Getting the roof just right...
takes a lot of work. The style of this roof was mostly my idea. I lost the coin toss (I wanted a Dutch hip) and our previous house had a 3 in 12 gable roof. Serviceable and relatively easy to build, but plain. The roof on this house is 5 in 12, with mini-roofs to help protect the east and west walls and space to provide some attic storage. And it just looks cool. The roof will be galvalume (nonpainted metal panels) with gutters to catch the rain. The gables will also be clad with galvalume. To the right is the picture of the north elevation which I promised. It was taken from the common area between houses which includes a pedestrian walkway.


(l) This is the west side again with it's "mini-roof". (Does anyone have an official name for this?)


(below) And the east side with a close-up of the mini-roof. This has been a lot of work. Look at it closely, give it the respect it deserves. I will be paying for this for the rest of my life.

Now we have to begin the second phase of digging, boooring...but it has to be done.

Until next time...

It's a HOUSE! (well, sort of...)

The decking is complete. It appears unfinished because we like the look of the rafter tails against metal roofing. Again, this is the south face and that large opening is not the garage. That will be a wall of windows which will be shaded by a patio roof. On the gable ends will be overhangs something like this. Next time I'll get some photos of the north side.

We begin to see the silhouette of the house and I love the compactness of it. I think my fascination with living in small spaces goes back to childhood, but then, doesn't everything? I grew up in a very "Leave It to Beaver" neighborhood in southcentral Ohio, where the Scioto River joins the Ohio on its journey to the Mississippi, "Where Southern Hospitality Begins" in the foothills of Appalachia. These were golden years for the Portsmouth (widely pronounced Porchmith) area as Detroit Steel was in high production and Goodyear Atomic (A-plant) had put a lot of people to work after the war. The mighty N&W was still mighty, hauling coal from West Virginia mines to the river along with passengers and other freight. Portsmouth even had a great Art Deco train station. Many people were making the Rt 23 trek to jobs in the North but many were still able to be employed in the area. In just over a decade, Detroit Steel would become a miles long skeleton forever emitting the smell of steel being made and the coming years would see the Goodyear plant change hands and missions and take years to clean up. N&W would become N&S, the passenger lines closed and the beautiful station eventually demolished to build a jail. But the fact that jobs were available in the 60s helped make my childhood what it was. In my little neighborhood of Coles Park most Dads went to work (at the A-plant, the steel mill or N&W) and most Moms stayed home. There were no fences, everyone knew everyone and in the summer and after school all the kids just traveled from yard to yard playing baseball, kickball, tag, tetherball. Around 5 pm you could hear Moms calling children home to dinner. After dinner we would all rush outside accompanied by the admonition "You be in before dark!" I'm not sure why because those who had parents working at the A-plant probably glowed.

The family who lived behind us had 2 girls about my age and we were great friends, spending lots of time together. They had a playhouse. It was the greatest thing I had ever seen. Probably about 6x8, it had a front door, a window and a gable roof. Even then I would think of ways to "fix it up"; put curtains in the window, a little paint, just the right light fixture, plant a few flowers. I would imagine myself living there. Growing up in a big rangy house, with 2 parents, 3 brothers and one bathroom I was probably craving peace and quiet and privacy. The object of my desire sat on the lot line between our houses under a big old sycamore tree, a perfect setting and far enough from their house and my house that it seemed private. Yes, I think that must be when I became so fascinated with small spaces and have been attracted to them since.

"It's the friends you can call at 4 am that matter." Marlena Dietrich

Robin, Me, Olga, Amy

These wonderful women are in that group! (With Amy it wouldn't matter, she'd sleep through the call). On the day of the wall-raising they presented me with "blessings" to squirrel away in the walls of the house. Charms, a small edition of Shakespeare, a cross and lots of good thoughts. It's the little things that make a house a home. Thanks for being a part of this.

Building Stage:

Finish interior framing, fix a bump in the roof and work on the gable ends. The windows are ordered. And then we have to find the utilities. Sounds like a lot of digging.

Until next time...

Truss Day (in more ways than one)

And the trusses go up!

After much shifting, sweating, coaxing, pounding, cursing, grunting, groaning, straining and just plain hard work, the RBA was squarelevelplumb and the trusses made their debut. Wow, what a difference that makes! You can also see from this picture that much of the interior framing is completed. Now I can actually get a "feel" for the rooms-and it feels great. We like to say it's "simple, efficient and elegant." No starter castle here. Maybe it should be called the SEE house-SEE you don't need 3000 sq ft and a 3 bay garage to live a happy life.

