What the.....?!
Since the first work party was so
successful, we decided to have another
one. As we approached the site on
Saturday morning, something was amiss:
our cisterns were GONE!
Our engineer insisted that we put cistern
tanks in instead of the "swimming pool"
type cisterns that are draw in our plans.
So we bought two 4300 gallon plastic
potable water cisterns. They cost about
$3000 each. They're about 9'X 13' and
weigh 900 pounds. Now they were missing!
As we got closer, we saw one rolled up
against a telephone pole on the edge of
our property, restrained -barely- by an
old section of barbed wire fence.
successful, we decided to have another
one. As we approached the site on
Saturday morning, something was amiss:
our cisterns were GONE!
Our engineer insisted that we put cistern
tanks in instead of the "swimming pool"
type cisterns that are draw in our plans.
So we bought two 4300 gallon plastic
potable water cisterns. They cost about
$3000 each. They're about 9'X 13' and
weigh 900 pounds. Now they were missing!
As we got closer, we saw one rolled up
against a telephone pole on the edge of
our property, restrained -barely- by an
old section of barbed wire fence.
At first we couldn't see the other one.
Someone must have come and messed
with them. Once we stopped and looked,
we found the other one. A quarter mile
away in a field! Now why would
someone bother rolling that tank all the
way over there! That's BORED. Later a
neighbor stopped by. He said, "We get
some strong winds out here." Our
tanks had blown away! The one had
blown across our lot, across the street,
over a fence, through a field and
stopped in a dry stream bed. It took us
an hour to roll the tanks back onto our
property.
Someone must have come and messed
with them. Once we stopped and looked,
we found the other one. A quarter mile
away in a field! Now why would
someone bother rolling that tank all the
way over there! That's BORED. Later a
neighbor stopped by. He said, "We get
some strong winds out here." Our
tanks had blown away! The one had
blown across our lot, across the street,
over a fence, through a field and
stopped in a dry stream bed. It took us
an hour to roll the tanks back onto our
property.
The rest of the Earthship...
We are making progress slowly. Working only
on the weekends isn't very fast. What we've
found is that if you stuff the tires as much as
possible by hand, they pound very quickly.
Whenever people show up to help, that's
usually the job we give them: stuff dirt in tires.
It REALLY speeds things up. Not to mention
that most of our visitors aren't too excited to
swing a sledge hammer all day!
on the weekends isn't very fast. What we've
found is that if you stuff the tires as much as
possible by hand, they pound very quickly.
Whenever people show up to help, that's
usually the job we give them: stuff dirt in tires.
It REALLY speeds things up. Not to mention
that most of our visitors aren't too excited to
swing a sledge hammer all day!
We could have planned this one better... The cisterns need to
sit lower than the lowest part of the finished roof, which will be
about 9.5 feet. The tanks are 10' tall. Oops. To fix this, we
decided to dig down another foot inside the cistern houses. This
would have been a lot easier if we hadn't already done four
layers of tires! Furthermore, being early February, our clay
soil was really hard. We rented an electric jackhammer to
break up the dirt and then shoveled it out by hand.
Once the tanks are in and plumbed, we can continue the tire
walls around the cisterns. Then we will fill the space between
the tires and the tanks with sandy soil.
We've started (and are pretty close to finishing) the front wall.
sit lower than the lowest part of the finished roof, which will be
about 9.5 feet. The tanks are 10' tall. Oops. To fix this, we
decided to dig down another foot inside the cistern houses. This
would have been a lot easier if we hadn't already done four
layers of tires! Furthermore, being early February, our clay
soil was really hard. We rented an electric jackhammer to
break up the dirt and then shoveled it out by hand.
Once the tanks are in and plumbed, we can continue the tire
walls around the cisterns. Then we will fill the space between
the tires and the tanks with sandy soil.
We've started (and are pretty close to finishing) the front wall.
This wall will only be four
tires high and they are all
in a straight row. After
working up high on "U"
shaped walls, these tires
are going very quickly.
We've set a deadline to be
done with the tires. If we
aren't done by the end of
March, we will hire a crew
to finish them and get on
to a different part of the
building.
tires high and they are all
in a straight row. After
working up high on "U"
shaped walls, these tires
are going very quickly.
We've set a deadline to be
done with the tires. If we
aren't done by the end of
March, we will hire a crew
to finish them and get on
to a different part of the
building.
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