Three guesses, first two don’t count……THE FOUNDATION IS DONE!!!  Yes!!  And not only is it done, I feel very good about it.

Now, this may shock you to know, but in the end, we went with the 6 mil black plastic sheeting….haha!  True story.  With some modifications I might add, so the plastic doing and undoing was still necessary but after the initial debacle played out, I received sound and concise advice from the Director of the Cal-Earth Institute (thank you Ian!) and we had a forward moving plan in place that I could ACTUALLY wrap my head around for real this time.  It was essentially the same as Roger’s initial foundation plan only with a layer of drain rock underneath and a slightly shallower trench to deal with the now less daunting bunching plastic.  It was mentioned by a few people that thicker plastic is the way to go if you’re going to use it.  Many in the Cal-Earth community felt the 6 mil plastic sheeting would break down over time but I was told by local conventional construction foundation experts that around here and generally throughout the US (possibly beyond, who knows) the 6 mil variety is typically used for foundations without incident. I was ok with that answer.  Can you imagine how I would be with even thicker plastic given my aversion to things that bunch?

OK, moving on from that topic, a recap from the ending of the last post…We’d finished laying our first Superadobe bag in our two foot trench directly on the tamped Washington Earth, here it is again:

Well, as awesome as it is, this bag has become the proverbial ‘sacrificial bag’ as we needed to create a vapour barrier so the groundwater could not creep up the structure through the porous surface of the Superadobe bag which was in direct contact with the Earth.  Got it.  In fact, I will never not get that again.  Therein lies the value of the sacrificial bag.  Perfect.

Next order of business was to order 6 yds of drain rock.  We went with 1 1/4″ drain rock as was recommended by the folks at Teddy Bear Hauling in Yelm.  ‘River wash’ as my Dad informed me when he and my Mom came for a lovely two-day visit on their way home from their warm winter excursion in AZ.  They drove up the coast from San Diego and stopped to say hello before heading East back to Winnipeg.  It was wonderful to see them and so comforting and grounding to hang with them for two days.  No accident that they arrived just in time to help us kick start the SOLID foundation, thanks Ma and Pa!

Here they are helping us lay drain rock in the mist for the bulk of their one full day in Rainier, WA.  I have to say, it was so inspiring to be doing hard labour with my parents (at their insistence, I swear), both in their mid-70’s, ever ready and willing to help out in any way they can.  And I always love watching my Dad’s old ‘farm boy’ ingenuity at play!  Hallelujah to strong foundations!

The finished drain rock-filled trench.  RIP sacrificial bag, I’ll never forget you!  You’ll always be my first!

See, the great thing about coming into this adventure with no experience save for the one week workshop at Cal-Earth under my belt is the fact that I had decided to go with 3 rows of below-grade foundation bags rather than the standard 2 rows normally used for this size of dome just to be safe.  So unbeknownst to me, I had worked a ‘bonus bag’ into the plan.  And what a learning opportunity that bonus bag turned out to be (see last post)!

Next up, (drumroll please) the plastic laying!!  I think there was a silent agreement between Meggan and I that I would complete this step solo.  It seemed right what with our history and all (the plastic and I that is).  So I set out Monday morning, April 7th, the day after my parents left Rainier for home, with the neatly folded segments of plastic and proceeded to shear off some width from each piece as we were only going to be wrapping 2 rows of bag instead of 3, and lay them in the trench that was half as deep as the last time I attempted this feat.  And wouldn’t you know, narrower plastic, a shallower trench and an attitude shift actually made for a positive and not too bunchy plastic-laying experience!  Check it!

We were ready to lay our second first Superadobe bag!

These are the two spool supports I rigged up from scrap wood and rebar from Meggans barn to ease our sandbag and barbed wire measuring.  They have since collapsed under the weight but were fun while they lasted.

The completed first row at the end of the day!

And this is what we had to look forward to all week after days upon weeks of sketchy weather.  Does weather influence us or do we influence it I wonder….  Nevermind, we were definitely off and running, FINALLY!!

‘Wrangling’ the buttress wall:

Meggan and Cyrus pleased with their tamping efforts, rightfully so:

9th round…almost done the second row, mentally preparing for the pending wrapping job to ‘go the distance’ with this foundation once and for all!

Second row complete…..wait for it……..

YEAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

For the record…the wrapping (which was again silently agreed to be done solo) took one full day and was actually a very peaceful and almost enjoyable experience in the end.  A big shout out goes to the inventor(s) of duct tape.

And after meticulously poking the barbs of the barbed wire through the plastic as I wrapped it, I can officially say I have put my blood, sweat and tears into this project!  (Is that a dolphin?)

Next step is back-filling the trench and although this would still be categorized as part of the foundation work, in my opinion the moment I tucked and taped that last tuck of the tucker, I had conquered my fear of the foundation and had never felt more deserving of a Selfie in my life!  Hallelujah!

 

Stay tuned for Part II of our progress to date!