This is brilliant content. I just binge watched the build to date and can't wait to follow along over the coming year. The level of detail you go into is fantastic and much appreciated. Looking forward to the next installments! Subscribed. :)
This is great content that has always tripped my interest. I will be following along your building process. Thanks for sharing. Your new friend, Bryan.
Thanks! Yes, my little garden has done very well. I haven't had to deal with hardly any bugs or weeds. Everything froze a couple of days ago, so the season is over for now. Thanks for joining us! 😊🏠
Exciting project! I look forward to following your journey. Typically aircrete can be poured 12" or so without collapsing the entrained air bubbles. As previously mentioned, Aircrete Harry's use of a thickening agent & air entrained admixture has enabled him to pour much higher.
Thanks for joining us! Yes, Harry doesn't say what any of that stuff is yet, or where you can get it. We plan to sift the sand pretty fine, and see if we can make it work in our floor, but we'll experiment with it first. 😊🏠
Looking forward to the build. My thoughts 1) I'd reconsider using aircrete for the floor entirely. Perhaps a lower aircrete layer for insulation / isolation from the ground but you'll want a tougher floor so you should cap it with a couple of inches of regular concrete. I recommend using a fiber reinforcement in your mix. 2) As something that will save even more energy than a minisplit, consider a geothermal system where you dig a trench close to the house deep enough to be in the permanent temperature layer and install plastic tubing which runs to either a fined radiator in your ducts or supplies a heat pump system. The 62 degree year round temperature can cool air blowing through the radiator by itself (the water is circulated by a small pump, the motor, being AC (or DC from the solar cells). A diverter valve supplying 62 degree water to the heat pump of a HVAC system is much more efficient than trying to extract heat out of cold desert air in the wintertime. 3) If you use aircrete for the roof, poured in place, consider thermal expansion so you can tie it to the wall on one side of the building but on the opposite wall don't fasten it so the roof can move without stress cracking. A steel plate fastened on top of the wall with a strip of HDPE over that that is secured to the aircrete will work quite well. To keep chunks from falling on your heads eventually (all concrete cracks, even aircrete) you might consider laying one layer of wire mesh in the roof so even if a section cracks it doesn't immediately fall down (I personally saw the danger of this in 1976 Guatemala earthquake! Not saying it's FOR earthquakes but just normal aging of cement / aircrete it's a possibility.) 4) Finally, have you consider the ancient technology of heat chimneys which were used in the Middle East , Greece and Rome for centuries and are being successful used today, especially in hot dry climates here in the US. The air is heated in the chimney and rises, pulling air into the house from vents in the walls at floor level. Or from airtubes buried in the cooler ground running away from the house and up through the floor.
We have considered pouring a concrete top layer for the floor. We are hoping we can use a stronger mix with quite a bit of sand, but we'll see how the test batches go. He has some plans for venting, but probably not anything too fancy. Yes aircrete needs mesh to help hold it together, we'll have to experiment to see what works best. Red likes your ideas for fastening the roof. Thanks for the input! 😊🏠
@@pulporock if you don't allow for expansion and contraction of the roof, especially if it's a flat one the difference between cool nights and the heat of the day will have a lot of change in dimensions. If the walls are stronger the roof will bow in the heat and contract, possible cracking from tension (concrete is strong in compression not tension). If the roof is stronger it will push the walls out and in and THAT leads to damage too. This is not a problem with wood roofs but some metal roofs with long spans have actually torn the attaching screws out over a period of years. Better to design in an expansion fix than have major structural damage in a decade
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid in my experiments if too much (or much at all) sand was added the grains sink and the foam collapses. Makes a very layered cast. Aircrete will support an area load just like the conventional foam board or spray foam does BUT under the concentrated force of furniture legs and in high traffic areas (a sidewalk and patio) it collapsed. I tried epoxy floor covering but it still cracked after a while. Tried 'floor leveling cement' and that worked pretty good.
