Hey Bro what name did the ute end up with. I got Nigel the tractor, Wendy the Wacker, Billy the Bobcat, Colin the compressor, Daisy the dancing lady (the tamper). Great vid and you have been busy.
I worked with a rammed earth company for quite a few years. One of my jobs was to repair holes and small blow-outs etc. I used glue and sand residue from the wall, applied with a putty knife, then used a toothbrush to emulate the surface texture, and then artists acrylic paint to colour match where needed. Had great results - each area required some ingenuity, but worth it for the results.
Aesthetically it’s quite pleasing, worth it’s value already. Not to mention soothing, making you feel a little less in a box. More Harmonious with the rural environment.
Wow wow wow...we just found you guys, instantly connected--finding like-minded "Rammed-Earthers" who are willing and able to explain all of this is such a gift! You guys are living a dream that so many people have. Incredibly hard work plus your passion for sharing "earthy" wisdom is SO appreciated!! These walls are really beautiful--no worries about imperfections at all, those become tiny pieces of the history of your family, and your home, you guys will figure all that out. Nit-pickers and haters gonna hate, am I right? :) Trust us....its so gorgeous!! Now we've got to binge all the rest of the story up to #53 and beyond! Many thanks again :)
This is great stuff! Awesome skills and overall workmanship. From an architecture perspective, I think we are moving towards this style due to its longevity and thermal properties. I would like to see more on the construction such as how to keep it watertight and window/doors details and fixtures. This might already be on your list in the future, but I was thinking that would help a lot of people and most importantly, your channel's growth as we move more towards this method of construction. Thanks for sharing this content and may you enjoy the process.
Thank you so much! You are correct, we are planning on showing every aspect but it is taking a lot of time because we are limited on man/woman power. In time we will show our water proofing methods and hopefully save people from making the mistakes we will inevitably make LOL
Thank you so much! I buy from Vermont Glove. They are expensive but believe me when I tell you, you get what you pay for. They ended up saving me money in the long run because it took 8 months for my pair to wear out as apposed to 3 weeks. Highly HIGHLY recommend them
Nice work and colour palette! I can tell just by watching, that by the time you get to your house, you're gonna have all the little kinks ironed out and you are going to nail the house build! Enjoying your videos. Couple quick tips that you may or may not need :) Another way to improve your cold joints: before you vacuum, run a flatbar scraper along the form edge and the top surface to remove the crud that is just weakly bonded and wouldn't otherwise come loose with just the vacuum. And for attaching your bottom plates of your forms to the concrete, to avoid the blowouts of ramset, as well as the cost of tapcons, you can use duplex head nails. drill a hole the size of the nail, but insert the nail with a length of rebar wire along with the nail. the wire will wedge the nail in tightly, and a prybar will remove it easily after the build.
That's a great idea for the cold joints. Personally I (Ricky) really like the look of the cold joints. It makes it feel more organic and natural. But I think it would be worth trying just to see the different results
@@RedEarthRanch i like them too actually. even doing the scrape i mentioned, they remain obvious, but a little cleaner, and less likely to "dust" or crumble in the finished product.
Much of that is proprietary to SIREWALL and it isn't our mixture so we are not able to share those details without violating our relationship with SIREWALL. I'm so sorry we can't share more, but if you are interested I can't recommend SIREWALL enough. They have been amazing to work with and love to teach people about Rammed Earth. They are the experts and we are the students
Before I was born my dad and mom with a cement mixer made there own concrete basement wall with the forms being 2"x8"x 8 or 10' that took two cement mixers of material. not a crack or drop ever came through that wall. He prepared each for the next layer by putting in a 1"x1/2" wood strip to create a channel the day before. Before pouring painted pure concrete to the surface of the day before or week before pour as a bonding agent. This is an approach for a dry joint that may work for you.
Great work so far! New fan and subscriber. Not sure if someone mentioned this yet. You can use body-fill (Bondo) on the inside screw impressions so the wall is nice and flat when you take off the forms. May be good to keep small batches of each colors to use for touchups later. Starting our home in a year or so. Thanks for all the great tips so far. Good luck with the rest of the build!
Welcome to the adventure! That's so exciting to hear about your build, keep us posted. We actually just bought some bondo and are waiting for the weather to clear so we can patch up our forms. Thanks for the tip!
We basically used 16 ga steel studs and screwed them to the MDO to add rigidity. Best tip I can give is screw them down every 2 feet or even every foot because the force of ramming will actually break the heads off the screws
Hi I'm from Australia, I always inspire by Rammed Earth, really wish one day I will use your tech to build! Your video help me a lot, thank you! Peace and Joy Ming
Was just in contact with Joss at sirewall and have purchased our property to start our regenerative permaculture and house build journey. Love what you guys are doing and would really appreciate connecting to learn more. We are in planning phase and are interested in rough man hours per sq ft of wall and cost to build sirewalls yourself.
That's AWESOME! We are so excited for you. Pricing is based mostly on material costs if you are willing to do the work yourself. For us it worked out to about $135 US per yard in material. This includes the rebar, insulation, add mixture, cement, color, sand, and gravel. But your price may vary based on material costs in your area.
I'm not going to be the one to try it. I imagine it would be difficult to build forms that could hold up to the forces over that far of a span. But hey, I'm not an engineer LOL
Hey bud the problem with the corners pre-drill holes and use bolts and washers instead of screws then you won't have to worry about it separating under pressure when you pack it on the corners just an idea might help to fix the problem
That is pretty neat. What do you put over the wall? Like paint or sealer? That sure looks strong like concrete. I saw you had rebar in it, that should hold up.
