A whole new chapter is bound to begin! A new chapter and an adventurous one! The roof.
This is probably the stage that caused me the most headaches before I even started with it!
How do you make a waving roof? It’s prutty easy to make a roof that’s cruved in one direction, but what if it’s cruved in 3 dimensions???
As with every new challenge, the best way to find out is just to start with it and try to learn as fast as possibles from your first attempts! So let’s make it a mission!
MISSION: THE ROOF
GOAL: Protect from direct sunlight, rain, snow, falling trees and angry squirrels.
ESTIMATED TIME TO ACCOMPLISH MISSION: 1 month for first layer, 2 months for whole roof.
GEAR: Cordless drill, radial saw, sunmilk and life insurance
AMMO: 1,6 km’s of wooden planks and 3000 screws
CHALLENGES: Make roof look nice and clean, curved in three directions
FRIENDLY TROOPS: Nele and foreign helpers (to be defined further)
DANGER ZONES: Roof edge - 4,5 m cliff, splinters everywhere, no protection against direct sunlight during whole operation.
The idea is to have a layered roof. If all goes well the layers will be the following:
Layer 1: Wooden skeleton (accomplished)
Layer 2: One layer of planks (fully covered)
Layer 3: Vapor screen
Layer 4: Two layers of planks in the opposing direction (every 60cm) - Infill with insulation
Layer 5: Two layers of planks in the direction opposing to that of layer 3 (also every 60cm) - Infill with insulation
Layer 6: Covering up with planks (fully)
Layer 7: Protection layer (felt)
Layer 8: Durable Waterproof layer (EPDM)
Layer 9: Root tarp (protection against roots)
Layer 10: Water draining system (if needed)
Layer 11: Water keeping layer (felt)
Layer 12: Ground with ceramics
Layer 13: Plants of different kind
Offcourse the insulation will only be necessary at the inside surface of the house. At the opverhang, the layers will be slightly different:
Layer 1: Wooden planks (fully covered)
Layer 2: Wooden planks in the other direction
Layer 3: Covering up with plates
Layer 4: Waterproof tarp (EPDM)
Enough of the talking!
Some pictures of what we allready did:
As you can see, there are still some holes in between the planks, but I found a way of eliminating them as much as possible! I’ll explain all this later with a step-by-step overview.
That’s it for now, guyzzzz
Hi guys!
On the 10th of april I’m organising a work and party-day! So be very welcome !!!
This is the poster, it’s in dutch, but I guess most people coming around will be dutch-speaking…
Although it was never my goal to use my blog as a Wake-up call, I just can’t stop ignoring all the messages spread around the world these days… Messages most peope just keep ignoring over and over again.
We have come to a point where environmental facts are no longer questioned. Even all big Oil producers have began to admit our world is running dry on oil!
Although I wish we would have ran out a long time ago, I’m worried about the furure of us, Homo Petroliensis…
10 liters of oil is about the same energy as 1 year of physical labour by 1 man. What do you put in your car every month? about 10 years of physical labour? (I know.. I’m guilty too)
But what is going to compensate for all this when we run out of oil?
Number one oil consumption goes to food! Imagine what happens!
And we no longer doubt it is going to happen … not in two or three hundred years, but the most realistic estimations give us TEN YEARS before our oil supplies have diminished to half of what it is now (let’s not talk about how many more humans there will be on earth at that time).
So, people, be prepared… in ten to twenty years the world for you and me will look a little bit different… you’ll have to be able to survive by being more self-sufficient… growing your own vegetables.. offcourse you’ll have to take the next 10 years of pollution into account when you’re talking about the quality of your vegetables, the air you’ll be breathing, the water you’ll be drinking,… By then there will be war for energy everywhere, their will be nature disasters we can only have nightmares of right now… The netherlands will allready be flood for a part and there will be more and more methane coming out of the frosted soil in Siberia…
In fact we would be extremely lucky if our human race would survive in the next 100 years…
For most of you people all this seems so hard to believe.. it seems all exagerated… well… Here’s your WAKE-UP call… it’s not! And if you open your eyes, read the reports, think logically and stop putting your heads in the ground you would also understand that we have taken our consumption and way of living just one step too far… And I’m part of all this as much as you are.
So, people, let’s start doing something about all this !!!!
For those who really need to have information from official resources, you can always check out this report:
http://www.globalwitness.org/media_library_get.php/1084/1268396336/heads_in_the_sand_print.pdf
I’m inviting all of you to be a part of the solution… So please join any Transition Network in your neighbourhood or start your own !
Make the big turn-over happen and start opening your eyes.
Scroll down for english….
Op vrijdag 27 November maakte Provincie Oost-Vlaanderen bekend dat er een nieuwe visie op de Stekense weekendgronden komt.
Op radio, televisie en in kranten luidt het als een rechtvaardig verhaal. Verblijven zonder vergunning moeten worden afgebroken. Mensen met een vergund weekendverblijf mogen er blijven wonen en in 2029 wordt voor deze mensen een regeling getroffen. In de oren van de eigenaars van deze gronden (waaronder mezelf) werd ingefluisterd dat op de gronden residentieel wonen mogelijk ging worden na 2029. In de media werd echter vaag beschreven wat er zou gebeuren met deze weekendverblijven.
