Trombe wall foundation

Thursday 3 Nov 2016

Neil arrives to dig out a trench and pour concrete for our new little foundation.  This will form the base for a wood-framed glassed-in space that will help to heat the interior in the winter.  We are still deciding whether to have glass panels that lift out completely during the summer, or to shade with trees or blinds.  The idea of a thermal mass behind glass is known as a 'trombe wall'.  We didn't take the time to build a cob wall, as we meant to, for this facility, so we will have to put our thermal mass in the floor or elsewhere.  Meanwhile, we're still calling it the 'trombe wall' (just to have a name for it).

 Neil and Dave set to with pickaxe and shovel

 The puppies are unamused

 The trench dug and levelled

Meeting the house main foundation, past the gravel trench and 'French drain' dug all round the house by Dave.  The new ring-beam will encase the drain in this one spot, which isn't a problem.

 Neil drills holes into the main beam for reinforcing rod connections.  We want this little ring beam to move together with the main one in an earthquake, so they need to be properly linked.

 Cutting wire for the beam

 and laying it in the trench

 Then the first concrete is poured - after the mixer broke down and Dave had to jerry-rig the pull-cord mechanism.  This meant that we had to keep the mixer going, as it wouldn't start again easily.

 But the day just kept getting stormier ...

Neil leveling the base.

After this, the rain started, and I stopped taking photos to protect the camera.  Dave had been digging earth and shoveling sand all day, so I joined in to help keep up the momentum (concrete needs to be poured all at once to avoid sheer lines).  So I shoveled sand into buckets, Dave carried them to the mixer, and Neil poured and leveled; and we all got very wet.  We finished at ten past four - I made it to choir practice, showered, changed but still bedraggled, by four-thirty!