Earthbuilding Magazine NZ - Bumper Issue with the Owner Builder Aus by ebanz

B E INSPIR ED – REA L STORIES A BOUT REA L OW NER BU I LD ERS

221 u MARCH-MAY 2021 u AUTUMN

$12.50

incorporating

STRAW

STONE

CONTAINERS

TIMBER

KIT HOME

MUD BRICK

In house... Never trust anyone to find your treasures for you. Find your own! Children know that. That’s why they treasure seashells and little stones. – Mrs. Frankweiler On a morning beach walk, I picked up this perfect little shell. The ‘owner builder’ has long since vacated but the shelter it built is still strong, even though it has been tossed by the waves and bashed among the rocks. This is the way we should build our homes – solid and specific to our needs while mindful of the impact we have on the environment and others. Houses should not be built with a short 25 or 50-year life span but to last, to provide shelter for a few more generations after us. For the last three years I have been living a nomadic life, travelling mostly the east coast of Australia, searching for my new ‘forever home’. While I’ve found a few spots that really appeal, I am not quite ready to make the big commitment. A bit like the creature that made that shell, I have shed my old home; now I just need to find – or build – a new one, but only when the conditions are right. The challenges of independent, low budget print publishing in a digital world are still real and ever-present. The events of the last year have helped to focus my attention but there is still an uphill climb ahead. One way to increase awareness and share resources is through collaboration with like-minded organisations. In this issue, I am once again thrilled to include earthbuilding, the membership magazine of the Earth Building Association of New Zealand (EBANZ). It is encouraging to know that there are great strides in the inclusion of earth and straw bale building within the New Zealand regulatory system, due in large part to the ceaseless efforts of many within the association. It has been a pleasure working with the outgoing editor, Crispin Caldicott – on more than one occasion, when I’ve been tearing my hair out, he has managed to lighten the mood and get a chuckle out of me. Thanks, Crispin! From the shipping container home featured on the front cover to the resurrected timber loft on the back cover, there is a whole host of great projects to provide you with grist for the mill: a green roof over a garden container shed; one couple’s journey to realise their dream of sharing the practicalities and joy of sustainable living with young people; two stone homes that were built slowly and carefully, as funds allowed; a kit home solution to the need for a small but luxurious cottage; and an update on living The Good Life. The EBANZ section includes practical and inspirational information on earth and straw bale building, some debate (from both sides of the divide) on the importance of thermal mass, and a thought provoking extract from a book about cohousing projects. The next issue will be another HUGE milestone – 40 years since the very first issue of The Owner Builder magazine was published! I’d love to hear from you about how the magazine has enabled your owner building dream over the years, as well as your suggestions on how you would like to see it develop in the future. Until next time,

Hi – I’m Lynda, the publisher, editor and designer of The Owner Builder magazine. Creativity and originality are just some of the attributes that I admire greatly and strive for constantly. I value the opportunity of sharing the wonderful diversity of homes that are created by owner builders – everything from natural earth, straw, timber and stone to engineered materials and shipping containers is inspiring.

Newsletter www.theownerbuilder.com.au

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Inside...

221 March-May 2021

Our cover story

8 CREATIVE CONTAINER HOUSE After investigating prefab/kit and relocatable options, Jake and Michelle settled on recycled shipping containers. They have built a comfortable, sustainable and affordable family home based around four containers, clad in spotted gum and using natural, recycled and repurposed materials as much as possible.

14 OTWAYS LOFT

‘A curious mix of tree house, vintage train, raw and recycled materials set in a rambling adventure garden.’

22 BUILDING A DIY GREEN ROOF

Inspired by the green roofs of Norway, Sam and Dani created their own version in South Australia.

3O THE CROSSING: A DREAM REALISED

Annette and Dean have spectacularly achieved their dream of making a difference by ‘walking the talk’.

80 MOONSHADOW 14

A 35-year owner builder ‘career’ culminated with a stone and brick family home to be justifiably proud of.

89 STABLE HOUSE COTTAGE

A run-down former stable and farm storehouse is replaced with a spacious 2-bedroom kit house.

94 SOME MORE OF THE GOOD LIFE

Once the structures have all been completed, there are still plenty of small finishing jobs that need doing.

106 STONE HOLLOW

Creating a dream family home is a team effort, and this one is a classic example of everyone pitching in.

30 4

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106

39 EARTHBUILDING

This issue incorporates earthbuilding from the Earth Building Association of New Zealand. 45

STRAW BALE HOUSE FLOOD Mopping up after a potential disaster.

ANNUAL CONFERENCE A nostalgic look back to 2020.

69 72

THE EASE OF STANDARDS Straw bales and regulations.

COHOUSING FOR LIFE Book review and excerpts.

HOW MUCH DOES MASS MATTER? Losing heat slowly. MASS MATTERS A LOT! Climatic experiences with mass.

REGULAR FEATURES In house . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Our details. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Line ads. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Coming events. . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Subscriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Back issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Directory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

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Our details... The Owner Builder is an independently published magazine – the first issue came out in 1981 – and it has been informing and inspiring owner builders ever since. While it has changed in appearance over that time, it still remains true to its origins – to produce a unique publication that is of value to those who choose to be involved in creating their own shelter and to share and celebrate their creativity and hard work.

WHO’s WHO PUBLISHER  EDITOR  DESIGNER Lynda Brighton Published by: AfriCat Pty Ltd ABN: 24 106 576 881 Distributed to newsagents by: Ovato Retail Distribution Printed by: Ovato Print

CONTACT Email: info@theownerbuilder.com.au

DISCLAIMER

Web: www.theownerbuilder.com.au Post:

We thoroughly support the continued sharing of ideas amongst owner builders. However, you should be aware that any particular solution may not suit your situation or even be tolerated by your council. Always be aware of on-site safety; just because a photograph shows someone performing a task one way does not necessarily mean that it is safe or suggested best practice.

PO Box 64, Stockton NSW 2295, AUSTRALIA

DIRECT PAYMENT

Account Name: AfriCat Pty Ltd BSB: 062 815 Account Number: 1023 4337

Please ensure that you use a unique reference, and inform us of the payment and reference, when placing your order.

As a reference, use either:

ENVIRONMENTAL CREDENTIALS •

Cover is printed on Monza Recycled Satin (FSC Mix) and the text is printed on paper certified under the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification scheme (PEFC), which can be traced from a certified, responsibly managed forest through all stages of processing and production by a chain of custody process.

•

The inks used in the printing are linseed oil based. Linseed oil is a renewable resource, releases very low levels of VOCs and does not require solvent for cleaning.

•

Printed by Ovato Print under ISO 14001 Environmental Certification. They recycle 97.5% of their paper waste.

A. the subscriber reference that is printed on the label of your magazine envelope (e.g. 0000733) OR B. your postcode + your surname. For example: Lynda Brighton at PO Box 64, Stockton NSW 2295, would have a reference of 2295BRIGHTON

FRONT COVER

Timber joinery, light plywood walls and strand woven bamboo floors have been used throughout, creating the timber heart inside a steel skin. Cover photo: Joel Schrederis.

DEADLINES:

The Owner 6

Builder

222 Jun-Aug 2021 Editorial: 6 April 2021 Advertising: 13 April 2021

223 Sep-Nov 2021 Editorial: 6 July 2021 Advertising: 13 July 2021

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THE KIT HOME ]EVOL[ R[EVOL]UTION Thousands of every day Australian’s are building bigger and better homes by taking advantage of the benefits associated with choosing a kit home from Imagine Kit Homes. We believe designing amazing kit homes is about creating a wow factor on a budget. You don’t need to spend millions to have a prestigious look and feel that you’ll be happy to come home to.

At Imagine Kit Homes, we are all about getting you the best result on the lowest possible budget.

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Smart property investors will tell you

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2017 Kit Home Magazine.indd All Pages

24/2/17 8:38 am

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A Photo: Joel Schrederis

Creative container house A beautiful home built using four containers and clad in spotted gum BY JAKE RICHARDS

Our design brief was to create a comfortable, sustainable and affordable family home using natural, recycled and repurposed materials as much as possible. 8

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We investigated prefab/kit houses and re-located houses amongst others before we settled on recycled shipping containers. The primary considerations were access to light and proximity to the coastal wetland reserve that shares our east boundary.

Planning and approvals Not wanting to pay architect fees, Michelle and I designed the house ourselves. There are many interesting and unique examples of Lego-like container buildings to draw inspiration from. Being keen to do as much of the building ourselves as we could, we figured that starting with four structurally sound boxes would simplify the construction process and give us some design and layout parameters to work within. The result was three bedrooms and an ensuite on the first floor, with an open plan living/kitchen/dining, main bathroom and laundry downstairs. The plans for council were drawn-up by a local draftsman. The 1147m2 house site in Bawley Point NSW was assessed to have a Bushfire Attack Level rating of BAL-29 on the south and east elevations and BAL-19 on the north and west. This meant all external materials had to be fire resistant; any external timber could only be from an approved list of seven hardwoods. Initially we intended to apply for ‘complying development approval’, a simplified development application

process that can be used provided that the building complies with all council constraints. We later discovered that a full development application was required, due to the building’s bushfire rating. We chose to employ a private assessor (rather than use the council inspectors) to complete the compliance inspections. However, Shoalhaven Council were required to conduct some inspections, such as plumbing. When shopping for finance we found very few lenders offering mortgages to owner builders. The type of building further complicated things. Because the house would have no value in the eyes of the bank until completion, we could only borrow for the value of the land. The building would need to be financed with savings. Although the building was relatively inexpensive compared with more traditional construction methods, three years of full time labour was also invested, as well as many friends and family lending time and tools.

Setting up camp As the site was previously undeveloped, excavations had to be completed and all utilities installed before the house building could begin. We erected a shed and converted one third of it into a self-contained unit, making life easier on site. The remainder of the shed is used as a work space. We decided on a double storey house to reduce the building’s footprint and

minimise the chances of running into too much rock when excavating. A 20-tonne digger was used for the initial ‘cut and fill’, that created a platform for the cement piers to be cast into. Seven x 1-tonne concrete blocks were used as a retaining wall to hold the excavated platform in place. The blocks are made up of excess concrete that is poured into moulds from returned truck loads at the concrete depot. All other ground works were done with a 1.5-tonne digger that can be easily hired. The rocks used in the landscaping were dug from the block. In addition to the ‘cut and fill’ groundworks that were needed as a base for the concrete pier footings, creating flat and functional outdoor space on the uneven ground was a challenge, as the entire block is on a 10 degree slope and the soil is full of solid and floating essexite rock. Our solution was to construct a wrap-around hardwood deck on the north and east sides of the house, marrying the indoor and outdoor livings areas. There is no mains water in Bawley Point, so all of our water is supplied by 2 x 10,000-litre rainwater tanks, collecting water from the house and shed with a total of 130m2 of roof space. Water heating is via a Chromagen 170-litre heat pump, for which a small-scale technology certificates (STCs) rebate is available through the government’s Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) Registry.

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2400

12292

Master suite

Bedroom

4976

Bedroom

Balcony D

Ensuite

Floor plan - upper

Living

Kitchen

Pantry

Ldry

Meals

Bath

Plans: Quality Drafting Service

Floor plan - lower West

North

East

South

Elevations

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Arrow letters refer to photos

Steel skin By positioning the containers side by side we were able to cut out the central walls, allowing rooms to be two containers wide, although this required significant steel reinforcing. Universal steel beams act like a rib cage, enveloping both floors. Approximately 30 metres of 150mm, 200mm and 250mm beams support the first floor and roof. 65x35mm rectangular posts were welded into the valleys of the corrugated steel walls, between the floor and ceiling frame rails and bolted to the overhead beams. High Cube containers (internal 12.025m long x 2.352m wide x 2.585m high) were used to comply with minimum ceiling height requirements. Low-hydrogen arc welding rods were used to avoid galvanic corrosion between the alloys in the weather resistant steel and the welds. COR-TEN steel is well suited to coastal areas, as once it has weathered it forms a protective outer layer of oxidisation. We had to be cautious with all fixings that penetrate the skin of the containers, as various metals will react differently to one another when in contact. Metals closer to each other on a ‘galvanic corrosion potential’ chart will be less reactive to one another when bonded, and vice versa. Inside the steel skin, standard timber stud frames and R2.0 mineral wool insulation line the perimeter walls. The outer steel and hardwood layers provide additional insulation. To avoid

condensation, off-the-shelf container vents and active ventilation were added to the steel walls and cavities, concealed beneath the breathable cladding. Externally, timber framing was bolted to the steel boxes (much like a deck) and clad in spotted gum, a timber common to the south coast and compliant with the building’s fire rating. The first floor cantilever is supported by 4 x 250mm steel channels, stitch welded to the containers. The offset floor plan also allows for a 12m2 first floor deck off the main bedroom.

Timber heart Internally, timber joinery and light plywood walls have been used throughout. All the living area floors are strand woven bamboo. Any exposed steelwork has been painted white to reflect as much light as possible, which helps to offset the gloss black frames of the fire rated aluminium doors and windows. The stair timbers are cut from a single Norfolk Island pine tree, sourced from a local mill that specialises in recycled timber. The stair balustrade was collected from a burnt tree that fell in the black summer bushfires. Structural compressed cement sheeting was used for benchtops and some cabinetry. A recycled hardwood frame and marine plywood doors were used for the kitchen cabinetry. Repurposed cupboard doors hide a deep storage area in the main bedroom.

Glazing the existing container doors at the north end of the house, by cutting away all but the frame and replacing with glass, solved the dual problems of removing the old heavy doors and buying new ones. Shipping container doors, at around 100kg each, are not designed to be everyday entry doors; we think of them more like movable walls and only use them when the south coast weather allows. The remainder of the windows are prefabricated, double glazed or recycled aluminium.

Black Summer On 5 December 2019, during the early stages of the Black Summer bushfires, the multiple fronts of the Currowan blaze had rapidly burnt through the forests and farmland to the north, east and south of Bawley Point. Our town had been evacuated for over a week and the Princes Highway was closed in both directions. Anyone leaving town was not allowed back in. My wife Michelle and son Otis had evacuated the week before. I watched the Rural Fire Service (RFS) app updates as the blaze jumped Meroo Lake to the north and Willinga Lake to our west. Neighbours, friends and strangers fought spot fires and nervously prepared their properties for the unknown. When the afternoon came, the flame front was 50 metres from our nearly finished home. Two water bombing helicopters had been flying laps directly overhead between the beach and our

THE OWNER BUILDER  221 March-May 2021  © www.theownerbuilder.com.au

Jake Richards – Jaker Maker

Making furniture, building projects etc.

Photo: Joel Schrederis

neighbours’ properties for hours. We were in the ironically fortunate position of being relatively early in the fire event, meaning Bawley Point had firefighting resources from many other locations come to assist. In the early afternoon, ahead of the forecasted time, a southerly change came through, turning the fire around and helping the RFS gain the upper hand. Our house and many others were saved by the heroic efforts of the RFS. The Currowan fire burnt for a total of 74 days, destroying 312 homes and 499,612 hectares of land. u

Photo: Joel Schrederis

Instagram: @jaker.maker u

The Bower

Self-contained guesthouse near Bawley Point NSW.

www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/41892692 u

Quality Drafting Service

Bill McEwan. Architectural and engineering design and drawing.

02 4422 7665 u

Chromagen

Thermal solar technology water solutions.

1300 982 324, www.chromagen.com.au u

REC Registry

Information and facts about the renewable energy certificate market.

1300 553 542, www.rec-registry.gov.au

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Otways Loft A guest, and writer, called Otways Loft ‘a curious mix of tree house, vintage train, raw and recycled materials set in a rambling adventure garden’. That is a pretty good description of our place. BY MIKE LESLIE PHOTOS BY MARNIE HAWSON

Our property is set in Forrest, a small town on the edge of the Great Otway National Park in the hinterland of the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. For a century Forrest was a forestry and timber milling town. Recently it has become a mountain biking mecca. Otways Loft is now a holiday rental property.

Carpenter’s original There were two phases of owner building in its formation. The original construction was by a carpenter, Michael Patterson, who clearly loved working with timber. He also loved re-using and recycling materials, which was uncommon in the late 70s and early 80s.

A 14

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Talk around town suggested that the original circa 1800 weatherboard house was burnt down in a house fire in the 1970s. It would have sat closer to the road than the current house, similar to other houses in the street. Setting the house back higher on the hill gave an outlook over the garden rather than the road.

Photos this column: Mike and Fleur’s Archives

Michael bought a train carriage and craned it in, to act as a workshop while he built the house. The building structure is based on tall locally logged trees in a triangular grid. The poles are seven feet (2.13m) apart, the width of train carriage panels. He used a lot of the panels from the carriage to create the beautiful effect of panel-pole-panel throughout. He approached building with an attitude of a craftsman; everything needed solid authenticity. The log structure is almost ridiculously sturdy, and while the beautiful beams are visible throughout, it was clearly a headache to fit panels around them. Each panel needed to be trimmed to fit the natural undulations in the timber poles. It was reputed to have taken 3-5 years to build. The living room ceiling was finished with reused timber from the demolition of a local church. Doors were crafted into windows. Lights, drinking fountains, luggage racks and other curios from the train were incorporated. Rumour has it that he found an unclaimed cypress pine, dragged it to the local timber mill and used it to create the unique kitchen benchtops and the stairs. The roof of the house and the train were originally of timber shingles. Shingles need to be split, not sawn, or they rot. It is bewildering to imagine the amount of time it must have taken Michael to split that many shingles, then nail them on two deep. Sadly, the moisture of the rainforest did rot the shingles after 20-30 years and they were replaced with corrugated metal sheeting.

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New life

The first year

There were several owners between when Michael sold and we (Mike and Fleur) bought. The place had fallen into disrepair. No one had lived there for over a year. One quarter of the block was overgrown with blackberries. The upstairs deck was unsafe. The shingle roof on the train was rotten, gappy and needed replacing. A twist in the front deck made the house look like the footings were rotten and there was a termite infestation. A handful of people told us they wanted to buy it, but the amount of work scared them off. It looked like a money pit. Fortunately the footings were solid, the termites could be treated, we mowed the knee length grass and ripped out the blackberries. After wiping months of dust off every surface, the place was almost habitable.

The bathroom was our first project after buying the place. We couldn’t find a builder prepared to work on a set quote. So we employed George on a daily rate, and he lived in the house for a few weeks. George is foremost an artist and secondly a builder, so he was ideal for this project. We lifted the bath out of the bathroom and George suggested we put the bath in the master bedroom. We wrestled the old beast up the stairs, to see how it would look. It looked good. The master bedroom has a tree house feel. The bath has its own triangular window. It’s quite surreal bathing in the tree canopy. George spent two weeks tiling the floor of the bathroom and the walls, which was a tedious job because he had to cut the tiles to fit around the unsawn poles. The result looks great; pure white tiles framing the dark timber beams. Over the first year we painted the entire house interior. The walls were originally mint green, with pink feature walls; one section was painted with sky and clouds. We painted the walls white, which made the rough sawn logs a real feature by accentuating the natural

Below left: The tiles needed to be carefully cut to fit around the unsawn timber poles, but the result is stunning. Below right: The cypress pine natural edge kitchen benchtops were retained.

B 16

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timber grain. It began to feel like a cabin in the woods. A 1920s hunting cabin, perhaps; a place to return to from a long day’s hunting or fishing, to drink Cognac by the fire in red coats and jodhpurs.

Reusing and recycling In keeping with the philosophy of reusing and recycling, almost none of the furniture is new. We’ve kept our eyes open, but a lot of the time, furniture seems to find us. We found a piano for sale in Forrest. The dining table was a gift from Fleur’s cousin. Chairs were bought at an auction house. The display cabinet was found in an antique store, a relic from the demolition of the Melbourne Cricket Ground Members Clubroom. We were on the hunt for a couple of Chesterfield’s, thinking they would suit the theme well. Whenever we saw a couple at auction, we were always outbid. We went to stay at a friend’s house, and they had these gorgeous unique deep red club lounges. She said we could have them if we could find some replacement 1950s couches, which I found online and delivered from Brunswick to Gippsland.

Loft Loft

Shed

First ﬂoor

Deck Hemmingway Room Otways Loft

Loft steps

Storage

Library

Master suite

Driveway

Deck

Ground ﬂoor

Bath B

White Room

Kitchen

Site plan A Living E

Floor plan

Deck Arrow letters refer to photos

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We are only mild fans of Ernest Hemingway. On a whim, Fleur bought the typewriter at auction for a steal. Somebody gave us the school desk, and they found themselves paired. The room had a slight safari feel with the mozzie nets so we started calling the room ‘Hemmingway’. I found the portrait of Ernest at a garage sale. It completed the ‘Shrine to Papa’, as one guest described it.

Creating spaces

The upstairs central area was a bit of a dead space. With the theme of recycling, George used parts of the train that were lying under the carriage to build an upstairs toilet and basin. There was a cupboard against the wall, so we turned that around, made it a cleaning cupboard and formed the storage space behind with a lockable door. The space in front is now a reading room lined with antique books. There was no access to the loft. At some stage it had been used as a bedroom with a removable ladder. We were looking for someone to make a staircase, and Fleur noticed the email address of a guest was juststairs.com.au. Justin agreed to do a contra deal, with his family staying at Otways Loft while he built the loft stairs. It is an elegant solution to a difficult problem, designed to fit the style of house and beautifully executed with recycled materials.

E 18

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The front deck was completely demolished and rebuilt by George, as well as the top deck extended to fit a table and chairs with view out to the surrounding hills. After seven years, it is only in the last year that we feel like it is close to being finished. It would be tempting to keep adding furniture and trinkets, but we are very aware that the most beautiful and unique thing about the house is the original construction. The more we can accentuate the bones of the building, the greater the impact. u u

Dufflebird

Unique getaways for the curious. A bespoke collection of charming, homely and dearlyloved properties, including Otways Loft.

0428 688 263, www.dufflebird.com.au

Marnie Hawson

Purpose-driven photographer based in the Macedon Ranges, specialising in interior, travel and lifestyle photography.

www.marniehawson.com.au

F Above, top right & right: The bed in the master suite tucks in under the sloping Zincalume-clad ceiling, with a bath ‘in the treetops’. Bottom right: The White Room is located on the ground floor. Below: The Hemingway Room theme started with the purchase of a typewriter at auction and then took on a life of it’s own.

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Line ads... AUSTRALASIAN STRAW BALE BUILDING ASSOCIATION: Promotes the use of straw

THE GLOBAL ECOVILLAGE NETWORK: www.ecovillage.org

bale construction. www.ausbale.org

CERES COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENT PARK (Vic): www.ceres.org.au

EARTH BUILDING ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA: Furthering the use of unfired

RANDWICK SUSTAINABILITY HUB (NSW):

earth in construction. www.ebaa.asn.au

www.randwick.nsw.gov.au

NILLUMBIK MUDBRICK ASSOCIATION:

WITCHCLIFFE ECO VILLAGE (WA):

To protect and promote the mud brick building industry. www.mudbrick.org.au

www.ecovillage.net.au

THE ECOVILLAGE AT CURRUMBIN (Qld):

LOG BUILDING ASSOCIATION OF NZ:

www.theecovillage.com.au

www.logbuildingnz.org.nz

CRYSTAL WATERS ECO VILLAGE (Qld):

EARTH BUILDING ASSOCIATION OF NZ:

www.crystalwaters.org.au

www.earthbuilding.org.nz

THE ALDINGA ARTS ECOVILLAGE (SA):

CERES FAIR WOOD: A robust and

www.aldingaartsecovillage.com

transparent brand of timber . www.ceresfairwood.org.au

WESTWYCK ECOVILLAGE (Vic): www.westwyck.com

Line ads and Coming events

NARARA ECOVILLAGE (NSW): www.nararaecovillage.com

THE PADDOCK ECO VILLAGE (Vic): www.thepaddock.com.au

Advertise goods or property you have for sale or exchange, or an event. Also a space for associations and owner builder groups. Deadline for next two issues: 222 Jun-Aug 21 – 6 Apr 2021 223 Sep-Nov 21 – 6 Jul 2021 Cost: 80 cents per word. Must be paid in advance.