Points of interest:- 1:32 Gap between end and beading 2:23 90 degree corner inner appearance 3:21 90 degree corner outer alignment 3:44 Appearance 5:15 Hydrophobic property 6:01 Centering 6:36 Form deflection at top 10:23 Beading above beading issue and remedy 12:52 Check for Hydrophobic tendency by pressure wash 14:25 Stains removal by pressure washer
Please, please, please keep notes on lessons learned and products tested for best practices. When you're done, you can put together an information product we can buy. 1. Take the SIREWALL course. 2. Use the RER course for the nitty-gritty. Whadaya think?
This is a great idea! Now that we have made a lot more mistakes and learned from them I feel more confident that we could actually offer something. We'll keep ya'll updated on when we have something.
Good morning, from Argentina. Thanks for your videos. Where can I get more information to place the roof. I need to see how to put it on those walls, on concrete or on wood? Can you recommend a manual? Thank you so much!
For the garage and workshop we will have it exposed with rigid conduit because I want the ability to move it around and reconfigure the shop. For the house we have a full electrical plan laid out and will reses them into the walls when ramming. Basically we will use rigid conduit in the walls and ram around it to solidify it. Hope that makes sense.
Thanks for the great videos. I tried my first small bench project last weekend and though I like it, I still have a lot to learn. Did you do a trade on insulation vs no insulation for your walls and if so can you share the pros and cons? I would imaging the added complexity, labor, and cost all have to be significantly offset by the increase in home efficiency. I would also have to assume that the foam is a negative impact on structural strength, but at these thicknesses, maybe it does not matter. I am looking to do a house outside of Phoenix, AZ with several main rammed earth walls ~18" thick so I need to deal with the heat but not cold. Did you pick the insulation for protecting from hot, cold or both? Also, can you summarize the total labor hours per maybe square foot of wall area on average once you go into a rhythm?
Hey Shea, the insulation is used to protect against hot and cold. The insulation provides your R-value and insulation. Without it the walls will heat up in the sun like an oven even at 18" thick. If you are only using the rammed earth on interior walls you will probably be okay, but if they are external you are going to want insulation. At those thicknesses it doesn't affect the structural integrity as long as you get a good mix design. I would reach out to SIREWALL USA because they should be able to point you in the right direction for a mix design, I actually took a class with them just outside of Phoenix
@@lissee212 I think the issue with Rockwool is that it won't hold up to the ramming process. Those rammers hit really hard and fast and even with the foam we are using we will sometimes tear out a section by hitting it with the rammer. There might be other factors but I remember that there is a reason we didn't go with a more natural foam like Rockwool.
Lovely and I'm looking forward to practice. My concern is joining those layers to look uniform, ofcoz i know it is not easy to fill the whole wall in a day
Hi, I am loving it. Maybe you can teach me how the rebar works someday. Anyway, try using tape to make the walls more even and smooth eg between the chamfer and the forming boards, between two adjacent boards where there is a vertical line, and even where the screws went in that you were hammering in or scrabbing with a stone. Let me know what you think
I think now that we know that sanding works we will try this. We didn't before because tape lines will show and it is almost impossible to tape perfectly straight so we were okay with seeing the form lines. However, if we tape then sand I think the lines will mostly disappear. We'll see after our next large wall and show the results.
We are pressure washing the walls to get any residue (dust, dirt, etc) off the walls from the construction process. We are not looking for perfection just close enough :-)
Apparently it still allows for humidity regulation according to other structures built with the admixture. But we will see after the garage is built and we are living in it. We will definitely post results. Especially because we live in a VERY humid area we are curious to see how it holds up.
@@RedEarthRanch It's such an amazing material! I just found out about rammed earth on youtube. How did you learn how to build like this? Thanks for making this vlog this is really cool!
@@flounce2090 Glad you are finding it helpful. I (Ricky) learned by taking a class with SIREWALL USA. We did a week long class where they shared their experience and actually built several structures. If you can afford it (both time and money) I can't recommend it enough. Absolutely amazing class!
@@rimussan I'm actually not sure what it is made out of because it is a proprietary mixture from SIREWALL USA. It is pretty pricey but you don't use a lot of it so it goes a long way. Here is a link to the stuff: sirewallusa.com/product/sba-sirewall-base-additive-5-gallon-20-quarts/
regarding the use of tapcon vs ramset to temporarily anchor your forms to the slab... You could also do what we call in the skatepark industry, "cat dicking." AKA pinch screw. Drill your hole like you would for a tapcon, but use a deck screw and a piece of tie wire in the hole with the screw. Usually bend the tie wire into a V so theres two pieces of wire in the hole with screw to get it to bite. Point the bottom of the V into the hole and leave some extra wire hanging out for easier removal later. Sometimes have use a second V of tie wire to get bite. Same concept as a pinch nail but easier to get out. IMO. Nice thing about cat dicks vs tapcons is that the screws are less expensive and you probably already have a drill handy with your deck screw bit of choice (F*** phillips head screws). You wont have to switch between 5/16 hex for tapcons and a star bit for your screws. one bit for all.
Oh yeah it would definitely stop a bullet. As far as saving on costs the best advice I have is do it yourself. If you are not in a hurry it will save you the most.
just wondering why most of the layers are seamlessly layered on top of each other, but then you can still see the long cracks / crevices on the surface? Is there anyway to make it all flushed without any of those cracks?
We pull the forms off after 5-7 days just to make sure everything has sufficient time to cure. Really the walls are good after about 24 hours but we like to be on the safe side.
The gaps between the walls become either doors or windows. For windows we fill in between the walls up to the height of the bottom of the window, then use wood or other material on top of the window. We will have "punch out" window video coming soon that will show smaller windows that have rammed earth on bottom and top but there are not many of these in the house.
Great work you both, I am about to start a rammed earth project in Canada on my mountain acreage. Love what you two are doing. Question, what is the hydro phobic admix you are using?
Definitely can't take credit for this but SIREWALL has certainly done this with their years of hard work and research into how to make this a viable option for modern buildings.