We want to use aircrete to build our home. So excited about your videos. I heard that air crete isn't good for floors. Awwww, such a cute little critter! Now, I am getting excited!!!
Awesome! It's been a challenge to make good aircrete, but we are starting to get the hang of it. We will have to see if we can get a good strong mix to use on the floor, and if not, we'll use something else. There are so many cool animals out here, I love it. Thanks for watching, we plan to share what we are learning. 😊🏠
Very interesting your project! I have already subscribed to follow your process with the new home. By the scenery I imagine you are in southeastern Arizona. Good luck and forward ...
Somehow i got this feeling you guys got this☺! Also as i have followed your journey including the past postings, you have moved around the country living, remodeling, and adapting to every which way life has thrown at you. Not necessarily a negative thang. My family and i are enthused to finally see you build a home on the property of your choosing & how & what materials you decide to utilize!! Perhaps the rewards you have earned & achieve? Any whooooh...👏👏👏👏👏👍👍bravo as we continue to follow your journey🙄!!
Another terrific, educational video April, thanks for sharing this and the walkthrough. Since you have vertical rebar that will tie you foundation to the walls have you considered adding horizontal conduit about 18-24” up with breakout boxes for wall outlets and switch boxes. The latter will need to be mounted on 42-48” vertical conduit segments. If your husband has a reciprocating saw, remove the blade and affix an ~8x12” piece of plywood on the end to thump, vibrate your forms to eliminate air pockets. I have a friend that used a TrueFoam reward wall system to build his high-efficiency home in NE Ohio. I may be an alternative for journey build if the aircrete becomes problematic and its installation... Wishing you both and your family another blessed week. Peace
Instead of putting the electric in the walls now, he's planning to cut out trenches later and then patch and plaster over them. Yes, if we can't find a mix that works well, we may have to consider something else. Thanks! 😊🏠
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid Presumably you've seen Aircrete Harry's channel on RUclips, but if not you should definitely check it out. He's being testing aircrete mixes for 5-6 years and has some great content. He's got some admixtures that significantly improve air entrapment and allows pour depths of up to 30" without the aircrete collapsing. Most people struggle with 6 inches! Definitely worth checking out if you haven't already.
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid I've lived off grid for 5 years now and am constantly looking for new source material. I live in a very harsh environment 100 plus in the summer six plus feet of snow in the winter. I'm looking for something more Superior to Wood and metal etc.
This is perfect. You are doing what I have long dreamed of doing, and making the same choices. What a tremendous benefit it is to be able to watch your process. Thank you.
Thanks so much! We are determined to use aircrete to build our house, but we still aren't sure exactly how we are going to go about it, as far as mix and support. It'll be interesting! We hope to mix our first practice batch today or tomorrow. 😊🏠
Really cool project. I've been looking into using aircrete for some stuff on my property. Just subbed to your channel so I can learn from your experience. Keep up the great work!
Aircrete is pretty neat stuff. We are impressed with it so far. There are plenty of things that can go wrong, but once you figure those out, it's pretty easy to make. Thanks!
