http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/05/19/HOGAU6MV5H1.DTL
“sobriety is the root cause of dementia.”, rez,2004
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Replies
That's pretty neat. Stuff I didn't know. The history traces back further than I knew. Very useful information. Thanks.
You know of any DIY shotcrete sites for sheds? :)
I would become self-employed except I'm too cheap to pay myself anything.
sobriety is the root cause of dementia
Shotcrete's a tough diy activity. Don't know anyone who'll rent you a pump, and even a cheezy perastaultic one will start at something like 5 grand. If you really wanna shotcrete, the way to diy is to buy a nozzle, which should be a couple hundred or so, rent one of those tow-behind compressors, and get a concrete pumping crew for the duration. They charge a flat fee plus per yard. For a single project, it beats investing in all the equip. If you want a small airform, I know who to send you to...he makes em out of used billboard material!
Years back in MotherEarth News or a related type mag I recall seeing something of someone shoving cement into chicken wire or somekind of fencing mechcanism on a building shell of somesort.
Say that 10 times real fast. Roar!
Anyhow, I thought since a goodly number of years have past since that time that perhaps a DIY process had been developed for small structures.I would become self-employed except I'm too cheap to pay myself anything.
sobriety is the root cause of dementia
That's still being done by the ferrocement crowd. I just met a nice friendly bunch of them, and they haven't changed much over the last decades...still appeared to be living like it was back then, if ya know what I mean. Some real nice stuff can be done that way, but it's sure labor intensive. That's why I like the newer stuff with fancier machines. Next step needs to be robotic spray guns so it can be done more easily and with less mess. Also need a way to "spray" on the reinforcing, be/c tying the rebar is what takes the most time. I'm picturing something like graphite strands being shot from a Spiderman web-like thing.
Has something like spraying the reinforcing ever been attempted anywhere?I would become self-employed except I'm too cheap to pay myself anything.
sobriety is the root cause of dementia
The only attempts I know of are using steel fibers--an utter failure--and now some people are mixing pva fibers into the concrete. The problem is that in the domes, the stresses are always oriented in a specific direction, while the fibers are random (akin to osb). Plus, a lot of fibers bounce out of the shotcrete (called "rebound") and that leaves the structural integrity in question. Spraying reinforcing (I never heard it even speculated about be/f I mentioned it to you here) would revolutionize that form of construction and cut costs by a LOT.
Great article, Rez. Love that that the current owner found that bowl by Neff in a flee market.
I'm pretty sure I recently read another article about that place. Had photos of the interior as well as the one Splinty posted. Might have been in the Sunday paper...I'm pretty sure it was within the past couple years...not in FHB? Might even have been following a link someone posted here, who knows. But I have a pretty strong sense I've seen photos of the interior, especially the curved couch.
I love it when people say "why the heck not?" and give something unconventional a try. Glad as heck we aren't still living in caves, that's for sure.
I didn't see a picture of the house in the article, so i went to Google "images" and got this:
View Image
Can't believe someone would publish an article about a building like that and not include a pic of it.
That pic you found is of the other last remaining structure that is found in Phoenix.I would become self-employed except I'm too cheap to pay myself anything.
sobriety is the root cause of dementia
Well, it's good to know that what he started will live on. The number that we have breaking ground, and the number on the drawing board has even surprised me. And they are gonna make the one in the picture look pretty plain jane (though it's quite nice on its own). The technology and methods are evolving and improving and over the next few years we should be seeing more and fancier ones. I tip my cap to the first person to have tried that, and Neff was certainly one of the pioneers.