Yesterday (Saturday) proved to be a challenging work day.  Randy and Ginny came from Salem to help out and, while it was great having the extra hands,  the wind made if difficult to work with the foam.  The 4 X 8 boards are light and easy to handle but with the wind gusting to 25 mph or more, they became big sails.  After getting only a few layers of foam up on the West end, we had to call it a day.  More foam boards were being broken in the wind then we were using.  I hope this day didn’t discourage Randy and Ginny from considering to build an earth sheltered home themselves.

Today however was perfect.  Sunny, warm and hardly a breeze all day.  Jeff and I managed to finish off the West end and started on the South.

The 4 x 8 rolling table  is working out great for cutting the foam.  It’s just the right height to work comfortably.

Here I am putting up that last piece of foam on the West end.  It’s a bit like a big jigsaw puzzle.  There are two layers of foam board and care must be taken to ensure that all the seams are overlapped.

Tie wire is the wrapped around the rebar, through the foam and then secured to wood lath boards.  This will help support the form when the concrete is applied.

Here is an interesting perspective of the finished arch forms on the West end.

And below is the start on South arch.  We are trying a different tack by running the first layer of foam on an angle (following the arch) and the second layer is placed horizontally on top of the first.

5 comments