ADD A PHOTO!

For an extra $15. (Line ads only)

SHEPHERDS GROUND (NSW): www.shepherdsground.com.au

TASMAN ECOVILLAGE (TAS): www.tasmanecovillage.org.au

MURUNDAKA COHOUSING COMMUNITY:

(VIC): www.murundakacohousing.org.au

CYPRESS SAWMILLER: Cypress macrocarpa

graded to F7 or better. Up to 500x250mm wide and 6.5m long (maximum width and length). Phone 03 5659 7211 or 0418 361 539. (Strzelecki) www.maddockscypresssawmill.com.au See photos above.

16-18 APRIL 2021 Kings Park, Seymour Vic

www.seymourexpo.com.au 20

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CO-WEST COHOUSING (VIC):

www.transitionaustralia.net/site/ cohousing-australia/

COHOUSING.COM.AU (TAS): www.cohousing.com.au

ECO VILLAGES AUSTRALIA (AUS): www.ecovillages.com.au

Coming events... SA

THE FOOD FOREST GAWLER APRIL/MAY 2021

Permaculture Design Certificate Course: With David Holmgren, the Brookmans and guest tutors.

• Design sustainable and climate resilient homes, gardens, farms, businesses and communities • Internationally accepted curriculum • Field trips, notes and networks • 10 days.

Open Days: Autumn and Spring. Dates TBC. Short courses: Check website for dates. At The Food Forest, a multi-award winning certified organic permaculture property on the Gawler River in SA. www.foodforest.com.au.

VIC EARTH BUILDING WORKSHOP OTWAY RANGES 8-20 MARCH 2021 Learn how to build your own little cob dwelling, including a tour of local earth homes. Family friendly with a dedicated childcarer on site. Facebook: @EarthenRipples

VIC RAMMED EARTH WORKSHOPS BEECHWORTH Courses postponed due to COVID-19. Check website for updates. Learn the skills and techniques to build your own rammed earth projects. Small groups, hands-on experience. www.rammedearth.house

VIC SEYMOUR ALTERNATIVE FARMING EXPO SEYMOUR 16-18 APRIL 2021 Explore the latest technology, practices and trends in small and backyard farming. Also a Sustainability Hub featuring off-the-grid, renewable resources, low-impact living. 1300 178 881, www.seymourexpo.com.au

VIC ELTHAM MUDBRICK TOUR ELTHAM OCTOBER 2021 For advance notice of ticket sales for 2021, join the mailing list. www.elthammudbricktour.org

AUS LOST TRADES FAIR VIC – BENDIGO CANCELLED: 6-7 MARCH 2021 QLD – TOOWOOMBA 15-16 MAY 2021 NSW – RICHMOND 23-24 OCTOBER 2021 Celebrating the art of skilled manual work, ancient crafts and rare trades, the special tools and traditions that go with them. 0412 363 632, www.losttrades.info

WA BALINGUP SMALL FARM EXPERIENCE BALINGUP AND SURROUNDS 9-11 APRIL 2021 Showcasing local produce, farming knowledge and experiences. www.balingupsmallfarmfieldday.com.au

AUS GRANNY FLAT DIY COURSE ONLINE Learn the whole process from start to finish to build your own straw bale granny flat. 1300 929 111, www.vivahomes.com.au

ALL NATURAL BUILDING COURSES ONLINE Online learning with the use of videos and PDFs, all completely downloadable. www.themudhome.com/services

NZ EARTH BUILDING ONLINE ACADEMY ONLINE Learn a wide range of natural building skills while fast-tracking your own projects. www.earthbuildingschool.com

All events COVID-19 permitting

NSW RENEW FEST MULLUMBIMBY 7-9 MAY 2021 Festival of ecological, economic and social renewal covering all aspects of social, mental, physical and spiritual health. www.renewfest.org.au

NSW SMALL FARM FIELD DAYS MUDGEE 9-10 JULY 2021 Extensive range of free seminars, talks and displays, including sustainable building, living off-grid, Landcare, etc. 02 6372 3899, www.mudgeefielddays.com.au

VIC OFF-GRID LIVING FESTIVAL ELDORADO 10-11 APRIL 2021 Consultations, workshops, demonstrations, talks, products covering sustainable energy, building, alternative farming and handcraft. www.offgridlivingfestival.com.au

NSW STRAW BALE BUILDING & TRADITIONAL TIMBER FRAMING COURSES MUDGEE Courses to recommence in 2021. Check website for updates. 02 6372 3899, www.arec.com.au

AUS HIA HOME SHOWS WA – PERTH 26-28 MARCH 2021 www.perthhomeshow.com.au

VIC – MELBOURNE 16-18 APRIL 2021 www.melbournehomeshow.com.au

NSW – SYDNEY 21-23 MAY 2021 www.sydneyhomeshow.com.au

LIST YOUR EVENT!

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Building a DIY Green Roof BY SAM RYAN

Ever since my partner, Dani, and I saw green roofs in Norway we knew it was something we would like to replicate one day. Their visual beauty, biodiversity value and insulation properties make them a practical and aesthetic addition to any building, though not all buildings are well suited to a green roof. These pieces of living architecture are also known as living roofs or turf roofs.

Green roof retrofit We owner-built a straw bale cottage in 2017 (see TOB 209 October/November 2018) but before there was a house, there was a shipping container. This B-grade second-hand container was purchased from Royal Wolf and performed many functions during the build; a dry and

lockable warehouse for materials, site office, tool storage, and once electrified a coffee station and food preparation area. Council approved the long-term use of the container at the same time as house approval was given, their only stipulation was that it should be clad on the visible northern side, which we did in charred recycled pine. A shipping container is an ideal structure to retrofit a green roof onto, as they are built stronger than most timberframed buildings of a similar size and are also waterproof. Structural integrity and the lack of rusted holes are not a given however, so before purchasing it pays to make sure you are getting an A or B-grade container, not C-grade. Using a recycled container makes environmental and

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economic sense – the same cannot be said for new containers. Given this strength and ability to stay dry, we felt much more confident installing a green roof ourselves, which is not something we were confident enough to do on our main dwelling.

Designing the roof Like many other projects that would be nice-to-do, but are not critical, the building of the green roof had to wait until the house was completely finished, and we had veggies and fruit trees in the ground. It was autumn 2019; around 18 months after we moved into our house, that we began construction. There is little information available for DIY green roofers. Most information

is aimed at industry or written from a council standpoint; the City of Melbourne has published a Growing Green Guide that is useful from a theoretical point of view, but lacks detail of how to construct small-scale roofs using standard building materials. All green roofs rely on a series of layers to provide adequate support, waterproofing, and a suitable growing medium for the chosen species of plants. Deciding which layers are necessary and the best materials for purpose is where the variation is found.

Substructure Firstly, a green roof must rest on an engineered substructure, capable of holding the considerable weight of the roofing materials themselves, plus a designated thickness of soil (fully saturated), the plants, and finally any people that are walking around on the roof for planting or maintenance activities. Our house engineer did the calculations for us based on a maximum of 300mm of soil and advised installing steel lintels above any openings we had cut in the container for windows and doors to preserve the integrity of the original structure. Moving up from the substructure, the next layer was a timber frame designed to create a slope for water shedding to the north, and also to provide a suitable material to fix the following ply layer onto. This timber frame was drilled and screwed down into the steel of the container. Next came 19mm ply panels to provide a sloping flat surface, and much deliberation was given as to whether these should be marine ply or structural ply. In the end we chose structural, partly due to cost and partly due to our confidence in the waterproofing layer above. The ply was given two coats of paint with leftover acrylic paint on both sides. This was fixed down to the timber frame, and surrounded by more ply and wide boards to create a shallow box around the entire green roof structure. In order to facilitate drainage to the north of the container, and also provide an uncovered section of container structure for walking on at the south, the green roof was offset by 300mm north of the container roof.

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Waterproofing Above the ply came the waterproof layer. We were lucky to find some secondhand pond liner from the Adelaide Fringe. This was heavy duty HDPE plastic, and about as premium a product as we could hope for – but at a budget price. The thicker the waterproofing material is the less concerned you need to be about protecting it, both during installation and also in use. Even still, we were careful to bury all screws well below the surface of the ply and removed our shoes to walk on the membrane surface. Thankfully the piece we had access to was also oversized, so needed no joins; obviously the greatest point of weakness in any waterproofing installation. This liner was draped up the sides of the box in addition to the base, to avoid wet soil resting against timber or ply. One hole in the waterproofing was necessary to facilitate drainage into a 90mm Zincalume downpipe pop, which was silicone-bonded to the membrane, and led to a simple rain-chain into the garden bed below.

Drainage Above the waterproofing we installed a drainage layer, which may not have been necessary on such a shallow roof, but given the pitch was only 2-3 degrees, we felt it was better to be safe than sorry. The product we used was a recycled plastic sheeting called Hydrocell Drainage Cell from Global Synthetics, which is sold in panels that interlock and forms a 30mm gap between the waterproofing layer and growing medium, facilitating drainage and water shedding. It is necessary to separate the drainage layer and growing medium, so that all your potting soil doesn’t end up washing away, and for this we used non-woven geotextile. This is a permeable fabric that allows water to pass through but stops fine particles of soil and roots from penetrating. It is made from polyester or polypropylene. We laid this over the top of the Hydrocell, ensuring it also folded up the sides of the roof box, to retain as much of the growing medium as possible. We also chose to increase the level of protection for the pond liner by including a layer of geotextile under the Hydrocell. It’s not strictly necessary but we wanted minimise the risk of punctures.

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Growing medium The depth of the growing medium determines the type of plants that can be grown on a green roof, which can be anything from 100mm for succulents and sedums to 1000mm for substantial trees. As we only want to grow groundcovers and drought tolerant grasses, we chose to make a depth of around 200mm, though with settling this has reduced to 150mm. The type of growing medium is important, as a garden soil is much too heavy and prone to compaction, while a potting soil would dry out and become water-repellent over time. We chose to use an organic blend, made from sand, compost and a small amount of clay, which we sourced from SA Composters. Even with a depth of 200mm over the relatively small area of 6x2.4m, we had around 2 tonnes of soil to bucket onto the roof. Dani would fill the bucket from a wheelbarrow and lift it as I hoisted it up with a rope. It was physically demanding work.

Planting out Finally, after the growing medium had some time to settle, we planted around 40 native grasses, sedges, and groundcovers. These included desert speargrass (Austrostipa eremophila), knobby club-rush (Isolepis nodosa), feather speargrass (Austrostipa elegantissima), kangaroo grass (Themeda triandra), creeping saltbush (Rhagodia spinescens) and karkalla (Carpobrotus rossii). Drip irrigation was also installed to help the plants establish over their first summer, and because the soil profile is so shallow. This was run for 30 minutes once every two or three weeks from October until February and ensured good plant survival. Now that the plants have been established for over a year, the results are starting to look like we have long imagined – a lush carpet when viewed from above, and the beginnings of a green waterfall draping over the northern edge. Extra plants were introduced in winter 2020 – particularly groundcovers to fill in gaps and increase the cascading effect. Maintenance is minimal aside from small amounts of weeding every few months, and cutting back grasses at the start of autumn to encourage vigorous new growth.

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The thermal comfort inside the container is greatly improved, particularly in summer when the cool soil above the metal ceiling reduces temperatures through shading and evaporation. It was quite a resource-intensive process; some was second-hand or recycled but also included virgin plastic with all its associated detractions. Time will tell whether it lasts a reasonable period – we are hoping for 15 years at least, and then most materials will hopefully be reused or repurposed. We love the look and performance and hope this article has demystified how one might go about building a green roof, it certainly could be a useful way to reduce the urban heat island effect and provide much needed habitat for invertebrates and birds in urban areas. u Based in Adelaide SA, Sam and Dani are Folk of all Trades. They run online and in-person environmental workshops covering DIY, make your own, ancient skills, new techniques, sustainability, simple living.

Folk of all Trades

Facebook and Instagram: @folkofalltrades

0423 172 386

www.growinggreenguide.org

Global Synthetics

Australian manufacturer of geosynthetics.

08 8384 8894, www.globalsynthetics.com.au

G.W. Wittmann & Associates

Structural engineers.

08 8352 7764

Project costs 90x45mm framing timber (recycled) 4 sheets 19mm CD Structural ECOply Fixings

Amount paid

Retail price

120

352

7x3m HDPE pond liner (recycled)

150

2000

Hydrocell and geotextile incl. delivery

373

Soil (compost/loam blend) incl. delivery

140

50 tubestock seedlings (some homegrown)

237

Brown dripline irrigation

$1175

$3302

TOTAL

08 8387 4221, www.sacomposters.com.au

Growing Green Guide

Information, downloads and case studies.

SA Composters

Fine compost and potting mixes.

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w w w. l o g b u i l d i n g n z . o r g . n z Martin Bird and Per Bernard are MDB Projects. Based in Daylesford, Victoria, we offer our professional expertise, gained from a combined 60 years experience in the building industry, to assist you with your building project. Our services include: • SUSTAINABLE AND VERY ENERGY EFFICIENT BUILDING SYSTEMS • RAMMED EARTH, STRAWBALE, SUPER INSULATED HYBRID SYSTEMS, SIP, HEMPCRETE and more... • 24 YEARS OF STRAWBALE BUILDING EXPERIENCE • OWNER BUILDER ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE • WE ARE REGISTERED BUILDERS • FULL BUILDING CONTRACT SERVICES

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ADVERTORIAL

Think Engineer. Think RPEQ. Engineers are problem solvers, inventors, creators. In fact, so many things we use day to day results from the work of engineers. When you start thinking about the design or construction of your new home – whether multi-story or low-set – the first consideration should be the team that will deliver a compliant and quality building. When you buy a new car there is an unconscious acknowledgement that it has been designed and checked by engineers who are professionals and extremely knowledgeable in the field of automotive engineering. It is even more important to ensure the same applies to the design and construction of a house. The design and construction of houses involves complex tasks that should only be undertaken by qualified and competent professionals. Homeowners – even sometimes builders and other trades – do not necessarily have knowledge of the loads and stresses applied to buildings during their lifetime. Or an understanding of the requirements to ensure the right pipes, correct electrical design or the most efficient airconditioning system. What homeowners do have is an understanding of exactly what they want and require as the end user. To ensure they are fully satisfied with the outcome, they should list and prioritise the desired and required elements. Whether you are buying a previously loved or offthe-plan home, or building your own bespoke home, it is important to check the credentials of the professional engineers, builders and trades on the available registers. Are they registered or licensed appropriately and with

an unblemished disciplinary record? Do your research on who will be, or has been, responsible for the design and construction of your future asset. The elements of the building which may impact your life the greatest are not necessarily those you can see every day. The importance of engaging engineers has been underscored by recent emergencies in the building sector. But simply looking for an ‘engineer’ is not enough. In Queensland, we have a unique and established system to distinguish qualified and competent engineers – the Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland (RPEQ) system. To carry out professional engineering services in or for Queensland, an engineer must be registered in an approved area of engineering, such as civil, structural, electrical, fire safety and mechanical engineering. To become a RPEQ and register in an area of engineering, an engineer must first satisfy strict educational and competency requirements. By only engaging a RPEQ to provide design and construction services, homeowners are making sure they get the necessary technical input from a qualified and competent professional. u The Board of Professional Engineers of Queensland (BPEQ) is Queensland’s engineering regulator. BPEQ is an independent statutory body and has administered the Professional Engineers Act 2002 and the RPEQ system since 1930. www.bpeq.qld.gov.au/thinkrpeq

ENGAGING A RPEQ

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Check that the engineer is registered by searching for their name or unique RPEQ number through the online RPEQ search.

If the engineer is being engaged by someone else (e.g. a builder), ask for proof that the engineer is registered.

By using a RPEQ you can be confident about the standard services received.

Be clear about the scope of work being performed by the RPEQ.

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IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG If something goes wrong with an engineering service, consider making a complaint about the conduct of the engineer.

Photo: Suzi Eszterhas

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The Crossing: a dream realised Spreading seeds of sustainable living BY SHARYN MUNRO

Upriver from Bermagui on the NSW south coast is The Crossing, a place that just might be magical, given how many serendipitous events it has attracted. And thousands of young people who have been lucky enough to spend a day or a week there would surely agree that it was a life-changing experience. Magic realism? For the role of The Crossing is to open eyes to the reality of living sustainably, to offer the chance to not only see how easily such a daily lifestyle can work, but to practice it. From its buildings to its permaculture gardens, its solar power systems, water and wood collection and use, chook management, composting toilets, lighting and cooking systems, to its tree propagation and plantings, The Crossing allows a chance to ‘walk the talk’.

Some who come may have an existing interest in such things; for others, especially the young, it will more likely be a revelation as well as an adventure. Providing youth with this experience was the dream of Annette and Dean Turner when they bought this 23.5 hectare bush block 24 years ago and began working to make those plans a reality. The couple were not only starry-eyed idealists, but experienced and educated in the areas needed. For example, for three years they had lived in and managed (at low pay) a fully ‘pioneer’ youth outdoor education camp, Wollangarra, in Victoria, where no modern technology or electricity was used. An ‘amazing experience for young people for a week’ says Annette, but not as translatable to their daily modern lives. At The Crossing

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they see that they can still have modern conveniences and run them off the sun. Both wanted to live a life that made a difference and both really liked working with young people, so it made sense to aim to help build leaders keen on sustainability, who felt connected to bush and ocean and animals.

Serendipity of place For about a year they searched the south coast for the right block, with the criteria being: a bush block, on water, capable of supporting agriculture, near alternative communities that they could tap into, and with a tourism industry that might provide jobs. The first agent they came to in Bermagui pondered the list, then said he thought he had the block they needed BUT it wasn’t on the market.

With permission, he showed it to them. As soon as they walked onto it, recalls Annette, they knew this was IT. Its northerly aspect ridge of regrowth forest fell gently to a river flat at the base, fronting the Bermagui River: they were able to buy it for $120,000 in 1994. They later learnt that this was a traditional river crossing place for the local Yuin people, and as young people would make a crossing into adulthood here, learning ways to contribute to the environment and community, the name to choose was obvious. Knowing better than to try to start off with no income and a mortgage, straight after Wollongarra they got a ‘proper’ job each, paid off the mortgage and saved hard. A permaculture course at Nimbin was their final education before they took the plunge.

Gus the Bus gets muddy When they saw a 1960 Bedford bus by the side of the road in Lakes Entrance they thought it would make a good ‘instant house’. It was advertised for about $2000; they turned up with their $1200 cash and got it. After tidying it up so it was liveable, in September 1998 they drove the bus north. They almost made it; the bus broke down in Eden, about 100km south of here, and had to be towed to site. They’d arrived, with all their possessions, $40,000 in capital, and a baby on the way, as Annette was five months pregnant.

Needing some clearing and a level pad for the bus, they quickly had some earthworks done, including a dam to collect water. The soil from these works proved to be perfect for mud bricks, with the right amount of small gravel; all they needed to add was water, so they started making mud bricks. The bus needed a roof over it, so a post and beam construction went up, using timbers off the block. Unaware of the ferocity of the local termites, they put the poles straight into the ground. That never happened again; concrete pads and home-made steel stirrups were the go once that lesson was learnt. Although they had never built in mud, it is ‘so forgiving’ that mistakes can be fixed. The bricks were puddled by feet; the gravel in the clay soon taught them to eschew bare feet for heavy socks taped high around their calves. They’d borrowed five metal moulds from neighbours, who showed them how to make and dry the bricks. At the same time they were establishing garden systems, so enclosing the bus proceeded more slowly than expected, dictated by the safety needs of baby Jye: as he could crawl, they started a fence; as he could climb, they built walls. Water was heated on a fire, they bathed in a bucket, and cooked on an open fire. But ‘after three years of living like a pioneer, it didn’t seem like such a jump’. In their rugged old F150 truck, they’d collected lots of second-hand doors and windows, and a wood fuel

stove, and by the time Jye was about 3V , Gus the Bus was encased in a mud brick house. The inside was sealed with a diluted Bondcrete solution. All up, Gus needed 900 bricks to become an allweather home. In the beginning their water supply was from 20-litre drums; they bought a shipping container, placed it higher up the hill, and put a roof over it to collect water for a tank. A hose ran downhill to the bus, so they had cold water on tap. Then they put in a small 12V solar system to run lights. Busy as they were with practical matters, they were nevertheless concurrently spreading the word, engaging with the local community, never losing sight of their dream. They’d already set up a Volunteer Board. So Bega Valley Shire Council would know they were not a pair of hippies living in a bus, they gave Council a presentation which was amazingly well received, resulting in unsolicited offers of support, which continues today. The Mayor was extremely encouraging, promising that, for example, any DA application would be free, which Annette reckons has saved them tens of thousands over the years; plus they have had small grants from Council for projects like waste management. Their first visiting group were Green Corps volunteers, who camped in tents, and helped with making those mud bricks for Gus. But the plans to better accommodate youth groups were proceeding apace.

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The Red Rattler

Photo: Annette & Dean’s Archives

Once again a Victorian roadside spotting paid off; they saw an old train carriage in a paddock, where it had been sitting for 15 years. It turned out to be owned by a friend’s aunt and uncle. The 1930s timber Red Rattler still had charm, but having been home to rats, chickens and birds, and with some roof leaks, it was a mess. But at the time they did not have the $500 to buy it. When Neilma Gantner came to visit, they enthused about what a good bunkhouse it would make and the next day received a cheque in the mail for $500. This was their first donation… serendipitously again, right at the perfect time. Neilma Baillieu Gantner, (1922-2015) daughter of Sidney Myer, had philanthropy and arts in her veins. A writer herself (as Neilma Sydney), and living in Bermagui, she founded the

Four Winds Cultural Festival there, and remained an annual supporter of The Crossing through the rest of her life. She encouraged them to apply to the Myer Foundation for their first grant, to move the train, which would cost about $7500. It was successful. At 18m long, weighing about 16 tonnes, with no rolling stock, this was a huge undertaking. Their Wollongarra friends in Heyfield came up with a method to load the carriage using a timber loader and a tow truck. Steerable dolly wheels were put under the other end of the carriage and it became its own trailer on the semi-trailer truck. Mat Evans (a Crossing board member at the time) rode it to steer more acutely around the corners on their winding dirt access track. As he said at the end, ‘You usually have to pay for a ride like that!’ It only needed a police escort over the Brogo bridge for the whole of its 500km trip.