Electrical goes inside the forms then it gets rammed around using rigid conduit. Plumbing is a little trickier, we will have a basement with pipes on the ceiling or pipes in the concrete foundation.
@@RedEarthRanch thanks for the reply I forgot ask one more question about any cracks that may be possible. Really enjoy watching your videos. And the walls look exquisite. Wishing you a good healthy life in future!
3 parts sand to 1 part gravel, 9% cement by weight. This mixture is specific to our materials though, different materials need different mixes. The walls are 2ft thick. Hope that helps
@@almavasquez6421 It entirely depends on the size of the wall. For example a 12 foot long by 9 foot high by 2 foot thick wall would use about 11.5 yards of material.
Hi brother. I wanted to ask, I don't understand English much, do they put lime or cement in the earth mixtures? How are the walls waterproof? thanks. greetings from Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
@@peaceobengappau6736 No it is not an epoxy. I believe it is a silicone based additive but I'm not sure because the mixture is proprietary to SIREWALL. It is mixed about 6oz per 14 cu/ft. Hope that helps
once again I want to congratulate you for sharing this great work, I want to know if it is possible for you to give us a video where you share all the amounts of cement sand lime colorants and other elements that you have used according to this experience
We actually did a video showing the mixture for our material on vlog 41 (ruclips.net/video/ISzL4aEH7EI/видео.html). But for reference sake: Our mixture is 3 parts sand, 1 part gravel, 9-10% cement (1 bag for 10 cu/ft), and 1-6% color (1-5 lbs per bag of cement) Please NOTE: this mixture works for the material in our location and may not work for other material in other parts of the world. If you want to get the strengths that we are getting I recommend working with SIREWALL to get a mix design done. They are an amazing company that has been super helpful through this process.
Your wall looks likes sandstone and granite in texture and look. I am impressed by your genius. Can you please share what exactly are all the raw materials that you have used to make these beautiful and hard rock walls. I am from India, I am thinking to make my own small house using this method. Your guidance will help me a lot to save my expenses
Hey @Lucky our walls are made from 3 parts sand, 1 part 3/8 gravel, 9-10% portland cement type 2, then 2-6% color. That is the mixture for our specific material and may not give the same results with different materials. Hope that helps
Hey, can you tell me the brand of your screener on your felehandler? I've looked at a few different manufacturers and none of them have the 10" or 12" hole at one end. I'll be starting my own rammed earth project in a few months and that would be so much easier then the 'home-made' bucket we've used on the past for the telehandlers. Thank and keep up the great work!
I wonder if a few drops of sodium silicate (liquid glass) concrete sealer on those hammered in bumps would re-bond the collapsed particles. So they wouldn't get blown out later?
@@RedEarthRanch Its cool stuff, cheap, and can be found under a lot of names. It really is glass (silica) suspended in water. Once it catalyzes, it solidifies into glass. On cement, it will begun to fill in the surface voids and make the surface more durable (less dust), harder, and a little shinny. Word of caution thought. Wear glasses, gloves, and don't ingest any of it. Tiny glass shards can form in cells and tissue, not cool. It's said that it can be painful. So maybe roll it, don't spray unless you got things under tight control. Its not reactive or anything like that. You just don't want it seeping into your skin or eyes, mixing with the natural water, then have tiny crystals glass beads or shards forming in/around those cells. Ouch! Here's a wiki on it: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_silicate Here is how you can make it (if you would want to :D ): www.instructables.com/How-to-Make-Sodium-Silicate-Water-Glass/ Rutland is a popular distributor of it. On Amazon its under $25/gallon. www.amazon.com/Rutland-Products-146-Cement-Adhesive/dp/B004YEDQOK/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=sodium+silicate&qid=1627603618&sr=8-3 I guess its not as cheap as milk, but a little goes a long ways. Check it out. But be careful while its liquid. But once it turns to glass, its really glass sealing up your rammed Earth wall or concrete. I guess another couple of warnings kind of comes to mind. The natural micro-cracking if concrete can show up in the glass surface if you tend to put it on thick like I do. Just reapply another coat in the 4 or 5 years and it will mend those little cracks back together. The other warning is, you may want to make a little test rammed Earth wall and try this stuff on it. I'm pretty sure it will increase the surface hardness, make the colors come out a little darker/bolder. But having never worked with rammed Earth..... I'd just feel awful if you put this stuff on your hard work and it messed it up. So please experiment a little. Also, I don't know how environmentally detrimental its manufacture is. I don't think its too bad, but I've been surprised before. Was just reading the Wiki. Says you may want to wait 7 or so days. "Concrete treated with a sodium silicate solution helps to reduce porosity in most masonry products such as concrete, stucco, and plasters. This effect aids in reducing water penetration, but has no known effect on reducing water vapor transmission and emission.[25] A chemical reaction occurs with the excess Ca(OH)2 (portlandite) present in the concrete that permanently binds the silicates with the surface, making them far more durable and water repellent. This treatment generally is applied only after the initial cure has taken place (7 days or so depending on conditions)." BTW - love the look of rammed Earth!
You could do that, but it would be a trickier, custom form piece and we are trying to use our modular forms as much as possible. But yeah you could absolutely do that.
great work. mistakes made are learning experiences. its an insane amount of work. takes me a full day to form, mix and tamp 1ft section of 12ft wall by hand. what gauge of steel studs used? the ones at home depot dont look as strong. did you buy them at steel supplier?
Absolutely! We have a 6 inch thick slab with 3 ft wide by 2 foot deep footers anywhere there is a rammed earth wall. The walls are 2 feet wide so there is 6 inches on either side for safety.
After rammed earth has had a few days to set up, it should be sealed with concrete sealer, for more protection from the elements. Apply with a pump up sprayer. Goes on milky but dries clear.