This house is going to exceed our expectations due to the skill and dedication of Gumbatti Construction. Chris and Nick have worked their behinds off and lent great advice and vision to the project. And now for something really different: They return calls and show up when they say they will!!!

Chris (L)

The Flying Gumbatis

You need something built in Tucson, call these guys!

Gumbati Construction 520.907.0099

Nick (R)

Rick (L)

Master of All He Surveys and Honorary Gumbati

Get to work, Rick!

It couldn't have gone this fast without the continued help and support of Sam and Bill who came and sweated with the guys on truss day! Thanks!

Gumbatis in action-illustrating why construction is a young man's job.

Building Stage: Next it's the roof decking and then on to some clean-up details, window ordering, finishing interior framing, etc. It feels great!

Until next time, Judy

Getting a good hat.
Before RBA

One of the most important aspects of building any home but especially straw bale is the integrity of the roof. If the roof leaks and the straw gets wet it can be bad news. But then a leaky roof is bad news no matter. And getting that roof right means getting the roof bearing assembly or tip plate right. That starts by getting the walls square, then the RBA square, then the trusses go on and you have a much better chance of having a good roof. Here are a few shots of the almost completed RBA. Interior framing starts today and then the trusses go up tomorrow. Wow, I could move in!
NOT!








Roof bearing assembly almost completed.

I had mistakenly turned comments off, that function is back on.

I can be changed by what happens to me but I refuse to be reduced by it~Maya Angelou

Seeing this house take shape has been exciting but brings back memories of our first strawbale home. Because it's been so much on my mind of late, I thought I'd write a little about that experience, maybe exorcise some ghosts.

About 10 years ago we bought an acre of beautiful desert just east of Tucson in an area known as Vail. Our acre was in the middle of a plat of land which had been subdivided in the 60's but because there were no utilities only a few hardy souls had built on their lots. We studied the possiblities. We knew we could do solar and solve the water problem, the C,C&Rs were reasonable and so we jumped at the opportunity and purchsed the land. We started planning our home and soon started building. We lived in a 5th wheel with 2 little boys (about 5 and 8 when we started) for 14 months while we built and then for about 5 years, lived a great life.



We built a strawbale studio and helped other friends with their strawbale houses.

The boys had the run of over100 acres of desert, named all the washes and brought home a never ending supply of treasures. We were visited by rattlesnakes, javelina and illegals searching for water. We were completely "beyond the sidewalks"-off-grid and had water hauled, living with the land not trying to bend it to our will. We harvested water from the roof for landscaping needs and learned to conserve. For many it would have been "living without". But we gained so much: great friends, silence, stars, long walks, watching the summer rains approach from all directions, the smell of creosote, the delight of driving to the Roadrunner Market for ice cream (ice cream is a big deal when you only have a small propane refrig/freezer). Life was good.

Then it happened (cue foreboding music: dummm-de-dum-dum). The BIG BAD DEVELOPER ,ITC Homes, Ron Amiran, Moshe Gedalia, came into town and began buying up property around us. Then came the blading and grading, changing washes and destroying protected Pima pineapple cactus. McMansions sprung up around us, the kind that take 2 air-conditioners to cool. Black asphalt roads and driveways, grass lawns, swimming pools. It was painful to watch. It wasn't that we thought all that land was ours or that no one should ever build there it was the fact that the BBD came in, changed the rules under which we had purchased and then wanted to charge us for the privilege of continuing to live on our land and assess us 10s of thousands of dollars for the "amenities" he brought to us. And was rude, nasty and condescending . We told him we didn't need his amenities, he responded that he didn't care if we "used candles for lighting and had no heat, we would pay anyway". He now has the audacity to claim his homes are energy efficient but doesn't state on what planet. But, it is what it is. This was a dark time for us but eventually we decided that we needed to leave there and so we did. Arizona is a developer friendly state, they (developers) get what they want. We sought legal counsel, spent money, went to the newspaper and could have continued to spend money and fight but were not willing to bet everything we had on winning, not in Arizona. This was not the life we had planned.