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At The Crossing they paid a local earthmover in whisky to lift it onto a log cabin type framework of wooden logs built by Ross Rixon and Graham Fall, two master axemen and bushmen who helped in the early days of the project. The temporary logs were later replaced with poured concrete supports. A second grant, to clean and repair the carriages, came from the IMB Community Foundation, who have been solid supporters ever since. It had always been intended to retain the train’s original colours, so the external flaking red paint was sealed as part of the upgrade to a bunkhouse just in case there was any lead in it. A tin roof was built over the original wooden slatted roof, extending to a verandah around the train. This was achieved with the help of another grant from the IMB and CASS Foundation and as always, lots of volunteers. Round timbers for the verandah and roof were all off the block. In another show of community support, the local Probus Club made the double timber bunks in the train carriages. The train can accommodate up to 24. Sleeping eight to a carriage, kids love the bunkrooms, and the original signs on the honey-coloured varnished doors such as ‘Mens Washroom’ and ‘No Smoking’. It is a sign of the times that there were two smoking compartments and one non-smoking! Space had been left between the bus house and the train for the planned communal hall, with cooking and showering facilities.

large space. Firewood separated into various stages of drying is efficiently– and picturesquely– stacked under cover up the hill, and its getting is one of the jobs kids take on. Most of the hall is a spacious open area used as a lounge room; a trellis outside those northern windows is for deciduous leafy vines to give shade in summer. The area did have dining tables in here, but under COVID restrictions, these were moved outside into the open undercover area. This is paved with bricks, second-hand and seconds, which were easy for kids to lay.

Photo: Annette & Dean’s Archives

The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) was a disaster for many, but not for those community organisations who received the large stimulus grants dispensed by the Rudd government. The Crossing received $100,000 to build the hall, which took place around 2006. Hundreds helped in the various stages, with two main builders: Colin Jack (a Crossing board member), and his friend Adrian McBeth. With help from Colin, Dean and Annette designed the hall as a passive solar structure. A tractor had been donated by then, so it was used to raise and fit the large posts and double beams of the hall and large open outdoor area. In general, they milled as much timber of their own as they could, using a Lucas Mill owned by Mat Evans. Its passive solar components include a heat-retaining concrete slab, northern orientation with most windows, correct eave overhangs for their latitude, lots of cross-ventilation, and clerestory opening windows. The latter are of double-layer polycarbonate, which will be replaced, as it melts in extreme heat, an awareness from the recent bushfires. This time there was a timber stud frame, with infill of rice straw ‘biscuits’. This method, new to me, was taught to them by local artist James Lynn who had built a house like that. Because it is not using full bales, just the peel-apart layers called biscuits, the infill fits within a normal stud wall frame. I asked where the rice straw came from. As Annette

tells me, I can only think that this project and this couple have a licence on serendipity, which I wasn’t even sure I believed in until now. Annette rang a rural friend from uni days, seeking contacts. With the resulting list of rice straw growers in hand, she started calling, finding nobody at home, so leaving messages. She gave it up until evening when farming folks might be indoors. Then she got a return call from the first person on her list, who said he’d just delivered a double semi-trailer load of rice straw bales to a property half an hour’s drive from The Crossing, and they had seriously over-ordered. Annette didn’t know the people concerned, but she had friends in that area who turned out to be a neighbour of the rice receivers, the Kotvois, and could introduce her. The Kotvois liked the project idea so much they gave them the straw for free. As Annette says, ‘the gates continue to be opened’. Over chicken wire, the straw was given two cement (for fire) coats of render. Luckily, the young people loved the rendering, often the hardest job of a straw building. A very large wood-burning Thermalux stove is used for cooking and space and water heating in winter, connected to the solar hot water panels as their winter back up. This Australian manufacturer, WISELIVING, sold it to them at cost, another wonderful example of the generous help they keep attracting. There is also a second-hand donated slow combustion wood heater in this

Photo: Annette & Dean’s Archives

Straw Biscuit Hall

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Living with water and power The building includes a modern twoshower bathroom section on the train side. While 260,000 litres of drinkable rainwater water is collected, all systems for drinking, kitchen and showering are gravity fed. The kids learn to respect water; timers on the showers make a loud noise when usage reaches the advised limit of four minutes. Wherever possible, the workings of this sustainable lifestyle, such as the solar electricity, are made visible. So the solar panels are on the ground and regulator panels are in the middle of the living/ dining areas. A specially set up board allows switching between different light bulbs – incandescent, halogen, compact fluorescent and LED – with an amp meter, so the huge differences in the energy draw can be seen. There will be three different types of solar systems and batteries. Everyday lead acid batteries run the bus house, while nickel cadmium batteries run the hall and the train carriage bunkhouse. The latter were second-hand, rescued from the Parliament House backup system many decades ago, when they were about to be sold for scrap. Nickel cadmium have a really long life (75 years) but the cadmium is currently hard to recycle and only one European country is accepting it. The third storage method will hopefully be lithium ion, in a new semi-sponsored modular fire-resistant

building, like a tiny house, to go near their new workshop, for which they are currently applying for a grant. A Selectronic inverter and a Voltran MPPT regulator supply 240V to all. They have a 2.5kW system, which runs a fridge and a freezer, power tools, lights and computers. And not only kids needs to be shown smart solar power use; the place is let out as well to groups or courses such as permaculture or Landcare, and there is always someone on site to explain how things work and why e.g. no toasters at 6am or hair dryers at night! As programs and courses increased, they next turned attention to building accommodation for staff and teachers, which was added on to the end of the train nearest the hall. This two-bedroom extension was constructed as post and

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beam, with stud walls, clad in secondhand weatherboards and ply. Windows were made for them by a ‘fabulous volunteer’, a jack of all trades called Tony Hansen who would come several days a week. Earlier, a similarly handy bushman, Graham Fall, had taught Dean a lot, such as the power of leverage, how to use your brain rather than brawn. All are now part of their Airbnb rental offering for families, groups, couples and individuals, which volunteer Lily Donovan established for them. The bus muddie is now the home of current camp host, Chelsea Moseley. Going nowhere, it needs no engine, so the stove was installed in the engine bay! A later mud brick building, the tool shed, gave kids the chance to experience that fun and constructive mud pie play.

Train accommodation

Open dining space

Bathroom

Firewood storage

Fire trailer shed

Hall / Kitchen Site plan

Staff quarters

Tool shed muddie Bus muddie

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of The Crossing to it. This not-for-profit Trust will carry the work beyond them. They have a program manager coming in 2021, who will take on a significant part of Dean’s work. They have built their own sustainable house on the property, not in the actual Crossing complex.

Maximising and integrating

Fire lessons Almost 400 houses were lost in their Shire in last summer’s fires. Whilst the Crossing escaped the nearby Badja Road fire, it made them realise how ill-prepared they really were. They have now replaced every upright piece of plastic piping and installed roof sprinklers with galvanised metal, so the water supply is assured. Generous donations during the fires helped pay for this plus building a fire trailer carrying 1200-litres of water. Very much a part of the community, as COVID cut all youth camps, they started offering The Crossing as a place for those to meet, road-by-road, who’d been through the six weeks of high anxiety as to whether they’d be burnt out. At the 10 Badja Fire Edge Road Gatherings here they shared experiences, how to work together in future and what was needed to be safer next season. Great ideas were generated; for example, communications and power were blown but UHF radios

Photo: Annette & Dean’s Archives

The extensive fruit and vegetable gardens use the swales and terraces made across the slope. They quickly learnt to fully enclose vegetable gardens from possums and wallabies and birds. Weld mesh was found to be the best, as its natural curve gives strength; held down in slits cut into sill logs, it’s overlaid with chicken wire and now fine nylon, so even tiny birds can’t eat the coming blueberry crop. All are irrigated from a high dam using gravity, and some solar pumping from a reserve dam. Other swales are planted with indigenous wattles as ‘chop and drop’ mulch and soil improvers. As Annette says, after a permaculture course, ‘you have new eyes’. About 19,000 trees have been planted here, most by the camp kids. Reforesting of the Bermagui River edge has been a major project, including on a neighbouring farm. The plantings link the Crossing Conservation Agreement Area with adjacent Coastal National Parks to the north and south. Some small areas have been kept for cell grazing for their little flock of five ‘mower’ sheep. The chooks play a big role, apart from egg provision. From their chook shed via an under-track pipe tunnel and an over-gate aerial run, they access the fruit orchards to keep them weed and pestfree. All food scraps go to the chooks; their manure, leftovers and bedding straw is scraped downhill to the compost bins. All toilets are composting, the products of which go to the orchards. The greywater goes to a reed bed recycling system, and the reeds from that are cut for mulch. Volunteer Ruby, whom I met there, had just done that with Annette. Planting, harvesting and propagating; all participants see how the collected local seeds of koala food trees and fire retardant species like kurrajongs are raised in the propagation shed. Ruby, an environmental science graduate from Mexico, said that what she has learnt here, with the immersion in permaculture, ‘has been amazing’, and she would like to apply this in future. This is what the Turners aimed for, and through their connections with programs around the world they have helped, and continue to help, thousands of young people to see new ways of living. In 2006 they set up The Crossing Land Education Trust and gifted the land

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were not, so now all the roads are getting these, and will test them monthly. The resulting Badja Fire Edge Roads Facebook page (closed group) is full of useful tips like where to get full breathing apparatus and fire retardant tree species, a packing list, a relationship matrix, discussions in advance of a crisis and writing it down! The Crossing’s story, its many awards and programs, are detailed on their website, including a great short video; there is also a resources page with lots of information on fire retardant design. I urge readers to check out the extraordinary amount on offer here; I am overwhelmed at the ongoing co-ordination needed, as well as the physical work. I take my hat off to Annette and Dean, who have spectacularly achieved their dream of making a difference, especially for young people. I’d like to see a week’s camp at The Crossing as a mandatory part of the secondary school curriculum. The Crossing gives me hope. u Sharyn Munro is an author and regular contributor to The Owner Builder. She lived for decades in her solar powered, owner-built mud brick cabin in the NSW Upper Hunter mountains. Now she lives in the Manning Valley.

www.sharynmunro.com

The Crossing

Sustainability youth camps, group and school camps, workshops, Airbnb.

02 6493 3400

www.thecrossingland.org.au

Facebook, Instagram: @thecrossingland u

Wollongarra

Pioneer camp and outdoor education centre.

03 5148 0492, www.wollangarra.org.au u

Thermalux

Australian made slow-combustion stoves.

02 6021 2200, www.wiseliving.com.au u

The Myer Foundation

Making significant and lasting changes.

03 8609 3150

www.myerfoundation.org.au u

IMB Bank Community Foundation

Committed to supporting communities.

1800 223 242

www.imb.com.au > Community

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I can’t do it without you!

Back to Inside

llenging design

Cha . I’ve project manager finally emerging With designer/ The walls were en, we ct on myself and Hayd to have a proje Will Eastlake, always been one shop for g properties, January work ther renovatin the whe postponed our go, een the fores gourds But we hadn’t tures, carving three weeks. down early creating sculp and that bucketed tly, designing torrential rain to postpone or, more recen window again we had a huge leadlight February and . Feeling constructing been one for another week e. But this has hous the workshop we main d hope for the dispirited, we projects I’ve ever ting daun . very flat and again le of the most to postpone yet cularly with peop parti in, aged wouldn’t have lved man been invo nal attendees about my ‘very me g rs ndin Some of the origi d, othe regularly remi on a very their lives to atten n’ being built to re-arrange le appeared. challenging desig ide, new peop ways the ! by fell a few challenging slope tation, workshop, only design, documen For the two-week others came The building ication the duration, lopment Appl signed on for or a getting the Deve days, a weekend Construction es for a couple of and then the en’s apprentic (DA) together tion the Hayd of men to Two not day trip. months), h was Certificate (3 entire build, whic lved, was arrived for the months) invo ness, engineering (12 ed. ted. Thank good much appreciat rway for the faint hear not was finally unde ager. I shop man ct work . The as my proje mid-February er I have had Will sunny day in d n that, as an own on a beautiful ss before we bega cipants enthralle gre parti t knew pro the abou hop Works Hayden kept dotes, ed to be realistic ure builder, I need of history, anec ble of Curvatect lf, such as a nice with a mixture Hayden Anna ary to cise laying the can manage myse I Janu t exer hy wha – early in lot healt flat Victoria theory and strip rd house on a arrived from shop. on the concrete straight-forwa lation! Superadobe work first earthbags ciated got lost in trans prepare for the followed ran clay-asso somehow this d up touch and had footings. He also mation to spee duction I had been in a few years, ding an ‘intro We wanted auto which book page for side events inclu balls (using mixing process, of Hayden’s Face clay y out rials io man mate stud the ur e my art to tadelakt’, with been very labo formed into still planning to creat Spain. trans it’s in site) but shop the it did, wing a work material from earthbags follo and an inexpensive glossy objects. I believed it was building. speedy way of

h of le north and sout than many peop es of loss d by the stori us and chastene d with reports ion, heartene and degradat es had rendered hous ral, natu that some had exploded. , where others survived fires six e, I arranged for In the meantim be delivered to s tank r Landscape wate over site. Holding and craned onto double up they r, ethe 13,000-litres altog trays s with growing as retaining wall e instant tanks to creat on top of the arrived early massive truck gardens. The the then off, were lifted and the tanks tanks were took over; the crane company to my lot lly up the hill lifted individua site, the n halfway dow and deposited as. without any dram efficiently and

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myself) to Eastlake and (designer Will the greenexcavation for have finished the nd studio, have roofed undergrou work form the , done set-out surveys ed by a pour rete the conc installed and s to site, trade ng But getti local company. g the silly or jobs done durin quotes issued it all had impossible, so season is near ing for the te while wait to be last minu be ready. excavations to the worst ays ’t planned for And we hadn Unplanned del the g memory, with the entire site bushfires in livin Excavations of and a rol fire, Gospher’s November 2019 st out of cont in close ced ing men creep , start com away ned to shop was plan ntain, only 20km Mou work rs ntee volu we thought Time enough, mid-January. builder.com.au

n, taking possessio Seven years after members, other founder along with 20 the Gosford that had been of 63 hectares become arch Station to Horticulture Rese of my e, the first part Narara Ecovillag to start – build was due e hous ral natu io. pired art stud the Hobbit-ins

-August DER  218 June

THE OWNER BUIL

There was rds the coast. eastwards towa herly ld take a sout a fear that it wou In any in our direction. turn and head d by bush at the unde surro g bein case, Narara on high alert. were we e ecovillag s of e in other area thos and residents to prepare t were asked in. the Central Coas the fires close ld shou n for evacuatio straight planned to head Many of us had , which was Leagues Club to the Gosford away from the n, have safe a considered drink! a well-deserved bush and to have ng to were spared havi Thankfully, we were luckier es. In fact, we vacate our hom

-August DER  218 June

THE OWNER BUIL

builder.com.au

.theowner 2020  © www

The Owner Builder is an independent magazine, published and printed in Australia for nearly 40 years. Each issue is filled with inspiration and advice to help you through all stages of your owner builder journey. I’d love to keep this print tradition going, while enhancing the experience through an updated digital platform.

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...promoting the art and science of earth and natural building

Annual Conference and house tours

THERMAL MASS

STRAW BALE HOUSE FLOOD COHOUSING FOR LIFE

SUMMER/AUTUMN 2021

Summer/Autumn 2021 – EARTHBUILDING MAGAZINE – www.earthbuilding.org.nz

a magazine promoting the art and science of earth and natural building.

Summer/ The magazine will be published three times in 2021. You are welcome to write a letter to the editor or contribute an article or pictures. All advertising, and magazine contributions should be received well in advance of publication – please contact the editor for deadlines. We prefer to receive all letters, magazine articles and contributions in Word format by email, though they can also be submitted on disk. Editor Crispin Caldicott 2152 Kaipara Coast Highway, RD4, Warkworth Ph: 09 420 4401 Email: crispin@farmside.co.nz Chairman Pat Mawson Email: pat@earthbuilding.org.nz Treasurer Martin Ulenberg Ph: 021 137 7778 Email: martinulenberg@gmail.com Web site Michael van Beek Ph: 09 433 9747, Hikurangi. Email: mvanbeek@clear.net.nz

Digital images should be 300 dpi and should be in .tif or .jpg format. Pdf files can be accepted for advertising though must be at the correct size and in cmyk or greyscale mode. The editor reserves the right to edit or abridge any contributions. When supplying photos please number each picture and include a Word document with numbered captions, to make sure correct caption is used on each photo.

Advertising and Promotions Alan Drayton Ph: 09 817 7177 Email: alan@biobuild.co.nz DVD / Video Hire Thijs Drupsteen Ph: 09 401 4737, Kaikohe. Email: drupsteenthijs65@gmail.com Secretary Tatiana Zimina Ph: 021 239 4924 Email: ebanzconference@gmail.com Graphic Design Ascension Creative Email: tina@ascension.net.nz File upload: www.ascension.net.nz/upload

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this publication are solely those of the individual authors of the articles, not necessarily those of the EBANZ committee. EBANZ accepts no liaibility for material printed. Copyright 2021 EBANZ ISSN: 1174-6734

Check out what’s new in earth building: www.earthbuilding.org.nz www.facebook.com/earthbuilding

Autumn 2021

IN THIS

ISSUE

STRAW BALE HOUSE FLOOD Mopping up a potential disaster. Pat Mawson finds an earthen floor comes through a flood remarkably well.

THE EASE OF STANDARDS Straw bales, standards and regulations. Marie Fleming applies the EBANZ standards to a complex design.

ANNUAL CONFERENCE A nostalgic look back. Tatiana Zimina applies artistry to both words and photographs.

COHOUSING FOR LIFE Book review and excerpts. Robin Allison’s much-awaited book, reviewed by Graeme North.

HOW MUCH DOES MASS MATTER? Losing heat slowly. Es Tressider’s article on the importance of mass.

MASS MATTERS A LOT! Climatic experiences with the right materials. Peter Olorenshaw makes comparisons and draws different conclusions.

REGULARS FROM THE CHAIR

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK Front cover: Brown House, the iconic round window from the outside. Photo: Tatiana Zimina Back cover: Light and space – owner John Brown (left) and architect Graeme North enjoy the surroundings of this lovely home, visited at the 2020 Conference. Photo: Tatiana Zimina

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WHAT’S GOING ON ADVERTISING

SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION

41 42 43 54 54

www.earthbuilding.org.nz – EARTHBUILDING MAGAZINE – Summer/Autumn 2021

Photo: Faith Gould

FROM THE CHAIR

Kia Ora, At time of writing, we have just welcomed in the new year and said goodbye to 2020. Hopefully 2021 will be a little less eventful! Our family ritual is to watch the sunrise on New Year’s Day at an east coast beach with a picnic breakfast. This year did not disappoint with a beautiful calm Hawke’s Bay morning. This magazine issue is slightly delayed, so as to enable another collaboration with The Owner Builder magazine, for which we are extremely grateful to Lynda Brighton. This is great value for subscribers to both magazines, so we hope you enjoy the extra content. Sadly, it is also Crispin’s last issue as editor. We are reluctantly allowing Crispin to retire from the role, and I would like to thank him and acknowledge his huge contribution. It is no small job and we are all incredibly grateful for the blood sweat and tears Crispin has put into each and every fantastic edition of earthbuilding over the last nine years. The 2020 conference was held in November at Kawai Purapura in Auckland and was another great conference. It was difficult to plan due to the uncertainties around COVID-19 lockdowns, but the organising team did a great job and we had a much bigger turnout than expected. I always find the conferences inspirational, and to me they are one of the most important aspects of EBANZ. If you haven’t been I would really encourage you to make the effort – it is pretty unique to have designers, engineers, academics, builders, occupants, and future occupants of natural buildings all rubbing shoulders in a friendly and collaborative environment!

It is especially encouraging to see the numbers of young people attending and energising the last few conferences. This time round the organisers made a conscious effort to make a bit more time available for informal conversation and also made the five minute presentations from attendees a bigger focus, which was a highlight for me. Details for next year’s conference are still to be completed but the location will be the Nelson Region and timing will be similar – around the beginning of November. This issue’s recommendation from me is a podcast interview of Kyle Holzhueter about Japanese plastering techniques and traditions. When plastering lighter weight construction such as straw bale, hempcrete, and ‘light earth’ it seems to me that the Japanese traditions of plastering similar substrates in a high seismic country are far more relevant than the European traditions onto heavy masonry buildings. Search ‘Kyle Holzhueter’ at www.abundantedge.com Please enjoy the great content in this latest combo issue of earthbuilding and The Owner Builder! Regards

Pat Pat Mawson, Chairman

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Summer/Autumn 2021 – EARTHBUILDING MAGAZINE – www.earthbuilding.org.nz

Is it possible for we humans to live in harmony with our planet? I suspect previous civilisations have done, but their history and methods have been lost, despite tantalising archaeological glimpses. We seem to have become quite blasé about technological advances. Some of those predicted are as mind blowing as they are frightening. One law, however, underpins everything we do in our industrial age, and that is the law of unforeseen consequences. I think the Irish brought it down to a more basic layman’s interpretation – Murphy’s law. Whatever we undertake that feeds upon the availability of material on the planet has some consequence, and we cannot get away from that. EBANZ may not consider itself to be at the cutting age of learning to live in harmony with our planet, but to this bear of smallish brain it is a vital part of the equation. Learning to construct homes as simply as possible using the materials immediately available is as logical as it is obvious. Making use of waste materials, such as tyres to produce Earthships, are all part of the innovative process. Hemp is making inroads into self-build construction and we have featured at least two hemp built homes in this magazine. Passivhaus is possibly more applicable to colder climates than much of NZ and Australia, but the principals of using the sun to store energy by day are universally applicable to future design. The vital part of self-building is to ask all the questions from A to Z and probably twice over to be sure! At the end of the day modest proportions and simplicity of design – opening windows for example – are tried, tested and reliable. If complexity floats your boat then the only thing constraining you is your budget. This is our second joint issue with The Owner Builder, and coincidentally I have, with regrets, decided to hang up my quill as editor of earthbuilding after nearly nine years. I will not be uninvolved in the future – our next conference is firmly in my diary and I will certainly write and photograph for EBANZ when directed. I am delighted a replacement editor has popped to the surface so rapidly and I wish Faith Gould all the good luck in the world as she gets to grips with the next issue. I’m not going to fill print acres with thanks to everyone under the sun, but from the bottom of my 42

Photo: Tatiana Zimina

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

The editor holding the Elizabeth Drupsteen Award for services to earth and natural building, and the sycamore spoon carved by Pat Mawson to ensure that even in retirement he keeps up natural stirring. Photo: Tatiana Zimina

heart I do thank all those at EBANZ who have proven that the organisation is far more than the sum of the parts, and given me such a superb project with so many stimulating conferences. In this issue we have a couple of possibly controversial articles. Depending on climate, conditions and circumstances it is sometimes important to get a bit academic. Es Tresidder designs passive house homes in Scotland and has given kind permission for us to publish his paper on thermal mass. Peter Olorenshaw has countered this with some relevant experience, so I hope the coupling will stimulate all potential owners into asking the essential questions about any project. We have a section devoted to our conference in October last year with text and images by Tatiana Zimina. Pat Mawson found that a flood did not inflict nearly as much damage as feared on a straw bale home, and Marie Fleming found the EBANZ Earth Building Standards of great value when designing a straw bale home in Hawke’s Bay for Fred Staples. We also have a review, and excerpts from Robin Allison’s book about the birth and construction of Earthsong – the successful cohousing project in West Auckland. I am indebted to Lynda Brighton, editor of The Owner Builder, whose patience is as long as her creativity and eye for detail. Thanks, Lynda, and I do hope we’ll get you to the Nelson Conference this year.

