|
|||||
|
|
Spring 2005 finally arrived and we decided to start building the three interior room divider walls. They are pounded earth tires and we are grateful that these are the only ones we will have to pound. We hit a snag last year when we were placing the tire bales. Our land on the east side drops about 4 feet at the edge where the attached garage will be. The building department wants us to use an architectural fill to build it up and have an engineering firm verify, in writing, that it is compacted to at least 95% before we will be allowed to place the remaining tire bales. See the entry at the bottom of the page for more on this.
|
||||
|
December 2005 update - The first two interior wall are complete - 8 courses high each (114 pounded tires total).. The last wall will have an arched doorway and has 3 courses complete and 5 courses to go. We estimate about 25 more tires to pound full of dirt but it may have to wait until Spring to finish since we are looking at over a foot of snow on the ground as of December 3rd.
|
|
||||
| March 2006 - The cottontail rabbits have found a great home in the tire bales. It's warm and safe from predators. This is one of several that are living in the north wall. This little guy is sitting between the second and third level. Yes, unfortunately, that white stuff is still snow. |
|
||||
| August 2006 - The last wall is finally done. 155 pounded tires total for all three walls. That doesn't seem like many unless you're doing the work.
|
|
||||
| June 2007 - We spoke with an engineering company about the backfilling and compaction testing of the east end of the house (actually the garage area). They recommended an excavation company they have worked with many times and said they did really good work. We called the excavation company (Haynes Excavation, Montrose, CO) and got the date set up to do the work. These guys did a fantastic job. The compaction needed to be at least 95% according to the county and it tested at 97-100%. They used 31 loads of 3/4" road base. We set the final tire bales on 6/3/2007. Kathy has been building the driveway up to the garage since it's almost 5 feet high at the corner. It's not done yet but we had to try parking a truck in the garage anyway.
|
|
||||
|
Now on to the bond beam. |
|
||||
|
__________
|
|||||