De werkelijkheid blijkt geheel anders dan ons ingefluisterd! Op enkele clusters na belanden de meeste weekendgronden (waaronder de mijne) in een soort “uitdoofbeleid”. Ik kan het niet beter omschrijven als een sus-middel om de mensen tot 2029 stil te houden. Wanneer deze visie akkoord zou gevonden worden zullen alle gronden onder het uitdoofbeleid éénsklaps bosgrond worden !!! (dit is een waardevermindering van meer dan 75% !!!) Onze grond wordt dus niets meer waard!
In mijn geval is er nog iets: Ik heb een grond gekocht met drie percelen. Op één ervan heb ik een bouwvergunning aangevraagd voor mijn low-impact verblijf. De andere twee zijn vergunde recreatiegronden en mogen normaal gezien ook bebouwd worden. Onder de nieuwe visie zal ook dat recht vervallen.
Het komt er dus op neer dat de grond onder onze voeten niets meer waard wordt en dat we bovendien geïnvesteerd hebben in grond waar niet meer op gebouwd mag worden. Over compensatiemaatregels wordt er heel vaag gesproken… er wordt wel gezegd dat er gecompenseerd zal worden, maar waar dat geld vandaan moet komen, weten ze nog niet… zit een luchtje aan lijkt me…
En dit alles terwijl ik nog maar 4 maanden mijn bouwvergunning heb !!!!
De visie is al in de maak sinds 2007 (of vroeger) bij de provincie en toen ik een vergadering met gemeente en provincie samenriep werd er met grote glimlach en open armen naar het Hamadryad-project gekeken. Alle aanwezigen op de vergadering moesten dus al op de hoogte geweest zijn van deze visie en toch werd mij toegestaan te bouwen op deze grond.. een investering die nu plots (economisch) niets meer waard is! Toen ik op 27 novembver naar de gemeente belde om te vragen wat de gevolgen waren voor mij antwoordden ze me op de vraag waarom ze me niet verwittigd hadden, letterlijk “Wij mochten hier niets over zeggen.”
Uitdoofbeleid of doofpotbeleid???
We moeten dit schandaal zo snel mogelijk aan het licht brengen zodat de media kan schrijven over wat hier echt gaande is! Wie een journalist of iemand bij radio/tv kent mag dit altijd bekend maken! Voor meer info mogen ze me steeds contacteren.
Meer info:
English…
Here’s a typical Belgian story:
4 Months ago I received a paper telling me that I’m allowed to build on the ground I bought a few months before. Today the state anounces a new vision on our grounds…
In short it means my ground will become forest!
I bought a ground which is 75% more worth than forest-ground!
And another thing: I bought a ground with 3 sections, on each section I could build something… When the new vision comes around I can’t build on the other two sections… which means some of the ideas I had with the Hamadryad project need to be revisioned or cancelled…
The state tells us they will compensate.. but they are not clear about how much and when.. as a matter affect they even don’t know where they will get the money from!
So when they agree with this vision… I not only loose the value of my ground from one day on the other, but it will be very difficult or even impossible to fulfill the Hamadryad project as I intended to!… Hamadryad, my dream, is walking the line!
I’m asking you people to tell my (our) story around and spread the word!
Hi guys,
I promised you some pictures… so here they are… I think they’ll tell the story themselfs, so I won’t bother you with a whole story behind all the decisions and the little adventures… so here goes…
Here we are taking my new house to the right spot… ok, I admit… it’s not the most fancy trailer you can imagine, but it was cheap and decent 
On the picture are Jan and Steven and Wouter in the back, BIG THANKS, guys !!! You really showed up!
As you can see the tools of Vartago also work well for doing more than only transporting trees !!!
Here’s me acting stupid in front of the trailer… hey! at least I’m happy in my own crazy world, ok!!! hehe
After putting the trailer at the right spot I had to heighten the area, because in winter it gets too wet… so here is what I was thinking: “Hey with some strong hands and some wheelbarrows we can get the job done!”
For those who would like to do the same thing: Don’t! It would have takin’ me a month to get it all there… so quickly realising this I let the “groundman” do it with a machine… it only took him a few hours !!!
During the groundworks I crafted some basic furniture out of wood I found in the forest… it’s not fancy either, but it comes in handy and it looks quit natural I think…
To spend my time somewhat usefull I also improvised a cd-rack and a bookshelf…
And finally here are some pictures of the forest and the trailer, just so you get an idea of how everything looks right now….
Natasja, Peter and Jan, three good friends who really helped me out! Thnx again guys
Oooh yeah! Meanwhile the greenroof of the composting toilet is fully formed !!! It only took a month or two and I didn’t have to do anything… I just put some top solid ground of the forest on the roof and the plants started to grow by themselfs!!! Isn’t nature wonderfull ??
That’s it for now… hopefully the next weeks I’ll be able to come onlie and give some more updates, because it’ll go very fast now (hopefully)
Greeetzzzzz
And to finish some pictures
Hello my friends!
At the moment the gound is ready to build on !!!
Whole August I will be working there non-stop!
Everyone is very much welcome to help me a hand !!!
Just give me a sign at (+32) 486 57 09 91
I’ll update my page once in a while with pictures of the progress !!!
Greetings and see you soon!
Wolf
Ok folks,
I’ll need your special attention here…
There were some huge trees around the construction area that needed to be chopped down.. they were a potential danger to the house as they were bending over very steep and some of them were ill…
As they are of the “Pinus” family and so they aren’t autochthonal, they need to make space for the authentic Belgian trees anyway. Nevertheless we chopped down only a minimum of trees.