Crispin Crispin Caldicott, outgoing earthbuilding editor

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www.earthbuilding.org.nz – EARTHBUILDING MAGAZINE – Summer/Autumn 2021

WHAT’S GOING ON EBANZ CONFERENCE OCTOBER OR NOVEMBER 2021

To be held in the Nelson area. Exact date and venue to be confirmed. Watch the website! www.earthbuilding.org.nz

SUSTAINABLE LIVING COURSE AUTUMN: 14 MARCH-27 MAY 2021

All aspects of sustainable living, with hands-on, experiential learning modules covering seven core areas. Golden Bay, upper South Island. www.gbslc.org

GO GREEN EXPO

STRAW BALE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION WORKSHOPS

EARTH BUILDING WORKSHOPS AND TRAININGS

AUTUMN/SPRING 2021

12-16 MARCH 2021, NELSON

Topics including Earthen Floors and Natural Plasters (autumn) as well as the popular 7-day workshop in Straw Bale Design and Construction (spring), a mixture of theory (classroom) and practical (hands-on) experience aiming to cover all aspects of building from foundation to finish.

5-day summer workshop covering many aspects of building with earth: materials, testing, design and planning, making and laying mud bricks, earth plasters, cob, light earth, clay paints, pizza ovens...

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LIVING WOOD FAIR 17-18 APRIL 2021

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A celebration of all things wood from growing trees and turning them into timber, environmental sustainability, creative arts and natural shelters and homes. Totara Whenua, Golden Bay

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27-28 MARCH 2021 (AUCKLAND) 7-8 AUGUST 2021 (CHRISTCHURCH) 30-31 OCTOBER 2021 (WELLINGTON)

SEPTEMBER 2021

Earth Building Online Academy – an evergreen 12-week online program, with lectures and guest speakers, offering group coaching, q&a, a Facebook group and the chance to pick the facilitators brains for three months and beyond. www.solidearth.co.nz If you have courses for earth builders, contact Everett Norris. ecoeverett@gmail.com

Appointment as a Member of The New Zealand Order of Merit to Mr Graeme Frederick North, of Auckland, for services to architecture and natural building standards. Congratulations!

Bottom right: Graeme North with the Governor General, Dame Patsy Reddy at the reception of his investiture as a recipient of the NZ Order of Merit. Bottom left (L-R): At the ‘after match function’... AIan Brewer, Hugh and Elsbeth Morris, Graeme North, Deneice North, Sharon Drayton, Trish Allan, Tatiana Zimina, Tessa North, Alan Drayton, Min Hall, Crispin Caldicott. Photo: Alexey Efimov

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Summer/Autumn 2021 – EARTHBUILDING MAGAZINE – www.earthbuilding.org.nz

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graemenorth@gmail.com www.ecodesign.co.nz

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www.earthbuilding.org.nz – EARTHBUILDING MAGAZINE – Summer/Autumn 2021

Straw bale house flood BY PAT MAWSON

Most will be familiar with the school day morning chaos – trying to get children fed and ready for school and the family out of the door on time for work. One day in September 2019, amidst the mayhem, the occupants of a beautiful straw bale home with earthen veneer floors left the kitchen tap running full bore. Unfortunately, the sink was blocked and the basin was a hand beaten copper tub with no overflow. Ten hours later… water had overflowed down the front of the cabinetry, filling all the drawers, and onto the earth and timber

floors. A slight ridge in the earth veneer floor basically contained the flood to one side of the house. Door thresholds stopped the water running out and it was ponded up to 10mm deep in places.

Construction details The floor construction is a Cupolex raft concrete slab with earth or timber veneers in different areas. The earth sections had a 35mm base layer over the concrete with a 10mm topcoat. The base layer was well graded aggregate up to 20mm (builders’ mix) and clay in

a ratio of approximately 5 parts aggregate : 1 part clay. The topping was crushed lime (screened to 7mm maximum particle size), clay, chopped straw and cellulose fibre. Approximate ratios by volume were 3 parts crushed lime aggregate : 1 part soaked and screened clay (consistency of thick cream) : 0.5 part fibre (mix of paper pulp and chopped straw). This mix was trowelled smooth and finished with Java Oil once dry. The timber sections have 21mm plywood glued to the concrete, then tongue and groove strip flooring laid over the ply.

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Summer/Autumn 2021 – EARTHBUILDING MAGAZINE – www.earthbuilding.org.nz

Skirting detail that (mostly) prevented water soaking up plaster walls and getting under the straw

Interior clay plaster

Strip of vapour permeable wall underlay, Tyvek or similar Glued to floor and bottom plate, and laid into plaster to provide air seal

Straw

Skirting Plaster stop and fixing for skirting

The species was NZ grown grey ironbark (Eucalyptus paniculate). The finished height was the same as the adjoining earth floor. The external walls are straw bale construction. Some thought had been put into preventing uncontrolled air movement through the construction, and the detail designed to make the floor to wall junction airtight largely prevented water getting under the straw wall, and also prevented direct contact between water and the interior clay plasters. Simple moisture meters were installed during construction around the perimeter to measure the moisture content at the base of the straw walls.

The damage 90x45mm inside bottom plate Scoria or pumice

Top coat Earth floor Concrete slab

The immediate effects were that the timber flooring cupped badly, and the solid timber cabinetry in the kitchen was soaked and swollen with many drawers full of water. Water had found its way into the straw walls in two places and was flowing out under the exterior bottom plate and down the outside of the slab and footings. In several places, timber had swelled and resulted in cracked or damaged adjacent plaster. In one small area the earth floor had become completely saturated and was squishy under the firm oiled top layer. Despite ponding, the earth floor was largely in surprisingly good condition. It was still firm enough to support walking on, although visibly ‘wet’. The main physical damage was where the earth floor met timber and the swelling and cupping had broken up a narrow strip along the edge.

Water ponding on earth floor.

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As soon as the owners discovered the flood, the tap was turned off and surface water mopped up. Large amounts of water had collected under the cabinets where the flooring stopped creating a 45mm void and the owners where able to remove kickboards and soak up this water with towels.

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The big mystery was that the amount of water in the house and escaping out under the walls didn’t seem to equal the volume of water coming out of the tap for so long. This was solved later – at some stage prior to the flood, a mouse had got inside the house through an open door for a few days and then disappeared without ever being trapped or found. When we pulled out the gas stove, we found the mouse had tunnelled down through the foam sleeve that protects the gas line from the concrete floor. This provided a convenient drain into the void under the slab. Theoretically the water could have been trapped in this void but in reality, faults in the polythene membrane under the slab had allowed the water to soak away to ground. Moisture readings showed that in two areas where water had got under the straw walls the moisture content at the base of the wall was off the scale; our meter goes up to 40% MC (moisture content). In one small corner where interior plaster went to floor level, water had soaked up the wall to a height of 200mm and water stained the plaster. This showed what could have happened everywhere if the plaster detail had been different.

The floor dried out fully over the next few days without any mould forming, however large opaque patches formed where the oil had been wet and these did not disappear once the floor dried. We tried several different strategies to remove these without success and were also unable to patch the small areas of damage seamlessly. As the house was fully insured for replacement to the ‘original state’, the decision was made to completely remove the topcoat of the floor and replace it. This turned out to be relatively simple. It took two people a day to remove 70m2 of the top layer with spades. It delaminated cleanly and the base was in sound condition. It then took three of us a further two days to lay the new floor, followed by a period of drying and several layers of oil. This was timed while the owners were on holiday but still caused some disruption to their use of the house for a few weeks while the floor fully dried and was oiled.

As the builders of the house, we were pleased with how it came through a significant test. The timber floors had to be re-sanded and oiled, and minor plaster repairs carried out. The straw walls coped well with a short-term exposure to moisture and dried rapidly. Mostly we were astonished that the earth floor came through such a flood with just cosmetic damage. u Pat Mawson is a plasterer, earth and straw bale builder, based in Hawke’s Bay. He is the current chairman of EBANZ. u

Straw Home Hawke’s Bay

Committed to natural building methods.

022 657 9256, www.strawhome.co.nz

Cupolex

Structural domes in concrete formwork.

www.cupolex.co.nz www.cupolex.com.au

Natural House Company

Java Classic Resin Oil and Java High Solid Oil.

0800 11 20 30, www.naturalhouse.co.nz

Drying out and repairs The insurance company wanted to ‘force dry’ the house, but we were concerned about the effect this might have on the solid timber cabinetry and advised instead that the fire be kept going and the ventilation system left running, allowing the vapour permeable construction to do its thing. Moisture in the straw walls was monitored closely and within around ten days the levels were down to much safer mid-low 20’s and dropping fast. Extra readings were taken with a probe into the straw to check the moisture meters were reading correctly, and to check areas away from a preinstalled meter.

Water stain starting it’s creep up the wall.

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The ease of standards

The Earth Building Standards smoothed the passage through council regulations for this straw bale home in Hawke’s Bay.

BY MARIE FLEMING PHOTOS: VIV STAPLES AND MARIE FLEMING

When Fred and Viv Staples started on their straw bale house, the local council had limited experience with this form of construction. The only other project in the district had infamously burnt down as an abandoned, partially constructed building. This had been a long project in the making and that was before we, Studio26 Architects, became involved. Supported by Fred’s determination, a wealth of knowledge from Pat Mawson and Nils Rock of Straw Home Hawke’s Bay, and the recent issue of the Revised Earth Building Standards, the council were fantastic to work with. The project achieved building consent with very little difficulty and is now well underway. We were super fortunate to be working with Pat and Nils, who very kindly let us use their project specification template as a starting point; we edited and amended it to be site and project specific. This forms the basis for all of the Earth Building Construction section. We broke the specification down into three sections. •

Engineer design – included timber pole construction, buck frames and beams, bracing and connections, including the curved form roof structure using PosiStrut trusses.

•

Light timber framing – many of the internal walls, conventional trusses, conventional roof framing, the mid floor and all of the upper floor (NZS 3604).

•

Earth building construction – included the straw bale with mud plaster exterior wall construction, generally direct plaster but with a couple of exposed walls on cavity, an adobe block wall and earth floors to all dry areas.

Specification As an architect who is familiar with the Masterspec documentation, it was easiest for me to use the Basic template for the earth building construction as well, and it helped me with the structure and compliance paths. I also thought it was easy for the territorial authority (TA) to make sense of, but it is definitely a more wordy document. The house is a complex design, and we used the risk matrix in the New Zealand Building Code clause E2 External moisture to give each building façade a point value. The house is in an extra high wind zone, which increased the risk score, but the Hawke’s Bay environment also provides drying winds. The low humidity, low rainfall, high temperature climate was definitely advantageous. We used large

overhangs for high walls, and a rain screen (timber canopy) to protect the lower walls. Even though there were no other straw bale houses in Napier City Council, there were several in the wider Hawke’s Bay area that we were able to refer to and demonstrate a successful service history of. The standard details in the Alternative Solution for Straw Bale Construction were used as a reference point for the TA, and a number of the RFI’s (Request For Information) requested were either for amending our documentation to comply with the Standard, or identification of where the reference was in the Standard. A good example of this was the inclusion of a building wrap slip layer, which we had not originally included in our documentation, and confirmation of the breathability of the Keim Silicate Paint. Fred and Viv also wanted to include some alternative materials in the build that weren’t supported by the current standards; for example, using compacted pumice as an insulating basecourse. Fred used his skills as a chemical engineer to test the thermal resistance of the pumice and provided a report to council proving an R-value of around 4.0, far exceeding the conventional polystyrene with the 200mm thickness of the basecourse.

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Extract from Specification 2

STRAW BALE AND EARTH CONSTRUCTION AS AN ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION TO DEMONSTRATE COMPLIANCE WITH THE NEW ZEALAND BUILDING CODE

2.3

B2 – Durability

2.3.1

Acceptable Solution

All building elements and components as outlined in NZBC B2 including Internal Adobe Block Wall: NZS4297/4289/4299 and Earth Floors: NZS4299 Section 13 and with the exception of those elements/ components outlined under including:

2.3.2

Engineer Design

•

Timber pole structure, loadbearing and non-loadbearing timber walls (straw bale walls)

•

Mitek Trusses – PosiStrut and standard to roof structure

•

Bracing (wall, roof )

2.3.3

Alternative Solution

NZS4299:2020 Earth Buildings not requiring specific engineering design: Appendix E Straw Bale Construction ‘This appendix provides both prescriptive and performance-based requirements for the use of baled straw as a building material within a structural timber framework. It may act as a guide for practitioners and building officials when assessing the use of straw bales as alternative solutions to demonstrate compliance with the NZBC. This appendix is complementary to Appendix D ‘Light Earth Method or LEM’, which contains material also relevant to straw-bale design and construction’

E14 Durability ‘Straw-bale walls meet the requirements of NZBC B2 for minimum durability if the weather protection, moisture and surface coating requirements, of this appendix are met, and normal maintenance is carried out (NZS 4229, clause 8.11).’ Durability Requirements for Alternative Solution Building Element

Situation/Function

Durability

Reference

Straw bale infill panels

Non structural

Not less than 50 years

NZS4299:2020

Earth plaster system (direct coat)

Non structural

Not less than 15 years

NZS4298:2020

Cement plaster on RAB over cavity

Non structural

Not less than 15 years

NZS4299:2020

Lime and paint protective coating

Paint systems that are easy to access and replace

Not less than 5 years

NZS4298:2020

2.3.4

Additional Information

Moisture meters are incorporated into the straw bale wall construction to monitor the moisture level in the cladding. Refer to the Non-Loadbearing Straw Bale Walls Specification section and the Maintenance Schedule. Straw Bale, Earth Floor, Adobe and Earth Plaster Construction specific documentation has been prepared in consultation with Straw Home Hawke’s Bay.

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Viewing

First ﬂoor

Dining Living

fr.

Kitchen

Master suite

Bedroom

WIR

Bath

Bedroom

Laundry

Ground ﬂoor

Garage

  

   

Plans: Studio26 Architects



      

Floor plan

 



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Summer/Autumn 2021 – EARTHBUILDING MAGAZINE – www.earthbuilding.org.nz Fred Staples is a Chemical Engineer who used to be in charge of operations for factory design and construction, and drew upon his childhood experience of building on farms with his father.

It was a bit trickier to test the compacted strength due to the differences in particle sizes, but in the end we got the information and it went through as an amendment with no queries.

Importance of the Standards

Marie Fleming is a Registered Architect with Studio26 Architects. u

Having the Earth Building Standards to reference both the acceptable solutions (earth plaster, earth floor, wall finishes) and alternative solutions (straw bale construction) made a huge difference to this project. The way that the Standards are written, in particular the commentary sections, proved to be very helpful. The way the new code is presented, gives a really useful guide for designers and lots of great technical advice and information. The commentary gives the designer flexibility in the design – and takes it away from a rigid prescriptive solution – while still giving a framework that the territorial authority can benchmark against. Overall, incredibly great work from the EBANZ team!

Studio26 Architects

Beautifully crafted, purpose-built designs.

06 844 0223 www.studio26architects.co.nz

Straw Home Hawke’s Bay

Committed to natural building methods.

022 657 9256, www.strawhome.co.nz

PosiStrut

Rafter, purlin and floor joists.

09 274 7109, www.miteknz.co.nz

Masterspec

Digital construction information and tools.

09 631 7044, www.masterspec.co.nz

Keim Mineral Paints

Natural, water-borne, liquid silicate paints.

www.keim.com

Fred adds, ‘Nothing short of a miracle given the well-known obstacles that the regulators like to set up. A stupendous result we as builders can only be in awe of.’ u

STAPLES STRAW BALE HOUSE – (extract from) EXTERIOR CLADDING RISK MATRIX ASSESSMENT

N_1 below rainscreen N_2 under roof canopy W_3 under eaves overhang

Wind Zone = EH (1)

Eaves width

rainscreen = 1865 wall height = 2720

roof canopy = 6200 wall height = 3100

eaves = 900 wall height = 4270

6 6

E_1 under roof canopy

eaves = 3780 wall height = 3880

E_3 under verandah

eaves = 600 wall height = 2700

Env Comp

Decks/attached structures

Window sills

0 0

(1) Wind zone value of 6 for EH has been allocated

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2 3

Risk reduce:

Window face Door/window location mounted

Risk reduce:

North quadrant

-1

face mounted door/window

-1

face mounted door/window

-1

face mounted door/window

2300

-1

face mounted door/window

-1

no window

1500 1800 3200

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Great innovation from Fred in using pumice under the earth and concrete slab, and research showing an R-value of around 2.0 per 100mm for this particular pumice.

Door/window location

Risk reduce:

North quadrant

Risk reduce:

Orientation

Risk reduce:

Calculated value

Rainfall med risk

Annual Rainfall

Low humidity climate

Absolute Humidity

TOTAL

Comment

ace mounted door/window

-1

North façade

-1

500 - 750mm

-1

8.38 g/m

plaster directly on bales

ace mounted door/window

-1

North façade

-1

500 - 750mm

-1

8.38 g/m

plaster directly on bales cement plaster over RAB board on cavity battens over plastered strawbale plaster directly on bales: high degree of protection to window plaster directly on bales: sheltered by buildings onsite; immediately adjacent to front door = high degree of observation.

ace mounted door/window

West façade

-1

500 - 750mm

-1

8.38 g/m

ace mounted door/window

East façade

-1

500 - 750mm

-1

8.38 g/m

no window

East façade

-1

500 - 750mm

-1

8.38 g/m

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The EBANZ Annual Conference 2020 BY TATIANA ZIMINA

Having the annual Earth Building conference held at Kawai Purapura in Auckland on the weekend of 31 October-1 November, was very much an awaited gathering to bring about a sense of normality, and satisfy the yearning for real human connection in this strange, uncertainty-filled year. Planning the event was a precarious and angst-filled business for the organising committee as Auckland remained in a 2.5 level lockdown until late September. For several weeks it felt as if the whole event was touch-and-go. But we made it, and what a great event it was! With close to a hundred attendees, this was a weekend filled with networking, wholesome conversations, and the

sharing of ideas. Having been to several EBANZ conferences over the past five years, they never fail to be richly enjoyable because those who are into natural buildings are also walking and talking a natural lifestyle. EBANZ conferences bring together current and new members from across the country, and offer amazing opportunities to deepen connections, catch up with old friends and make new friends in the earth building community and beyond.

Friday evening dinner The event kicked off on Friday evening with a dinner, followed by the AGM and ‘five by five’ (5x5) presentations. These presentations

have become a popular format for the updating of projects and ideas, and originally stood for ‘five pictures in five minutes.’ This year there was a record number of 5x5’s, which were held on each day of the conference. Clearly a wanted format for sharing recent personal projects, as well as ideas learned from visiting other countries and learning from their cultural building traditions, like China and Fiji – all these small informal presentations helped spark new conversations. It was quite heartening to hear the updates from Ron Sperber, for example, who attended the 2018 conference and took away ideas, and experimented by building a small studio in his West Auckland home, trialling different earth building and plastering methods.

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Saturday house tours Saturday morning saw more attendees arrive to join for the day of house tours, which are always a highlight of the conference – seeing and experiencing realised and materialised buildings and taking away many ideas while also having an opportunity to talk to the owners and learn from their experience. They are a valuable treat. There were three houses to be seen, all different in design, scale and completion dates. They displayed a broad range of earth building techniques and applications.

Helensville round house Our first stop on the tour was John and Colleen Brown’s property in Helensville. Situated up on a hill, overlooking the Kaipara River, it is a round house with pagoda-like roof designed by Graeme North, lovingly built by John. Walking up to the house, along a manuka and camellia planted drive, all you see at first is a bold and

elegant lantern-like ferrocement roof as it sits in the hillside, because the rest of the house rests snugly underneath. John commented that they waited patiently for the first few years for the white roof to turn grey, as it could be seen for miles across the harbour. The house walls are constructed of in-situ adobe, with 10% cement added for stability. White clay subsoil came from the property. Hand-finished mortar joints and sculpted bricks provide a threedimensional effect, with little niches and shelves used throughout to house lovingly collected artefacts. The spectacular round structure covers living, dining, kitchen and scullery spaces, plus a mezzanine floor. The roof is supported by power poles, with hessian and cement plaster roof scalloping over the round wood. Floors are a mixture of split schist stones in main circulation areas, timber in the kitchen and dining, and earth floors in the bedroom wing.

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Below: Workshop bottle wall and hanging band saws. The illuminated bottles create a stained glass effect. Bottom left: The workshop/garage is a miniature version of the main house – circular, ferrocement roof, round beams radiating from a central pillar. Bottom right: Cabinetmakers’ workshop envy with many special tools and bits and bobs at hand’s reach.

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South Head mud brick Our next stop took us to another mud brick house designed by Graeme North and structural engineer Thijs Drupsteen in 1996 for the previous owner, Fenella Scaglione. The original design was intended to be a 65m2 secondary house, but a change of plans lead to this becoming the main house, which has subsequently been extended by the current owner. The main emphasis of the house is on non-toxic materials. All the

timber in the house was chosen from species that are naturally durable – so as to avoid chemical treatments – and are finished with non-toxic oils and varnishes. The verandah posts are reused Australian hardwood power poles. The ceilings are lined with NZ grown eucalyptus tongue and groove sarking. Other structural and framing timber is locally grown macrocarpa. The window and door joinery are macrocarpa with laminated heads where necessary to fit into arches.

Below left: Original north-facing door and window joinery have been moved over and repositioned in order to extend the living area. Below right: Interior adobe walls and floor. The simple rectilinear house has a slight ‘twist’ with internal walls positioned on an angle in relation to exterior walls, and with the geometry of cathedral ceilings to make the interior a unique experience.

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South Head hybrid Our last stop was a more recently completed hybrid house on South Head, owner built and completed in 2018 with design help and advice from Tim Oldham. The conventional timber frame construction has internal adobe walls, while the exterior is clad in Lawson cypress weatherboards to remove the necessity of extra deep overhangs required for an earth building. The house was featured in earthbuilding magazine, Winter 2018 edition. The two-bedroom house is of a modest size but with a spacious covered porch and entrance area, with raking ceilings inside adding height and lending a feeling of generous space to the living and kitchen areas.

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Left: Double-glazed sliding door joinery in the bedroom, with totara timber exterior and macrocarpa interior. Below left: First came a pilot 10m2 studio building to experiment and test the materials with, and to provide the first shelter. Local kingfishers took a fancy to the cob walls and started tunnelling in to build nests! The earth studio is often covered in netting to keep the birds away. Below right: Muni and Mylene’s home as seen from across the pond when visited on a clear winter day in June 2020. Opposite page: Beautifully crafted circular staircase with turned wood balustrade in the Helensville round house, awash with coloured light from the roof lantern.

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Sunday presentations

Opposite page, top left and right: South Head mud brick – Original floor at the front with the tiled extension visible beyond. New Zealand grown eucalyptus tongue and groove ceiling, and macrocarpa window joinery. Helensville round house – Circular window and bottle glass wall in the hallway, with the stream running between the stones. Opposite page, bottom left and right: South Head hybrid – Cozy day bed in the second bedroom. Walls were painted with natural paints made from wheat paste. Helensville round house – Passage to the master bedroom.