Yeah I’m really glad that you’re sharing this because this is my dream home or to watch you guys making at yourselves is pretty impressive and this is only my first video on your channel I’m wondering if at the end of it all you’re going to share exactly how you made out financially in regard Wondering about your local government and how that might’ve been a challenge for you but there may be a video I need to look at
do you coat these walls with a breathable sealant, PVA, or some sort of clear coat to trap dust and loose bits from falling off, Rammed earth is as old as house building is, the Chinese mastered it 5000 years ago, most of the great wall of China was originally rammed earth walls, and they are still standing in places,
Hey Bro what name did the ute end up with. I got Nigel the tractor, Wendy the Wacker, Billy the Bobcat, Colin the compressor, Daisy the dancing lady (the tamper). Great vid and you have been busy.
This is my favorite comment to date! All those names just became official LOL
What is the mixture formula, -? -.
I worked with a rammed earth company for quite a few years. One of my jobs was to repair holes and small blow-outs etc. I used glue and sand residue from the wall, applied with a putty knife, then used a toothbrush to emulate the surface texture, and then artists acrylic paint to colour match where needed. Had great results - each area required some ingenuity, but worth it for the results.
Good Job!! I live in Morelia, Mexico. This video know us, that our imaginación is all. Thanks for this.
Aesthetically it’s quite pleasing, worth it’s value already. Not to mention soothing, making you feel a little less in a box. More Harmonious with the rural environment.
I like to take a piece of cinder block and rub the walls, makes them very smooth and gets rid of most blemishes
We should try that on the next wall.
It really kills the monotony of just plain concrete or mortar the colors and the shapes are quite pleasant truly! The waves are very relaxing.
Wow wow wow...we just found you guys, instantly connected--finding like-minded "Rammed-Earthers" who are willing and able to explain all of this is such a gift! You guys are living a dream that so many people have. Incredibly hard work plus your passion for sharing "earthy" wisdom is SO appreciated!! These walls are really beautiful--no worries about imperfections at all, those become tiny pieces of the history of your family, and your home, you guys will figure all that out. Nit-pickers and haters gonna hate, am I right? :) Trust us....its so gorgeous!! Now we've got to binge all the rest of the story up to #53 and beyond! Many thanks again :)
So glad you are enjoying! I completely agree with the imperfection becoming part of the history. Thanks so much for the encouragement!
That is so cool. Love the ridge you created to rest the roof beams on. Looks labor intensive and helpful to have heavy equipment. But so worth it. ❤️
VERY labor intensive but also well worth it :-)
This is great stuff! Awesome skills and overall workmanship. From an architecture perspective, I think we are moving towards this style due to its longevity and thermal properties. I would like to see more on the construction such as how to keep it watertight and window/doors details and fixtures. This might already be on your list in the future, but I was thinking that would help a lot of people and most importantly, your channel's growth as we move more towards this method of construction. Thanks for sharing this content and may you enjoy the process.
Thank you so much! You are correct, we are planning on showing every aspect but it is taking a lot of time because we are limited on man/woman power. In time we will show our water proofing methods and hopefully save people from making the mistakes we will inevitably make LOL
Terrific project! what type of work gloves did you recommend. Saludos!
Thank you so much! I buy from Vermont Glove. They are expensive but believe me when I tell you, you get what you pay for. They ended up saving me money in the long run because it took 8 months for my pair to wear out as apposed to 3 weeks. Highly HIGHLY recommend them
Awesome work guys! Recently did a presentation on rammed earth, truly a unique method! Looking forward to the Q&A!
That's great! Glad there is interest in a Q&A, we will get on that and announce it soon
Good place to hang a picture.
Beautiful wall construction.
Someday soon I hope :-)
I like the divots and irregularities of the walls. It makes then look more natural.
Right! Me too, I think it looks so cool
Looks incredible !!!
Great work. As you learn, we learn.
That is the idea LOL Let us make mistakes so you can make different mistakes. We are all learning
Nice work and colour palette! I can tell just by watching, that by the time you get to your house, you're gonna have all the little kinks ironed out and you are going to nail the house build! Enjoying your videos.
Couple quick tips that you may or may not need :)
Another way to improve your cold joints: before you vacuum, run a flatbar scraper along the form edge and the top surface to remove the crud that is just weakly bonded and wouldn't otherwise come loose with just the vacuum.
And for attaching your bottom plates of your forms to the concrete, to avoid the blowouts of ramset, as well as the cost of tapcons, you can use duplex head nails. drill a hole the size of the nail, but insert the nail with a length of rebar wire along with the nail. the wire will wedge the nail in tightly, and a prybar will remove it easily after the build.
That's a great idea for the cold joints. Personally I (Ricky) really like the look of the cold joints. It makes it feel more organic and natural. But I think it would be worth trying just to see the different results
@@RedEarthRanch i like them too actually. even doing the scrape i mentioned, they remain obvious, but a little cleaner, and less likely to "dust" or crumble in the finished product.
Wow Stuart, your website displays amazing work! Very impressive!!
Could you post a video about full process of rammed earth wall from soil selection, mixing ratio, curing, etc.
Much of that is proprietary to SIREWALL and it isn't our mixture so we are not able to share those details without violating our relationship with SIREWALL. I'm so sorry we can't share more, but if you are interested I can't recommend SIREWALL enough. They have been amazing to work with and love to teach people about Rammed Earth. They are the experts and we are the students
Before I was born my dad and mom with a cement mixer made there own concrete basement wall with the forms being 2"x8"x 8 or 10' that took two cement mixers of material. not a crack or drop ever came through that wall. He prepared each for the next layer by putting in a 1"x1/2" wood strip to create a channel the day before. Before pouring painted pure concrete to the surface of the day before or week before pour as a bonding agent. This is an approach for a dry joint that may work for you.
That's really interesting. was the wood in for a channel vertical or horizontal?
