Mel & Kathy.com: Building an Earth-Friendly Home on the Kitsap Peninsula

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Concrete Work

The first step in the concrete work was to lay one-foot-wide rebar-reinforced footers as a foundation for the external wall, internal load-bearing walls, and the masonry heater (which will weigh several tons).

Then framing was put up for the back and side walls. Common practice is to coat the wood panels with diesel oil so it can be removed from the concrete after pouring. Instead of diesel, our workers used a vegetable-base oil.

Then the concrete was poured for the external walls.

Drain pipes and supply lines for water, electricity, propane, and everything else were laid out.

The ground surface -- and all of the piping and conduits -- was covered with sand, which was compacted and leveled.

A layer of load-bearing rigid insulation was placed on the sand.

This was topped with a network of wire, and tubing for the hydroponic heating was secured to the wire.

Then the concrete floor was poured. The workers carefully smoothed it out.

They sealed the concrete floor with acrylic. The result is so smooth and shiny that it almost looks like marble, and you can see reflections in it.

On the outside of the external walls, there are several layers of material.

First the thick concrete was coated with black waterproofing (which you can't see in the picture).

Then -- moving to the left in the picture -- is a layer of blue rigid insulation.

Next is a honeycomb-type material which will allow water to drop down before it reaches the concrete wall.

The outer layer is a material like landscape fabric to keep dirt out of the honeycomb material.

Around the base of the external wall is drainpipe to help collect the water so it can be properly managed.

Next: Framing...

Layers of material on the outside of the external walls

Drainpipe at the base of the external walls