And so another chapter opened. Our friend/realtor (but always friend first) Casey knew of some lots becoming available in Civano. We thought and thought and thought. Would we build again? Could we build again? What about all those Civano rules? Did we have the stuff to pour our hearts and souls into another project? Finally, we decided that yes, this was what we wanted to do. We had much more experience now, the boys were older, we would build smaller, more efficient. And so it began.

The First Little Pig

Despite some early disorganization, we now have walls. (Note to self, next time designate someone, other than us, to project manage.) That's usually my job but due to my other commitments over the last couple of months, I hadn't been as involved in the planning for this event and it it much more than one person can do. Thanks to some very organized friends who also have bale experience (Karen, Cheryl, Robin, we love you guys), and Terri our Custom Bale Crew Chief, and the help of many more friends and some volunteers, it happened. Some people who just stopped by to "Check it out" got into the act! We got started a little after 0800 and were finished by 1130-amazing!

We can't say enough about the response of our Civano neighbors. People brought cold drinks and fresh-baked cookies. Our neighbors, the Simms, gave up their drive-way and the cool shade of their house to a bunch of straw-covered strangers. Jeff hoisted bales and stuffed window boxes all morning. And many just came by to lend encouragement. There's a core of people within Civano who are building community, people who are going that extra step to be a part of something bigger than themselves. We definitely felt that yesterday and hope to be able to return the kindness in the near future. There was a group of about 8-10 school-aged kids who toured by a couple of times-now they have seen a different kind of house building.

That's Casey, our friend and realtor and soon to be neighbor (in the bibs). Without her we wouldn't have known about this great lot.

The Last Bale!

Rick and Cheryl lay in the last bale. Monumental occasion.


.
That's Bill (Southwest Solar) on the phone selling another energy efficient evaporative cooler from atop our strawbale wall.

All work finished in time for a delicious lunch supplied by Rick's Mom, Betty and our long-time friends Connie, Charlie and Lori. What a treat!

Thanks to Bill and Lucy for staying late and helping with the clean-up. What a help that was.

Building Stage:

Now comes the completion of the roof bearing assembly which affixes to the all-thread and attaches the roof to the foundation. Pretty important piece. The trusses are scheduled to arrive on 4/13 from L&L Truss.

Finishing the Window Bucks
The picture on the right shows the window bucks completed. The large one far left is a 6 ft slider with 2 smaller windows on either side. This will take advantage of the solar gain in the winter. We expect not to use any other heat source in the winter. The windows will be shaded in the summer to cut down on heat gain which is the bigger challenge in the Sonoran desert.





This is the sill plate moisture barrier built to code. Pea gravel will fill in the space between the 2x4s. Jutting up from the slab are the rebar stabbers onto which the first course of bales will be placed.

This is headless Sam.

















The Bales Arrive

The truck arrived and unloaded the 260 bales in about 20 minutes! They are unloaded by the "Squeeze"; no manual labor involved at this point. The bales originated in Tacna, AZ just east of Yuma in the Mohawk Valley.


The Squeeze



A load of bales. All of these bales won't be used in our house. Haywagon Livestock Supply 4450 S Houghton Rd had their complete order delivered to our house. They will come and get their bales. Worked out great for us.

Somewhere in there is a house--

"In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it." Michelangelo



Your home should be an artistic expression of you. It should reflect your dreams and be the place where you are most YOU. Where you feel safe, happy, surrounded by things that please you. It should be...home.

Until next time..Keep those bales dry! (Especially now!)

Windows boxes in the making. The windows will sit inside these boxes but won't necessarily be as big as the boxes. The box on the far right in this picture (R) will hold a 3X4 slider with a window seat/storage underneath. The box to the left (behind Sam) will be a French door.







Same boxes from the SE corner (that's Sam again). That's the N MBR window Sam is standing in front of. It will also have a storage box underneath.




And, a view form the SW corner.

Well, the bales come tomorrow so will have more pictures of that and then on Saturday it's the wall-raising. By Monday there will be walls-what a difference that will make.

Until then, keep your bales dry!

Slab City

Well, now we really have to do something... all that concrete has been poured, there's no going back. Not that we want to but it's still a little scary. A bit like finding out you're pregnant!