On Sunday morning, we were back at Kawai Purapura for talks and a last round of 5x5 presentations on all earth building related topics. Hugh Morris, Graeme North and Min Hall gave the audience an update on new Earth Building Standards, which have been published and are waiting to be cited by the responsible Ministry (MBIE). There were awards this year: for achievements and support to EBANZ, Hugh Morris was awarded EBANZ Life membership; and Crispin Caldicott was given the annual Elizabeth Drupsteen Award

for commitment and nine-year service to EBANZ as the editor of earthbuilding magazine. Much appreciation to all the presenters for delivering highly varied and interesting content with passion and humour. A huge thank you to the owners for making their lovely homes available for the tour, and answering so many questions. The conference ended on a high – it felt as if there was more energy left to continue many conversations. So, here’s looking forward to the next conference, which is to be held at the top of the South Island a weekend after the Labour Day weekend, 29-31 October 2021. u

This page, right and below: Helensville round house – A brief introduction to the structural components was delivered by project engineer Thijs Drupsteen, with Colleen and John telling the story of their journey. The lantern-like draped ferrocement is a striking feature, hunkering over the living roof.

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Review by

Graeme North 278 pages, soft cover Mary Egan Publishing ISBN 9780473515171 www.robinallison.co.nz

COHOUSING FOR LIFE

A PRACTICAL AND PERSONAL STORY OF EARTHSONG ECO-NEIGHBOURHOOD Author Robin Allison

For the record I note a potential conflict of interest. I was asked to apply to be the architect for this cohousing project in the late 1990’s. I was unsuccessful, but I did get involved later to help sort out some on-site technical issues that arose regarding the earth walls. I am also a friend and colleague of several people in this story, including the author. This is a remarkable story of perseverance and accomplishment. Whenever I visit Earthsong I ask myself ‘Why aren’t more neighbourhoods like this?’ And like all intentional communities, it has a long history of ups and downs, commitments, many stumbling blocks, and triumphs. The gestation goes back many years. I recall going to one meeting of interested parties in the early 1990s that followed on from many other such meetings and discussions in the ‘70s and ‘80s when the idea of Ohu (alternative lifestyle communities) and communes was a fairly common topic of discussion amongst some of us when, as I recall, an impassioned cry went up, ‘Let’s stop talking about it and let’s start doing it.’ A young architect Robin Allison heard this cry. And she then went on to do it. This is her story, and a large part of her story is intertwined with the cohousing settlement now known as Earthsong that she was so instrumental in bringing about. Earthsong is now a vibrant lush cooperative living arrangement for around 69 people in 32 homes on 1.2 hectares of land in West Auckland. This is two books for the price of one. It is both Robin’s personal story as well as Earthsong’s story. You could tell one without the other, but the personal story provides the background, the emotional heft, the drive, the toll, the skills and the joy that this extraordinary achievement needed. Of course, Earthsong is much more than one person’s story and required the involvement of many people over many years, and these players are generously included and form part of the tale. As Robin says, ‘In a project of this sort, what you can see once it has been completed is merely the tip of a pyramid buried deep in the ground’. 62

Organisational and legal matters needed sorting, and processes for agreement, governance, division and dissent were critical to get right, in keeping with an overarching vision. The vision statement that arose was ‘To establish a cohousing neighbourhood based on the principles of permaculture that will serve as a model of a socially and environmentally sustainable community, underpinned by three equally important ideas – environmental sustainability, social sustainability and education for sustainability.’ Once a group was formed and processes were in place, then land was needed. When that was secured the core group expanded as the theoretical started to become real, and the design process started. Robin is a professional architect herself and it was a heavy blow that the group decided not only to make the critical appointment of an architect for the development contestable, but also not to give her the job. This was a difficult rat to swallow. It is to Robin’s great credit and reflection of her as a determined person with a clear vision for what she wanted that she stayed with the group and took on the critical role of managing the project. This step effectively ended her career as a professional architect, but without her architectural training and expertise the whole project could have foundered at that point, and at several times later as well. Participatory design to produce a development that would nourish and not hinder community is no easy task. However, layouts were agreed, the buildings were designed, and once underway, the rammed earth buildings started to take shape. Robin and her two children lived on the muddy building site while the first houses were being built. ‘I prowled the site every day checking each of the seventeen houses

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against the plans. I constantly picked up issues that weren’t built right or were not done at all.’ Then came the nightmare scenario that all architects and building owners dread, when the building contractor (kindly kept unidentified by Robin) went into liquidation with the buildings a long way from completion. The group and the project survived this body blow. Sheer grit and determination overcame these huge setbacks and associated financial shocks, and eventually the project was able to continue with new builders. The latter also ended up in liquidation, but this was not such a great disaster as the first had been, as owners were able to agree to finish the work themselves. A third contractor completed the building work on the remaining houses and the lovely common house. Difficulties did arise when some of the rammed earth work was not up to standard when the quarry source of material changed, and problems with some zinc flashings caused headaches, but hard work got these issues resolved. Robin’s passion and personal philosophy shines throughout this book. ’I believe we have a responsibility to use the opportunities we have to reduce our environmental footprint, to trial new and better ways of doing things that don’t deplete life for anyone or anything else, to make choices that help move us forward towards more sustainability practices that contribute to a flourishing world.’ Robin does devote a section into delving into reflection on power and leadership within groups, commenting on conflict of interests and difficulties that can arise when one or some of the group are paid by the group to carry out certain roles. This, along with lots of other personal observations make the book well worth reading for those involved in group activities or projects. This book is a very well written and carefully compiled account of the author’s path and her role with others in bringing Earthsong to fruition, and the steps that were required to make it happen. It is also a valuable history of Earthsong itself, one that will be of special interest to anyone interested in how it came to be, or contemplating such a venture. As more and more people are becoming interested in shared housing arrangements such as cohousing, this well written and well-illustrated book becomes a more and more valuable resource. I will leave the last words to Robin.

‘Beginnings are important; and staying the distance through all the challenges and obstacles is vital to achieve change. I also really value the power of completion, of deep acknowledgement and honouring of the journey, learning what we can from it, sharing it and moving on.’

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Book extract

13: POWER AND LEADERSHIP March 2000. The Development Team (DT) was working intensively to pull together the design, legal structures, budgets, consents, builders’ quotes and contracts, buyers, and all the other aspects that were essential to have in place before we could begin construction of our multi-unit neighbourhood. One Earthsong member was very stressed about both timeline and budget and sent increasingly unhelpful emails to the DT. In particular, he had a problem with Cathy and me, felt we had ‘too much power’, wanted us to ‘Back Off!’ and give others more space. I felt he was pulling in another direction, had become more and more distant and anxious and was hindering rather than working with us to pull off this huge project. Which did he want, to try to meet the timeline and budget, or for us to back off? I sent him some questions. I was genuinely curious, as well as feeling frustrated, attacked and battered. Do you believe our project needs leadership? If no, what other group can you name that has successfully completed a project of a similar scale and complexity to ours without leadership? If yes, what is a model of leadership that you see as appropriate? What group, organisation, or political body uses an appropriate leadership model effectively in your opinion? No answers were forthcoming. I am still curious. What does healthy leadership look like, particularly in the context of a large, complex project where the decision making lies with an empowered group? This is largely new territory, and we are inventing it as we go. We need to keep talking about power and leadership in groups and in society, keep having the collective enquiry about how to work most effectively and in a way that feels healthy for ourselves individually and collectively, and for the planet. It is hugely important work for our time and continues to be my learning edge. 64

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Extracts from COHOUSING FOR LIFE By Robin Allison Purchase at www.robinallison.co.nz

10: CONSTRUCTION UNDER WAY Despite the delays, two buildings neared completion, and we scheduled a major Open Day for 8 July 2001 to launch two units as show homes. There was frenzied activity during the weeks beforehand by both the builders and by members in order to finish the houses in time. Members of the Marketing Group worked hard on arrangements for the day, sending out invitations and media kits, and organising signage, displays, information stations and the official speakers. The very day before the Open Day, builders were finishing the pergolas to these houses while paving was being laid below, and members were shifting topsoil, planting trees, cleaning the houses, hanging curtains and arranging furniture. Earthsong started to feel like a village, with houses along pathways, the pond taking shape and members working together. People arrived in droves on the day, walked around the paths and looked through the houses. We had speeches and were presented with a BRANZ (Building Research Association of New Zealand) Green Home Scheme ‘Excellent’ rating for the homes. In my speech I said that, just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a group to build a village; a group of ordinary, extraordinary people. The arrangement of our buildings around common space, very different from the normal rows of houses facing a street with a garage at the front, described our choice to place a higher importance on our relationships with one another than on our relationships with our cars. It was the physical manifestation of the social relationships we had grown together as we’d worked to build this neighbourhood. And our environmentally responsible construction was not only in addition to our social and cooperative structure, but it existed because of our social and cooperative structure; the two went hand in hand. The day was a great success and we made it onto national TV news that night. In the middle of December, the first three households moved in. Earthsong started to come alive as a neighbourhood. I could still flick in my mind between the two images, of the orchard that was and the neighbourhood that was becoming, but the balance was changing. The shape of the village was becoming the foreground, with houses nestled into the shape of the land, the main path looping around the walnut tree, and the swale swinging around and down to the pond. I visited two of my neighbours before Christmas, and they each had lovely things to show me – a Christmas tree at Geraldine and Gary’s, and one of Chris’s cakes at Lynette, Mary and Adelia’s, with little marzipan figures of all three of them sitting in the middle. So this was cohousing. So lovely. THE OWNER BUILDER  221 March-May 2021  © www.theownerbuilder.com.au

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Book extract (cont’d) 14: CHALLENGING TO THE END There was rubble outside all the common-house doors and no floor to the rotunda, but we all came together on 22 January 2006 for a ritual of celebration of our long-awaited common house. This claiming and inhabiting was hugely important emotionally to the whole group, to embrace and welcome the central place of our community, after all the long years of effort and challenge. It was not complete, but it was extraordinarily beautiful, and we were awestruck that this was our place. The first common meal was cooked that night by a group of members, the Kitchenettes, in our beautiful kitchen. There was still a lot to sort out, ongoing disagreement in the group over the shape of the common green and design of communal washing lines, whether to buy furniture and what that should be, but for now we were aligned in wonder and exhilaration at our common heart place. ‘At every stage of the project we’ve gone ahead before we’ve known where all the money was coming from. It’s that kind of project. We’d never have these buildings if we hadn’t, we’d have damp old Tui House and a paddock of trees. It would never have been built if people weren’t prepared to take calculated, informed, inspired risks. Not silly risks, but not steps that an accountant would take. It’s not ‘safe’, it’s not retrospective, the numbers in the columns don’t add up yet; it’s future oriented. We believe this will come together in the future if we go ahead now.’ (personal journal entry, 2005) 13: POWER AND LEADERSHIP We need powerful people in this world to work for the common good, to champion change to our destructive behaviours, to create different models of how we can live in respectful relationship with one another and the rest of earth. We need people standing in their own power, using self-awareness and love in service to the whole. Power itself is neither good nor bad; it is a force that can be used in many ways. It is not a coincidence that we use the word ‘power’ to also mean electricity, a hugely useful force that powers the appliances and machinery that support our lives. Of course, power (or electricity) can also be highly dangerous without appropriate attention, behaviour and safeguards. Power can be used for good or evil, as so many things can.

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EPILOGUE Those of us who live in the community continue to do work together that is largely uncharted; we are explorers in the territory of respectful and inclusive human relationships. It’s not Utopia, nor Ecotopia. It is much more challenging emotionally and requires us to be constantly self-aware, generous and open-hearted. Being in connection with others requires great commitment. It’s an ongoing journey of selfdiscovery of ourselves as well as of others. Like a healthy person with healthy organs made up of healthy cells, sustainability needs to operate at all levels: the individual, the household, the neighbourhood, the village and the city. A flourishing, sustainable ‘eco-city’, would include many flourishing, connected ecovillages and neighbourhoods, of an appropriate scale to encourage cooperation and healthy relationships. It is increasingly apparent that we are all part of one vast, complex planetary system or organism, and eco-neighbourhoods and villages offer fertile environments to re-learn the skills of interdependence and cooperation that will contribute to the health of our beautiful earth home. u Robin Allison is the initiator and project coordinator of Earthsong Eco-Neighbourhood, the award-winning 32-home cohousing neighbourhood in Ranui, Auckland, New Zealand. Book available to purchase on her website. www.robinallison.co.nz Editor’s note: Earthsong Eco-Neighbourhood was featured in TOB 214 August/September 2019. Earthsong welcomes visitors to their quarterly Public Open Days and also runs private tours on request. www.earthsong.org.nz

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LEONARDO BRIDGE

Mark Fielding

P: 03 546 8760 M: 021 158 5024 E: mark@ecotect.co.nz

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For anyone wanting to build a very simple bridge, look to the great master himself – Leonardo da Vinci. This video could not be simpler and not a word of explanation is uttered or needed. https://youtu.be/U6dGJiv0C4w YouTube: Search for ‘Leonardo-Brücke’

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Cawdor Castle near Inverness – an example of mass built for defence and not comfort; however much sunshine, this kind of structure never warmed up!

How much does mass matter? BY ES TRESIDDER

Talking to people about low-energy buildings, I’m often struck by how the conversation frequently swings to thermal mass as a way to reduce heating demand. To my mind this focus in the general public’s perception is out of all proportion to the ability of thermal mass to reduce heating demand; the key performance indicator for low-energy housing in the UK. I hope this article might go a little way to correcting that by bringing a bit of clarity to some oftenmisunderstood building physics.

Temperature vs. heat Mass doesn’t ‘trap heat,’ it resists temperature change. When heat is added or taken away from a substance, that substance warms

up (its temperature rises) or cools down (its temperature falls). How much the temperature changes for a given amount of heat added depends on the specific heat capacity and the mass of the substance. Put a pan of water on a hob for 20 seconds and it only warms a little, heat the same pan for the same length of time on the same hob with just air in (with the lid on, we’re interested in efficiency after all!) and the temperature will rise a lot more. Both the density (and thus the mass in the pan) and the specific heat capacity of water are higher, so the same amount of heat energy added to it causes its temperature to rise less than for air. We can say that water is more ‘thermally massive’ than air. Similarly, a litre of warm water

will cool slower than a litre of air starting at the same temperature. The rate at which heat flows through walls, floors and roofs is determined by their U-value, and taking this equation apart is informative. The U-value describes the heat flow in watts per square metre per degree Kelvin (or Celsius) difference between the internal and external temperature (W/m2-K). There is no mention of mass in this equation. For a wall with a U-value of 0.10 W/m2-K (typical of a Passivhaus standard building in Scotland), if the temperature difference between inside and outside is 20°C, then heat loss through the walls will be 2 watts per square metre of wall. A similar formula describes the heat lost through replacing

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the air in a building with fresh air. This depends on the temperature difference between the fresh and stale air and the rate of change. In both cases the thermal mass of the building makes no difference to this rate of heat loss.

system. The heating required to keep a constant temperature will be determined by the rate at which the buildings lose heat, which will be determined by the U-values and air change rates, both of which are identical for both buildings.

If two buildings have the same U-values and air change rates but one is thermally massive (it has a lot of thermal mass within the insulated envelope of the building) and one is thermally lightweight, then the rate at which the temperature in the building changes if heat losses are not balanced by heat gains will be different (the thermally massive building will change temperature more slowly). For a given amount of heat loss or gain, the temperature of the high-mass building will change less than that of the low-mass building. Conversely it will take much more heat energy to warm a high-mass building up by the same amount as a low-mass building.

In this first scenario the thermal mass makes no difference to the heat demand of the building.

So high-mass buildings do not hold on to heat, but they do hold on to temperature.

Thought experiments To understand the impact this has on the heating demand of buildings, let’s do a little thought experiment on two imaginary buildings to understand how thermal mass affects the heat demand in different scenarios. One building has high thermal mass and one low thermal mass, but with identical construction of the external walls, roofs, floors (all the additional thermal mass is in intermediate floors and internal partitions), identical windows, shading, airtightness, MVHR, etc.

Scenario one: heat losses higher than gains, heating on In the first scenario it is cold and cloudy, heat loss from the building exceeds heat gains from solar gains, occupants, appliances and hot water systems in both houses are being kept at the same constant internal temperature by the heating 70

Scenario two: heat losses higher than gains, heating off In the second scenario the heating is off (let’s say the owners are away for the weekend) and the weather is, again, cold (0°C) and overcast. Even though the building is well insulated and airtight it is losing more heat than it is gaining from the sun and appliances (fridges, etc. running even when occupants are out). Both of our buildings start this second scenario at the same temperature of 20°C. Because the internal temperatures are the same, and the U-values and air change rates are the same, the two buildings lose heat at the same rate at the start of this period. However, the lightweight building will change temperature more quickly than the heavyweight building. After 24 hours the internal temperature of the heavyweight building has dropped to 19°C, while the lightweight building has dropped to 18°C. Because they are now at different temperatures, they are no longer losing heat at the same rate. Our heavyweight building is now losing heat at a rate of 19°C x 0.1W/m2-K, or 1.9W for every square metre of wall. Our lightweight building is now losing heat slightly slower, at 1.8W per square metre. Similar differences will be present for the roof, floor, ventilation, infiltration etc. The longer this situation of heat losses exceeding heat gains persists, the greater the difference between the heat loss rates of the two buildings. Thus, after a short period of cold weather with the heating off, our lightweight building will be colder, but it will

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have lost less heat energy than our heavyweight building. It will therefore take less heat energy to warm it back up to a comfortable temperature. In this case thermal mass kept the heavyweight building warmer (often misunderstood as reducing heat loss) but actually increased heat loss and subsequent heating demand. In this second scenario the additional thermal mass has led to an increase in heating demand for the building. Buildings built to very stringent thermal standards, such as to the Passivhaus standard, lose heat so slowly (regardless of how thermally massive they are) that they can be kept at comfortable temperatures all winter, 24 hours a day. Turning the heating off for a few hours a day doesn’t save much energy in buildings that lose heat so slowly, and having a consistent, small input of heat allows for smaller, simpler heating systems, and potentially more efficient operation of those systems. In buildings operated in this way the situation outlined in scenario two should be rare.

Scenario three: heat gains higher than heat losses In a building that is never allowed to drop below comfortable temperatures, can adding thermal mass reduce heating demand? If so how, and by how much? Thermal mass can reduce heating demand. But if mass doesn’t ‘trap heat’, how does it reduce heating demand? For this scenario, let’s take a look at the way in which it does this. Counterintuitively, mass reduces heating demand by resisting temperature rise when gains are high. In a super-efficient house, on a sunny winter’s day, or when lots of people come to visit (each person adding about 100W) heat gains will be higher than heat losses and the temperature will rise above the heating setpoint (and the heating will switch off ). For the same amount of net heat gains, a lightweight building will get warmer than an otherwise

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identical heavyweight one. Because it is warmer, the difference between temperatures inside and outside will be greater and thus the rate of heat loss from the building will be higher. In an extreme case (maybe a really good party!) the lightweight building might get so warm that the occupants open the windows to maintain comfortable conditions, leading to even higher losses, whereas the heavyweight building can maintain comfort without opening windows (although with all those people it might be a good idea for air quality, the ventilation system in a Passivhaus is only sized for typical occupancy, or a bit more on ‘boost’). In this situation the heavyweight building has lost less of its gained heat, and will stay above the heating setpoint for longer once the sun has gone down or everyone has gone home. In this situation the thermal mass has reduced heat demand.

Thermal mass and heat demand We’ve identified one way in which thermal mass can reduce heating demand, but how much difference does this make over the course of the year? Taking a sample of the five Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) models I have for projects that are currently on site and which are all lightweight buildings, making them ‘thermally massive’ in PHPP reduces the annual heat demand by just 0.9kWh/m2. For a 100m2 home that’s a saving of just over five pounds a year on your heating bill (in the UK, assuming a heat pump with a coefficient of performance of 2.5 and an electricity cost of 15p/kWh). Small beer. ‘Ah’, I hear you say, ‘but PHPP can’t accurately take in to account thermal mass because it is a static simulation’. This is true, the effect of thermal mass in PHPP (as I understand it) is added in as an approximation gained from testing on dynamic simulations. But in my experience when I’ve modelled buildings in both PHPP and dynamic tools, if anything

PHPP predicts slightly higher savings through thermal mass than dynamic simulation does for this part of the world.

What about inter-seasonal storage? People get very excited about the idea that we can store some of the heat from summer and use it to ride out some of the cold of the autumn and winter. You can look into this question in a lot of detail and try to calculate how much mass would be needed, how much it would reduce heating demand and so on, but I think a simpler and quicker way to think about it is to flip this around. We know that it is possible to build lightweight buildings that require no more than 15 kWh/m2 of heating each year (this is the Passivhaus standard and many lightweight Passivhaus buildings are in existence). Heated with a heat pump with a coefficient of performance of 2.5, and a UK grid carbon intensity of 200gCO2/kWh (higher than the rolling average for a year in the UK) this equates to just 120kg of CO2 per year for a 100m2 house. In reality, since the carbon intensity of the grid is decreasing year on year, this will likely be an overestimate over the lifetime of the building. Let’s be generous to mass and assume that by adding a lot of it we can reduce that heating demand to zero (we probably can’t). Buildings I have seen that try to do this have done so with a lot of concrete – 50 tonnes in intermediate floors, dense concrete in the walls and so on. If we assume 200 tonnes of concrete for a 100m2 house, and 180kg of CO2 emitted to make each tonne of concrete, that’s 36 tonnes of upfront CO2. Even with making generous assumptions for mass, that’s a 300 year pay back on the up-front CO2 for the additional concrete required. On top of the nonsensical carbon maths of adding concrete to reduce heating demand, this approach will make other aspects of construction much more complicated: because

of the increased mass the structural engineering required makes thermal-bridge-free construction harder to achieve, footings have to be stronger (yet more embodied CO2) and so on.

Wrapping up (warmly!) In summary, if you want a building that loses heat very slowly, make it super-insulated, glazed optimally, super airtight and ventilated with efficient mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR). Chasing thermal mass as a way to reduce your heating demand is inefficient in terms of embodied carbon, cost and complication. I’ve only talked about winter performance here, because I feel it is this that is most often misunderstood when it comes to thermal mass (people see it as a good way to reduce winter heating demand). Some mass can help summer performance in some circumstances, but it’s not a panacea. That is a topic for another article! u EBANZ is grateful to Es Tresidder for permission to reprint this article. Please note that the article is mainly focused on the UK climate and does not cover external thermal mass walls. Nevertheless, the principles are useful for understanding thermal mass within the Passivhaus standard. Es Tresidder is director of Highland Passive, a Passivhaus design consultancy based in Fort William, western Scotland. His work focusses on designing buildings that are radically more comfortable and healthier for occupants but use 90% less energy than typical buildings, while simultaneously minimising the environmental impact of their construction. Es is a certified Passivhaus designer and AECB retrofit coordinator. He has a PhD in Sustainable Building Design and an MSc in Architecture, Advanced Energy and Environmental Studies. Es lives in Banavie with his young family and enjoys hill running, cycling, climbing and ski-mountaineering

www.highlandpassive.com

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Mass matters a lot! BY PETER OLORENSHAW

It was sunny earlier today, but now a cold front has swept up the country and temperatures have dropped to 11°C. Despite the absence of a lit log burner it is a comfortable 20°C inside. Our adobe walls are 380mm thick and have a static R-value of between 0.6 and 0.9, less than a third of lightweight timber frame houses’ current code minimum insulation. But it is a comfortable internal temperature. If the cold outside continues, we may well light the fire (for zero net CO2 heat), but likely as not the sun will come out later today or at least tomorrow and so it will probably be unnecessary. It is therefore with some sadness that I must refute Ess Tresidder’s article about thermal mass, and how much it matters. I am sure we would both agree that the most important thing is to limit our greenhouse gas emissions. In this climate emergency we need to keep this front of mind.

