Besser blocks and Garage Doors

During the last week we have managed to complete putting down the besser blocks for all our strawbale walls. The besser blocks are there to make sure that water does not go up into the bales if we were to have a flooding inside at some stage, and basically lifts the bottom of the bales up around 100mm from the slab. Every 600mm (or about every 3rd besser block) we have inserted a steel bar that is placed in a hole into the slab. It goes down between 50 and 100mm into the slab, through the besser block (or actually in between the besser blocks) and the rest will then stick into the first course of bales.

It took Geir about 3 full days to complete the work. The most time consuming part was around all the steel posts where we could not use the blocks themselves. As such, we made up a frame around the posts and then just filled the space with concrete. We used the same method for the garage and that worked well, so hopefully this will also be good for the house.

Overall we are now getting a much better impression of the various rooms, as the walls are now defined using the besser blocks. A couple of pictures so that you can see for yourselves:

Besser blocks outlining the movie/music room which will be surrounded with strawbales, even for the internal walls.

Kitchen window: the wall under the window will not be as wide as the walls on the side of the window. This is to make the kitchen bench deeper at the window, and so that we can reach the window when we want to open it.

Corner of what will eventually be our bedroom

A slightly trick part: the copper pipes are for the solar hot water system. The two plastic pipes are for hot to the house and cold water to the water cylinder.

The other part we have worked on this week is the garage doors. We bought the roller doors second hand quite some time ago and they have been stored under a tarp in the mean time. Now was time to put them up and the first thing we had to install was the centre post between the two single doors for the garage. Originally we were thinking of getting a new double door to fit, but after getting a quote and finding out what they were selling for second hand we changed our mind. This has meant a bit more work, but we have saved around AUD 2000 so it has been worth it.

The centre post is made of treated pine and holds one bracket on top that supports both the doors. Below the bracket we have two tracks, one for each door. The post is then dynabolted down into the slab and screwed with coach screws to the top door jamb over the door opening (hybrid laminated). On the sides, there are brackets and tracks to support the other side of the doors.

The sides look like this:

Bracket and track in place

And the end result for the garage door is like this:

The workshop door is not yet in place, but this will hopefully be done in the next couple of days.

We have also installed the side door for the garage. This door was found at the tip shop for AUD 10.00. We had to change the lock and put on some new hinges, but much cheaper than getting a new one. We will eventually do it up with some paint, but for the moment we will let it be as it is:

The cable on the side is to bring the electricity to the house, but this will be done once we have build the covered walkway from the garage to the house.

Finally, we have also spent a day putting up cement sheets under the eves. Haven't taken a picture of this yet as we are only about 1/3 done, but will include some for the next update. As for the next update, it is likely to come around the 10-12 of December as we are off to a wedding and to a christening for about 10 days. Will be nice to relax for a while and not think too much about building.

Take care.

Any problems, please email webmaster. This page was last updated 24/07/2008