Great work so far! New fan and subscriber. Not sure if someone mentioned this yet. You can use body-fill (Bondo) on the inside screw impressions so the wall is nice and flat when you take off the forms. May be good to keep small batches of each colors to use for touchups later. Starting our home in a year or so. Thanks for all the great tips so far. Good luck with the rest of the build!
Welcome to the adventure! That's so exciting to hear about your build, keep us posted. We actually just bought some bondo and are waiting for the weather to clear so we can patch up our forms. Thanks for the tip!
Thanks! Will do. Excited to watch your progress. Cheers brother!
Good job guys! Please give me some tips on how made the forms. Like your form work.
We basically used 16 ga steel studs and screwed them to the MDO to add rigidity. Best tip I can give is screw them down every 2 feet or even every foot because the force of ramming will actually break the heads off the screws
Hi I'm from Australia, I always inspire by Rammed Earth, really wish one day I will use your tech to build!
Your video help me a lot, thank you!
Peace and Joy
Ming
Any one around Brisbane area like to do it?! Let's learn it together!
So glad you found us helpful. Best of luck on your project
Excelente! muy buenos consejos. Extraordinaria aventura de construcción. Felicidades!
Muchas gracias por unirte a nuestra aventura.
love to see the finish product and like to see moisture
Keep the good work going, i'm watching you from Egypt and hope one day am gonna do this .
God bless you and your family ❤
Thank you and welcome! Hopefully you can learn from our mistakes and mishaps and have a great rammed earth home some day.
Great work
I just found your guys's channel. It's great. Starting on my own real soon
EXCITING! Keep us posted on your progress
the colours are really beautiful, what type of soil gives this colors ?
Was just in contact with Joss at sirewall and have purchased our property to start our regenerative permaculture and house build journey. Love what you guys are doing and would really appreciate connecting to learn more. We are in planning phase and are interested in rough man hours per sq ft of wall and cost to build sirewalls yourself.
That's AWESOME! We are so excited for you. Pricing is based mostly on material costs if you are willing to do the work yourself. For us it worked out to about $135 US per yard in material. This includes the rebar, insulation, add mixture, cement, color, sand, and gravel. But your price may vary based on material costs in your area.
Fantastic.Can we use the technology for bridges construction ?
I'm not going to be the one to try it. I imagine it would be difficult to build forms that could hold up to the forces over that far of a span. But hey, I'm not an engineer LOL
Hey bud the problem with the corners pre-drill holes and use bolts and washers instead of screws then you won't have to worry about it separating under pressure when you pack it on the corners just an idea might help to fix the problem
I genuinely hadn't considered that! Good call, I'll have to give it a try and see how the formwork goes. Thanks!
Hi
How cuold we protect the rammeed earth wall from the heavy rain and explain about low cost paint to protect the wall
Please.
It does not need protection from heavy rain due to the admixture we add from SIREWALL. We also do not plan on painting it for the same reason
Good job!
Thanks!
good stuff. glad I looked for rammed earth today. great reveal!! : ),
you mix the term 'concrete' with the term 'cement' fairly often. they are not interchangeable however.
skip the pressure washer bit bro. and the 3 pound hammer....
I know...what can I say old habits die hard
Thanks , great content What is your mixture formula? Looking forward to see the end result
Our mixture is 3 parts sand to 1 part gravel with 9-10% cement
You can used u channel to slide between all the hole of the metal stud to stiffen the form up
Good call! We will have to give that a shot
Gorgeous beautiful walls!
Thank you so much
Hi Sir. Am from India. Do you have any pictures of the tools and tackles used while doing the wall structure?
Hi, super...but how you cunstructing lintel beams ,,what materials using...and windows door fixing
For the tops of windows and doors we plan on using large wooden beams cut from our sawmill
That is pretty neat. What do you put over the wall? Like paint or sealer? That sure looks strong like concrete. I saw you had rebar in it, that should hold up.
Nothing goes over the wall. That is the finished product, pretty cool huh?
@@RedEarthRanch That is beyond cool. I love watching the videos, keep up the good work!
Points of interest:-
1:32 Gap between end and beading
2:23 90 degree corner inner appearance
3:21 90 degree corner outer alignment
3:44 Appearance
5:15 Hydrophobic property
6:01 Centering
6:36 Form deflection at top
10:23 Beading above beading issue and remedy
12:52 Check for Hydrophobic tendency by pressure wash
14:25 Stains removal by pressure washer
Please, please, please keep notes on lessons learned and products tested for best practices. When you're done, you can put together an information product we can buy.
1. Take the SIREWALL course.
2. Use the RER course for the nitty-gritty.
Whadaya think?
This is a great idea! Now that we have made a lot more mistakes and learned from them I feel more confident that we could actually offer something. We'll keep ya'll updated on when we have something.
wow, this is amazing! i want to learn more.
plz share more details abt rammed earth techs!
Will do, we will keep the vids coming
Good morning, from Argentina. Thanks for your videos. Where can I get more information to place the roof. I need to see how to put it on those walls, on concrete or on wood? Can you recommend a manual? Thank you so much!
check out the inspiration kit from SIREWALL sirewall.com/inspiration-kit-form/
@@RedEarthRanch eyy muchas gracias!! Desde Argentina abrazo grande!
@@buscandoalcentesimomonopod6625 Gracias por todo su apoyo y aliento.
Tell more about electricity and plumbing ? I want to know if installation will be exposed or recessed?
For the garage and workshop we will have it exposed with rigid conduit because I want the ability to move it around and reconfigure the shop. For the house we have a full electrical plan laid out and will reses them into the walls when ramming. Basically we will use rigid conduit in the walls and ram around it to solidify it. Hope that makes sense.