What’s so special about this?
Well.. when I was living in Zottegem, I had a housemate, Wouter, previously referred to as ‘The treeman”, who is actually an expert in everything that has to do with trees.
He is one of the few certificated treeworkers in Belgium! And, boy, is he good !!!
Not only he has the gift of being very precisely and accurate with his estimations and way of work, he also has the unique position of using tools that are very rare in Europe, but also VERRRRY handy !!!
As I’m fond of nature I don’t like my other trees to get wasted during the process… I also don’t like big machines running down my ground, ruining all plants and compacting the earth, leaving no air for new life. That’s why I knew I had to ask Wouter for the job!
First I asked Wouter, who is the founder of Vartago (http://www.vartago.com), for some advice. He took a look around and could tell exactly which trees were Ill or weren’t that stable anymore. He investigated the way he could chopp the “bad” trees without leaving any trace on the rest of the forest and before I knew he was climbing like a monkey in the trees to chopp of the major branches before taking down the top of the tree.
He was able to target the huge pieces of wood so correctly that after a while we were making bets about it. He told me to put a stick in the ground where he thought the wood would fall and everytime it fell right on top! I was even more impressed when he was able to take down a full tree and make it land exactly where he wanted it to land.. If you would have been there, it’s sure you wouldn’t have believed your own eyes !!!
The whole process of chopping down the trees, cleaning the ground and putting the huge pieces of tree, one on top of the other, only took a few hours! All thanks to his great efficiency and his unique tools…
I’ll leave the rest of the talk to the pictures I took…
Here you see Wouter using one of his incredible tools. Vartago is the only importer of these tools… In dutch they are called “Boomezels” which would translate to “Treedonkeys”. They are abling you to lift a huge tree without any effort and you can transport them wherever you want… it’s so easy that you might ask yourself “What have we been doing all this time without those donkeys???”
Here is another one… as you can see there are different models for different purposes… you can hang them behind your jeep, quad or just pull them by hand…
By lifting the trees and using big soft wheels there is no damage done to the ground what-so-ever!
When it’s too difficult to use wheels, Wouter uses a special power winch to pull the trees to an open spot. Again to diminish the damage on the ground he uses a special tool: some kind of head he pulls over the tree!
Here’s the winch pulling the tree:
The special thing about this winch is that it uses no fixed rope.. You can just put in a general static climbing rope of any lenght and pull it all the way through. Another handy thing about it is the way you operate it: You just pull the rope and it enlarges the power you put into it… if you pull strong it will pull strong on the tree.. if you pull slow it will make the tree go slower.. this gives you an excellent control over the machine. And above all it is lightweight, so you can take it anywhere!
Well… as you can see I’m very surprised and full of admiration for Wouter and he’s company.. and I can only advise you to give him a ring when you need to chop a tree, take care of ill trees, get some professional advise on trees or if you want to buy he’s awsome tools!
Just check out he’s web at www.Vartago.com !!!
Greetings !!!!
Hi all !!!
As you allready might know… I’VE GOT MY BUILDING PERMISSION !!!!! *** HUGE APPLAUSE ***
So, this means I can finally get started! Last week I also received my loan, so I can start buying all my materials!
But first things first… where are we now?
Uptill now I have been preparing the scene as good as possible:
1. I have a workingspace
2. I have electricity of the neighbours, just to get some woodworking machines going
3. I have water from a pit, it’s not clean enough to use for cooking or drinking, but it will do for all other stuff
4. I cleaned out the area: broke down the chalet, cleared some bushes and with my friend Wouter we chopped some trees who were ill and a potential danger to the building later on (more about this in my next message).
5. I bought myself a trailer which we will transport on saturday… this will be my temporary shelter during the works and probably during winter
6. We builed a composting toilet
7. We had a great party to celebrate the beginning of the construction !!!!
There are allready allot of people to thank and I’m thinking of putting up an extra page just to do this because this project is really not a project of only myself… it’s that of all people helping me out and making this possible to me! So for those who put their hands in the dirt or helped me in some kind of way.. advising me, giving me moral support and especially my parents who also helped me out financially: A BIG THANK YOU !!!
By now you must be thinking what all this has to do with the subject of this post “Sand”… Well.. the first thing I have to do is to elevate the ground with about half a meter…During winter I noticed how the ground got really moisted and this would be a huge potential danger when building with strawbales… So I’m going up 50cms! And to do this I need sand… it took me a while to find the right sand in the neightbourhood, but finally I found it !!!
This saturday a man will bring it with a tractor and leave it on the path in front of the ground. “Why not take it directly to the place of contruction?” I hear you ask.. well.. I would have to chop of some major branches of two of my hazletrees and that would really be awefull!
So in stead I’m gathering allot of people who want to help me out by transporting the sand (by hand) from the path to the construction area! So I need allot of hands and feet for that !!!!
Well… next topic is very interesting, so I won’t bother you more with all this less important stuff 
Cherios!
Hi all!
I was asked to make a presentation for some kind of eco-festival concerning the future of Stekene and all the environmental consequences…
I made some panels to present the project and it only seemed logic to put them online for you to see them. So you can download it by clicking here.
It’ all writen in Dutch… sorry for that, in time I will translate them to english asswel..
