Ferrocement Cabin/Shelter in Slab City, CA- HOW TO BUILD IT

Рет қаралды 26,360

3 жыл бұрын

Saw the start of a free form concrete ferrocement shelter while looking at art and cabins, tiny houses, and DIY homes in Slab City and East Jesus, CA, and while this one is far from finished, the idea is there. With lumber prices as they are now, and being a huge fan of building with scraps, reused materials and salvaged goods (free!), I thought this might be something of interest that one could take to the next level. But how would you build such a cabin? Well, tiny house, homesteading, off grid living, and shed fans- we explain how right in this video, in live illustrative fashion. Ferrocement, or "sculpted cement" on forms or built armatures really isn't all that difficult, but it requires some planning, and well, a good deal of time. The results can be amazing though- such as with the snail house and snake house (javier senosiain's nido de quetzalcoatl (quetzalcoatl's nest))- great examples of sculpted concrete work in the shelter or housing form. We're starting to see more ferrocement housing in the media and even showcased in places like HGTV television, on tiny house websites, in books, and in airbnb rentals- especially desert climate ones. It'll be interesting to see where this form of alternative building winds up down the road. (For fans of dome homes and dome house construction, buckminster fuller, the futuro house, Drop City, and Lloyd Kahn's book Shelter)
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Tuftex- the clear roofing and wall material I use in a TON of my builds- www.onduline.us
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Пікірлер: 69

@relaxshacksDOTcom 3 жыл бұрын

"When lumber is too expensive......"

@cleoharper1842 3 жыл бұрын

Shameless appreciation moment: Your projects are always so awesome. I always find myself diving into one of Deek's rabbit holes whenever I do some research on what you're currently working on. And your ability to teach things clearly in short videos is commendable. Thank you for your enriching content. I freaking love you, man. But not in that weird way.

@Oldaker7 Жыл бұрын

My grandpa built a house similar to this set up. It was done with the chicken wire nailed to the outside of house and covered it with cement. It is still standing today and I'm 45 years old.

@chezmoi42 3 жыл бұрын

My dad was a contractor who specialized in concrete work. His trick for anchoring things like this rebar into cement was to sink in a bottle, neck down, into the spot, then when it was set you break out the bottom of the bottle, place your upright plumb, and fill in with more cement. For a porch railing you can use beer bottles, but for something big like this a wine bottle might be better.

@relaxshacksDOTcom 3 жыл бұрын

Love these kind of DIY underground tips! Thanks

@AliAbdullah-oi3wc 2 жыл бұрын

how do you make the rebar bend to an arch?

@gta-6837 3 ай бұрын

Sweet

@levinpugsley9256 2 жыл бұрын

I’ve used poultry netting with rebar, hardware cloth, and metal lathe for ferrocement structures. The metal lathe was by far the easiest to get the cement to stick on the underside ceiling, IMO the most challenging part to keep the cement in place during the initial process. Tarp and having someone on the inside is a very important tip, thumbs up 👍🏼!

@Tsiri09 3 жыл бұрын

That's pretty cool. Looks like in the coming days, we're all gonna have to be creative with housing.

@seanavery7265 3 жыл бұрын

Happy independence Day for tomorrow ,love and thanks from England.🇺🇸

@annettefournier9655 3 жыл бұрын

That's a pretty darn good off the cuff drawing IMHO.

@chezmoi42 3 жыл бұрын

Deek's an artist. You can catch up with some of his work here and there in his videos, like this one: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/h6yaeZl6s9HVhoE.html Or there's more here: www.google.com/search?source=univ&tbm=isch&q=deek+diedricksen+art

@relaxshacksDOTcom 3 жыл бұрын

@@chezmoi42 Thanks! (both of you)

@docink6175 3 жыл бұрын

back in the 70's mother earth news did this using bamboo.. to make a bigger structure you make 2 hoops on the ground connected with another hoop, once the skin is applied on the outside you can remove the inside legs.. There was a company in NE Florida in the early 90's who built sheds using plywood to make an arch and covered it with a similar system but they used a large roll of fiber membrane and applied the concrete with a gun, the one I saw was 4sheets wide with about a 10-12' peak

@relaxshacksDOTcom 3 жыл бұрын

Yes, bamboo IS pretty amazing! Took some video when I was in Hong Kong of the bamboo scaffolding they'd use while working on buildings- some of it was 20 stories tall!

@AliAbdullah-oi3wc 2 жыл бұрын

how would I bend the rebar to a hoop? I know of simple tools that will bend, but they are more for 90 degree angles

@louisestagnetto8754 3 жыл бұрын

So glad to see you're filming again. Have missed the videos. Covid has been around for too long !! Look forward to the next one 😀

@veronicasmith1147 3 жыл бұрын

Good stuff💙💞💖

@penguinchick6563 3 жыл бұрын

I like the idea a lot! 👍

@Christ_on_the_River 2 жыл бұрын

Basalt rebar … 300ft coil of #3 equivalent for around $100 is lightweight and compact for transport. Won’t rust since it’s made from volcanic rock

@slaplapdog 8 ай бұрын

It's not commonly available here, but the fiberglass rebar is.

@kmonnier 3 жыл бұрын

I made concrete piggy banks for my siblings Christmas presents one year using expanded metal lath and mortar. You are very right about the squeezing through needing to be troweled.

@relaxshacksDOTcom 3 жыл бұрын

Wow- pretty cool! Would love to see those somehow

@reptillian91 3 жыл бұрын

Oh man that seesaw brings back memories!! Love it. Kids today will never have a chance to get hurt on these :P

@cindyboard7816 3 жыл бұрын

Interesting stuff!!!

@mistyblue526 Жыл бұрын

Cant old towels, blankets be used instead of coffee sacks?