Thanks for the great videos. I tried my first small bench project last weekend and though I like it, I still have a lot to learn. Did you do a trade on insulation vs no insulation for your walls and if so can you share the pros and cons? I would imaging the added complexity, labor, and cost all have to be significantly offset by the increase in home efficiency. I would also have to assume that the foam is a negative impact on structural strength, but at these thicknesses, maybe it does not matter. I am looking to do a house outside of Phoenix, AZ with several main rammed earth walls ~18" thick so I need to deal with the heat but not cold. Did you pick the insulation for protecting from hot, cold or both? Also, can you summarize the total labor hours per maybe square foot of wall area on average once you go into a rhythm?
Hey Shea, the insulation is used to protect against hot and cold. The insulation provides your R-value and insulation. Without it the walls will heat up in the sun like an oven even at 18" thick. If you are only using the rammed earth on interior walls you will probably be okay, but if they are external you are going to want insulation. At those thicknesses it doesn't affect the structural integrity as long as you get a good mix design. I would reach out to SIREWALL USA because they should be able to point you in the right direction for a mix design, I actually took a class with them just outside of Phoenix
@@RedEarthRanch Do you think that Rockwool would work well as an insulation layer?
@@lissee212 I think the issue with Rockwool is that it won't hold up to the ramming process. Those rammers hit really hard and fast and even with the foam we are using we will sometimes tear out a section by hitting it with the rammer. There might be other factors but I remember that there is a reason we didn't go with a more natural foam like Rockwool.
@@RedEarthRanch Thank you for the reply, this really helps a lot! :)
Where did you get the metal to build the forms? I love the video's!!
Cowtown materials sells the metal studs. But any metal stud supplier should have them. They are 16 ga by 6 in wide
Lovely and I'm looking forward to practice. My concern is joining those layers to look uniform, ofcoz i know it is not easy to fill the whole wall in a day
You can do it!
Yeah!!! Hugs to Tug!
@syburch Thanks for the recommendation :-D
@@RedEarthRanch syburch is Sally Burch;-)
@@syburch Well thank you so much Sally for your suggestion. You ROCK!!!
Hi, I am loving it.
Maybe you can teach me how the rebar works someday.
Anyway, try using tape to make the walls more even and smooth eg
between the chamfer and the forming boards,
between two adjacent boards where there is a vertical line,
and even where the screws went in that you were hammering in or scrabbing with a stone.
Let me know what you think
I think now that we know that sanding works we will try this. We didn't before because tape lines will show and it is almost impossible to tape perfectly straight so we were okay with seeing the form lines. However, if we tape then sand I think the lines will mostly disappear. We'll see after our next large wall and show the results.
Thats got to be the best feeling ever
it super is!
Beautiful project but a few questions.
1. Why pressure wash the walls?
2. Why are you looking for perfection ?
We are pressure washing the walls to get any residue (dust, dirt, etc) off the walls from the construction process. We are not looking for perfection just close enough :-)
Muchas gracias por el video saludos desde Argentina
you're making awesome content!
Thank you so much!
Hello, I am curious will the rammed earth still be able to regulate humidity with the hydrophobic admixture?
Apparently it still allows for humidity regulation according to other structures built with the admixture. But we will see after the garage is built and we are living in it. We will definitely post results. Especially because we live in a VERY humid area we are curious to see how it holds up.
@@RedEarthRanch It's such an amazing material! I just found out about rammed earth on youtube. How did you learn how to build like this? Thanks for making this vlog this is really cool!
@@flounce2090 Glad you are finding it helpful. I (Ricky) learned by taking a class with SIREWALL USA. We did a week long class where they shared their experience and actually built several structures. If you can afford it (both time and money) I can't recommend it enough. Absolutely amazing class!
@@RedEarthRanch please tell more about hydrophobic admixture. What is this, and how much is it?
@@rimussan I'm actually not sure what it is made out of because it is a proprietary mixture from SIREWALL USA. It is pretty pricey but you don't use a lot of it so it goes a long way. Here is a link to the stuff: sirewallusa.com/product/sba-sirewall-base-additive-5-gallon-20-quarts/
Great video! The walls look beautiful! How much approximately does it cost to build the forms?
Forms are about $100 US to build one large form.
regarding the use of tapcon vs ramset to temporarily anchor your forms to the slab... You could also do what we call in the skatepark industry, "cat dicking." AKA pinch screw.
Drill your hole like you would for a tapcon, but use a deck screw and a piece of tie wire in the hole with the screw. Usually bend the tie wire into a V so theres two pieces of wire in the hole with screw to get it to bite. Point the bottom of the V into the hole and leave some extra wire hanging out for easier removal later. Sometimes have use a second V of tie wire to get bite.
Same concept as a pinch nail but easier to get out. IMO. Nice thing about cat dicks vs tapcons is that the screws are less expensive and you probably already have a drill handy with your deck screw bit of choice (F*** phillips head screws). You wont have to switch between 5/16 hex for tapcons and a star bit for your screws. one bit for all.
That's a good idea! Thanks for the tip!
Morning morning :)
Creative, what is the best mixture I reached
Just keep on doing
Its nice what you are doing
I enjoyed that
Thank you, I will
Thanks for sharing the tips. Must have some bullet resistance qualities too? Good build, share any savings on building / construction costs?
Oh yeah it would definitely stop a bullet. As far as saving on costs the best advice I have is do it yourself. If you are not in a hurry it will save you the most.
Can u explain how to put slab on rammed earth walls, and how structural support can provide. I like to learn about rammed earth
just wondering why most of the layers are seamlessly layered on top of each other, but then you can still see the long cracks / crevices on the surface? Is there anyway to make it all flushed without any of those cracks?
Sir it looks very nice. How many days it took to complete your project. Wall in this video.
congratulations red earth ranch family for this project, how long does it take to dry the walls
We pull the forms off after 5-7 days just to make sure everything has sufficient time to cure. Really the walls are good after about 24 hours but we like to be on the safe side.
How do you leave out the spaces for windows,doors?