You could read in the previous posts that I allready have a workingspace and water. Now the only thing I need more is a toilet!
The toilet is of a major importance to nature! We can try to recycle plastics, to sort paper and glass, but as long as we are not organising our “human waste” in a good way we are not helping nature one bit!
You might ask yourself why human waste would be harmfull… well.. it wouldn’t be harmfull if we were with only a few million humans on earth and if we would live like nomads… this way human waste would be a great fertiliser. The main problem is that we tend to hook up in cities and villages all together… putting a great amount of nitrates and bacterians in the ground. We pollute or own underground watersupply !!!
It’s not easy to solve this problem… and I didn’t find any good solution to stop the pollution totally. There might be a sollution which involves mixing urine with some chemicals to neutralise it, but I wouldn’t be sure that these chemicals (and the production of it) would be that ecologically. And it would make you dependant of the chemicals… which isn’t my way of doing things…
The best solution I found untill now is a composting toilet.
There are many different forms of a composting toilet and some are worth to carry the name, others aren’t.
The main trick to a good compostingtoilet is to divide urine and faeces before they are processed. How?
In my compostingtoilet I used a metal plate dividing the toilet in two compartments. One directs the urine to a purifying pond and the other is collecting faeces. These faeces are kept dry and will make up a good compost later on.
Here are some pictures of the construction. This is only a temporary toilet (for use during the building), the permanent one will be integrated into the house later on.
First I put some vertical poles into the ground. Remember this is only a temporare construction. If you want to make a permanent one, it would be better to put some kind of stone fundaments underneath so the wood wouldn’t rotten .
Next I made a wooden skeleton off it. Make sure all your poles are perfectly vertical and at fixed dimensions. I wasn’t that fixated on making it perfect so I didn’t mind having a perfect straight construction, but my god! Did I regret it later!
The day before I started the construction I found allot of wood in a container nearby, so I used it all to coverup the toilet! I didn’t spend a dime on this compostingtoilet, even the nails are recovered from the old chalet!
Notice the slope underneth the sitting area. This is the area where the faeces are collected and dryed. If I would do it over I would make the slope seperately so it can always be replaced without a problem.
Also note the hose connected with this chamber… this is to ventillate the collecting room and prevent it from getting moisted.
The ventillation hose connected to a chimney on the roof…
In front of the slope there is a double pole. This allows me to slide a plate in between them necessary to empty the collecting room when the faeces are composted (after about 1 year if you use it regulary with about 4 people).
On the picture below you can see the toilet almost finnished… On the roof I put a plastic sheet covered with ground. I used the ground of the forest and only one week later there were allready growing little plants o the roof!
Notice also the metal plate underneath the toilet. This plate collects urine. On one hand the urine is collected seperately in the seating of the toilet and directed to this plate via a plastic tube (PVC !) on the other hand if any urine would make it to the collectiong room it would drip throught the wooden plates onto the metal plate and directed to the purifying pond. (this might be more clear on the technical drawings –> see underneath).
The roof covered with plastic:
Normally the ground and plants would regulate the rainwater. But to be sure there wouldn’t be too much water on the roof I made a little opening in the roof and coverd it with a perforatd metal plate. Again.. if this would have been a permanent toilet I would make it more durable.
And this is the result (it only needs a door):
Oohyeah! I put some straw on the slope underneath. this way the moist can be absorbed and the faeces don’t fall through easily.
How to use this toilet?
It’s important to throw a handfull of sawdust after every use. It’s also important to close the lit to prevent most of the insects to get inside.
There is no need to use water for flushing.
I have been using the toilet for some weeks now and I dare everyone to stick his head inside the collecting room… you won’t smell a thing!
More information on the technical side of all this, see page 8 of the brochure
Hi all!!
You can’t imagine how much you start realizing the importance of water untill you really don’t have it around!
I only stayed at my woodland for the weekends and some days during the week… sometimes I forgot to take a barn of water with me… and I always regretted it deeply…
You can’t put any thee on, you can’t wash your hands and face after digging ground all day, you can’t clean your material or do the dishes… and this is only when I’m around for a weekend.. imagine what it would be to live without water… impossible!
When building you’ll need water for all kinds of things.. one of them is to construct the fundaments… and as it is the first thing to do… I just had to arrange a watersupply!
In the chalet (which’s gone now) used to be waterpump… but as it has been many years since the chalet was used all there was left was a metal tube coming out of the floor… actually two of them…
I digged them up and one was leading to a pit right at the spot where my fundaments are comming! BUMMER! I’ll need to fill that one up to prevent my house from sinking in…
The other one was connected to a flexible tube.. That’s the one!
Now, old waterpits (yes, dear Wouter, that’s a word! - sorry inside joke-) have the nasty habbit of collapsing when they haven’t been used for a while… and this one wasn’t used for many years… so there was only a little chance it would still work…
But guess what? It did !!!
It seemed almost magical to see the water, chrystal clear, coming out of the ground… a gift from nature!
More information and pictures are coming up on this subject!
Oohyeah, on a personal note: Riet, your butterfly has become a permanent inhabitant in the forest… she’s been around since the first day!
Ok,
Here’s the rest of the “Water”-story.
Because the watertube and the pump were located inside the groundings of the house I needed to move the pump somewhere outside the building area. At that moment I didn’t know where the old waterpit was located.. and to be honest at this moment I don’t know either… What happend?