@susannebemis3311 3 жыл бұрын

what a fab birthday present ! Deek is back!

@RMacca 3 жыл бұрын

I was just recently trying to research structures similar to this. Great timing!

@emeraldfox7175 3 жыл бұрын

You can do the same thing with the 16ft cattle panels from tractor supply

@Jarjarjar21 2 жыл бұрын

How cool.

@chuk11011 3 жыл бұрын

Should be easy to form a fireplace off the side, even form smokestack with it maybe, and I like the saturated sacks idea!

@mikeingram-bh2lh Жыл бұрын

How can you make the floor ferro cement so in a flood the whole house will float up. In holland they have some houses that will float up in a flood , but they are not cement.

@johnsexton3841 3 жыл бұрын

Neat!

@emeraldfox7175 3 жыл бұрын

You can do the same thing with the 16 ft. 25 dollar cattle panels from tractor supply

@AliAbdullah-oi3wc 2 жыл бұрын

I dont have cattle panels in my country. What size rebar do you think it is?

@dirtgirl9074 3 жыл бұрын

rebar... rebarb.... reBarbie..... suddenly I am seeing a bunch of old barbies set in a concrete Quonset hut wall. A little too much cabin fever this week. Looks like a cool idea. We still have a number of Quonsets around my town from the olden days. Most have become storage sheds but some are little houses or offices.

@CaptainPhilosophical 2 жыл бұрын

If you don't use a footing how far should the rebar be driven into ground?

@sail4free1 3 жыл бұрын

We have 1,100 watts of solar panels now and are pre-wired for another 250 watts. This should make it easy enough to run a solar-powered small batch concrete mixer going forward. Concrete is a good choice at The Slabs = thermal mass *and* resistant to fire which seems to be one of the constant variables there. :(

@rasheedp4140 Жыл бұрын

❤

@jerrywhidby. Жыл бұрын

I want to try making a fence wall using concrete canvas. Then plant creeping figs to cover it up. Maybe some oval see throughs in the wall.

@DeweyKentM 3 жыл бұрын

I like the flat wall and overhang up front, but I think a curved airstream-like back wall would be pretty sweet. If one were to attempt such a complex shape, do you think vertical rebar bent to the center of the last full arch would be the way to go, or would full arches suspended at different angles and tied together be more structurally sound?

@relaxshacksDOTcom 3 жыл бұрын

Yes- could easily do that too- good point- I was just think more so in terms of the ease of working in windows into traditional vertical walls in this case.

@emerson6535 3 жыл бұрын

How do you bend the rebar?

@relaxshacksDOTcom 3 жыл бұрын

You can drive posts (or anything similar into the ground), as bending points to work the metal around..... almost like a jig. Its almost the same way by which you more-safely break firewood/campfire branches by sticking them between two trees and using one tree as leverage for the break.

@KaleidoscopeJunkie 3 жыл бұрын

Free metal bed rails and box springs online..... The fabric from box springs can be used in place of woven bags.

@relaxshacksDOTcom 3 жыл бұрын

I like it as you can find that stuff everywhere, and its already garbage

@huntercartwright791 3 жыл бұрын

Flipping cool……

@Wawiya 2 жыл бұрын

very nice, it reminds me of a wigwam

@guillaumemartin8864 4 күн бұрын

Vidéo intéressante. Je pense qu il serait possible de mettre un film geotextile par dessus l armature en acier pour ensuite faire du béton projeté ( en fait du mortier pas du béton) avec une machine qui projette le ciment et quand l intérieur est réalisé il suffit d enlever le film geotextile et projeté le ciment par m extérieur au lieu de tout faire à la main et à la truelle.

@emerson6535 3 жыл бұрын

Please make more videos!

@relaxshacksDOTcom 3 жыл бұрын

More coming you- YT has just been messing with my channel the last two years which has killed a lot of my reach through their algorithms and restrictions- which can be, er, discouraging.....

@LetsFingGo Жыл бұрын

when there is no lumber. Aussie pioneers in the far outback made homes like this using hessian (burlap) bags because, well,, there was nothing else available.

@sail4free1 3 жыл бұрын

We've been building "Sanctuary One" at The Slabs for a few years now -- 18' wide; 16' front end to back end wall; 12' tall. At this point the 10-faceted roof is completely done at *very* low cost using OSB and aluminized roof coating over 3' long chunks of 2x4 put together in "rigid arch" fashion with plywood/OSB glue plates and galvanized 2" box nails. The one end facing the street (Coachella Canal Road) is completely done with three windows -- storm shutters which double as shade awnings for this west-facing wall, etc. :) Last "winter" we built what is likely the nicest and most permanent "gopher hole" at The Slabs (Spyder at The California Ponderosa can bring you up to speed). It is a perforated 50 gallon plastic drum installed vertically in a hand-dug hole and backfilled with fist-size and larger rocks we hand-picked from the nearby desert. Then I put down four layers of old plastic tarp, built a "garden wall" from dry-stacked cinder blocks (two rows above grade) and filled the cores with smaller rocks, beer bottles, wine bottles, rebar *and* hand-mixed concrete in a five-gallon plastic bucket. Then all the loose dirt from the dig was put inside the garden wall. The idea is that blackwater would go down below and graywater could be used it irrigate whatever is planted inside the garden wall. :)

@sail4free1 3 жыл бұрын

@She-Wolf -- We haven't taken any video of our build yet. I have seen it in a video or two made by others but I don't remember which ones. All we have at this point are regular pics. :)

@lockedin60 3 жыл бұрын

Not making light of the recent tragedy in Surfside but if people were not aware of rebar and concrete building materials they will be now. Maybe a build like this will give people a new perspective.

@relaxshacksDOTcom 3 жыл бұрын

I know- talk about "awful"- I can't imagine....