2010 evolution of greenhouse concept (thus far)

Maybe I should blame the planted aquarium I started late last year.  After all, it is just as culpable in reigniting my interest in building outbuildings, and in particular a greenhouse, as anything else.  I had a desire to expand a growing trend.  Since the start of this year my ideas have evolved quite a bit.  Here is a fairly comprehensive (yet incomprehensible) list detailing the evolution:

Cabin fever Takedown: It never had a chance

Winter time in the Tanana Valley is cold, dry, and dark (but McKelvey Valley beats it on all three counts). Organisms here must either leave or adapt when the conditions become increasingly harsh. This adaptation can be both biological and behavioral. Humans tend to simply transform their immediate environment to suit their needs, spending nearly the entire winter in enclosed buildings, where an "African savanna" environment is artificially sustained. This is in contrast to warmer locations, such as Cappadocia where people have lived in places such as Uçhisar Hill and Castle, which is a large block of sedimentary rock sitting on a hill with rooms and stairways carved into it. (Uçhisar Castle puts Gaudi to shame, and Gaudi is peerless.) Sustaining emotional/psychological health in a harsh environment is also a concern. An indoor aquatic garden can relieve cabin fever. This winter around Christmas time I had unintentionally bred Buenos Aires tetras, and three lucky fry are now half an inch long and thriving in a separate tank. This is not a common event, in fact I think it puts me in a whole other class of fish expertise. (Still, though, it is more common than keeping a walking sea pig.)

Another way to relieve cabin fever is to do more outdoor activities. This summer I plan to build a few small outbuildings: a woodshed, a greenhouse, and a sauna. A sauna is a lot of fun in winter, its just a wood box with a stove. A greenhouse can allow an aquatic gardening hobby to explode in the summer, produce an abundance of fresh vegetables for the kitchen, and provide a platform for experimenting with photovoltaic power. A woodshed will keep my wheeled steeds ready for a ride at a moments notice, provide much needed outdoor storage to keep the property looking tidy, and allow me to test the appearance of shou-sugi-ban (焼杉板). After learning a few things about construction, I feel these projects (or at least one of them) lie within my means and ability to complete this summer. For a basic foundation, I will use flat solid concrete blocks and/or triangular concrete pier blocks with flat or slotted tops (to accept a beam or post). Some of these have anchor bolts and metal brackets already set. This should be sufficient on well drained soil that does not expand when freezing. A trip to the local hardware and lumber store is definitely planned! I'll need a good reference book, like Joseph Truini's “Build Like a Pro: Building a Shed”. I know that these aspirations depend upon my personal health, and my employee and academic performance, and that they should be balanced with improving my digital media and language skills. It's a reachable goal that requires my full conscientious effort.

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Architectural flair is essentially unnecessary.  Here are two pictures, one from pg. 46 of Shelter by Lloyd Kahn and the other from pg. 172 of Low-cost pole building construction by Doug Merrilees, Ralph Wolfe, and Evelyn V. Loveday.  The first describes how to build a shed floor, the other is a basic shed.  This is primary reference material for the building projects.  With glazing in place of wood siding, I have a greenhouse.  With wood siding and a stove, I have a sauna.  With just wood siding, I have a shed.  One basic format, three different buildings.

first joint

I got serious about building my shed on the 18th of August. I got the logs together, got the chainsaw going, and made some cuts. The weather had other plans for me though, and the rain drove me inside for the rest of the evening. On the 20th I got back outside and made a few more cuts. Finally I have an actual joint to show for it (click the image for a larger view)! Three more of those, and eight other shallow cuts and the basic joinery is all done. You can see most of the tools I've used laying about in the photo. The hard part will be raising the beast when the time comes. A lot of rope and pulleys will be needed.

I started making newer, more accurate diagrams of the joinery than those I posted earlier, but decided it would be easier to just build it and take photos of the actual joints instead. Better than any illustration I could make. But I did create a list of eight steps for how to build a simple trestle building:

1. Select logs (simplest: 4 posts, 2 beams, 2 rafter-holders; also 8 diagonal braces and 10+ rafters).
2. Make 5 primary types of cuts for the joinery w/ chainsaw, axe, chisels.
   
3. Assemble on ground before fully erecting to adjust and ensure fit.
4. Select and cut to fit rafters.
5. Screw diagonal braces to post and beams and erect the two pairs on cinder blocks.
6. Place rafter-holders on beams and screw diagonal braces between them and posts.
   