As I was digging the earth from around the tube I noticed how it went further and further into the forest… when I was well outside the buildingsite surroundings I stopped digging as I was sure the waterpit had to be somewhere inside the forest… There was no reason for digging the soil further on and hurting the roots of plants and trees..
So now I had a large amount of tube comming out of the ground. I could do three things:
1) Cut the tube and use the remaining end to re-install the pump
2) Leave the tube above ground
and
3) Put the tube underground
I chose the last option… If I would have cut the tube than I would have had a problem when I needed a longer tube when the house is finnished… so I needed to install a connectionpart between the two tube ends… I don’t like connection pieces as they are always a hazard to leaks. I didn’t want to put the tube above ground because all plastics tend to degenerate in UV-light… so it was obvious to put the tube underground.
Because I didn’t want the water to remain in the tubes when I would disconnect the pump (in winter), I decided to roll the tube into a spiral and protect it with roof tiles.
After covering everything with earth, I needed to make a “holder” for the pump. And preferably one that’s stronger than the previous one (which was only temporary).
I made a little “construction” with bricks I found underneath the old chalet and fixed a big pole in between.
This way I could use my chainsaw to easily sharpen the end.
Once again I could use the pole rammer which my friend Gène made for me (again with great greatitude!!!) to ramm the pole deep in the ground (making sure not to harm the tube offcourse). This would make a perfect holder for the pump.
Oohyeah … about the waterpits: Good news! It seems they aren’t that deep as I was affraid for! They seem to be only 1m deep… That means I don’t have to worry about filling them up after all!! Woohoo!
Hi all!
It has been a while since I wrote something on the hamadryad blog… Allthought there are no real breakthroughs in my housedesign, I have been very busy!
I decided to give up the rent for the workingplace in Stekene center and use the barn on my little woodland instead. It’s not only cheaper.. it’s also allot easier to have all my equipment nearby the buildingsite.
The barn was .. how shall I put it… “a total waste”… The roof consisted of asbestos plates and two of the four walls were collapsed.
The first thing I did was remove the roof and bring all the rubbish to a recycling parc. It took me 3 rides with a fully packed van…
Secondly I reinforces the two walls and builed a skeleton in front of them with wood I recovered from the chalet I broke down.
Then I cleaned out the floor.. there was about 20cm’s of mudd and woodchips.. it was hell to sort out all the pieces of plastic and metal.
I put a plastic ceiling on top of the barn and supported it with wood I recovered from the chalet (which I plan to use for the floor in my new house later on).
There was a huge pit in the middle of the barn. It was used to work on cars before. Now I prepared it to store all my stuff behind lock. So i put a plate on top with some pivots at one side and padlocks on the other…
this way all my stuff is out of the way when I’m working and it’s still close enough when I need something..
And this is the result:
That’s it for now… comming up next in this topic:
- building a temporary composting toilet
- Arranging water supply
Hi All!
The moment you’ve all been waiting for… well.. at least I was!
I asked Greet Van Autgaerden to paint me an impression of the house and the surroundings… And she did an excellent job!
Based on some 3D-images I created on pc and some guidlines she succeeded to paint the global idea of the house and it’s implemantation in the surroundings, making it low-impact.
I met Greet only a few weeks ago. She was having an exhibition of her paintings in Mechelen. The exhibition was called “Camp” and well… offcourse that drew my attention. It couldn’t be a coïncidence!
We started talking… she told me about her idea of the exhibition and I told her about my project.. It seemed that we had allot in common… both wanting to return to nature, a strong interest for survival, self-sufficiency and a dream of being able to find a good equilibrum between nature and society.
Thank you, Greet!
One of the first things you need to check out when you are deciding where you are going to put your house is the underground.
I allready knew my underground was pure sand. There’s a downside to this: you need to go deep with the foundations. But there’s also a positive side on all this: it drains very well… so I don’t need to worry about getting too much water on the surface.
You can ask a specialised firm to get an expertise on the underground, but as I’m doing everything low-budget and I like to do things myself, I decided not to invest in this kind of expertise.
In stead I bought a metal stick of about 1m50 that has a section area of 1cm².
The problem is I couldn’t find a bar of 1cm on 1cm. In stead I found a round one with a diameter of 0,8 cm. As this wasn’t enough - and I wanted to be very precise - I bought a tube of 10 x 2 mm and I jammed it on the stick and it made a perfect 1 cm² stamp.
Next I digged a pit of 60cm deep. This way I was sure I was allready underneath the frostline.
And finally I rammed the sick in the ground at the bottom of the pit. I measured how deep it went in and added that to the 60 cm of the pit. How do you know you are putting the right strenght? Simple: Put all your strenght, you’ll notice at a certain depth the stick won’t go any deeper.
At the northside it went in quit deep… I measured a total depth of 1m50! This means my foundations will have to be 1m50 aswel…
Oohyeah… Normally you need to make at least 3 pits. I made four. One at every wind direction. It seems obvious you have to position the hole where there will be an outside wall later on.
(ps. It might be not such a bad idea to fill the pits again afterwards, you would be surprised how fast one forgets he digged a hole at that spot )
One of the disadvantages, but also one of the most “down to earth” consequences of building low-impact is that you are dependent of the seasons.