So happy I found your channel again. I watched you build the shipping container shed and solar panels. You built a power room for your son. I believe you put in the septic....then I lost you. I do not see the videos of the panels, power room, etc. What happened? Did you re-brand the channel or something. I think there was real value in what you were showing. Trying to get caught up! Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks so much! Due to some unfortunate circumstances, not necessarily RUclips related (?), we deleted the other channel. We didn't think we would be coming back, but after a couple of months, things had mostly settled down. I really missed making videos & interacting with our viewers, so I started this new channel, originally planning to just show our aircrete home build. 🧡🏜️
That looks nice. I think your design choices should lend themselves to a low cost build. I won't be able to use aircrete in the same way due to the permitting process I'm stuck with. Instead I want to use ICCF wall construction with a wood I-joist framed flat "cold roof" with BIBS style blown in insulation. I'm thinking about making up pre-cast aircrete sections to use for footer formwork to insulate and leave in place and also pre-cast sections to fit between my I-joists to continue my exterior wall insulation up in to my roof insulation cavity to just under the roof deck. I think the two drawbacks of aircrete are the amount of finish work required like stucco and plaster and the work for mixing and pouring. My ICCF will need similar finishes so I get no savings there but instead of setting up and then stripping formwork, I just stack block and leave it in place. Rebar should be similar but a batch plant will be mixing my concrete and a pump truck will be placing it. Wood in the roof doesn't require formwork, it supports itself and seems more conducive to DIY, especially for a two story structure (double the wall height plus floor joists and stairs to double the size without spending more on foundation or roof). Mine should be more expensive but I don't really have a way around that unless I sacrifice efficiency and durability to build a stick frame house (if lumber prices ever return to normal). On the other hand, I'm going to have a concrete crew helping me all the way until I get to the roof so my share of the labor is probably less. Good luck with your build. I know I'm going to need a lot of luck with mine...
It will be interesting to see what all is involved in making and plastering aircrete. I'm sure it will be a lot of work, but not nearly as much as rammed earth, which is what we were originally thinking. Your house sounds awesome, congratulations and best wishes on your build! It's exciting, fun, and stressful all at the same time. 😊🏠
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid if you are looking for labor savings, a tilt up wall panel approach might be something to explore. I'm thinking for mine after the roof is in, my stucco exterior is going to be a huge task with lots of lifting, troweling and scaffold climbing. The only good part is that after that my exterior envelope should be finished and I can slow down and work in the shade for the interior. With only one story you can probably get by with a work platform instead of scaffold but as amateurs I'm sure it's going to go much slower than a pro and much much slower than a crew of pros. I'm expecting to be exhausted for probably 1-2 weeks (with about twice as much exterior wall as you), maybe more. One thing I'm going to try is to get in with Habitat for Humanity to learn stucco and develop a muscle memory before I try to tackle mine. If that doesn't work out, I'll try to do a few days of labor on a stucco crew to at least learn a good mix and how to put up the brown coat. I want to do the same for concrete so I can hire one less for the crew.
Also, very interested to see all of your data, top to bottom, throughout your build. There is not enough data driven aircrete experimentation and usage out there... or at least it's not shared
Yes, it'll be interesting to try some recipes and see how they come out. For this type of build we need the walls to be pretty strong. I saw one video mention expansion joints, we'll have to look more into it. 🙂🏠
My biggest concern is engineering certifications. Do you have an engineer assisting and or designing some elements? Will the air crete walls be load bearing? Might be keen on some columns with concrete, perilite, fibers and steel. Its fairly obvious from your build that, you clearly have a very good understanding of the building process. The quality of build is looking impressive. Cheers from Oz
We have a permit that allows us to build however we want to, and engineer approved plans are not required. We were just talking today about the possibility of doing some concrete like pillars. Once we experiment some with aircrete we'll have a better idea of how we want to do it. Thanks! 😊🏠 Edit: Plans and ideas have changed, so stay tuned.
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid Love what you are doing, thank you for sharing it! I've seen where some are using a bond beam about 4" thick of regular concrete on top of the aircrete walls to distribute the load over a large area.