As we walked around the slab last night it was fun to imagine where everything would be once finished. It will be a nice cozy home. The difficult part is imaging everything we currently have in our house sitting on that slab. Seems impossible but will be an opportunity to get rid of more STUFF! Here's another view of stuff

Speaking of stuff, I've been stocking up on things from ebay, faucets, light fixtures, cabinet hardware. Things that I find and like; if you have the time to shop you can get some terrific deals on eBay. One of the cool things about a house the size we're building is there isn't a lot of "stuff" needed which allows us the ability to go to another level quality wise. And, I'm going for low maintenance, high durability in the regular use items (faucets, toilets) because I don't want to spend lots of time on upkeep. I also think it's best to spend as much as you can afford on items you touch everyday because it's just too difficult to have to interact with something on a daily basis that just doesn't please you (hmmmm, could refer to many things in life).

Here's a picture of a bathroom faucet I picked up on eBay. I like the sleek look and low number of nooks and crannies for soap scum to build up, along with all the other stuff that goes with dark, damp crannies. I'm not a germophobe and my mother used to say "Everyone eats a peck of dirt before they die." I don't buy antibacterial soap; certain bacteria are beneficial but I do like for things to be clean, not spotless, not pristine, not sterile but clean. It's stainless so has a bit of a modernist feel and should last forever.

I'm now looking for toilet info. Weren't you just hoping I'd bring up toilets. I think I have it narrowed down to a Caroma from Australia or a TOTO. If you have personal experience (well, uhh, not too personal) let me know. My numero uno criteria for this fixture: It flushes with ONE flush! A 1.6 gal flush means nothing if you always have to do it twice.

BUILDING STAGE

Bales are ordered and the wall-raising is on for April 8. Window and door boxes will be built along with the roof-bearing assembly. The trusses are also ordered.

Until next time, Keep your straw dry!

WooHooo!!! We passed the pre-slab inspection!! Slab will be poured by the end of the week!!!

Wall-raising will be April 8!!

StrawBoss

StrawbaleRedux
...should say April 8 at 0800...

We have a date for the wall-raising. April * at 0800!!!

StrawbaleRedux
Happy Birthday to my Mom. Today is her 80th!
We passed the second inspection and things are moving along with the slab. We hope to have the rebar completed by Friday, have that inspected and be able to pour next week. We have a tentative date of April 8 for the Wallraising. This is getting exciting! It's so much fun (but a lot of hard work) to see the walls go up and then it suddenly looks like a house. Soon after follows the roof-then it's all the really hard inside work. I think that's what fools most people about strawbale building, it looks like a house long before it really is. It's has been a misconception that your pour a slab, you have a wall-raising, slap on a roof and Voila!-you have a house. Wrong. Follow along with us and you will see.

StrawbaleRedux
We passed our first inspection!!
Well, almost....
There was a problem with a vent, it was a flat vent and you can't do it here! Don't you love building? Anyway, it was an easy fix, the inspector will return tomorrow morning and then on to slab.
Time to order those bales!

StrawbaleRedux
My plans for updating have fallen short already! Mostly because I started a Master's program and nothing really exciting has happened building wise. However that is changing. I will have pictures of progress soon!

Later that same day...
Stopped by the site to see the progress the plumber had made and take some pictures. Even though it may look very similar to the previous pictures, there's a huge difference--especially in the bank account! It does look great to see the black pipe sticking up and gives me a better idea of rooms and where things will be located. It still looks very small as there are no points of reference but I know from experience that perspective changes as the walls go up.



Building is such a frustrating experience because so much of it depends on others. Others over whom you have little or no control. We thought we had a plumber lined up and after playing phone tag for 7-10 days gave up on him and asked for some referrals. Troy came highly recommended and so far has been on time and has done what he said he would. That is worth a lot here in So. Arizona. I like to believe that things happen for a reason.

Today we met our neighbor to the north. What fun she is and I think we will thoroughly enjoy being neighbors with her and her husband. That's always a relief, 'cause once you sink money into something and put all those hopes and dreams into it, it's a bitch to find out your neighbor is a bitch! Our neighbors on the south are also a great family and fun to be around. We've met the male of the couple building on the east of us and he's also very nice. Because of the spacing of the houses being able to be "neighborly" is so important.

Building Stage: Now it's on to the slab.(well first there's a pesky inspection, then on to the slab) Once that's done it starts to seem real, that there just might be a house happening. Speaking of happenings, we will be having a bale-raising, around the first of April-at least that's my goal.

Until next time, keep your straw dry!

Gentlemen we have LIFTOFF!

The plans are approved!! That is such a good feeling, even though you know there are months of blood, sweat and tears ahead, it's better than waiting. Today starts the final scheduling, calling all the subs and giving them definite dates (as definite as can be in building).