7. Screw on rafters and roofing.
   
8. Dirt or wood floors, and (traditionally) walls are several feet outside of posts, (though may be attached directly to posts).
   

second thoughts

In a burst of creative thought over the last few days I scoured the pages of my architectural books and magazines (in several languages) as well as the Internet looking for anything that would help me put together a second generation house for my family, as that possibility has been simmering in the back of my mind since returning from our last vacation recently. It started with a trestle-frame addition to stick-frame building, progressed to a long building with a floorplan reminiscent of a mobile home or ATCO structure, and later incorporated a "ryokan" and numerous storage and space saving ideas. At this point it seemed over engineered and I rejected it all, asking myself "Did I lose sight of what's important?" (Double meaning fully implied, as I had been neglecting other responsibilities in pursuit of an ideal house design.) I took the contrary position, feeling that a trestle-frame, like a geodesic dome, should not be a house, as its form is not plastic enough and too rigid. I looked at the other-beauty of rammed earth. Then I reviewed photographs of real trestle-frame buildings, and loved this one of a barn. In America, there was a vogue about a decade ago of restoring old American timber frame barns and converting the interiors into houses. The cathedral ceilings and exposed ancient timbers created a warm (insert adjective evoking fondness of aged things) ambiance that afficionados of the type loved. They didn't substantially change anything about the barn's dimensions. I can learn a lesson from this comparison, as I won't change the dimensions or proportions of this Norwegian barn. I will simply fit the modern American lifestyle within its timbers.

Update: I'd like to build alcove beds, as used in roykstova (traditional Faroese houses), into the sides of a trestle frame shed of about these dimensions.

grindbyggs again

A few days ago I saw the latest issue of Natural Home Magazine, which mentioned Jay Shafer, who owns a tiny home. A little more research convinced me that I want to build a bunch of small buildings. While a shipping container might be the right size and good in many other respects, it also has toxic components and is not decomposable; once set in place it is very difficult to alter or move. I want something that is organic, that can grow into position, blend into its surroundings, and peacefully decay just as quickly. Solve et coagula. I also want something that reflects my labor of love, that is a work of art first and a functional shelter second. I even would give it a title like all great artwork deserves. I would call it "shelter" or more abstractly "how to survive a drought". All my artwork is created at little or no expense, partly because I am naturally frugal, and partly because I do not want to spend a lot of money on something that I don't really need and may not care for anyway. What form of shelter can I make that is small, decomposable, artful and cheap? I reconsidered the relatively labor intensive grindbygg, which had lately fallen into disfavor due to the greater flexibility of frame construction methods.

One of the challenges I face regardless of what I build is that at any location on my lot the ground is sloping to a greater or lesser degree and in no where is it flat. This increases complexity of the foundation. One of the advantages of the grindbygg is that it relies on a series of vertical posts to support the compressive weight of the roof, each of which can be cut to any length to adjust to the changing elevation of the plot it sits on, a different kind of foundation from the typical frame building. These posts are completely enclosed within the structure, protecting them from the effects of the weather. Posts and beams are very heavy, however if I make the shortest of the posts only three feet tall, then the grindbygg so constructed will still retain many of its advantages while being easier to erect. Such a building could serve as a modest shed, the first so built being a test of my ideas. I will need to buy a chainsaw to build with or I would soon lose hope of completing the project. A grindbygg can be small, decomposable, artful and cheap. The challenge is to complete this potentially time consuming project within one summer. I may need to use Wally Wallington's methods to erect the frames.

I like a grindbygg for all the functions that its form allows. Here is very useful see through picture I found recently.

woodworking

I saw a video today of Randy Pausch's last lecture. He talked about achieving his childhood goals and the importance of inspiring the next generation to dream of doing great things in the future as well. One of the things I would like to do is take my time and learn how use wood in the building of useful things, nice things like furniture, like Roy Underhill or Norm Abram makes. I enrolled in a woodworking class in junior high school (a sort of right of passage in America) and didn't really take it seriously. There is a lot to learn, but I only want to learn as much as I need to do what I want. The first thing I'd like to build is a nice aquarium stand for a few aquariums. I looked up do-it-yourself articles on how to make one, and they range from the extremely simple stack of cinder blocks approach through to the use of some joinery methods. I might use commercially available stand construction as a guide. The cost of building versus buying pre-made might be interesting to find out. I could take my time and make something nice. The key it seems is to use good materials, like straight wood, and measure accurately for each cut. Now that I think about it, there are actually at least 12 things I would like to make... this could take a while. To the drawing board!