Wednesday 23 July 2008

Massive Work Weekend

The last weekend was extended thanks to "umi-no-hi", a national holiday on Monday, and we tried to utilise the time to make a final effort to complete the house.

For this purpose the staff of ISSHO Architects (http://www.issho.com) was conscripted, Hideaki and Kazuha joined as true hard working volunteers and PeterA, Tomo and I sweated as directors of Inakahome and I was supported by my wife and two kids.



Overall more than 16 people contributed this time, and thanks to everyone's effort, the project leapt forward dramatically!

An easy start turns into heavy lifting

I picked up Hideaki and Kazuha and drove up Friday evening. The traffic was not too bad, and so we were able to buy some essential materials for the weekend's work, like silica sand, extra trowels and shovels.

We started off the next morning by preparing the wild and overgrown garden for mud mixing. The two volunteers vigourously hacked at the weeds and creepers to create a nice clearing. Thanks to the safety training and precautions no one got cut!



This tranquil start to the weekend was not there to last, as we were interrupted by the arrival of the magnificent Huelsta (http://www.huelsta.jp/)furniture. The lorry was too large to come up to the house, so high quality furniture had to be moved over 150 yards to the house. Of course the truck was only staffed by one tiny guy, so that it was up to US to move it!!



Our reward was the first rest on the comfortable sofa.

PeterA called up from the station, and after fetching him we were able to get going on the mud work. Filled out the remaining panels, and created some more mud bricks. We estimate that we need about 24 to fill the space in the wall, so still a few more to do. The brick with the funny shape is PeterA's work by the way.




Team ISSHO tackles the inside

While some of them painted the roof in its new colour (controversial decision), the interior was beautified in various ways


Here two ISSHO girls scratched off the ugly mineral coating that we hate so much, and later covered it up with a new mud plaster layer. It was a pretty dusty job, hence the breathing masks.



This guy expertly tapes off vulnerable light surfaces in preparation of the wood staining.



Tomo's high school mate also helped with this delicate and important work.



The master himself, applying the dark tanning oil. We use a natural product from Germany for all wood surfaces. Its so harmless that it could even be regarded as good for your health!



One of the bed rooms, with finished dark stain for wood detail. The floor is not treated yet, but it will remain much lighter.

Mud finish layer

Previously we used a mud mix, consisting of the red earth, a bit of straw, and some coarse sand. The result was a sticky mixture, which however ended up having a few cracks. That is fine for the first layer, and actually helps the second layer to adhere better.

This time we were able to cover all last time's panels with the finishing layer. The ingredients were quite different:

1- Loads of fine Silica Sand
2- Half a load of red earth
3- finely chopped ("pulverised"=> thanks Mira!) straw in large quantities
4- A bit of four star wall paper glue

Before applying the mixture we sprayed a mist of water on the lower layer, to prevent to fast absorbtion of water, which could lead to cracking or incomplete binding.

The straw shines through the mud after application, which makes for a nice texture and pattern.





Once dry, this surface should lighten up markedly.

Respect to the manly crew of ISSHO mud mixers. It was a tough job in the heat, and this silica sand is much heavier and harder to work with. They kept the supply coming all day, enough to make us, the trowellers sweat in streams.