Day Twenty Four

October 25, 2023

rock wall at entrance

metal heads

before i get to “metal bending … the story continues” check out the picture above.

not such a big deal, the rock retaining wall leading to the center door (it was done for the other 2 doors as well). but it wasn’t in the plans for it to be done. there was a group of people who didn’t have anything to do, so they decided to make the structure look nicer by putting rock walls leading to the doors. after getting a starting pile of rocks brought to them by the nate (excavator operator), they ranged far and wide to gather rocks for the project. i saw two people coming out of the woods bringing back a rock together, and another person who must have gone at least 75 yards for one that she found. and all for something that wasn’t ‘supposed’ to be done.

for those who may be wondering … no, we will not finish the earthship. our goal has been to get it buttoned up within our 4 weeks, not to finish it. turns out that the glass won’t arrive til monday, which means most of us will be gone. but it will be buttoned up early next week by some who will remain to get it done.

this is what is called a speed build and is the way things usually work. a crew (and students/volunteers) are hired to get as much done as they can within a 4 week period. i’m told that it’s not often that an earthship gets built all in one go. the owner can book another visit by the crew to do the remainder of the structure, or they can do it themselves. [1/27/24 note: a second field study to finish the build was, in fact, scheduled and is happening right now, 4 weeks in jan/feb 2024.]

so … on to metal bending … day two.

there was a group of 4-8 of us who have been doing little other than cutting, measuring and bending metal for the past two days. we made the flashing that covers the area where the roof stops on both sides. we also made the flashing that covers ridge beam, the part up front where the roof meets the part that angles down.

some observations about metal bending. first of all, the device we use is called a metal brake. which doesn’t make sense to me, but so be it.

secondly, once the first shape was explained to 2 of us students, we were able to get it done without involving the crew. it was a cool hand-off where the crew could just rely on the fact that we could get it done, they didn’t have to worry about. and that was a nice feeling. sure, we had some hiccups, but we eventually found a process, got 3-4 others involved, and got it done.

third, it became like a dance routine, or a musical number. the video below shows four of us working together on a piece for the 5th or 6th iteration. by this time, we’d found our rhythm and cadence and could move along. and other people came over to see what was going on. it all made a somewhat tedious job pretty fun. the crew members are gaelan (no hat) and tara, with john (baseball cap) and i assisting.

here’s the daily walk around.

here’s a short video of the roof, gutter, and scuppers.

here’s a picture of the site at the end of the day.