Back to Bluff, Part 2

Notice how it says "Part 2" in the title, this means if you haven't read Part 1- you should, and before you view this one. Just sayin'.

Here are my two disclaimers: 1. I did not take all of these photographs, it is a compilation of pictures from all of us that were at Bluff that semester. 2. I'm going to skip a lot of construction steps in the random pictures I'm showing you (otherwise these blog posts would get even longer than the novels they already are). 



In the beginning, there was dirt. Lots of dirt. That's basically all there is.



This is what we planned to create on all that dirt.

Every day we traveled in our big, white van. Plus a truck or two. Apparently this particular day was an "all girl crew day."

Surveying the site.

This is what we did with all the dirt. Dig.

Digging builds character, right? It also means blisters and sore muscles.

Eventually the trench for the footings was dug and we filled it with concrete.

 

On top of the footing we built our rear CMU (Concrete Masonry Unit) wall. I think we calculated having to lay close to 1,000 CMU blocks (cinder blocks). Here we are on the outside of the wall.

On the inside of the wall we got ready to pour our concrete slab by setting the formwork.

 

Total side note, look how long my hair is!... It's on my mind since I just cut it again last night :)

Pouring the slab. Okay this was seriously hard work (along with everything else we did haha). We were using one of those little cement mixers where you have to add everything by hand- buckets of sand, gravel, water, and cement. The mixer was just a little too high for most of the girls to be able to easily dump anything in so it was a struggle but we had to take our turn! Basically we had to hoist it up a little bit at a time, lift and get it as high as your knee, then your hip, then up to elbow height and into the mixer! By the end of the day we each had bruises taking up almost our entire forearm from the heavy buckets.

The exterior walls of our project consisted of two types. 1. The CMU wall shown previously, which was then buried in the dirt on the outside edge about 6' (you'll see in later pictures). 2. Straw bale walls on the exposed parts of the house. These were both chosen for their structural and insulating properties.

Meet my partner in crime, Hoku. We are a lot alike except she is smarter and much more talented with her hands and skilled at construction. She basically had to fix all my mistakes, good thing we were on the same teams! Here we are getting ready to frame the interior walls.

Walls framed, straw bales in place, and roof started!

Oh ya know, just drilling some holes into the wood and concrete to be able to attach the interior wood walls to the exterior CMU wall.

 I think we'll call that good for Part 2.