There was a great feeling of satisfaction building out the first gable. Seeing a wall completed to the highest point after so many weekends spent forming, mixing and placing, it feels like we are over a hump. The gable ends are being built out on the east end of the building. We have left the western end open so that we can access the attic for filling the ceiling in with hemp.
The gable ends don't need to be 300mm thick. They are really only there for weatherproofing and to provide a continuous external wall for rendering. We thought about sheeting the gable and rendering, but we had enough hemp to build them, so we opted for a 150mm thick hemp wall instead. This should also eliminate any risk of a crack that could occur at the joint between sheets and the hemp wall.
The main technical challenge was to set up formwork that could be removed. Attaching direct to the outside of the frame would lock the formwork in. Dad and I cut 6mm OSB sheets to fill in the frame spaces and attached them to the spacer blocks for the battens. The battens were installed to embed in the hemp since the frame would not be embedded in the thinner wall.
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| Closeup of the formwork for inside the gables. They weren't too neat, but good enough for a wall you can't see!! |
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| The gable wall is only 150mm thick. It sits in front of the frame and won't envelop it. So the battens will be embedded in the hemp to secure it. |
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| The 90 x 45 blocks served to space the battens from the frame. They also allowed for attachment of the OSB sheets for the internal formwork. |
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The lintel over the bifold doors. Battens with a bevel cut top and
bottom are fixed to the face to retain the hemp. |
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| The conduit for our outside light over the eastern deck. |
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| The rope and pulley on the right are used to haul the hemp buckets up the scaffold. |
