Going Backwards?

We stripped Saturday's compacted wall on Monday and it looked great except for two lifts that were around 18cm deep and barely compacted. They were very soft - so much so that it was possible to make a significant indentation with the press of a finger. It was obvious that the wall had to come down. This was a pity as the rest of the wall was fine. One of the lifts was placed in the confusion after the giraffe accident so has a valid excuse for being soft, but the other lift did not. However we tried to turn it into an educational experience and the entire labour force was shown the failure and the reasons why it was unacceptable. Then they set about breaking it down which took a surprising amount of effort. We thought that we could just push it over but that turned out to be impossible. Finally we used picks to hack our way through it which was an uplifting experience. These walls are here to stay!


During the past two days we finished off preparing the remaining stem walls and now we are ready to proceed with the compacting until all the walls are up. Fortunately Deon managed to get the giraffe's bucket repaired and this is back up to speed. Thanks Deon!!

While the bucket was being repaired, we began erecting the final layer of formwork on our first north wall panel. The difference now is that we are dealing with a 3.3m high wall and not a 2.3m one. And this is significant. It also requires a second level of formwork to make up the height. When we had just installed the last panel, I realised that the giraffe might not be able to reach over the additional height created by the stem wall. This was a moment of panic as it will not be practical to load these forms by hand. So we moved the giraffe into position and raised the bucket to confirm our worst fears. Well it fits like a glove and this was one of those perfect moments where all the disconnected planning worked better than expected. What a beauty!

By the end of the day everything was in place including the window VDB. We will be ramming the wall in three sections: the walls on each side of the window will be rammed separately and then the window sill will be rammed after these are up. This means that tomorrow is going to be rushed in an attempt to get both walls up and to complete the extra height. I just hope that we will get both walls done in one go and then on Tuesday we can see the fruits of our labour. We can then ram the window sill at our leisure. This is probably the most exciting point as the tall walls will show off the majesty of the rammed earth and we want to be stunned by its beauty.