A disadvantage because you have to make a good shedule and “down to earth” because you are not abalienating (< ‘Vervreemden’) from your buildingmaterials…You are very aware of what you are doing during the whole year.
One of the tasks when building with strawbales is to gather willow branches. “Why?” I hear you say… Well, you need them to connect strawbales one another when piling them during construction.
You just put two willow branches right through a strawbale and into the one underneath. This way they won’t move and you get a nice straight wall.
In some countries they also use bamboo for this purpose, but as Willow trees are far more common in Belgium it’s more opportune to use them.
It might seem a simple and non time-consuming activity, but I notices how much time it takes just to strip of all side-branches and pile the main branches together… It took me about a full day to get all the banches I need… About 300 to 400.
More information on using this willow branches will come up when … well.. when I’m building offcourse
Hi all!
My architect, Marc Schepens, has finished the first impression of the groundlevel!
I met Marc a few years ago and I was impressed by his unusual architecture and interests… Allot of his buildings are organic or seem to be inspired by nature.
As I have always been a big fan of organic architecture it seemed almost inevitable to contact Marc and ask him to design my little house. After the first meeting allready I knew I made the right decision.
I explained Marc my goals with the project and what kind of building I would like to realise. Together we made some quick sketches and discusses what is important and what’s not.
Offcourse the most important issue is the environmental aspect. This means also thinking about placing the house on the right spot and positioning it in the right direction. I’m not going to explain everything right now, but I’ll put the picture of the groundlevel up first and gradually (in time..) explain why we made some decisions…
by Marc Schepens
The bottom is South and the top is North.
As you can see allot of the windows are directed Southward. However there is a large roof overhang above the terrace. This allows sun to enter in winter, when sun is low. And protects the house from heating up in summer.
You can also see two different kind of heating devices. One of them is an Aga.. this is a kind of stove you can cook on. The other will be a finoven or tilestove (still deciding what will be the best sollution).
The aga could also provide warm water for the bathroom and kitchensink. It’s very important that kithen and bathroom are close to one another as these rooms require water. As the ground is sloping slightly downwards towards the east, it’s also very convienent to have the “water cell” on the highest part of the house, this way it’s more easy to drain the filthy water towards a purifying pond and still keep it close to the surroundings.
Another benefit is that the current bedroom is located in the east, wich makes it very nice to wake-up with the early morning sun. I’m not sure, however, if I’m going to keep this room as a bedroom. it might be more convenient to put the bedroom on the upperlevel (under the roof) and have this room as a big storage closet.
In the North, the house is protected and “insulated” by a little hill. This hill will also capture the sun heat (warmth inertia). However, because we are building with strawbales there will be only a very small amount of heat transfering from the hill to the house. Strawbales are known to be very isulating and this works (sadly enough) in both directions.
At least, in winter, the difference in temperature between the interior and exterior will be diminished by putting ground all around (60cm below groundlevel, the temperature never drops lower then 3 to 5°C). I’m also thinking it might be possble to integrate a grid of tubes which collect air from the outside, transfer it through the hill to the interior of the house. This might be a good way to warm up incoming air in winter and cool down incoming air in summer. This system is allready used in modern, high-tech ventillation sollutions… Might be fun to make my own low-tec sollution
Well… I have lots more to tell you, but for now time is running out… So i’ll continue later on!
Right… where were we?
Oohyeah! I had a selling agreement on the ground in Stekene. My notarian phoned me last week to inform me that finally all the paperwork is done and we can arrange a meeting to transfer the ground from the former owners to me… that also involves paying for the ground.. aawtch…
Just so you know.. it took the notarians (one of mine and one of the previous owners) 5 months to finalise the job! This is almost twice the legal term !!!! Take this into account when you are buying a ground !!!
I was also breaking down the chalet and shed and well.. I still am!
The reason why it takes so long is because I have been busy informing myself on building with wood and also because I was moving from the farmhouse in Zottegem back to my parentsplace in Mechelen… Officially I still live in Zottegem, but nowadays I’ll be more in Mechelen than in Zottegem… I’ll probably stop renting the place in Zottegem real soon!
I want to re-use allot of materials from the chalet and shed for the low-impact building. Untill now I was storing all my wood and stuff in the shed. BUT! Because the roof is made of plates consisting asbestos, I really want to get rid of it. Untill this same year I can bring the plates to Antwerp for free. Next year however I’ll have to pay for it (and it will be allot!). Because the year is almost over I have to hurry to complete this operation. The problem however is that when I take of the roof I’ll no longer have a waterproof place to store my wood and other materials from the demolition.
I will also need a place where I can work with wood for the post and beam construction of the house. It has to be safe and not too far from the ground. At first I was thinking of putting up a tent on the ground itself. But than a tent of big size would cost me about 800 Euro and it’s not really save… People could just enter and steal all my equipment.
This is why I went on looking for a cheap place where I can work and store all my stuff. Strangly it took me only two days to find this place!
Now I’m renting a 100m² working area with electricity, gaz, a shower and a toilet! I agreed upon a 100 euro’s a month with the kind lady who is renting it.
It’ located in the center of Stekene, this way I have almost no transport costs and I have a safe place to store all my stuff and to work there! GREAT!
I also went looking for equiment.. as uptill now I only had an ax and some little tools, but for preparing the post and beam construction I’ll need havier stuff! Not far from my current job there was a shop having a total sell-out… and guess what… they sell handycraft equipment!
