaded wood 2x4s directly to the bedroom shotcrete. Then I drilled holes in the 2x4s to hold the rebar framework… So there is a little edge all the way around where I sacrificed long-term insulation for a more buildable structure. I have since considered other ways I could have done this and may do it differently if I ever had to do it again, but I don’t think the performance will be too bad. Certainly still better than a more traditional house.
The Gallery
I am tired of typing, you may be tired of reading, so let’s just skip to the gallery.
Various stages of progress
Bedroom south eyebrow rebar
John helping with the rebar above the hall roof
Sherri and I often have end of the day discussions that get caught on timelapse
David was almost 13 and going thru a bit of a goofy phase
Another goofy David Pic
Even Sherri decided to get in on the goofy poses. Maybe it was the heat?
Hunter leaving me an Easter Egg to find. This is the appropriate punishment.
Not to be outdone, Michael also made a number of goofy pics
Michael again
Sherri and David posing for the time lapse cam. They like to leave these little Easter eggs in there for me to find.
Lots of turtles around
Office Apse viewed from the roof of the garage. This big area was going to get a bit water tank, but I ended up deciding it wasn’t worth the money.
Kids playing on the office apse jungle gym
After putting the french drain for the office apse, this time before the shotcrete so we wouldn’t have to deal with any mess
Kids playing on the office apse jungle gym
The eyebrow for the master bedroom apse was the most elaborate