Great Plan, I'm still curious why the Footer was so deep, most builds with a stem wall design I've ever seen were only maybe 12" to 16" deep and that was regular Concrete. Being there and with a Frost depth at virtually zero ground level that would seem adequate? Still overkill is way better than being under what is required. I'm really wanting to see how the Aircrete is mixed up and Your Recipe for all You have planned. Great walkthrough, what Software did You have for the Plans, I'd love to experiment a bit. Thanks for sharing Your Progress! 👍🤠
He brought in a lot of dirt to build up the pad, and wanted to get below the level of the fill dirt. We hope to try our first test batches soon! I'm really curious too to see how long it takes and how hard it will be to do. He used Chief Architect software. It was fairly user friendly, but took some time to learn. Seeing the shadows on the house at different times of year was really cool! Wish we had got a better video of that feature. Thanks! 😊🏠
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid Thanks for the Info, I'll check out Chief, not sure I'm up for the learning curve but probably worth the extra effort.. thanks again and stay safe out there! 👍🤠
Was your home built in the United States? Also wondering how you got thru zoning. My zoning dept is not familiar with this. They said it had to be excepted by some American zoning law. So I figure if you already got passed, It a should be ok everywhere. Just wondering if you know anything about that. Also wondering how the foundation is doing? I have been looking at this for years and I'm ready to go!
@@BaxterAssets We are in Cochise County, Arizona. It's rare, but this area has an owner builder opt-out (of inspections) permit. We decided not to build with aircrete. Our house has a concert footer and earthen floors. Everything turned out great.
Another interesting aircrete reference: ruclips.net/video/9C5ZnERcEGQ/видео.html for pouring individual wall panels and constructing a building using them like LEGOs. If I am posting too much, please let me know and I will stop. Wishing you and your family a blessed week.
Not a problem, I appreciate the input! Yes, he is using aircrete more for an insulation, and not for anything structural. We are hoping to avoid using studs, and have the aircrete (with some reinforcement) hold up the structure, but we'll see how it goes. It would be interesting to find someone building a regular house with poured aircrete, but I haven't seen one yet. Wishing you a wonderful week as well! 😊
He has some interesting stuff going on. We have a lot of reasons why we don't want to use styrofoam, and just the logistics of it all would really be something. Imagine the space that would be required to gather, store and shred, that much styrofoam. The mixing equipment is not cheap either.
I really admire you both! This has to be south Texas where I grew up. You should see fabulous birds, especially, hummingbirds, and butterflies if you watch. BTW, horny toads are endangered species because they live on a particular ant which has been killed out. Best wishes!
Thanks! Close but not quite, we are in southern Arizona. Lots of hummingbirds, and especially butterflies this year with all of the rain. I love seeing all of the different animals that live out here! I didn't know horny toads were endangered, always fun to see them. Thanks for watching! 😊
Thank you for your kind reply. You've done a lovely job with your place. 😊
This is brilliant content. I just binge watched the build to date and can't wait to follow along over the coming year. The level of detail you go into is fantastic and much appreciated. Looking forward to the next installments! Subscribed. :)
Thank you so much, and thanks for joining us! 😊🏠
I have to congratulate you for thinking outside the box,
we need solutions not excuses.
good job.
Thanks! Yes, it's a challenge doing everything in an unconventional way. We have done some crazy stuff before. We'll see how this all works out. 🙂🏠
I am amazed at how meticulously thought out your project is. Can't wait to see how this aircrete build turns out to be. Its a new thing for me...👍
Thanks! It's new for us too, it should be interesting! 😊🏠
I can't wait to see what it's going to look like good luck and God speed on the construction.stay safe and have a great day
Me too, thanks so much! 🌛🌄
Great Recap, now down to the real business, Aircrete, never heard of it so it will be interesting to sea errr see.
Yes, we are excited to start trying it out. We just got the 55 gallon drum, and Red put together the foam gun today. Getting close! 😊🏠
This is great content that has always tripped my interest. I will be following along your building process. Thanks for sharing. Your new friend, Bryan.
Thanks for joining us! 😊🏠
Interesting build, I’ve enjoyed watching. Your garden is wonderful, so lush and green.
Thanks! Yes, my little garden has done very well. I haven't had to deal with hardly any bugs or weeds. Everything froze a couple of days ago, so the season is over for now. Thanks for joining us! 😊🏠
Ciao from Italy, first time viewer…..found you bc I watch the Green team project
T.