Significant temperature variations In Ess’ inclement and often miserable Scottish winters with very few summer overheating issues, perhaps thermal mass is less relevant, but in situations where there is a significant day-night variation in temperature, mass works a treat. Sure, with a constant source of heat on one side of the wall, and a constant source of cold on the other, mass makes no difference to the thermal resistance value of the wall. However, life is more complicated than that. Here in NZ when we get cold nights it is generally because the

sky is clear. Usually the next day will be clear and sunny. A house with high mass walls that can store the heat from one day, is still cooling down from the previous day when the next wave of heat comes. A sunny day will rapidly recharge a cooler home after a cold night. External walls of earth under this warm day/cold night scenario perform much better than their crude static R-values would suggest (1). Likewise, in summer they do the same thing of storing the ‘coolth’ from the night into the heat of the day. Let me tell you about my earth building epiphany on a farm in Western Australia. I worked there one summer, and the new brick and tile farmhouse often overheated during the day. One day I came across the old, abandoned adobe farmhouse on the other side of the farm, and decided to take a look. I went in through the corrugated metal roofed and walled lean-to, which was hotter inside than the temperatures outside. When I went from the lean-to into the main part of the house it was like walking into an air-conditioned space. It was deliciously cool, and it just stunned me. What was happening here was the inverse of a typical Nelson winter day; WA days are hot with clear skies, but at night the clear skies rapidly suck the heat away into the cold, clear night sky. So, this thermally massive house was cooled down through the night ready to absorb the next wave of heat. During the heat next day, the walls simply suck the heat away from the inside as they warm up. In

a warming climate this resistance to overheating may become just as important as keeping warm. Some classes of buildings that demonstrably perform very poorly if they are not provided with plenty of thermal mass, such as public halls and theatres, readily overheat when they become crowded with people. Tramping huts are a good example of buildings that need to be designed for passive solar winter heat gain, then they would be warm when you arrive and would not rapidly jump in temperature when a log burner is lit or the hut fills up with people.

Mass and insulation in place It is also disappointing that Ess’ article assumed high mass buildings necessarily have low levels of wall insulation. Think of a house with straw bale external walls, but all the other walls of earth and an earth floor on a bed of mussel shells one metre thick. This is a high mass house but also highly insulated (as well as being carbon negative). In a house like this the mass is not a liability, it just sits there waiting to modify the next big temperature swing e.g. when Jessica and Ben Eyers open their doors and windows, it is ready to stop the house cooling down too quickly. This home, which featured in a previous issue of earthbuilding magazine and was visited by members at the EBANZ 2019 conference, was built to the Passive House Standard with a concrete floor and has proved to be very effective in temperature stability.

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Summer/Autumn 2021 – EARTHBUILDING MAGAZINE – www.earthbuilding.org.nz

R-value and U-value R-value is a measure of the thermal resistance value of a material (typically applied to walls, ceiling, floor). The higher the R-value of a material, the better it will be as an insulator. U-value is a measure of the thermal transmittance of a material or buildup of materials (typically applied to windows and doors). The lower the value, the better the material is as an insulator. R-value and U-value are the inverse of each other; R-value = 1 divided by U-value e.g. U 0.10 = R 10. Current schedule code minimums are R 1.9 (R2.0 South Island and Central Plateau) for timber framed houses and R 1.0-1.2 depending on location and insulation values of roof, floor and windows for solid houses. The current codes already recognise the dynamic insulation value of earth and other solid walled houses.

What about comfort? Surprisingly perhaps, there is a lack of agreement on what comfort, or at least what a healthy temperature actually is. Rochelle Ade’s recent study (2) concluded a narrow band of comfort temperature is less important than an absence of really cold temperatures. But then how do the Inuit survive, indeed how do we survive camping excursions? But more than that, is bland good? In Travels with Charley, author John Steinbeck described how Florida is full of retired people reminiscing about the crisp winter mornings of the more varied climates they grew up in (3). I know I love nothing better than coming into our house from the cool outside and roasting my bum in front of the wood range.

Photo: Jessica Eyers

Indeed we can be comfortable on a ski field, even if the air temperature is in single figures, as long as there is no wind and we are in the sun; the radiant energy from the sun provides warmth and comfort even with a low air temperature. Likewise, radiant heat from walls warmed by the sun can provide comfort inside a building even if the air temperature is below some magic figure measured by a simple thermometer.

Low carbon building A study, Building Energy Efficiency by Brian Berg, into higher performance houses showed how chasing ever lower heating values does not lead to a low carbon home (4). The study found that heating was pretty insignificant in terms of carbon emissions here in NZ once you get much above current code minimum insulation standards, even if you were heating with electricity. So, if focusing on heating in this climate emergency is misguided, what should we be focusing on? I would argue that low carbon building is the most important metric. It is pointless to have a house that needs no heating if the cost to the planet is in massive carbon emissions. For example, 74

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www.earthbuilding.org.nz – EARTHBUILDING MAGAZINE – Summer/Autumn 2021

melting glass at 1000°C to make the fibreglass insulation, and using other high embodied carbon membranes and tapes, not to mention exotic materials imported from thousands of kilometres away, is doing nothing towards reducing our climatic impact. In NZ’s rather unique situation, a lot of our domestic heating is done with carbon neutral wood burners. When it is not, it is done with electricity that is already 84% renewable, due to our advanced hydro-electric system. This is not quite the same as 84% zero greenhouse gas, but it is close. So, given we are rapidly heading to 100% carbon zero energy, what carbon emissions are we saving by lowering already insignificant heating loads?

In his article, Ess assumed high mass buildings equal lots of concrete. He did not mention the possibility of high thermal mass buildings with very low or negative carbon emissions. Admittedly with our higher mass earth walls, we do need to work on lower embodied energy footings. In the past this was done with stone, but maybe lower CO2 emission concrete will help with this. In the meantime we can build our light earth and straw Photos provided by Jessica Eyres and the author demonstrate the thickness of walls designed for insulation. A north facing expanse of glass allows the sun to warm up the concrete floor in this home built to passive house standards. Completed in 2020, Jessica wrote in June of that year, ‘we are still working on refining the heating controls. Even at this time of year we don’t need the heating to come on every day (currently two hours between 10am and 12pm). When we have a week without sunshine we need slightly more than this. The temperature inside only drops about 0.5 degree for every 10 degrees difference between outside and inside overnight.’

bale walls on cement-free driven timber footings, getting thermal mass from the earth plaster and an earth floor (as detailed on almost the very last page of the new Earth Building Standard NZS 4299). This is a great start to where we need to be heading – and that is to be creating carbon negative buildings that store more carbon than goes into making them. Roughly 24 hours after starting this article, the night has passed; it is 18°C inside and 5°C outside. If this was a low mass house with walls of R0.6 or 0.9 then there is no way it would be at comfort temperature, it would be lucky to be in double digits inside. Thermal mass in New Zealand is still very relevant. u Peter Olorenshaw is a registered architect specialising in eco architecture. He lives in an adobe house he built largely himself from earth on site, and has been living with his family on independent electricity, wastewater and water supply since 1996. He has been on the executive of EBANZ since 2000, is part of the subcommittee updating the Earth Building Standards and was one of the group writing the Straw Bale Building Guidelines for NZ.

Photo: Tatiana Zimina

Furthermore, embodied carbon emissions are paid for up front in their environmental effects, whereas operational emissions only accrue over time. With climate change we do not have time; significant reductions in emissions now are imperative to avoid dangerous tipping points. Today’s emissions reductions are more valuable than tomorrow’s savings. The first

and foremost thing we need to do is build low embodied carbon buildings as our priority.

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Summer/Autumn 2021 – EARTHBUILDING MAGAZINE – www.earthbuilding.org.nz

References 1. BRANZ studies found that a lightweight house needed five times the insulation value of a mass wall house to achieve the same minimum indoor wall temperatures under fluctuating southern NZ winter conditions (surface temperatures of walls is crucial to both perceptions of comfort and wall surface condensation). Study Report 108 (2001) Thermal Performance of Buildings with Heavy Walls and Study Report 116 (2003) Energy Efficiency of Buildings with Heavy Walls, both by LA Bellamy and D.W. Mackenzie. 2. Rochelle Ade and Michael Rehm, Building and Environment Volume 167 January 2020, Cold Comfort: A postcompletion evaluation of internal temperatures and thermal comfort in 6-Homestar dwellings: 3. Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America: ‘As I went further north and it got colder I was aware of more and more advertising for Florida real estate and, with the approach of the long and bitter winter, I could see why Florida is a golden word. As I went along I found that more and more people lusted toward Florida and that thousands had moved there, and more thousands wanted to and would. The advertising, with a side look at Federal Communications, made few claims except for the fact that the land they were selling was in Florida. Some went out on a limb and promised it was above high tide level. But that didn’t matter; the very name Florida carried the message of warmth and ease and comfort. It was irresistible. I’ve lived in good climate, and it bores the hell out of me. I like weather rather than climate. In Cuernavaca, Mexico, where I once lived, and where the climate is as near to perfect as is conceivable, I have found that when people leave, they usually go to Alaska. I’d like to see how long an Aroostook County (far north-east coast USA) man can stand Florida. The trouble is that with his savings moved and invested there, he can’t very well go back. His dice are rolled and can’t be picked up again. But I do wonder if ... the stab of memory doesn’t strike him high in the stomach just below the ribs where it hurts. And in the humid ever-summer I dare his picturing mindset to go back to the shout of colour, to the clean rasp of frosty air, to the smell of pine wood burning and the caressing warmth of kitchens. For how can one know colour in perpetual green, and what good is warmth without cold to give it sweetness?’ 4. Building Energy Efficiency by Brian Berg (published BRANZ) and BRANZ Build magazine issue 156 October 2016 New home, old habits by Manfred Plagmann.

Insulation and Thermal Mass Martin Ulenberg, ANZIA Registered Architect, offers his view on thermal mass and insulation: We all know that earth is not a good insulator but it does have great thermal storage capacity, which can be just as useful and can ‘even out the swings in temperature’. One of the major misunderstandings is about the difference between insulation and thermal mass. Insulation slows the flow of energy from one side of the wall to the other, whereas thermal mass is an energy battery that stores heat or cold and releases it slowly. We often see people describing cob or rammed earth as insulative, when those materials are strictly thermal mass. What we are aiming for is internal comfort. It is probably right that earthen walls may lead to lower internal air temperatures than highly insulated walls, but internal comfort is much more complicated than high internal air temperature. If designed with passive climate appropriate design principles,

earthen walls can lead to comfortable internal environments by acting as a regulator of heat, coolness and humidity. This is focussing on a much bigger picture than internal air temperature alone. We feel most comfortable with warm surfaces and cooler air as can be achieved with thermal mass and good passive climate appropriate design. For example, you can feel nice, fresh and warm on a cold day if the sun is shining on you. Also, we are moving away from the heavy, high density earthen materials towards lower density, lighter materials as we recognise that they can perform better overall from all aspects, from thermal to ease of building to withstanding earthquakes. The best thermal design in a temperate climate has high mass materials on the inside, surrounded by an enclosing insulative layer designed for passive heating and cooling. www.ulenberg.co.nz

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Conference house tour – South Head mud brick – the main emphasis of the house is on non-toxic materials. Conference house tour – Helensville round house – impressive entry.

Conference house tour – Helensville round house – unique timber basin.

I want to feature your home!

DEAN ROLLER found out, through trial and error, that it was possible to build a granny flat on his property as an owner builder without any prior building experience. Along the way, he did plenty of research into the approval and certification process, as well as the design and practical construction aspects of every stage of the build. He shared his story in TOB 219 September-November 2020, and has also set up a blog to help other prospective granny flat owner builders. www.diygrannyflat.com.au Being a small publication, there aren’t any ‘roving reporters’; the majority of articles come direct from real owner builders. This allows the magazine to present a wide range of geographical locations as well as building styles. You don’t need to be a professional writer either – I am more than happy to work with you to create an article, with comprehensive contributor’s guidelines to get you started.

So please share YOUR owner built project – I’d love to hear from you!

Contact me today: info@theownerbuilder.com.au

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A 80

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Moonshadow Little snippets of this amazing stone home have featured over the years: 182 Apr/May 2014, 184 Aug/Sep 2014, 187 Feb/Mar 2015, 189 Jun/Jul 2015, 195 Jun/Jul 2016, 199 Feb/Mar 2017. Now the full build is revealed.

BY STEPHEN HEHER

In the beginning

My first owner builder experience started 35 years ago in 1985. Being a bricklayer by trade and at a very young age, starting out with a brick structure was a no brainer – quick, solid and non-flammable.

What was designed to be converted into a garage and carport at a later date became the beginning of our home. The basic design was for kitchen, lounge and bedroom all combined, with adjoining laundry, shower, sunroom and porch. A pit toilet sufficed for the first 14 years, as did kerosene lanterns and candle light. I was on my own and lived fairly simply. Cooking and heating was with a solid fuel stove as it is still done today.

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Fast forward to 2007, I met Lyn, the lady who was to become my wife and partner in life. Children came along and suddenly we found ourselves living in one small area; space was needed. So along came the beginnings of our joint owner builder adventure. It began with plans for an extension consisting of three bedrooms, one with ensuite, an entrance with an office space and a verandah all the way around. We decided to build with bush rock from our property for the outward face of external walls and brick, with a lime cement plaster, for the inner faces. Some of the internal walls are single skin brick. The verandah poles, door headers and frames were cut from grey gum on our property. Plans were submitted to council in 2009 and were approved for timber windows and doors. After much debate between council and the Rural Fire Service (RFS) over our fire rating, we were given a low rating which allowed us to continue on as planned. It soon became evident that we were going to have to move and update the existing septic and transpiration system, which was a huge blow to our budget.

Building starts The build began half way through 2009, with the footings dug and poured for the 10,500 bricks to be laid for the dwarf brick walls to level off the sloping site for an infill slab. Bush rocks were

laid externally along the verandah walls. The hollow created by the walls was then filled with grit to hold the slab up; in total, 63 cubic metres of grit were wheelbarrowed in! I realised too late that a suspended slab would have been a better option. A concrete slab was poured, after which the build stopped for a few years so we could save more funds to continue.

Next phase When the bank account was looking good again, we started on the next phase of the external and internal walls. At 350mm thick the external stone walls, along with internal brick walls, provide plenty of thermal mass, resulting in a cool home in summer and one that is easily warmed in winter. The internal brick walls were built first, leaving brick ties and woven mesh (BrickTor) exposed for tying to the external stone walls. During the laying of the bush rocks, crystals were placed among them. These included two large amethyst geodes and others, as featured in TOB 182 April/May 2014. The roof was next, with some builder friends erecting the trusses in a weekend, after which the roof was sheeted. We had a roof and walls. The house was being built as money came in and was a slow process, as we were down to one wage with Lyn at home with the children while they were young. But we desperately needed one more

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room. So we had one window made and found a nice leadlight door from a local recycle shop to enclose our first room. This became our new bedroom but would later be the entrance and office space. The ceiling was lined with v-groove panelling, and at last we had a bit more space. We enjoyed the journey of progress by living in different rooms as they were finished. Next came one of the planned bedrooms, adjoining our room, so that we finally had separate bedrooms.

To lockup stage Our verandah was next, built from blackbutt kiln dried timber and the grey gum poles from our block. A builder friend helped erect the verandah, as it was no easy task. All the verandah timbers and and others throughout the house have been finished with Organoil. Lyn mosaiced some gnomes around the edge of the verandah to add to the already whimsical touch of the house (see TOB 199 Feb/Mar 2017). There was quite a lull in the build again as we accumulated more funds. Finally we had enough money to buy the remaining windows and doors, which was the biggest expense in our build. To compliment the bush rock walls and to be kind to the environment, we decided to invest in Western Australian jarrah framed windows and doors, which we believe was well worth the money. Our home was now at lockup stage.

C Bush rock Cavity Brick work Brick work Timber frame

230mm 90mm

Plan: Aspect Drafting Services

Kitchen

Bedroom

Craft area Sunroom

Meals

7000

Master suite B Foyer

Living

Ensuite

1600

Bath/ Ldry

Verandah

350mm

Existing

3000

1600

10,500

Verandah New

Floor plan

Arrow letters refer to photos

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All change It was about now that we decided to change our floor plan. We had been discussing it for a while and decided that a change would make for a much nicer kitchen, dining and lounge, with views down to the creek, and the original part of the house becoming two spacious and unique bedrooms. This led to the next major job of laying sandstone tiles thought the kitchen, dining and entrance area. Each tile was individually high pressure cleaned and sealed before it was laid, to make the job of cleaning after grouting much easier. On to the kitchen. It was made from Australian red cedar slabs that we purchased at an auction. We designed the kitchen to be open shelved, with natural tree branches as shelf supports. As there was so much cutting and sanding involved, we blew up a circular saw and two sanders. We fitted a recycled sink into the benchtop and Lyn finished the splashback by mosaicing it with intersecting pieces and tiles in an olive green tone. Lyn loves mosaics so there are many pieces around our home and out among our gardens. We purchased the last Stanley Waterford wood stove available in the country. It took some muscle to get it into the kitchen, but it completed our kitchen beautifully. We could now see the finish was near. The plastered walls were painted with Livos paints in an ochre colour. Lyn had done some etching in the render throughout the house, so they were highlighted in a darker shade of ochre (see TOB 184 Aug/Sep 2014). When the sun shines in, it gives our home a beautiful warm golden glow. We divided the old part of the house into two beautiful bedrooms, finished off with timber doors we made ourselves. The electrician finished off the electrical works, and our special purple carpet was laid in the lounge room. After 10 years we had finally finished our beautiful home. Even though it took us 10 years to complete, we were very grateful for each achievement along the way. We still have two more jobs to complete – tiling the verandah with sandstone and to add a deck off the verandah, overlooking the creek. But for now we are just enjoying our home, and these jobs will be completed one day.

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Defending our home 8 November 2019 saw us defend our home for seven hours from the Rumba Dump Complex fire that had been burning for three weeks in the state forest at the end of our valley. With very high temperatures and strong westerly winds, we saw our farm and our valley devastated by the fire. We stayed and defended our home, which shows you can live in the bush if you are prepared. Lyn is a volunteer firefighter with our local RFS brigade, so we had knowledge and experience and were very well prepared for what we were to face that day. After all that work as owner builders, no way were we going to allow a bushfire to take our home from us. It was extremely disappointing and heartbreaking to see the death and destruction the fire caused as well the incredible amount of work they create. Now we are watching our property and valley slowly recover and regenerate. Our home gave us solace while our land was just dust and ash for such a long time after the fire due to the drought. We stand back now, very proud to have saved it and in awe of the home we built with our own two hands. u u

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Stable House Cottage A luxury 2-bedroom cottage set within the grounds of The Australian Bachelor Mansion.

BY STEFAN WILLIAMS

Janelle and I are accustomed to owner building, having completed our dream home seven years ago in Sydney’s leafy Northern Beaches suburb of Oxford Falls. The property itself is a little under two hectares and, while being within the city, it is a country-style estate that is home to several alpacas, four dogs, an orchard, an olive grove, and plenty of wildlife. For the last three years, it has also been the Australian Bachelor Mansion. When we bought the property, it had an older house built in various stages from circa 1940-1980 and several outer buildings dating back to the early 1900s. We demolished the original house during our major rebuild. Last year we decided to embark on a new project, to replace an existing outbuilding with a new incarnation. Stable House Cottage is identical in size, in order to avoid

the complications of a new approval; it nonetheless harnesses the relatively small footprint beautifully. What was a run-down shell of a building – formerly a stable and farm storehouse – with a leaky roof, cracked slab, and degraded walls, became a luxurious, light-filled and spacious 2-bedroom house with excellent termite and fire qualities.

Kit build solution All homes start with a vision, which is a combination of desired size, bedroom count and ultimately style. When we came across Imagine Kit Homes, it changed our thinking and timeline; the project went from one-of-these-days to we-can-do-this-now fairly quickly. This was largely thanks to the fact that, using our well thought out sketches and Pinterest images, the Imagine Kit Homes

designers were able to produce actual plans with renderings in about a week and for just $2800! Part of this process included the costing of the kit home components. We found we had control over flooring type, ceiling height, wind and earthquake rating, cladding and roofing type, door and window types and sizes. All of these could be varied up and down to suit the budget or intended outcome. The kit home approach provided other benefits. The arrival of pre-made computer cut frames made the build process faster than with on-site timber cut-to-size. The various components within the quoted kit price of about $55,000, arrived at specific times that suited the build timeline, and the ability to call to vary these as needed was very useful.

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Building the main house had been a much larger project. While there were many lessons from that build, this time we took a different approach. We did little of the actual construction ourselves, but oversaw everything and managed all the trades, budget, etc. in conjunction with an experienced carpenter builder, on an hourly rate, who did much of the building work. Separate contractors were brought in for the internal plasterwork, electricals, plumbing, painting and air conditioning.

Steel framing and raft slab The Stable House Cottage abuts an escarpment bushland area, and while still technically in the same fire-rating zone as the main house (BAL 12.5) it was a key consideration that non-combustible materials be used, which also provides inherent termite protection. Steel framing seemed a smart approach, and the kit home design was steel frame. Our design features vertically oriented V groove fibre cement panel cladding (James Hardie Axon) beneath a Colorbond roof, with Bradford insulation batts in the walls and roof. We chose to replace and re-pour the building slab, with an engineer designing the raft slab with concrete piers for about $1,000; the cost for the slab itself was considerably more. We could have gone for a suspended timber floor instead,

were we not in such proximity to a fire zone, and that would have saved us money – but we feel the modern slab was the right choice in this instance. Although the internal area is relatively small at 89m2, the way it flows – with no wasted space and all rooms having access to outside via wide-opening sliding doors – really brings the outside in and extends the visual feel of the home. Raked ceilings throughout, except the bathroom, increase the feeling of space. In the kitchen, the solid brass taps add some patina, while the splashback doubles as a window that looks out on the riparian zone semi-rainforest outside. A nice touch was the addition of a small privacy-screened deck flowing off the bathroom/laundry room. We found an old cast iron bath in a paddock, kindly donated by a neighbour. This outdoor bath really makes the bathroom feel much more special, and the ability to sit beneath the boughs of the nearby trees and enjoy a bath adds a touch of luxury. Out the front, a 40m2 polycarbonateroofed deck was built, essentially doubling the usable living area, while not increasing the actual building size. The decking from TimberTech is a composite product that is also essentially fire and termite proof and never needs repainting. It was more expensive than traditional timber but provides greater durability and lower maintenance over time.