The gaps between the walls become either doors or windows. For windows we fill in between the walls up to the height of the bottom of the window, then use wood or other material on top of the window. We will have "punch out" window video coming soon that will show smaller windows that have rammed earth on bottom and top but there are not many of these in the house.
Great work you both, I am about to start a rammed earth project in Canada on my mountain acreage. Love what you two are doing. Question, what is the hydro phobic admix you are using?
It is from SIREWALL USA, here is a link sirewallusa.com/product/sba-sirewall-base-additive-5-gallon-20-quarts/
$1800 a bucket?! How much wall will that treat?
Did you start your build yet?
Guys, u recreated the pyramids of Egypt with rammed earth congrats u opened a new dimension into the art of building and engineers will be envy now.
Definitely can't take credit for this but SIREWALL has certainly done this with their years of hard work and research into how to make this a viable option for modern buildings.
Beautiful! How did you do the electrical and plumbing?
Electrical goes inside the forms then it gets rammed around using rigid conduit. Plumbing is a little trickier, we will have a basement with pipes on the ceiling or pipes in the concrete foundation.
@@RedEarthRanch thanks for the reply I forgot ask one more question about any cracks that may be possible. Really enjoy watching your videos. And the walls look exquisite. Wishing you a good healthy life in future!
@@ranjanihn If cracks come up they can be patched similar to concrete or left in place. Because of the rebar cracks shouldn't really hurt anything.
What are you using between joins between rammed sections any paste or wet concrete paste or nothing because when we ran it's in sections
How do manage joints betwee two walls
Just formwork or some special techniques
We add a double chamfer to hide the fact that the walls will be slightly different. Figure if you can't make it perfect, make it look purposeful
I was curios to test someone to hammer rammed earth wall and wash it with pressure. Thanks a lot!!!
Now I'm definitely sure it rigid and durable
Glad we could help :-)
Lightly rub bumps with a brick or sand stone , then pressure wash. Looks nice. Wanting to build one in Ohio.
We will definitely have to try that! Thanks for the tip
what are the ratio of cement, mud and send? What is thickness of the wall? Details please
3 parts sand to 1 part gravel, 9% cement by weight. This mixture is specific to our materials though, different materials need different mixes. The walls are 2ft thick. Hope that helps
@@RedEarthRanch How much of the mix/earth do you need for one wall?
@@almavasquez6421 It entirely depends on the size of the wall. For example a 12 foot long by 9 foot high by 2 foot thick wall would use about 11.5 yards of material.
Cold joints could you explain About cold joints for best joins for Next ramday
The Rammed Earth is recommended for seismic and tropical areas near the sea where it rains frequently?
It would probably depend on your mix design, but I can't foresee any problem.
How do you do wiring and plumbing?
We will eventually show that process but basically you put it in the form and ram around the pipes. It will make more sense when we can show you
Hi brother. I wanted to ask, I don't understand English much, do they put lime or cement in the earth mixtures? How are the walls waterproof? thanks. greetings from Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Hey there! Cement yes but no lime. Yes the walls are waterproof because of the admixture
@@RedEarthRanch Is the epoxy the admixture?
@@RedEarthRanch How did you mix the epoxy with the soil? what ratio please
@@peaceobengappau6736 No it is not an epoxy. I believe it is a silicone based additive but I'm not sure because the mixture is proprietary to SIREWALL. It is mixed about 6oz per 14 cu/ft. Hope that helps
once again I want to congratulate you for sharing this great work,
I want to know if it is possible for you to give us a video where you share all the amounts of
cement
sand
lime
colorants
and other elements that you have used according to this experience
We actually did a video showing the mixture for our material on vlog 41 (ruclips.net/video/ISzL4aEH7EI/видео.html).
But for reference sake: Our mixture is 3 parts sand, 1 part gravel, 9-10% cement (1 bag for 10 cu/ft), and 1-6% color (1-5 lbs per bag of cement)
Please NOTE: this mixture works for the material in our location and may not work for other material in other parts of the world. If you want to get the strengths that we are getting I recommend working with SIREWALL to get a mix design done. They are an amazing company that has been super helpful through this process.
Your wall looks likes sandstone and granite in texture and look. I am impressed by your genius.
Can you please share what exactly are all the raw materials that you have used to make these beautiful and hard rock walls.
I am from India, I am thinking to make my own small house using this method.
Your guidance will help me a lot to save my expenses
Hey @Lucky our walls are made from 3 parts sand, 1 part 3/8 gravel, 9-10% portland cement type 2, then 2-6% color. That is the mixture for our specific material and may not give the same results with different materials. Hope that helps
Great video. Quick question: can the rammed earth be plastered and painted after completion?
Just so it has a modern finish (for those who want it )
Absolutely! We love the look so don't plan on it but I imagine you could plaster and finish it just like concrete
If you get the mixture too wet, will it eventually dry out and look right?
It ends up looking more like Concrete and is a little weaker. The lack of water is what creates the incredible strength.
Hey, can you tell me the brand of your screener on your felehandler? I've looked at a few different manufacturers and none of them have the 10" or 12" hole at one end. I'll be starting my own rammed earth project in a few months and that would be so much easier then the 'home-made' bucket we've used on the past for the telehandlers. Thank and keep up the great work!
It is Ettera brand www.skidsteersolutions.com/skid-steer-mix-and-go-concrete-mixer-attachment-eterra/
Can you share me the method, I m now in Vietnam, we can open the market here
Awesome
Beautiful walls bro. Nice job. I am thinking to build my house in Pakistan. Keep sharing guus
Awesome! Hopefully you can share the results that you get once you get building. Looking forward to hearing how it goes.
Have you all thought about bondoing the screw holes that’s on the forms? So that way you won’t get the bubbling from the screw holes.
We should have a video out about that soon"ish" Another viewer recommended that and we are going to give it shot.