I bought almost everything I need for about 650 Euro’s (everything at half price) ! I only need a good drill and a big jigsaw!
We’re getting somewhere now !!!!
Here are some pictures I took tday of the place I’m renting and the material I bought… More pictures of the ground and the demolition of the chalet and shed will come up soon !!!!
The workingspace
The equipment
The materials I took from the chalet and shed to re-use
OOYEAH !!! At this moment I could really use some extra hands to break down the remaining of the chalet and shed!!! So if you have some time to spare don’t hesitate to contact me!!!
Greetz
Washing clothes is a timeconsuming activity when you want to do it by hand.
This is why man probably invented the automated washing machines
As far as I know there are two types: one works on electricity and the other on gaz…
If you are able to make your own biogaz you might find the later a good ecological alternative.
Washing machine on gaz
If you are washing on electricity, you might want to check the powerconsumption of your machine… It goes from 1 to 4 KW (which is a huge difference!)
As for me… I want to try a different approach…
First of all I went to ask older people how they were washing their clothes before any washing machines existed…
Wel.. most of the time I just found out that people (especially farmers) were throwing their dirty clothes on the attic. Once (or a few times) a year they spend one or two days doing nothing but washing those clothes…
“Laundry Day”
They warmed up a huge tub and washed by hand.
This just didn’t seem a good alternative to me… I guess society wouldn’t accept this kind of attitude anymore, hehe…
So I went on looking for alternatives… and then I found something that’s in between both our modern automated machines and doing it by hand:
My Washing machine
Yes, my dear people, this “little monster” enables you to do your laundry by hand, without spoiling electricity!
I have bought it from a very nice Family in Wervik for only 40 Euro’s. It still needs some work, but as soon as it’s finnished I’ll make a test drive and let you know about my little experiment!
<To be continued>
I’ll update this topic once in a while. But If you are looking for information on this subject you can always find a shortcut on the page “Basic Needs”.
As it will take some while to put all information here I’ll just start writing and complete it with time.
What’s the difference between Ovens, Heaters, stoves and fireplaces?
Well… actually they are just words to describe a device that provides heat in someway…
I’ll use following (selfmade) definitions to make a distinction between different types of heating devices:
Heater: This can be any kind of heating device.. including ovens, fireplaces, stoves, ….
Stove: This is a closed system with or without little window. Generally it’s made from cast iron, but there are also “Tile ovens” wich are made from firebricks and special heatresistant tiles or loam ovens (as it states they are covered with loam)
Fireplace: This is an open system. Normally the fire get’s in direct contact with the air of the room. The new fireplaces have been provided with a transparant side to be a little more energy-efficient and to make them safer.
Oven: This is an open or closed system provided with a room for backing stuff (ceramics, food, …)
It might seem stupid to give a definition to all these different types of heating devices, but I noticed when I was talking to people, they didn’t use the same words as I was to distinguish all these devices..
There is one exception in all this: a “Finoven” … although it sais fin-”oven” it’s not really an oven… actually it’s a combination of all kinds of heating devices… primarily it’s a stove, but you can use the heat for different purposes aswell…
ok, that said… I first have to explain some main principles….
- Different types of heating principles:
Radiation: This is heat transfered by waves… it’s like the direct heat you receive from the sun… Imagine you are in the mountains in winter, but the sun is really shining very strong than you might still feel warm, even when the air around you is very cold. This is due to radiation from the sun.
Convection: Heat transfered by the movement of matter… most of the time this is air or water moving… Hot air and water move up because they are lighter than the air or water surrounding them. But this movement can also be forced by circulation (ventillation or by a waterpump)
Conduction: Heat transfered by movement inside material. For instance a metal plate will get warm when you put it in the sun… even if the plate is half in shadow, this part will also become warm because of conduction. Conduction depends on the material… metals will conduct more heat than wood or plastics…
What about the Pro’s and contra’s of different heaters?
The finoven
My personal favorite is the “Finoven”… This kind of heater works on the radiation principle. There are some pro’s about that.. First of all, because it’s working on radiation, there is almost no air getting heated. Because no air is heated, there is less movement of warm air going up. And because there is less air movement, it’s better for allergies and astma (dust doesn’t circulate anymore).
Another pro is that the sense of heat is less dependent of the distance. Radiation goes as far as the heatwaves go. And because there is no air heated, the air surrounding you can stay on a very low temperature, while you are feeling warm.
Most of the finovens use a second combustion, which means after having fire in the first room, a second “explosion” is introduced in a second combustion room. This means there is almost no smoke exhaust!
Finally and probably the most important pro of these kind of heaters is the big amount of inertia. Because finovens are build very massive with heatresistant stones, they keep warmth inside for a long period of time and release it drip by drip. This way it’s sufficient to heat a finoven only 1,5 hours a day to keep you warm all day!
A great thing about finovens is that you can use the smoke or warm air to heat up different things…
For instance an oven, a water boiler, a wall and/or seating, a bath thub, … you name it!
There are two big contra’s though… first of all it costs allot! When you build it yourself with a DIY-pack, you pay about 2 000 to 3 000 euro’s. When you would buy a full system it can cost up to 15 000 Euro !!!
The best alternative is to fully build it yourself… Up to now I haven’t met someone who did this… But I’m going to try it anyways…
A second contra is the weight… It weights a few ton… up to 3 or even 4 ton for a big one… This means you have to take this into account when building the fundaments!
