Our earth-sheltered house design uses an “umbrella” concept to retain the heat and keep things dry. This post covers the first phase, the dirt under the umbrella. Still, it was a big step.
The Video
The Gallery
Often the story is best told with pictures anyway…
This is actually an action shot with the dozer pushing dirt over that edge
Here is the section of wall that fell out. I forgot I had this pic when I did the previous video. I guess I’ll go add it to that section of the blog.
In this scene, Dick couldn’t see where he was dumping so Steve was his eyes… Communication is key.
The shovels were left there to keep the insulation pushed against the wall until the spray glue dried…
Do you think he noticed the bulldozer or is it still a mystery how the line was cut?
I thought the repair was pretty interesting.
A shovel to remind Marty the depth and location of the power lines.
We had layers of insulation behind the boulders, but there was also insulation up against the playroom, etc. We used a lot of insulation.
Michael setting up the camera.
Dick Roe, an original Roe Brother. He seems to operate the excavator like it was an extension of his body. He has clearly spent enough hours in there that it is all muscle memory at this point.
I don’t recall why I was laughing…
Sherri surveying the destruction
At the end of the first day…
They switched fromt he small bucket to the big (wide) bucket, depending on what work they were doing. Like changing the bit in your screw driver.
Lifting the first vertical stone…
Sliding in the key stone
Steve and I put a lot of thought into the placement of each rock so they would interlock nicely. It is hard to see from these pics, but the vertical ones are tilted back and tucked behind the flat ones. They are also tucked behind the concrete wall. I later came back and used mortar betwen all the rocks and drilled and pegged them together with #5 rebar, etc. It has been about a year and I don’t see any cracks in any of the mortar yet.
The excavator is sitting on a ramp made by the bulldozer so it could reach high enough to place the dirt.
This is the view out our playroom window.
Steve (working for Roe Brothers as the man on the ground) was very helpful and fun to be around.
Shovels are for fine tuning the dirt placement
We had them dump dirt in thru the skylights so we wouldn’t have to take it in with wheelbarrows. We needed it for making stucco and to bring the floor height up from the footing depth to 6 inches below final floor depth.
Color is funny in this pic, but this is the dirt spilling out from between the dormers on the south side. Like sand thru an hour glass.
Pushing dirt up the north side of the bedrooms
After the dozer tore up the ground, I went and did some rock picking
How it all looks from half way down the hill
The insulation was placed and waiting to get to work on the umbrella.
End of day two.
End of the 2nd day and the guys are packing up to leave
The center section of the house still has no roof
This hill is pretty steep here, but hopefully will be improved with the other two layers
Just a look at the terrain at the end of the day
Michael at the end going to pick up the camera after the last scene.
Response to Burial, Phase 1.
Scott Romack says:
Awesome, I just found this project and am very interested.