Rather than build a rammed earth home and make some very costly, structural and down right ugly mistakes, we have decided to go with a chicken coup that will survive a cyclone!
200mm thick earth walls have been constructed using a mixture of 'road base,' our own clay soil and approx 5% cement. mixed together and rammed into the formwork.
In the process of ramming we discovered just how much force is generated by the average person ramming down on the 100mm square surface area. some of the moulds we placed in the formwork to create the doorways from the house to the veggie gardens has buckled, one entire section has shifted nearly 15mm to the side as the section between the two corners was added.
This learning process is OK for the chickens as they won't complain (if they do then its the pot for them anyway!!!) but we hope we learn by this experiment so that the house is much smoother and structurally sound, not that the chookhouse won't be, but you know what councils are like!
Who needs a gym when in just a couple of weeks of ramming (just like the Great Wall builders) we have developed muscles that I thought didn't exist and Charles had forgotten he had!!!