The cottage is on town water, with sewer connection to an existing onsite Biolytix wastewater system. Hot water system is instantaneous LPG. Power is via the grid, with the house having a 5kW grid-connected solar power system. The end result adds significant value to our property. While compact, it is highly functional and really looks the part. In terms of costs, with a high specification fitout, the covered decks and outdoor bath, the total finished cost was under $2000 per square metre. It’s a great result, in a short timeframe, and we couldn’t be happier. u u

Imagine Kit Homes

Steel framed architecturally designed kit homes.

1800 548 723 www.imaginekithomes.com.au

TimberTech

Natural looking composite decking products.

0449 861 967 www.timbertech.com.au

James Ross, Carpenter Sydney Northern Beaches. 0423 240 873

11400

D Bedroom

Kitchen

8000

Bath/ Laundry

Dining

E H

Deck F

G Bedroom

Living B

Plans: Imagine Kit Homes

Stable House Cottage – Floor plan

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Arrow letters refer to photos

Some more of The Good Life Warwick has been sharing his build with us over a number of issues (TOB 189, 190, 191, 197, 206).

BY WARWICK CARTER While the structures had all been completely built, there were still plenty of small finishing jobs that needed doing, plus a large garden to bring under control.

Cypress bar In TOB 206 I explained how I had finished off the cypress slab bar top with Johnson Durosil wax and was uncertain how it would hold up as a protective finish. After four years of service, I can report that if you really don’t want

any marks or blemishes, then this isn’t the product for you. My primary demand however was for something that maintains softwood’s muted pastel tone, as all other products I used have drastically transformed the colour and texture. In this regard it’s been a success, and refinishing and reapplying is fairly straightforward. The next step was designing and constructing the bar shelving and backing using the cypress cladding that had been dressed by my local

cabinetmaker specifically for this task. I set two hardened plate glass shelves into a sheet of MDF veneered with the cypress boards, then fixed this into the recessed bar alcove. Shan gave me a hand with joining and installing, and then had free rein to fill the nooks and niches with all the bar treasures she had accumulated in anticipation. We absolutely love the bar area and have started making great use of it, though an unfortunate (and inevitable) consequence is an increase in our alcohol consumption!

Garage doors

Storage

I left off last time with the floors, windows and workshop access door completed, the outside cypress cladding completed, and a jarrah post framed work bench that needed shelves built and installed. There was a more pressing task than the work bench though, and that was building and hanging double doors for the garage. The starlings had made themselves at home and were making a terrible mess, so I sat down and sketched out a design for timber framed, cypress clad doors. I lack the patience and skill to make quality mortice and tenon joints. However, I have found through experience that a combination of glued halving joints, batten screws and bracing is a thoroughly robust alternative for the lazy carpenter. I purchased 90x35mm structural pine timber and constructed the basic frame as mentioned above, then stapled a moisture membrane onto the outside face of the door; I didn’t want to paint the door cladding as I am a prisoner to aesthetics, and so there would be a high probability that water would penetrate. I rebated the lengths of cypress to provide joint overlap, and installed them by fixing them with screws internally. This gives a nice finish with no visible fixings on the outside of the doors, but it is not an easy task on your own as the doors get progressively heavier. I finished them off with two coats of Cutek Extreme, as with the rest of the building’s exterior. Each door weighed at least 60kg by now, so sturdy hinges would be required. I wanted something suitably rustic, so I had my local engineering team, Aussie Engineering, fabricate some pointed head straps with barrel hinges. I had them powder coated, and proceeded to hang the doors. Due to the weight, I installed them out of square in anticipation that they would drop over time. This has proven to be true and they have settled into alignment well – this is something I encountered when making my timber garden shed doors. I installed an old school drop-in block latch on the back of the door (like you see in the western movies) for now, but I have a set of electric door closers that will be installed at some point soon.

Next priority was providing myself with some shed storage, and I started on the bench cupboards next. I had been given some lovely Tasmanian oak cupboard doors, but baulked at the cost of pre-fabricated carcasses. I purchased melamine sheets from Bunnings and after the obligatory sketches, knocked some frames up using a Kreg jig, a tool used to join wood. Shan helped me install

the carcass into the workbench frame, and after I hung the cupboard doors I gave myself a bit of a back slap. They would be a little bit rough for a kitchen but are pretty flash for a shed – all up the whole lot only set me back about $300. Top: A door repurposed as a window above the gifted Tasmanian oak cupboards. Bottom: Sturdy rustic garage doors.

My original shed design had included a mezzanine floor spanning half of the shed length. In reality this was a bit excessive for our needs, so we decided on a reduced 3m span over the car bay. I cut some of the 150x70mm steel C sections to length, and purchased some brackets that would suit the abbreviated design. I intended to lay 19mm STRUCTAflor

particleboard, which requires fixing at 450mm centres, but I wanted to use nails rather than screws for a neater finish. I achieved this by cutting 70x45mm timbers to length and fixing them to the top of each C section joist. These were bolted into place at the correct height for the floor, and it was just a case of cutting the flooring to size and nailing it down.

Shan and I were at loggerheads over what this area would be used for but we reached a compromise; she can do her mosaics and craftwork in my storage area instead of up here. Access currently is via an extension ladder, but I will need to install something more appropriate when I get an opportunity.

Gabion walls We had previously completed the wicking beds and herb garden against the chook yard fence. I needed a completely enclosed garden as the sheep have the run of the place, and there were two open sides that needed fencing off (the chook yard and garden shed act as the other two sides). My plan was to construct a 2.7x8m greenhouse and use the structure as a fence on one side, and to build a 12m long fence on the remaining side to provide protection against the southerly winds. I’ve always admired gabion walls, and we have a lifetime supply of rocks so the decision was easily made. I found a gabion specialist retailer online called Permathene, and purchased a 300x1500mm frame kit with steel spiral binders. Tall thin gabions need to be supported internally with posts every metre, so the first thing I did was hire an excavator and drill holes for the greenhouse and gabion wall. After the treated pine posts were installed, I assembled my kits around the posts over a layer of weed matting. Easy part done. Then the laborious process of filling the mesh neatly with rocks and bracing was undertaken over the course of many months. We also later repeated this process on a 15m wall along our driveway, but these were only 1m high and the final results are of a much greater standard. I estimate that both the walls consumed at least 13 large tandem trailer loads of rocks into the frames before we finished, along with all my spare time and part of my spine. Having said that, it looks awesome and it is one of the most rewarding projects that I have ever completed. This page: The impressive 15m long gabion wall along the driveway was a laborious but rewarding project. Opposite page: Reclaimed pavers provide a walkway between beds in the greenhouse.

Gabion advice Some words of advice for those contemplating a gabion venture: • The rocks need to be placed into position with care, or the finished product looks terrible. The rocks settle over time, and you will end up with an empty top if you neglect to do this. • You need a huge supply of rocks; a lot more than you anticipate. If you don’t have access to them, then this will become a very expensive fence. • Tall walls are very difficult to construct, as you cannot put your arm down and manipulate rocks until you get near the top. You will need to become very adept at moving rocks with a stick through gaps in the mesh.

Greenhouse

Good gates

The greenhouse posts had been set in place and I purchased treated pine timber to complete the framework. I built two long raised garden beds with a paved walkway down the middle using reclaimed pavers from Poonindie Kindergarten. The beds were made using Sienna treated pine sleepers (nonCCA micronized copper azole treatment), which is a product I haven’t used before but I hope lives up to its claims. I have had a lot of trouble with hardwood sleepers warping, and I hope that they will provide a long term solution as an alternative to CCA treaded products. My parent’s property had some old greenhouse steel trusses that I modified to suit and I installed them in place. I have purchased some greenhouse material from eBay and will install that very soon. I also intend to build a roller soon with shadecloth that can be pulled over the greenhouse for very hot days.

Keeping sheep ‘in’ is always nice, and it’s easier with good gates – something we did not possess for our driveway or the new garden. Our front Cyclone wire gates were in very poor shape, and I received feedback that this needed to be attended to as a priority. I am a fan of English hook-top gates, and thought I would have a go at making some. One of the first things I did was purchase hinges. I did some searching online and found a company in Bellarine, Victoria that makes gates and fittings and proceeded to call Ian at Blackwood Country Gates. They had a comprehensive range of hinges, but I required some tailoring to satisfy my requirements, and it was no trouble for them to provide a customised product. My spear tip strap hinges arrived and looked an absolute treat. They mirror the hinges that I had just installed on my garage, not to mention function fantastically.

I had some pieces of slabbed sugar gum from trees from our property that a friend had milled when we first started work on our block. I thought these would be perfect for the garden gates, and I commenced construction after obligatory sketches were made. The timber had warped slightly, so my carpentry skills were challenged again, but I am very adept now at making crooked things appear straight. I made two gates, one being fixed to the new composting pit and the second hung from the greenhouse frame. Sugar gum is super-hard, and these babies should last a long time.

For the property access gates, I initially planned to construct a single 6m span gate. When I spoke to Ian about ordering hinges for this, he highlighted potential issues I would encounter with such a long reach, and I readjusted the plans for a double gate design. I purchased treated pine structural timber and used the tried and tested lazy carpenter method (glue/screws/halving joints). I had some trepidations that the technique wouldn’t be strong enough, but the reinforcing brace that attaches to the hook provides a lot of support. Once they were painted and installed, they proved strong and I couldn’t discern any noticeable drop.

Fixing the gates via the galvanised straps to round fence posts was pretty tricky however, and much patience was expended. The last touch was adding a vintage ‘shut the gate’ sign and a steel latch.

This page below: Good gates (and fences) make good neighbours! English hook-top gates were the inspiration for these. Opposite page: The completely enclosed garden keeps the sheep out.

Chook yard

Gabion wall

Wicking bed

Greenhouse

Garden shed

Herb garden

Compost beds

Garden layout

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Smokehouse

Fire pit table

When I was making the doors for the shed, I realised that I had just enough cypress panels left over for a small project. I was always envious of Uncle Ned’s homemade smoker and, after a couple of quick online searches, I had a picture in my head of what I was going to make. I laid a base of reclaimed red bricks left over from the lounge room bar, and constructed a frame out of 90x35mm construction timber. I clad this in the rebated cypress (virtually the same process as making the shed doors) and bent up a sheet of galvanised metal to serve as a roof. The back of the brick base has an opening for a long stainless steel pipe so I have the option to cold smoke from a kettle BBQ if I choose. Mostly I hot smoke though. Basically the process involves making a small fire in the bottom and then giving it a hard time; about every 1 – 2 hours the timber needs replenishing. I have knocked out some yummy speck, smoked hocks, fish and oysters and I wish I had more time to use it.

Shan had requested a table or bench around the fire pit not long after we started using it. I had a couple of sleepers I set into the ground as the base, and Shan had mentioned she would like the top to have a rusty metal look. The simplest way I could think to achieve this was by making a timber frame and dropping a mild steel cap over it. Aussie Engineering fabricated one to my measurements and it slipped over the base perfectly. This has now developed a lovely rusty patina and fits in beautifully with the pit and surrounds.

On to the next projects; garage door electric openers, home office modifications, old school repairs and more stone work around the house. Living the good life! u WARWICK CARTER is a father of two, living the dream on the Eyre Peninsula with wife Shannon. A former soldier, he grew up on a farm and lived interstate and overseas before returning home. Warwick is now an electrician with an avid interest in building in stone, selfsufficiency, black faced Suffolk sheep, colonial architecture and gardening.

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Architect - Sue Mitchell, Walls - Olnee Rammed Earth, Image - Rene Mitchell-Pitman

BUILD OF EARTH FOR THE EARTH www.ebaa.asn.au 0429 321 104

Renew ENERGY CONSULTANCY Have a question about solar, batteries, going off grid, hot water systems, space heating and cooling, general energy efficiency, or lowering your energy bills? Purchase a 1-hour consult today with a Renew independent expert. P: 03 9639 1500 W: renew.org.au/what-we-do/energy-consult

Earth Building Association of Australia_QP.indd 1

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26/2/19 12:12 pm

Directory of services...

Architects, designers, builders and other service providers

1-5 HOUR MICRO COURSES

BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL

www.learnhowto.com.au

www.bpeq.qld.gov.au

Hundreds of courses. 16+ categories. Cancel any time. $32.95 AUD a month. The first month comes free.

BSE CONSULTING – STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS Leaders in straw and earth engineering design

We currently service NSW, ACT, VIC and QLD.

We are inspired to fight mediocrity in residential engineering design. Our business is the accessibility of straw and earth building technologies. Our service is the demonstration of National Construction Code (NCC) compliance of all types of straw and earth structures through engineering design and NCC Performance Solutions. Contact us for structural engineering and NCC Performance Solutions with guaranteed acceptance by councils and consent authorities. www.bseconsulting.com.au 03 5221 5776

TIMBER FRAMES OF AUSTRALIA www.timberframes.com.au

Timber frames crafted for beautiful homes and outdoor structures using traditional mortise and tenon joinery. Office: 08 8390 3150

ROOFING MOUNTED GUTTER BRACKETS www.gandgbrackets.com.au

No fascia boards or rafters required. Reduces building materials. Allows extended roof sheet overhang. Fixes directly to roof sheeting, also bullnose. Big problem solver. The brackets come in three gutter profiles. Sizes: 115mm + 125mm quad, high and low front; 150mm V round fits all V round profiles. email@gandgbrackets.com.au Phone 0427 510 778 for contact or leave message Order direct online, payment C.O.D or direct deposit.

EARTH BUILDING ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA www.ebaa.asn.au

Australia’s only association dedicated to furthering the use of building with unfired earth, an environmentally sustainable technology. 0429 321 104

QLD

ENGINEERS OF QLD

BPEQ registers engineers for practise and can investigate engineering faults or defects. If you are engaging an engineer, make sure they are registered by using the online RPEQ search.

AUSTRALASIAN STRAW BALE BUILDING ASSOCIATION www.ausbale.org

The Australasian Straw Bale Building Association is an organisation that promotes the use of straw bale construction as a sustainable building material. Facebook: @Ausbale

ENERGY EFFICIENT SOLUTIONS FOR YOUR HOME! www.ecoMasterStore.com.au

Do you want an energy efficient home? Warm in winter, cooler in summer, much lower energy bills and doing your bit for the environment – you just don’t know where to start? Don’t worry – we have done the research so you don’t have to. We have the best solutions for all sorts of doors, windows, chimneys, gaps, ceiling, wall and underfloor insulation and more! FREE ecoMasterClasses to guide you. Video instructions even a child can follow! Easier than a flat pack – no allen key required. #noexcuses

SELECT CUSTOM JOINERY

ACT

NSW

www.selectcustomjoinery.com.au Plywood kitchens, joinery and shelving you can install yourself. Durable, sustainable and gorgeous. Premium materials, fittings and fixtures. Delivery Australia wide. 02 6230 9414

RAMMED EARTH 2-DAY WORKSHOPS Learn how to build with Rammed Earth

VIC

Learn the skills and techniques you need to build your own beautiful Rammed Earth projects. Over two days, we cover all the essentials: • Soils • Forms • Mixing • Ramming • Equipment You’ll be on the tools on real-world projects. $640 per person. Six places maximum. Where: Woolshed Valley, Beechworth Dates and bookings: www.rammedearth.house

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Directory of services (cont’d) URBAN FARM AND HOUSE – sustainable design

VIC

www.urbanfarmandhouse.com.au

77 Miles Road, West Creek, Vic 3992 Phone: 03 5674 9393 sue.mitchell7@bigpond.com Environmentally sensitive and innovative design in rammed earth, mud brick, stone and timber.

Saimon has been designing homes for 18 years with friendly, clear and thoughtful design services. VBA DP-AD registered. urbanfarmandhouse@gmail.com or 0409 336 620

VIC

GREEN POINT DESIGN

www.greenpointdesign.com.au

SO’R CONSTRUCTION – STRAW BALE www.sorconstruction.com.au

Certified Passive House Designer Friendly and professional architectural service 320 Neill St, Ballarat Vic 3350 Phone 03 5338 8260

www.mudbrick.org.au

VIC

Energy efficient, environmentally conscious and intuitive design. Services: Consulting, Design, Drafting and Thermal Performance Assessments. Wangaratta 03 5725 7305

BRAD HOOPER, ARCHITECT FRAIA A+

VIC

NSW

www.bradhooperarchitect.com

www.techdry.com.au

Broad range of products include water repellent and stain proof sealers, admixtures for concrete, renders and paint. Also a specialised product range for earth building protection.

www.effectivethermalsolutions.com.au

www.belgraphik.com

Environmental and challenging sites our specialty. • COUNTRY • CLASSIC • CONTEMPORARY Registered Building Practitioner. VIC. BELGRAVE Ph: 03 9754 7464

www.lucasmill.com

High quality portable sawmills. Simple to operate, affordable and versatile with regards to its ability to be used in any environment. Phone 03 5728 7283

www.mudbrickcircus.com.au

Help our environment by building out of handmade mudbricks with a low carbon footprint. • Ideal for the DIY owner builder. We have

• •

Earthbrick walls will protect from wildfires.

MUDTEC – COMPRESSED EARTH TECHNOLOGIES

NSW

www.mudtec.com.au

Warm winters, cool summers!

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forty-three years experience helping owner builders to achieve their dreams.

Benefit from the huge thermal mass of mud brick walls. • Natural humidity control. • Excellent sound proof and acoustic qualities. Ph. Rob or Judith on 03 54226602

www.UnderfloorInsulationAustralia.com.au

Happy family, happy life!

VIC

THE MUD BRICK CIRCUS

VIC

An uninsulated timber floor can make your home really uncomfortable in winter and summer. For a comfy home, you need DIY-friendly LONG R2.5 polyester ROLLS. People friendly. No itch. Non-toxic. Fireproof. Moisture and rodent resistant. Online pricing and video instructions. ecoMasterClasses to guide you. Delivery Australia wide! Save $1,000s on your energy bills.

VIC

LUCAS MILL

Experienced in providing 6 star energy ratings, bushfire assessments and design advice. Please call 0435 892 799

BEST UNDERFLOOR INSULATION

VIC

BELGRAPHIK BUILDING DESIGN

0418 105 954, bradhooperarchitect@gmail.com

VIC

TECH-DRY BUILDING PROTECTION SYSTEMS

Architectural design, plans and specifications. Specialist planning permit, bushfire overlay and heritage expertise. Registered Vic and NSW.

BUSHFIRE (BAL & BMO) ASSESSMENTS AND 6 STAR ENERGY RATINGS

VIC

Call Shamus O’Reilly 0400 875 345

Sharing their passion and commitment for the future of the earth building industry, to strengthen Nillumbik’s standing as Australia’s most important mudbrick region.

TRACEY TOOHEY DESIGN & DRAFTING

Geelong region

We work with you to build your dream home. Experienced sustainable builder. Specialising in passive designed straw bale.

VIC

NILLUMBIK MUDBRICK ASSOCIATION

VIC

SUE MITCHELL, Architect

MUDTEC compressed earth technologies

Compressed earth blocks, natures alternative. Strong, fire resistant, high thermal mass. Beautiful earthen finish, low embodied energy. Customised to order. Great for owner builders.

Directory of services (cont’d) NSW

TRADITIONAL TIMBER FRAMES www.traditionaltimberframe.com.au

MIRANDA CORKIN – MKC BUILDING DESIGN www.mkcbuildingdesign.com.au

NSW

Mortice and tenon timber frames for all types of structures. Based in the southern highlands of NSW.

Sustainable building design and drafting. Personal experience as an owner builder. National design award winner. BDAA Accreditation.

Ph: 0415 111 526

0438 552 939 Blue Mountains & regional NSW

NSW

HUNTER ORGANIC GROWERS SOCIETY

www.hunterorganicgrowerssociety.org.au

studioGREEN architects

www.studiogreen.com.au

Sowing and nurturing the organic word in the Hunter Valley. Field days and our monthly newsletter encourage sustainable use of the earth in all aspects of daily life.

WOODWRIGHT HOME DESIGN

NSW

www.woodwright.com.au

QLD

Design firm specialising in cost effective design solutions, alternate building methods and helping owner builders. Call Kurt on 0434 884 633

G.W. WITTMANN & ASSOC.

Consulting Structural Engineers

Structural calculations, footing design and documentation for council approval within South Australia. Phone: 08 8352 7764

• Design and drafting services for NSW • Experienced carpenter and owner builder • 3D technical drawings for DIY construction • Traditional style with modern functionality • Natural materials and passive design • Designing homes to stand for generations. Custom home design services based on building science to guide you to a durable, efficient and sustainable home. Derek@woodwright.com.au 0400 316 387

HOUSE OF BALES

www.houseofbales.com.au Experienced straw bale builder, consulting, building supervisor, owner builder assistance, spray rendering. Licence BLD 48998 0402 911 216, sabale@bigpond.com

NSW

TERRA PRIMA SUSTAINABLE DESIGNS www.facebook.com/terraprimadesigns

‘Drafting your design or helping to create it. A holistic service that gets you started.’ New homes, alterations and additions. Permaculture consultants. BASIX, bushfire, zoning and flooding assessments. Based in Newcastle, servicing the Hunter Valley and surrounds. Our designs don’t cost the earth! Contact Natalie Allan. Ph/fax: 02 4967 3641. Mob: 0409 126 353 Email: terraprima@bigpond.com

NSW

INTEGRATED BIO-TECTURE DESIGN www.integratedbiotecture.com

BOHDAN DORNIAK & CO. P/L www.bdcoarchitects.com.au

Environmentally sustainable architectural design, specialising in straw bale and alternative construction. Building Supervisor Licence BLD6482. ph 08 8344 8170, Bohdan@bdcoarchitects.com.au

Directory of services advertising For more details or to book:

Download the media kit from the website or email me

www.theownerbuilder.com.au > Collaborate or email me info@theownerbuilder.com.au

LOG BUILDING ASSOCIATION OF NZ www.logbuildingnz.org.nz

Natural building design and construction. Healthy spaces for living. Energy efficient buildings. Natural materials. Reclaimed and recycled. Experience working with owner builders.

Helping to foster log building in NZ; courses, newsletters, conferences and house tours. PO Box 9052, Annesbrook, Nelson 7044, NZ secretary@logbuildingnz.org.nz

NSW

EARTH BUILDING ASSOCIATION OF NEW ZEALAND

AUSTRALIAN RURAL EDUCATION CENTRE www.arec.com.au

With a dedicated exhibition area, AREC plays host to a number of community events, sustainable building courses, hosts the Mudgee Small Farm Field Days and provides excellent hire facilities.

www.earthbuilding.org.nz

Keep in touch with earth building in NZ. Quarterly magazine, contacts and advice. 2152 Kaipara Coast Highway, RD4, Warkworth 0984 www.facebook.com/earthbuilding

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Stone Hollow A dream family home

Creating a dream family home is a team effort; I can honestly say that without my wife, Gabrielle, I could not have created what we have here today.