I wonder if a few drops of sodium silicate (liquid glass) concrete sealer on those hammered in bumps would re-bond the collapsed particles. So they wouldn't get blown out later?
I have never heard of that. I have no idea. If you have a product in mind let us know and we might be able to test that out to see if it works.
@@RedEarthRanch
Its cool stuff, cheap, and can be found under a lot of names. It really is glass (silica) suspended in water. Once it catalyzes, it solidifies into glass. On cement, it will begun to fill in the surface voids and make the surface more durable (less dust), harder, and a little shinny.
Word of caution thought. Wear glasses, gloves, and don't ingest any of it. Tiny glass shards can form in cells and tissue, not cool. It's said that it can be painful. So maybe roll it, don't spray unless you got things under tight control. Its not reactive or anything like that. You just don't want it seeping into your skin or eyes, mixing with the natural water, then have tiny crystals glass beads or shards forming in/around those cells. Ouch!
Here's a wiki on it: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_silicate
Here is how you can make it (if you would want to :D ): www.instructables.com/How-to-Make-Sodium-Silicate-Water-Glass/
Rutland is a popular distributor of it. On Amazon its under $25/gallon.
www.amazon.com/Rutland-Products-146-Cement-Adhesive/dp/B004YEDQOK/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=sodium+silicate&qid=1627603618&sr=8-3
I guess its not as cheap as milk, but a little goes a long ways.
Check it out. But be careful while its liquid. But once it turns to glass, its really glass sealing up your rammed Earth wall or concrete.
I guess another couple of warnings kind of comes to mind. The natural micro-cracking if concrete can show up in the glass surface if you tend to put it on thick like I do. Just reapply another coat in the 4 or 5 years and it will mend those little cracks back together. The other warning is, you may want to make a little test rammed Earth wall and try this stuff on it. I'm pretty sure it will increase the surface hardness, make the colors come out a little darker/bolder. But having never worked with rammed Earth..... I'd just feel awful if you put this stuff on your hard work and it messed it up. So please experiment a little. Also, I don't know how environmentally detrimental its manufacture is. I don't think its too bad, but I've been surprised before.
Was just reading the Wiki. Says you may want to wait 7 or so days.
"Concrete treated with a sodium silicate solution helps to reduce porosity in most masonry products such as concrete, stucco, and plasters. This effect aids in reducing water penetration, but has no known effect on reducing water vapor transmission and emission.[25] A chemical reaction occurs with the excess Ca(OH)2 (portlandite) present in the concrete that permanently binds the silicates with the surface, making them far more durable and water repellent. This treatment generally is applied only after the initial cure has taken place (7 days or so depending on conditions)."
BTW - love the look of rammed Earth!
With regards to the small bumps on wall, what happens if you try sanding paper or sander to level it out?
Job well done btw. I am loving your rammed earth build.
Yeah we tried that later and it worked very well, better than anything else we tried
@@JamalHashe thank you!!
@@RedEarthRanch you might update your video with a note pls.
I'm just curious about the corner; couldn't you create a right angle form, brace it properly, and not have a problem with the gap? Just wondering.
You could do that, but it would be a trickier, custom form piece and we are trying to use our modular forms as much as possible. But yeah you could absolutely do that.
I have brought ya'll some subscribers...I hope they enjoy as much as I do...love this channel
Thank you so much! We really appreciate it
great work. mistakes made are learning experiences. its an insane amount of work. takes me a full day to form, mix and tamp 1ft section of 12ft wall by hand. what gauge of steel studs used? the ones at home depot dont look as strong. did you buy them at steel supplier?
We are using 16ga steel studs from a steel supplier local to us. They make steel studs and tracks for construction.
can you give an insight into your foundation?
Absolutely! We have a 6 inch thick slab with 3 ft wide by 2 foot deep footers anywhere there is a rammed earth wall. The walls are 2 feet wide so there is 6 inches on either side for safety.
After rammed earth has had a few days to set up, it should be sealed with concrete sealer, for more protection from the elements. Apply with a pump up sprayer. Goes on milky but dries clear.
The SBA additive that we use makes it so we don't need to seal our walls. They are hydrophobic from the time we pull the forms.
Yeah I’m really glad that you’re sharing this because this is my dream home or to watch you guys making at yourselves is pretty impressive and this is only my first video on your channel
I’m wondering if at the end of it all you’re going to share exactly how you made out financially in regard
Wondering about your local government and how that might’ve been a challenge for you but there may be a video I need to look at
We actually called our local government and because we are in unincorporated territory in our county they don't really care what we build.
good morning please tell me because it is colored and could you tell me the trait of this material that you use.voce arrasou there friend
The color is a mortar and cement dye mostly made of Iron Oxide
Would a L shaped mold work when making finer corners?
Maybe...it would be a lot of formwork
do you coat these walls with a breathable sealant, PVA, or some sort of clear coat to trap dust and loose bits from falling off, Rammed earth is as old as house building is, the Chinese mastered it 5000 years ago, most of the great wall of China was originally rammed earth walls, and they are still standing in places,
Hello brother how do I get to buy the form work you have
How would it look if the interior wall is sprayed stone polish 🤔 something glossy
Would probably look good but we prefer the matte finish that comes with the wall. But the polish would probably be pretty sweet too
How much does it cost per m2 to build? Would you help me build a 5,000 m2 hospital (ground floor alone) in Tanzania?
Not sure what m2 is sorry :-( We are FAR from commercial capable builders. I would recommend SIREWALL for any commercial application
@@RedEarthRanch what is SIREWALL? Would you please connect me to them?
I’ve seen other rammed earth builders using a stone, I don’t know what type, to grind or rubb of imperfections and rough joins.
We have seen this too, I think they make concrete finishing stones. Off to do research :-)
@@RedEarthRanch I imagine a pumas stone is ideal.
@@sferring thanks! I'll check it out