Parapet walls and tricky formwork

Last weekend we finished another wall up to ceiling height - the back wall of the main pavilion. This wall abuts the roof over the hallway and I knew it would be a difficult section. The over flashing for the hallway roof is already installed and finishes about 55mm- 60mm from the frame, the same distance that my form work needs to be from the frame. This meant that I had could not fit the form work sheet at the required 55 mm distance out from the frame. I trimmed one of the battens from the hall roof by awkwardly sawing upside down, then fitted the timber form work as close as possible and filled the gap with a bit of left over Jointex (stiff joint) from my concrete slab. The lightness of the hemp meant that the Jointex that was just wedged in place was not pushed out when the hemp was tamped.

Form work around parapet wall

Jointex filling the gap in the form work

Form work well fitted on top of over flashing

Some heavy rain and no downpipes meant that the rain and mud, under where the down pipe will be, splashed up on the hemp wall. The water did not soften or damage the hemp wall at all and it remained as hard and solid as the other walls.

Rain and mud splashed on the external wall

Completing the back wall meant working up to ceiling height. With our experience from the first wall we did this on, we did the last part of the wall in three stages. Firstly filling up to where our arms could just get into the form work, then raising the form work up to the full final height on the outside and just below the bottom of the top plat on the inside. We then filled under the top plate and up to the top of the top plate on the outside of the wall. Finally we moved the inside form work up to ceiling height and filled the remainder of the wall, going over the top of the top plate as the cut away in the eaves rafters has meant that the outside of the wall finishes above the top plate.

Filing under the top plate

As well as finishing the back wall of the main pavilion we did more work on the small sections at the front of the house and around the front door, which is yet to have the roof above it finished.

Completed back wall from the outside

Completed back wall from the inside

Front of the house taking shape

Front door

Final hemp walls started

Hemp walls now done on front of house

While the rest of the house was done up to door height, four small sections near the front door and large glass sliding doors had not even been started. Over the weekend we did two rises on each of these small sections, so now all the walls have been started. It was odd going back to the beginning and putting down the damp proof course and tamping into the set down in the concrete, but seemed much easier now then when we first started. The small sections were left to last as we tended to prioritise the long runs, but with lots of studs and noggins, and corners on three of the four sections, the sections may have been short but were very fiddly to tamp. Our friends, Ann and Will, helped the fiddly sections go up faster, while their children Daniel and Alexander kept our son well entertained.

The last sections to be started

 We also had to remove a section of concrete, now in the set down for the glass sliding doors, due to an error in the frame construction. It was nerve racking cutting into our beautiful concrete slab, trying not to damage our polished concrete floor, but with a new masonry cutting wheel on the angle grinder the cutting went smoothly. My fear of cutting into the steel reinforcing in the slab, came to be with a small section of steel being exposed. The circular wheel on the angle grinder could not cut a square corner so the last section was removed by hand with a hammer and chisel.

We had been concerned about the hemp sticking to the tall thin section between two glass sliding doors, as the section was just solid studs with no section where the hemp could meet up with that on the other side. We attached two of the bent up left over fascia brackets to each side of the column in the first rise and, on the side where there was no conduit, also in the second rise. Hopefully this will keep the hemp attached to the frame.

Tall thin section

Forming up began to get difficult as we reached the section where the wall with the hot water service intersects with the hallway roof. With some very tricky cutting we managed to put the form work up to half way through the roof intersection.

Back wall of the main pavilion

Hemp walls up to door height

After another successful weekend of work almost all of our walls are up to door frame height (2.1m). On Friday with the help of some friends we set a new record of 17 mixes in half a day. Novice builders Sara and Alli picked up the methods of hemp wall building very quickly. Plus on Friday we had the added help of now experienced hemp builder Nicole, who is soon to start making the walls for her own hemp house, together with her builder Noel. Nicole will be able to learn from our successes and mistakes and will no doubt learn some new things from her own build, as every build is different, depending on the design, location and materials used.

Looking from the back toward the main and front pavilions

An all female effort on the new rise near the hot water system

Bathroom windows take shape

Bathroom and side wall

View of front pavilion from the north west

The lower of the two fresh rises was proudly another all girl effort

Largest section of wall uninterrupted by openings

Walls go up around kitchen window

View of hall and kitchen

As the walls have got higher we have had to move from working on a plank on crates, to a plant on trestles and hopefully soon we will be borrowing some scaffolding. As we start to work higher toward the roof moving the form work is becoming more difficult, two people working either side of an 8 foot ladder is the current solution, but very soon even that will not be high enough.

23 mixes on Saturday has brought out total to date to 290 mixes. Fine weather, warm water and a swim rewarded our hard workers on Sunday.