In other news...A brand spankin new Lowe's just opened about 10 miles from our house. There are others in Tucson but all take about a half day to get there and back. We went and cruised the aisles yesterday afternoon. Of course, it looks like every other Lowe's in the world but it's still neat and tidy and the aisle aren't crammed with junk. We're hoping they give HD a run for the money. At least some actual floor staff approached us yesterday and asked if we needed help. That never happens at HD.

Until next time, keep your straw dry!

Here is a rudimentary drawing of the floor plan done with Paint. Not bad for my first try!

Basics-the exterior dimensions are 32 X 46 but remember, these are strawbale walls so that translates into actual interior dimensions of 28 x 42.

For orientation, the house is on a nearly E-W axis. The LR and 2 BRs are on the S. There will be a patio on the S and a porch on the N for summer use and to be able to Say Hey to neighbors walking on the pedestrian path. The porch will also allow us to take advantage of views of the common area as seen in the photos. And, we have a bit of a mountain view to the N and W.

The house is a basic ranch but you may be wondering: Why waste sq footage in such a small house with that hallway? This is the desert and it does get hot. Zaguans (hall, breezeway) were a popular means of cross-ventilation in earlier times and we wanted to add that to this house. The windows on the E wall will be awning windows about 5 ft up to allow light but also ventilation. The window on the W wall will be shaded and operable.

The wall between the LR and S BR will be adobe for thermal mass. A small wood-burning stove will sit at the end of that wall near the hallway. We expect to do nearly 100% of our heating with that stove.

We tried to design the house for the way we live. The bedrooms are small but we spend very little time in the bedrooms. The 2 BRs on the S could actually be converted into one large work space if we wished to do that in the future. In our current residence, we spend most of our time in the kitchen/dining area. These rooms are on the S so get most of the sun and humans tend to gravitate to areas which are light and bright. Knowing this we basically designed a large kitchen dining area with a sitting area (LR) attached on the S.

Another important aspect of the design was to have light coming in from 2 sides in every room. This concept comes from Christopher Alexander and served us well in SB1. We hope to be able to use more of the patterns such as six-foot balcony and positive outdoor spaces to name a few. We want this house to be warm, welcoming, peaceful and human in scale.

Building Stage: Plans
The plans are now back to the City for (hopefully) final approval. We had to make just a few more changes but anyone who has had to go through the permit process knows this is not unusual. We hope to do a wall-raising the first weeks of March.

Until next time...keep your straw dry.

Above photo is the lot looking from the SW to NE. House next door is ready for stucco.
The lot sure looks small, doesn't it? The darker red decomposed granite in the lower left of the photo is the walking path.

This is the common area directly to the left, or west, of the lot. Should be great for birds.

It's my hope to chronicle, as least in part, the building of our strawbale house. This is the second strawbale house we've built here in So. Arizona. We sold the first, bought a stickbuilt and "moved to town". It just isn't the same. It's a very nice house but we were spoiled by the strawbale. We miss the warmth, the feeling, the insulation, the artistic expression we were able to enjoy. Simply put, it just ain't the same.

So, we came up with a small plan of about 1300 sq ft (exterior). This will be our aging in place home, we hope. Not that we're decrepit but we are aging (aren't we all?) and looking to the future. Our previous home (SB1) was about 1700 sq ft, off-grid, on an acre outside of town. For this home, we've chosen a lot in Civano. Like us, this community has gone through many changes since its inception and we have watched it grow, have growing pains and now flourish. It was attractive due to the sorta-kinda committment to sustainable building, water conservation and alternative energy sources. I say sorta-kinda because those things have waxed and waned through the years. But, I think it is an interesting experiment in using certain of those principles in a more "mainstream" housing setting.

One of the other things that attracted us to the community is, It is a Community. People actually get to know their neighbors, community events are enoyed, community warts are exposed and people work together to solve problems. Not always a pretty process but, what problem-solving process involving humans is.

Building Stage
Plans: The plan was conceived by us and drawn by Dan Dorsey who also drew the plans for SB1. It's a very simple, one-level "ranch". We will have PV (but also be grid-tied), solar hot water, and will be harvesting water. The plans are now in the hands of the city and we expect the final OK to begin building any day. I will post plans in the near future.

My hope is to update this blog about once/wk. So check back.