Thanks for joining us! 😊🏠
Exciting project! I look forward to following your journey. Typically aircrete can be poured 12" or so without collapsing the entrained air bubbles. As previously mentioned, Aircrete Harry's use of a thickening agent & air entrained admixture has enabled him to pour much higher.
Thanks for joining us! Yes, Harry doesn't say what any of that stuff is yet, or where you can get it. We plan to sift the sand pretty fine, and see if we can make it work in our floor, but we'll experiment with it first. 😊🏠
Looking forward to the build.
My thoughts
1) I'd reconsider using aircrete for the floor entirely. Perhaps a lower aircrete layer for insulation / isolation from the ground but you'll want a tougher floor so you should cap it with a couple of inches of regular concrete. I recommend using a fiber reinforcement in your mix.
2) As something that will save even more energy than a minisplit, consider a geothermal system where you dig a trench close to the house deep enough to be in the permanent temperature layer and install plastic tubing which runs to either a fined radiator in your ducts or supplies a heat pump system. The 62 degree year round temperature can cool air blowing through the radiator by itself (the water is circulated by a small pump, the motor, being AC (or DC from the solar cells). A diverter valve supplying 62 degree water to the heat pump of a HVAC system is much more efficient than trying to extract heat out of cold desert air in the wintertime.
3) If you use aircrete for the roof, poured in place, consider thermal expansion so you can tie it to the wall on one side of the building but on the opposite wall don't fasten it so the roof can move without stress cracking. A steel plate fastened on top of the wall with a strip of HDPE over that that is secured to the aircrete will work quite well. To keep chunks from falling on your heads eventually (all concrete cracks, even aircrete) you might consider laying one layer of wire mesh in the roof so even if a section cracks it doesn't immediately fall down (I personally saw the danger of this in 1976 Guatemala earthquake! Not saying it's FOR earthquakes but just normal aging of cement / aircrete it's a possibility.)
4) Finally, have you consider the ancient technology of heat chimneys which were used in the Middle East , Greece and Rome for centuries and are being successful used today, especially in hot dry climates here in the US. The air is heated in the chimney and rises, pulling air into the house from vents in the walls at floor level. Or from airtubes buried in the cooler ground running away from the house and up through the floor.
Some really excellent points 1,2 & 4 not sure about 3.
We have considered pouring a concrete top layer for the floor. We are hoping we can use a stronger mix with quite a bit of sand, but we'll see how the test batches go.
He has some plans for venting, but probably not anything too fancy. Yes aircrete needs mesh to help hold it together, we'll have to experiment to see what works best. Red likes your ideas for fastening the roof. Thanks for the input! 😊🏠
@@pulporock if you don't allow for expansion and contraction of the roof, especially if it's a flat one the difference between cool nights and the heat of the day will have a lot of change in dimensions. If the walls are stronger the roof will bow in the heat and contract, possible cracking from tension (concrete is strong in compression not tension).
If the roof is stronger it will push the walls out and in and THAT leads to damage too.
This is not a problem with wood roofs but some metal roofs with long spans have actually torn the attaching screws out over a period of years. Better to design in an expansion fix than have major structural damage in a decade
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid in my experiments if too much (or much at all) sand was added the grains sink and the foam collapses. Makes a very layered cast.
Aircrete will support an area load just like the conventional foam board or spray foam does BUT under the concentrated force of furniture legs and in high traffic areas (a sidewalk and patio) it collapsed. I tried epoxy floor covering but it still cracked after a while. Tried 'floor leveling cement' and that worked pretty good.
We want to use aircrete to build our home. So excited about your videos. I heard that air crete isn't good for floors. Awwww, such a cute little critter! Now, I am getting excited!!!
Awesome! It's been a challenge to make good aircrete, but we are starting to get the hang of it. We will have to see if we can get a good strong mix to use on the floor, and if not, we'll use something else.
There are so many cool animals out here, I love it.