And finally, the last contra is that the heat is only felt in a certain range. For instance… when you put it on the groundlevel you’ll not really feel the heat on the second floor (remember less air is heated!) You can only heat up a room of a limited area… normally that’s around 80m² at the most… but all depends on how big you build the oven offcourse…
<More technical information comming soon>
The Tile Stove
This heater is very similar to a finoven. Actually it’s difficult to make a clear division between the two of them… As for me, it seems that a tile stove is just a different way of dividing heaters… it has nothing to do with the system itself, but with the fact that tiles are used to cover the oven. these tiles heat up and work as a radiation element on the outside of the oven. You can perfectly turn a finoven into a tileoven just by decorating it with tiles (duuh!). So in a nutshell: a tile oven can be a finoven, but not every finoven is a tileoven.
A “Tichel” stove
This is a very interesting stove because you are able to build it yourself and even break it down and rebuild it in another place. This stove works on the same principle as the finoven, only it is smaller and made of prefabricated building elements. It’s perfect for smaller places!
The only downside of this system is that it’s not really made for building allot of different add-ons on it (like a pizza-oven) or to heat-up water. it’s just a plane stove to heat a room…
Build-in systems (<”Inbouwcassette”)
You can find allot of pre-fabricates systems you just have to build in. the adveantage is that you don’t have to worry about all the technical difficulties and still are able to build a relative inexpensive stove (it will still cost you 2 000 Euro’s though). You buy the system, place it on a good spot and start building walls around it. You can get systems with central heating systems or to heat up waer for the bathroom or…. whatever you want actually! Make sure you buy one with a second combustionroom though!
A Pellet stove
I don’t really like these kind of stoves… for me it seems like some kind of marketing trick.. You pay allot for them and you never know what is going to happen with the price of the pellets… Nope… I’m not convinced..
If you are lazy and you don’t like filling up the stove with wood than this stove will win your heart… it has an automatic suply of pellets.. so the only thing you have to do is check once in a while if there’s still enough pellets around and buy new once when needed.
A pelletstove is good if you have money enough and you aren’t worrying about the prices of the pellets going up OR if you have no way at all to put a chimney… one of the good advantages of these stoves is that they don’t really need a chimney… you can just put a tube through the wall!
A traditional stove
A traditional stove is made of castiron… The good thing about this stoves is that they get warm in a relative short period of time. A disadvantage though is that they don’t keep their warmth and are primarily working on convection. As soon as the flames go down the room is getting very cold.
There are traditional stoves with a secundary combustion room… I have no clue if they really work as efficient as a finoven with a secundary combustionroom. I doubt it because it seems to me that the secunday combustion can only work well when there is enough heat kept inside for a certain amount of time… and traditional stove just doesn’t keep this warmth inside…
This kind of stove is good if you haven’t got allot of money or you are not that handy to build a really good stove yourself. It’s also good if you want to cook directly on the stove… this is offcourse not possible with a finoven because the surface isn’t really hot in the later case (you can easily put your hand on it without burning… don’t try this with a traditional stove!).
A Fireplace
When we are talking about ecology and technical strengths this is the worst kind of heating device!
As soon as wood burns it spreads the warmth all around… There is almost no radiation and you can only feel the heat if you are very close.
If you are building green: don’t use a fireplace! I know… I know… we “nature people” like to see the fire, put a stick in it once in a while… That’s fine! Do it when you are hiking in the mountains .. don’t use this heater as a general system to keep you warm in winter… it’s extremely polluting and inefficient.
Some considerations about the choice of a heating device…
It seems that all heaters have pro’s and contra’s… How should you choose your heating device?
The only good way to make the right decision is to ask yourself what you want to do with it and how you are going to use it…
In my case for example:
As I’ll be at work during the day, I’ll only need to be warm in the morning, in the evening and in the weekend during the whole day. It’s a waste to kep a finoven burning all day if you’re not around… So also not possible to heat up a finoven in the morning, because it will take me too much time before I get heat out of it.. by the time I feel a little warm I allready have to go… IF I get lucky enough to feel warm.
So a traditional finoven won’t do the trick… unless in the weekends… This is a tipical problem in our climate… we aren’t living in Norway, Canda or Finland! We have rather soft winters and soft summers… we don’t ned a die-hard heating system! Especially when you are working during the day!
You might think “Well.. just buy yourself a traditional stove than!”… It would seem the most appropriate sollution, but I’m not convinced… there must be a more ecological way!
What if I would combine the pro’s of both systems??? Would this be possible??
YES ! On my quest for the perfect stove I found a system that combines the inertia of a finoven with the speed of a traditional stove.
This kind of oven is build with firebricks like a finoven, but has a special exhaust on the back… So when you are having cold and the heater is out you just put wood inside, make it burn and open a valve at the back… The warm air is ventilated inside the room and within 15 minutes the room is pleasantly warm!
Now you close the valve and the heat is kept inside the oven. The bricks are absorbing the heat and are functioning like the bricks of a finoven! During the weekends it’s sufficient to burn wood for about an hour and a half to have a full day of warmth.
A very nice family, not far from where I live now have this kind of stove. Here are some pictures:
This is the front side where you enter the wood. Notice the little door on top used as a baking oven.
Here you can see the exhaust ventillation system. You can open and close it as I described above.
< To be continued>