11-12 Jan 2013

Padobe insulation

I've stopped calling it Fidobe after re-reading all about it. I now realise that it's actually called Padobe - which is a mix of earth, newspaper and whatever else - in our case cork chips.

Whatever it's called, it's an epic job! Lovely to work with and feels good and solid, but boy does it take a long time to do.

Then there's the papercrete on top, which has cement added so is a strong weatherproof but still breathable layer. The photos below show the papercrete layer Dave and I did in less than a day (the dark bit). And the 3rd pic shows the finish around the bottle infill wall.

Berming the dome

We decided not to berm up to the back of the dome because of the weight of the soil on the structure. But having thought about it this little tricky bit in the join between the two roofs is definitely better bermed. So we put a layer of cork insulation against the dome, then a layer of plastic, then shed loads of soil! The small tyre wall will help keep a lot of the weight off the dome.

Almond blossom out early

Sorry for everyone who is knee deep in snow, but I couldn't resist this photo showing the lovely almond blossom which is out early this year. No doubt we'll get our own dollop of snow too, but I'm enjoying this sight while it lasts....