BY GREG EASON

I was born in Newcastle in NSW. I left home in 1976 for a one-month surfing trip to Cactus Beach in South Australia. The waves were so good and uncrowded, that life in the area seemed inviting. This great place became home and is where I met my beautiful wife, Gabrielle. Our building journey has been a long one. It started back in 1990, a year after we were married and took up residence in a small beach shack in Gabrielle’s home town of Elliston. We bought it from a friend, Mark, after seeing it for sale in the Port Lincoln Times. At the time, it was all we needed; we were happy to wake up every morning and look at the ocean waves from the kitchen sink, and to enjoy the magnificent sunsets at beer o’clock. We had been living in the cute little two-room shack for about six months when Gabrielle fell pregnant with our daughter Esther. We discussed future plans of either adding on to the shack, with a separate bedroom for Esther, or demolishing the love shack and replacing it with a two-storey family home. One morning while we were having a cup of tea, admiring the ocean and saying how lucky we were to have scored the shack from Mark, Gabrielle’s father Peter dropped in for a visit. He asked us to take a drive with him as he wanted to show us the section of farmland that he had subdivided into 13 residential blocks, all around 4000m2

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with spectacular views of Waterloo Bay and out to sea. When we arrived, Peter said he and Gwen, Gabrielle’s mom, would like us to choose a block as a gift! We decided on Lot 3, across the road from the beach and with expansive ocean views from the top of the block. Peter had grown cereal crops on this land for many years, so we agreed that trees had to be planted immediately to change the barren landscape. He suggested we contact a friend of his to drill for water and to set up a bore, as no mains supply was available. Once the bore was sunk, Peter organised some rolls of poly pipe, along with 20 tap risers and taps, which we located around the block.

Shed living We decided to construct a 6x12m shed from Olympic Industries along with a 20,000-litre rainwater tank at the bottom of the relatively steep block, with the idea of building a house at the top end one day. Once the shed was up, we decided to add a lean-to on the northern side, lined with plasterboard and divided into two bedrooms. This would provide temporary accommodation while we decided what to do with the beach shack. After living in it for a while, we really got to like the quiet and privacy of the block, surrounded by trees and with space for a big vegetable garden. We decided to ‘upgrade’

the shed instead, by cutting a section of the wall away so as to open the bedroom lean-to area up to the main shed. Firstly, we removed the sliding doors on the shed. Initial thoughts of filling the gaps with weatherboard or timber were replaced with using stone cladding. Elliston has an abundance of random rubble limestone in the fields, much of it has perfect faces and is quite square. And so the stone collecting began… after many box trailer and van loads, we had enough laid out on the ground, with the best face upwards. Next we needed sand. A good mate Brett said he had a sand pit on his land that would be suitable. Many more trailer loads later, this time of sand, we had enough material to get started. We used a mix of 3 sand: 1 hydrated lime, which produced a nice creamy mortar. I reckon we manhandled each stone at least four times before they were finally laid in the wall. Opposite page clockwise from top left: Gabrielle busy pointing up between the stone and cleaning the stone face. Another great stone ready to lay on Esther’s bedroom extension. Esther and friend Jack at 3-years-old, waiting for a barrow ride. 1990 with shed and lean-to. Gate frames in place and fence posts ready to brush in.

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We started at the front of the shed, where the sliding doors had been removed, with a double-faced stone wall so as to have a nice stone feature wall in our lounge room, which also provided thermal mass. Gabrielle did the pointing up and cleaning of the face as I laid the stone, which was a great help as it saved me having to knock off early from laying each day in order to do it myself. Gwen was a great help too, looking after Esther when she was little while Gabrielle helped me. As the wall took shape, Gabrielle commented that it would look great if the entire shed could be clad in the same way. Her idea was put into practice and the job of collecting mega quantities of stone and sand began. The stone walls

are 350mm thick; at times, Gabrielle and I admit that we really didn’t realise the enormous amount of work required to collect enough stone.

Travelling help Employed as a prawn fisherman in Port Lincoln, about 170km from Elliston, I would leave home for 50 nights a year, between November and June, fishing around the new moon. Having a seasonal job allowed for lots of free time to be home laying stone. A friend of Brett’s, Daniel ‘Ding’ Prout, had just arrived in Elliston as part of his end-of-carpentry-apprenticeship travel surfing holiday. We told him what we were doing and he said that, as he had

his tool trailer with him, he was keen to do some work. While Gabrielle and I got on with facing up the metal walls of the shed with stone, Ding started transforming the shed into a house. He cut holes in the metal for doors and windows, framed these with timber and then Gabrielle and I would stone up to and around the framework. One morning, we noticed activity at the jetty across the road; they were setting up to replace the jetty timbers, planks and railings. We thought the planks would be ideal for lintels and door frames, so after some negotiation we were loading beautiful 3m lengths of 200x80mm jarrah planks. Ding then cut, planed and sanded these. We placed ‘wanted to buy’ adverts for timber windows and doors into the two local newspapers, and it wasn’t long before we were driving up and down the coast buying recycled materials. A man from Ceduna said he had carefully removed all the jarrah timber windows and doors from a house and we could have the lot for $150. We couldn’t believe our luck, as the large windows were ideal for the bungalow that we intended to build at a later date. After many long days laying stone and Ding fitting out and lining the inside of the shed, we painted the lounge room and laid cork tiles on the floor everywhere except the bathroom, where ceramic tiles sourced from a garage sale were used. I must say thank you to Kym and Marie Woolford of Choices Flooring in Port Lincoln for the great deal they gave us on the cork tiles. Our friend, Curtis, who had helped with the initial shed erection, installed a Nectre Mark II slow combustion fireplace, made in Adelaide and supplied by Lincoln Home Hardware, that heats the house up nicely within about 15 minutes of being lit. We now had lots of extra space.

Left top: Ding cutting a hole in the shed wall with an angle grinder, to open the shed to the kitchen-dining lean-to area,. Left bottom: Ding making the front door frame from planks we recycled from the town jetty across the road. Opposite page: An aerial photo taken with a drone by our friend Sirus Williams, who joked ‘Ya joint looks like Tom Cruise’s’.

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Sunroom

Bungalow

D Bali hut

Shed/house

A 15700

Verandah E

Bedroom Living/Family

Pergola

Entry

Plan reproduction: Al Brown

12750

WIR

Meals Bedroom

Kitchen

Laundry Bath

Floor plan - shed/house (not to scale)

Arrow letters refer to photos

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Left: Rania hard at work helping me with the mortar ‘you select the stone dad and I will get the mortar’. Such a joy to have the whole family involved. Below left: Dave our carpenter in front of the sunroom, with his legendary double peace sign and with his Ugg boots on! Below right: July 2015. Rania (aged 9) and Greg laying the last stone in the bungalow. From first stone to last stone, Rania was always involved. Bottom left: Jack rendering the sunroom chimney, Pete and Nick observing. Bottom right: Greg stoning in the fireplace in the sunroom.. Opposite page: View of the house over the pool from the sunroom.

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After helping us transform the inside of the shed into a house, building a 3m wide verandah all around and extending Esther’s bedroom, it was time for Ding to continue his travels. We were stoked with his work!

Bungalow, sunroom, pool Gabrielle and I then discussed our idea of building a bungalow for our daughters, Esther and Rania. After many truckloads of clean fill, we went about levelling and preparing the 500x500mm footings for the 400mm stone walls and a 100mm concrete slab. All this thermal mass keeps the inside of the bungalow nice and cool in summer when the temperature gets up to 40 degrees and over. It was once again time to start laying stone. We had all the windows and doors and knew how to do the stonework, but without Ding we had no carpenter. At some stage another chippy surfer would cruise into town, but when was the question. In the meantime, with walls 400mm thick and mostly double faced, a lot of stone laying had to be done. Another carpenter named Daniel arrived and agreed to do the roof trusses only, as he was also on a round the coast surfing trip. The trusses were up and the wait for yet another travelling carpenter was on. A few weeks later we heard that a

bloke from Newy (Newcastle), my old hometown, had arrived. We met up with Dave and talked about the great childhood and beaches there. He came out to have a look at what we were doing and agreed to work on the project when there was no surf. He powered into it – plastering the loft was a mission, Fergie helped lay the floor, Dave planed the jetty planks for the lintels and kitchen benchtops, tiled the bathroom – his skills were outstanding. Dave then went on to build the sunroom and Bali hut, as well as helping to dig trenches, install pipework and the pumphouse for the pool. There was nothing Dave couldn’t do and we are forever grateful. Allan ‘Browny’ Brown, a very good second fix carpenter, was involved at various stages of the house and bungalow build. A dear friend, Misty, also came to help out while Gabrielle was unable to; a big thanks to her, as she was an absolutely fantastic worker and just got stuck in. The pool was installed by Brad Richards and his boys TJ and Dougie , from Port Lincoln Fibreglass Industries. They did an amazing job as it was no easy feat getting the pool down our steep driveway and into position. Along with our good mate Tony Scott at the helm of the crane, we knew our pool was in good hands. Hard working paver Brett Davidson was rounded up and, along

with his old crayfishing skipper Pedro Martin preparing on the mini loader, did a great job of laying the pavers. Todd Wellington of UrbanStone in Adelaide provided the 400x400mm sandstone pavers; they are a really good product and Todd was a pleasure to do business with, such a genuine bloke. With the pool in, the sunroom built and Bali hut added at the opposite end from the bungalow, we were starting to see the place take shape.

Finishing work The open fireplace in the sunroom was the work of my old mate Pig Dog Pete, Jack Dufek and Nick Steel from Port Lincoln. The footing is 500mm deep x 1500mm wide and 4500mm long. It took them just over four days from scratch to lay the brickwork; it then took me another three weeks to face it with stone. The steel lintel is bent into shape for the heat to enter the room, rather than disappearing up the chimney, and for the smoke to draw. The ambience and entertainment we get from the fire alone is very relaxing, while cooking jaffles and potatoes in alfoil gives us the camping feel. Dave laid bamboo flooring in the bungalow and sunroom, once again supplied by Kym of Choices Flooring. It is an excellent product that we highly

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recommend. It is a toss up between the cork and bamboo. They are both warm underfoot. Cork is slightly softer meaning dropped glasses don’t usually break and it is nice to lie on with a pillow while watching television. There was a lot more involved with laying cork as it needed gluing down and then sanding between each of two coats of sealer, as well as ongoing maintenance. With the bamboo, the underlay foam went down and then the boards were locked into place with the tongue and groove system, with nothing further required as the boards were pre-finished. Esther and Rania, now 28 and 13, are stoked to have their own self-contained bungalow with space to entertain friends and have sleepovers.

Self sufficient sustainability We used as much natural and recycled material as we could, either collected from auctions or by placing wanted adverts in the local papers. On one of the many stone collecting trips, out near Sheringa on the Nowhere Else Road, we had been lucky to get a load of roof tiles from Scott Wandell who was having his roof replaced. Dave used these on the roof of the Bali hut. For the sunroom, the roof trusses came from an old barn on Danny Reid’s farm, with the design developed around their size. The roof sheeting, gutters and pine cladding was bought new, as were the windows and door, from our friend Damien at Nu-View in Port Lincoln.

There are 40 solar panels on the northfacing house roof, providing 10 kilowatts of solar power. We still don’t have a mains water supply so rely on bore water for the toilet, washing machine, garden and pool. There are also four 22,500-litre Team Poly rainwater tanks for drinking and bathing.

Gratitude For a long time our yard looked like a mine site, with stone lying everywhere as we built in between fishing, surfing and travelling to remote surfing spots in Indonesia during the winter. But, as they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day and I can honestly say that we would probably still be at it if not for the fact that Dave from Newcastle decided to stay in Elliston and bought himself a block of land. Now Stone Hollow is our own private little resort. We all love to swim and hang out as a family in summer, having a barbeque, playing handball, just having fun without having to leave home other than to go surfing or fishing. We all love fishing, regularly taking our 4.5m Gannet fibreglass boat out on Anxious Bay hooking King George whiting or flathead. From November to May we set two cray pots from time to time. Every now and then we jump over the side with a mask, snorkel, fins and abalone iron to ship a few abalone for the barbie. We have Christmas here most years with all of Gabrielle’s family. Peter can’t give us enough praise for all the work we have done since the day he took us up for that drive and gave us the block. Thanks

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to Peter and Gwen; we always said we would value add to the block. Peter was a great help to us; he would come and spend a few days helping me lift rocks, measure and select the stone to be laid next. He also helped on many brush cutting missions, for our timber fence, that involved 10-hour days, cutting brush with a machete, bundling it and carrying it back to the trailer. Every day we say how lucky we are to have what we have and we are forever grateful to all the team of workers that have helped us along the way. u

Passion for stone I have had a real passion for stone; to be able to build with it has been a dream come true. Living here in Elliston where there is an abundance of limestone made it a practical choice to build with. Even now, when driving up and down the coast, I stop and collect a few stones to take home. Stone is part of my life and there are so many things that can be made from it. Garden beds and retaining walls are great ways of using stone. Dry stone walls look spectacular; we built one on the end of our house verandah and get many compliments from visitors. We are now making stone garden pots and pavers. Small stones from our neighbour’s yard were used to create some planters. No mortar is visible between the stones from the outside, they are just rendered on the inside and top.

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Be d ! re i p s n i

Do you want more?

Each issue of The Owner Builder magazine is jam packed full of information and inspiration, so how can there possibly be more? Sometimes you just want to immerse yourself entirely in one particular topic – that is where the compilations come in.

House Plans – Russell Andrews, architect and ex-publisher Containing 26 plans that have all featured in previous issues of The Owner Builder, this makes a great starting point. The plans featured are not finished drawings but are yours to use and modify as needed.

NORTH ELEVATION

WEST ELEVATION

EAST ELEVATION

CROSS SECTION FLOOR PLAN

Garden house

A cottage for two

FLOOR PLAN

This little house was originally designed for a couple whose children have left home.

Ever felt like living in the garden? This house incorporates a solar greenhouse which could be home for planting tubs and hanging baskets.

A feature of the design is the solar greenhouse which has a multitude of uses. In winter, direct solar gain generates heat which can be fed off into adjoining areas. The greenhouse also has space to grow some vegetables or work on hobbies etc.

Rob Hadden – Owner builder extraordinaire Rob Hadden’s incredible building prowess has featured in many issues. This compilation of over 200 pages is a time capsule of the projects he has been involved with since the early 80s until 2018. Wattle and daub in the new age

B E IN SPIR E D – RE A L S TORI E S A BOUT RE A L OW N E R BUI L D E RS

COMPILATION u ROB HADDEN u OWNER BUILDER EXTRAORDINAIRE

Issue Number 92

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How does it stand up to the energy ratings and efficiency standards? BY ROB HADDEN

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Designing out the western sun ◆ Putting a roof over your head ◆ Laying ceramic tiles ◆ Hadden Hall – a medieval masterpiece ◆ Hillside house plans

Owner Builder The

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Rob’s timber framed workshop Corrugated iron house Exotic pebble paving

Build yourself a wooden bath

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Making floor tiles Owner building in China Cavity mud brick walls Print Post Approved by Australia Post. Publication No. 326764/00022

COMPRESSED EARTH BLOCK

Older technologies of building such as wattle and daub were developed as a means of constructing walls in themselves, and later as panels in timber framed houses that were state of the art at the time they were done. Using local ingredients of nothing more than clay, straw and wattling, these panels required no embodied energy to make and at least kept the wind and the worst of the weather out. Fast forward to the twenty first century and the current regulatory environment, and these methods are being forced to update to meet modern demands of insulation and ‘energy efficiency’. Having got to the stage of finishing the walls of my latest heavy timber framed building, the issues of doing traditional wattle and daub infill have had to be addressed in light of these demands.

■ T he Aus T rAl AsiAn home b uil ders mAgA zine ■

nº 112 – AugusT/sePTember 2002

TROPICAL EARTHSHIP

APRIL - MAY 1999

The

The Australasian home builders magazine

The problem Historically, wattle and daub walls were approximately 100mm thick, and consisted of wattling (or lathes) plus a daub that varied from locality to locality in the ingredients used, but typically was made up of clay, straw, cow dung and/or lime and sometimes even road scrapings. This has been considered over the millennia as the perfect inﬁll for timber frames as it was ﬂexible, long lasting and the clay content kept the timbers dry even in very wet climates such as the British Isles. Clay by its very nature absorbs the moisture and wicks it away Upper storey woven laths in place, ready for the daub and plaster.

HAND POURED FORMBLOCK

6 COMPILATION - ROB HADDEN

149 COMPILATION - ROB HADDEN

TOB 149 • October/November 2008 • 13

Building Diaries – A collection covering nine different projects Over 300 pages featuring nine projects built with Formblock, straw bale, hemp, stone and earth, Timbercrete. Also house relocation, steel framing, and a green renovation. is in the line still downstream from the valve and then hot water. Took a little while to get used to but now it is second nature to hear the water going into the water tank instead of down the drain!

The extension rises – at long last !!! After five months of the floor just being a floor and being out in the elements everything came together, the engineering hiccups were sorted and Sean and Andy Dunn were able to start. Materials • LVLs – Laminated Veneer Lumber. A sustainable laminated product sourced from Carter Holt Harvey and is FSC accredited and can be made in any length that is needed. These were used for the wall cross beams and the rafters. • EcoAsh – A plantation hardwood that was a direct replacement for pine framing. Great to use and locally produced in Tassie but unfortunately the company has gone bust! • Glulam beam (glued lamination), a process in which large structural members can be made from a large number of smaller pieces) – main spine beam in the roof; eleven metres long, 420mm deep and 65mm wide and weighed in at 500 kilos. Put in place in 20 minutes by a crane. • Double glazing. We chose Rylock windows made in Melbourne. Double glazed with a 12mm air gap, they are a composite window with powder coated aluminium exterior and plantation Victorian ash (Eucalyptus regnans/ delegatensis) inside. They are heavy, open beautifully and fit very well. • Colorbond roof and wall cladding. Steel is not the greatest for embodied energy. However if you take the relative small amount that is being used, the fact that it will be over a lifespan of many years, it is recyclable and that it is lightweight then it is not a bad choice. • Recycled weatherboards on rear porch. • Recycled art deco doors for back doors. • Masonite brace board – made purely from compressed hardwood sawdust so no glues, no offgassing. There are many more recycled materials that we plan on using on the inside, but that will be another story.

Another New Year By February this year, time had stretched and compressed and we were spending more time on puppetry and growing veggies and less time on building. We had finished the outside of the extension and fitted the art deco double back doors, stripped back the weatherboards on one third of the back of the house and repainted, finished the back porch and found some leaks when we had some very odd rain from the east... something that hardly ever happens. Inside we had moved on a wee bit. The wiring had been roughed in and we had insulated the walls with wool insulation. This has about 20% polyester in it to prevent it from sagging but otherwise it is off the sheep’s back and easily available from Wedds in Launceston.

Homage to real estate We had not worked out what to use as a wall cladding behind what will become a row of ﬂoor-to-ceiling cupboards. We didn’t want to use plasterboard. Then the thought came that real estate signs are made from Corflute, a plastic twin walled corrugated product that quite often gets thrown away. I contacted our local real estate agent who collected a large number of these signs for us. They are 1200mm high and 900mm wide and so ﬁt perfectly on the studs. We used cement sheet joiners to join them together and made our ‘Homage to Real Estate.’ This will be only seen when we open the cupboard doors so will be fairly subtle.

A tale of two back doors A recurrent theme in this house seems to be doors. When we were building the dining room we knew we wanted some sort of French doors but had to put a single door in with a temporary sheet of ply as an interim measure as winter was coming. In the meantime Andy the builder was asking us to get the doors so that he could build the right size frame. A visit to see George at Launceston Salvage ended up with us being the second owners of a pair of art deco leadlight doors built in 1939. They had been stored under the original house for 15 years and were in great condition.

48 • THE OWNER BUILDER • 164 April/May 2011

We brought them home, leaned them up against the wall in the kitchen and there they stayed for the next four months. We had to get a frame custom built that cost more than the doors and door furniture suitable for an outside door. There was no furniture on them when we bought them. The months went by and Andy, quite rightly, didn’t want to ﬁt them until all the building on the extension was ﬁnished just in case they become damaged. Finally the day came when they could take pride of place instead of the grotty old core door and the painting outside was also completed. It is only when you look back that you realise the big differences that have happened.

Follow our progress on our blog: www.greentasreno.wordpress.com

• Mega Anchor Removable, reusable, recyclable. 03 9736 3111, www.mega-anchor.com.au • Access Solutions Specialist building products. 03 6229 2476, www.asolutions.com.au • Volvox Naturally derived paints and stains. 1300 249 347, www.coloursbynature.com.au

A Above: Restumped at its new location.

• Andy Dunn 0409 537 372

Right: External painting nearly complete.

• Resilience Flooring Salvaged timber ﬂooring. 03 63315401, www.resilienceflooring.com • PLYfloor® and hySPAN 132 321, www.chhwoodproducts.com.au

making an entrance

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• Global Poly Water Tanks 03 6265 2882, www.globalcontract.com.au • Rylock Windows & Doors Timber-aluminium composite frames. 03 9381 4822, www.rylock.com • Wedds Launceston Building material wholesalers. 03 6331 9191 • Launceston Salvage 03 6334 2264

4 1. Roofing sheets were installed at an angle on the new extension. 2. Old real estate signs make great backing for a new wardrobe. 3. The extension is nearly finished! 4. Beautiful recycled doors form the entrance from the rear yard. 5–6. The front porch is now finished and provides a great place for treasure display as well as the usual boots, coats etc.

One good way to get over the frustrations of bureaucracy is to make some cool art. Hence, the front door came in to being. We wanted it a bit hobbity but still robust in form and function. Old mate Biggsy helped trim some ironbark poles and we then cut tenons on the uprights to fit mortises on a big cross piece. Each member was around 80kg, so this was an arduous process. These were positioned in front of the temporary door that I’d installed months earlier. Many weeks of shaping ironbark boards as trims and offcuts from the windows as beads and it was all ready for door and glass. Given the curves in the door frame, these all needed templates cut to fit.

THE OWNER BUILDER • 164 April/May 2011 • 49 22

Small ones went to the glaziers and the large one was mine to trace over for the door itself. And what a beast of a door it is! Seven 140x30mm ironbark planks, biscuited together and cross braced with more 20mm ironbark. The hinges were found in a mate’s scrap pile – we think they originally held up a barn door. I had some suitably chunky brackets fabricated and local handy guy Wayne helped install it all. Beading, deadlock and weather seals all went on next. Closing up one night, I managed to jam my fingers and proceeded to pass out in shock. Lucky Dana was around to catch me! After that episode, door handles became a priority and some funky branches were employed. Along the way, the final pieces of the bathroom were finished. Josh fitted off

out as best he could. The largest stump was bigger than the excavator! The site was also close enough to receive power from lines already running to our neighbour’s property. We had considered solar power, but as Peter is a metal fabricator, we decided that grid connection was more practical (remember this was in 2013, solar and battery systems have advanced considerably in the last few years and we may have made a different decision if we were starting the project in 2016). Fortunately we had already started organising the power connection before we bought the house, so it was ready around the same time as the house was moved.

the toilet, shower and taps and we finally got to use the basin that I’d carved out of a large lump of granite some years previously. Now, it was ready for planting the indoor forest. Another detail that got finished in this period was the bedhead. I’d had the mason install two large columns of granite and I joined these together with 90x45mm stud work and covered it all in bracing ply. Of course, a gorgeous chunk of tree crowns the top of it. I’d run 24VDC under the slab and this powers our caravan style reading lights. My brother Nick then found a few days to help line the eaves with cement sheet. We’d also started using the milled boards as architraves and jambs around a few doors. Little did we know just how far this site-sourced timber would stretch.

Orientation The house had originally been orientated with the kitchen facing north and the ‘sunroom’ (a built-in verandah) facing west. We wanted to take full

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