Thanks for watching, we plan to share what we are learning. 😊🏠
Congratulations
Thanks! 🙂🏠
Very interesting your project! I have already subscribed to follow your process with the new home. By the scenery I imagine you are in southeastern Arizona. Good luck and forward ...
Thanks for joining us! 😊🏠
This is so neat! I love the house design and can't wait to see it come to life!
Thanks so much! It is neat to see it brought to life. 🏠 Excited to start putting together the foam gun tomorrow! 😊🧡💛
Need to watch your great videos! Subbed and rang the bell!
Thanks for joining us! 😊 We have just started mixing our first few batches of aircrete, it's been an experience. 😅🏠
Somehow i got this feeling you guys got this☺! Also as i have followed your journey including the past postings, you have moved around the country living, remodeling, and adapting to every which way life has thrown at you. Not necessarily a negative thang. My family and i are enthused to finally see you build a home on the property of your choosing & how & what materials you decide to utilize!! Perhaps the rewards you have earned & achieve? Any whooooh...👏👏👏👏👏👍👍bravo as we continue to follow your journey🙄!!
Thanks so much! It should be interesting! 😊🏠
Wonderful. I love what you guys are doing. A project like this has been a dream of mine. Hopefully one day. Can't wait to see more.
Thanks! You can see how our house turns out first, it will be interesting. 😊🏠
Another terrific, educational video April, thanks for sharing this and the walkthrough. Since you have vertical rebar that will tie you foundation to the walls have you considered adding horizontal conduit about 18-24” up with breakout boxes for wall outlets and switch boxes. The latter will need to be mounted on 42-48” vertical conduit segments. If your husband has a reciprocating saw, remove the blade and affix an ~8x12” piece of plywood on the end to thump, vibrate your forms to eliminate air pockets.
I have a friend that used a TrueFoam reward wall system to build his high-efficiency home in NE Ohio. I may be an alternative for journey build if the aircrete becomes problematic and its installation... Wishing you both and your family another blessed week. Peace
Instead of putting the electric in the walls now, he's planning to cut out trenches later and then patch and plaster over them. Yes, if we can't find a mix that works well, we may have to consider something else. Thanks! 😊🏠
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid Presumably you've seen Aircrete Harry's channel on RUclips, but if not you should definitely check it out. He's being testing aircrete mixes for 5-6 years and has some great content. He's got some admixtures that significantly improve air entrapment and allows pour depths of up to 30" without the aircrete collapsing. Most people struggle with 6 inches! Definitely worth checking out if you haven't already.
I've been pretty interested in aircrete. I can't wait to see the way you mix it and pour it. Great video.
We are almost ready to get started. It'll be interesting! 😊🏠
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid I've lived off grid for 5 years now and am constantly looking for new source material. I live in a very harsh environment 100 plus in the summer six plus feet of snow in the winter. I'm looking for something more Superior to Wood and metal etc.
Great plan and logic. But interesting to be watching this 6 months later.
How things changed 👍👩🌾🏠
Thanks! Yes, aircrete just didn't work out for us. 😊🏠
This is perfect. You are doing what I have long dreamed of doing, and making the same choices. What a tremendous benefit it is to be able to watch your process. Thank you.
Thanks so much! We are determined to use aircrete to build our house, but we still aren't sure exactly how we are going to go about it, as far as mix and support. It'll be interesting! We hope to mix our first practice batch today or tomorrow. 😊🏠
Really cool project. I've been looking into using aircrete for some stuff on my property. Just subbed to your channel so I can learn from your experience. Keep up the great work!
Aircrete is pretty neat stuff. We are impressed with it so far. There are plenty of things that can go wrong, but once you figure those out, it's pretty easy to make. Thanks!
