Nice good work on your build!

Will do. We are picking up the project from last year next week. Snow melted about 6 weeks ago so we are overdue getting back to work.

We ordered the material... which amounted to 30 tonnes for a 20 ft by 10 ft structure.

This is the one we used www.homedepot.com/p/Jet-JCT-1604-Floor-Sand-Rammer-Backfill-Tamper-550604/306107138

There is some concrete in the rammed earth mixture that glues it.

We sort of did a stress test because we had to tear the first section of the wall that went up down. We did not do a stress test because my father (the architect) constructed several of these previously and they were fine.

There are not earthquakes where we are...

Three parts dirt, two parts coarse sand, one part pea gravel and 10% cement. Then you add only enough water to make it moist and tamp-able

@@DrAzadehWeber Hello, your footing, mix, form work and dimensions are all incorrect. And while this may not prove to be a problem short term, it will be a problem long term. Feel free reach out if you desire instruction.

@@VerityNatural Do you care to expound on your observation? I'm sure others would like to know what you're seeing. After researching this ad nauseum, I have my observations that I'll share. If you're talking about footer, I do see that the footer should usually extend about 6" farther out on both sides and he probably should have "scratched" them or allowed for a keyway in them to ensure a better bond with the wall. The stem wall does need a keyway or scratched surface to increased adhesion. He probably needed rebar to extend vertically if he was going to cause cold joints but we didn't see, he may have used a keyway, which is also acceptable in cold jointed R.E.. As far as his mix goes, you can't possibly know it is wrong without seeing the sieve test results on the subsoils with which he worked. In combination his mix may be perfect. I WILL agree on the pea gravel not being the best choice because you typically want more angular stone in your mix. But remember he's using this as a passive solar greenhouse so it will be just fine and in fact, excellent work. The only thing to really ask is how weather resistant is it? Was there enough clay or is there lots of silt that can be eroded by sideways rain over time. If so, then a quick test using a pressure washer on a test block can indicate whether he needs to apply a plaster.

@@bigonprivacy2708Well... ad nauseam eh. Best of luck!

@@VerityNatural Okay, I understand you're in the business of selling classes on this but you should not shoot down something that has been done of thousands of years so many different ways. Also I find that many "in the business" don't even build with clay but rather 3/8th to 1/4 rock to dust, which is just weak concrete that may look good but has ZERO of the benefits of "earthen homes". Without clay, you don't have moisture control and concrete like structures have poor thermal lag but high conductivity. Yeah, I see your insulation between the 2 wythes but truly, its not the same as an "earthen" home if the mix does not have clay. I hope you at least use clay in your mix. At least when Gernot Minke and Martin Rausch build they always try to use clay on site and if not on site they will get it. Best of luck to as well and know I hope you will succeed. I truly want to see this become ubiquitous. All of the governments and financiers that claim they want sustainability are full of it because if they truly cared, they would advise the banks to fund these projects. But they aren't which is all you need to know about "them". So its up to us.

That was a layer that had more water mixed into the ratio. The reason why more water was added was to make a smoother layer.

Let me ask my brother and get back with you. He did the ratios.

no

We are putting in the east and west walls and then connecting with a roof in the next week or two. I hope it works!

@@DrAzadehWeber - As I said , the weight of roof , anchored on walls , without walls themselves been firmly interconnected won`t work IMHO. There is great danger that weight of roof push one wall more than others and that would potentialy lead to crumble. Elevation for base of roof MUST be 100% accurate , have that in mind. Even with that a strong wind from one side will put immense preasure on roof and walls . That would lead to sideway preasure that also could toople all down.

@@danielkurtovic9099 we are just putting polycarbonate sheets on the roof which don’t weigh much over 2x10 beams every few feet. Then later we are lining the inside of the south wall with thin containers of glauber salt, a phase change material. Next we are putting some polycarbonate sheets 8 inches or so off of the south wall and running pvc pipes between this space and the inside of the greenhouse to create a natural heat pump.

@@DrAzadehWeber On this part you likely should have a concrete bond beam that goes all the way around and provides greater stability and a great place to hook your roof on. I agree, the roof loads are literally nothing. I've calculated roof loads on what R.E. can take and even with a heavy full shingle roof, R.E. can EASILY handle it.