So happy I found your channel again. I watched you build the shipping container shed and solar panels. You built a power room for your son. I believe you put in the septic....then I lost you. I do not see the videos of the panels, power room, etc. What happened? Did you re-brand the channel or something. I think there was real value in what you were showing. Trying to get caught up! Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks so much! Due to some unfortunate circumstances, not necessarily RUclips related (?), we deleted the other channel. We didn't think we would be coming back, but after a couple of months, things had mostly settled down. I really missed making videos & interacting with our viewers, so I started this new channel, originally planning to just show our aircrete home build. 🧡🏜️
Glad you found us again, thanks for watching! It's been pretty busy out here! 😊🏜️
That looks nice. I think your design choices should lend themselves to a low cost build.
I won't be able to use aircrete in the same way due to the permitting process I'm stuck with. Instead I want to use ICCF wall construction with a wood I-joist framed flat "cold roof" with BIBS style blown in insulation. I'm thinking about making up pre-cast aircrete sections to use for footer formwork to insulate and leave in place and also pre-cast sections to fit between my I-joists to continue my exterior wall insulation up in to my roof insulation cavity to just under the roof deck.
I think the two drawbacks of aircrete are the amount of finish work required like stucco and plaster and the work for mixing and pouring. My ICCF will need similar finishes so I get no savings there but instead of setting up and then stripping formwork, I just stack block and leave it in place. Rebar should be similar but a batch plant will be mixing my concrete and a pump truck will be placing it. Wood in the roof doesn't require formwork, it supports itself and seems more conducive to DIY, especially for a two story structure (double the wall height plus floor joists and stairs to double the size without spending more on foundation or roof).
Mine should be more expensive but I don't really have a way around that unless I sacrifice efficiency and durability to build a stick frame house (if lumber prices ever return to normal). On the other hand, I'm going to have a concrete crew helping me all the way until I get to the roof so my share of the labor is probably less.
Good luck with your build. I know I'm going to need a lot of luck with mine...
It will be interesting to see what all is involved in making and plastering aircrete. I'm sure it will be a lot of work, but not nearly as much as rammed earth, which is what we were originally thinking.
Your house sounds awesome, congratulations and best wishes on your build! It's exciting, fun, and stressful all at the same time. 😊🏠
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid if you are looking for labor savings, a tilt up wall panel approach might be something to explore.
I'm thinking for mine after the roof is in, my stucco exterior is going to be a huge task with lots of lifting, troweling and scaffold climbing. The only good part is that after that my exterior envelope should be finished and I can slow down and work in the shade for the interior.
With only one story you can probably get by with a work platform instead of scaffold but as amateurs I'm sure it's going to go much slower than a pro and much much slower than a crew of pros. I'm expecting to be exhausted for probably 1-2 weeks (with about twice as much exterior wall as you), maybe more.
One thing I'm going to try is to get in with Habitat for Humanity to learn stucco and develop a muscle memory before I try to tackle mine. If that doesn't work out, I'll try to do a few days of labor on a stucco crew to at least learn a good mix and how to put up the brown coat.
I want to do the same for concrete so I can hire one less for the crew.
What is your plan for running electrical (outlets, switches, etc) in/on the Aircrete walls? Very interested to watch your build progress!
We plan to cut shallow little trenches, then patch and plaster over them. It'll be interesting for sure! We just started making test batches. 🏠
Also, very interested to see all of your data, top to bottom, throughout your build. There is not enough data driven aircrete experimentation and usage out there... or at least it's not shared
Yes, not many people are actually building houses with it.
What program did you use for your architectural drawings? I like this basic design.
He used Chief Architect. It took some time to figure out, but it worked okay.
We love our house design, it has worked out great for us!
AIR CRETE HARRY ON YT , HAS FORMULAS FIR THE DIFFERENT MIXES . ALSO CHECK OUT FOAM CREATE FOR THE ROOF . DO NOT FORGET EXPANSION JOINTS .
Yes, it'll be interesting to try some recipes and see how they come out. For this type of build we need the walls to be pretty strong.
I saw one video mention expansion joints, we'll have to look more into it. 🙂🏠
My biggest concern is engineering certifications.
Do you have an engineer assisting and or designing some elements?
Will the air crete walls be load bearing?
Might be keen on some columns with concrete, perilite, fibers and steel.
Its fairly obvious from your build that, you clearly have a very good understanding of the building process.
The quality of build is looking impressive.
Cheers from Oz
We have a permit that allows us to build however we want to, and engineer approved plans are not required. We were just talking today about the possibility of doing some concrete like pillars. Once we experiment some with aircrete we'll have a better idea of how we want to do it. Thanks! 😊🏠
Edit: Plans and ideas have changed, so stay tuned.
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid Love what you are doing, thank you for sharing it! I've seen where some are using a bond beam about 4" thick of regular concrete on top of the aircrete walls to distribute the load over a large area.
Great Plan, I'm still curious why the Footer was so deep, most builds with a stem wall design I've ever seen were only maybe 12" to 16" deep and that was regular Concrete.
Being there and with a Frost depth at virtually zero ground level that would seem adequate?
Still overkill is way better than being under what is required. I'm really wanting to see how the Aircrete is mixed up and Your Recipe for all You have planned.
Great walkthrough, what Software did You have for the Plans, I'd love to experiment a bit. Thanks for sharing Your Progress! 👍🤠
He brought in a lot of dirt to build up the pad, and wanted to get below the level of the fill dirt. We hope to try our first test batches soon! I'm really curious too to see how long it takes and how hard it will be to do.
He used Chief Architect software. It was fairly user friendly, but took some time to learn. Seeing the shadows on the house at different times of year was really cool! Wish we had got a better video of that feature. Thanks! 😊🏠
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid Thanks for the Info, I'll check out Chief, not sure I'm up for the learning curve but probably worth the extra effort.. thanks again and stay safe out there! 👍🤠
Was your home built in the United States? Also wondering how you got thru zoning. My zoning dept is not familiar with this. They said it had to be excepted by some American zoning law. So I figure if you already got passed, It a
should be ok everywhere. Just wondering if you know anything about that. Also wondering how the foundation is doing? I have been looking at this for years and I'm ready to go!
@@BaxterAssets We are in Cochise County, Arizona. It's rare, but this area has an owner builder opt-out (of inspections) permit. We decided not to build with aircrete. Our house has a concert footer and earthen floors. Everything turned out great.
Another interesting aircrete reference: ruclips.net/video/9C5ZnERcEGQ/видео.html for pouring individual wall panels and constructing a building using them like LEGOs. If I am posting too much, please let me know and I will stop. Wishing you and your family a blessed week.
Not a problem, I appreciate the input! Yes, he is using aircrete more for an insulation, and not for anything structural. We are hoping to avoid using studs, and have the aircrete (with some reinforcement) hold up the structure, but we'll see how it goes. It would be interesting to find someone building a regular house with poured aircrete, but I haven't seen one yet. Wishing you a wonderful week as well! 😊
usa en el piso contra la tierra film polietileno 100 micrones grosor. en el interior vivienda. buen resultado antihumedad
We have more floors to do and will look into it, thanks. 🌞
Please check out Stephen Williams channel. He has built a 30 x 40 buildings.
He has some interesting stuff going on. We have a lot of reasons why we don't want to use styrofoam, and just the logistics of it all would really be something. Imagine the space that would be required to gather, store and shred, that much styrofoam. The mixing equipment is not cheap either.
I really admire you both! This has to be south Texas where I grew up. You should see fabulous birds, especially, hummingbirds, and butterflies if you watch. BTW, horny toads are endangered species because they live on a particular ant which has been killed out. Best wishes!
Thanks! Close but not quite, we are in southern Arizona. Lots of hummingbirds, and especially butterflies this year with all of the rain. I love seeing all of the different animals that live out here! I didn't know horny toads were endangered, always fun to see them. Thanks for watching! 😊
Haha solar system
Yep, solar is awesome!