tearing down a roof when it’s 105 degrees

we decided to work on the part of the roof that has the most leaks.   this room will be part of our passive solar design/experiment.   the basic concept is that the summer sun is much higher in the sky than the winter sun, so we measured the amount of overhang we will need to block the summer sun out,  while still letting in winter sun.   we’re going to build a wall there that is very dense, either out of something like cob (clay, sand, straw) or bricks or something along those lines.  in the winter, the sun will hit that wall and because it is dense, it will hopefully store that heat and heat part of our home.   what we’ve studied is that even after the sun goes down, that wall will still have the heat stored in it and will release it throughout the evening.

here is a picture of the main concept, only this design is mainly using the floor as the thermal mass instead of a nearby wall:

we are trying to find salvaged or free materials for as many things as possible.  if anyone has ideas on something to use for the decking (the material that supports the roof material)  please let us know.  most builders would use plywood here, but we are trying to not use plywood.  it’s easy and cheap, but the life cycle of plywood isn’t something that’s very attractive to us.   we are trying to think of how something is made, and who it’s effecting, is it something that would be safe for those people, and would it be safe in a home, how long will it last, and when it is no longer usable, where does it go?  plywood has so many toxins in it (formaldehyde is a common one) that we’re pretty sure the people making it are probably sick from it, and on top of that, even though having some in our home may not effect our own health much either way, why take the chance if we don’t have to?   plywood can’t be recycled, so it goes into a dump with all of the chemicals that are in it.   it seems much more wise to use something that won’t make people sick, and can be burned or recycled later on when it’s no longer usable.   the down side to this is that buying sustainably harvested lumber is very expensive.   there are so many materials that are perfectly usable that people are throwing out or don’t need, so we are trying to find things like that.

ps we did end up using plywood for the subfloor in this room because we got it for free from a contractor who was about to throw it out.

we also bought an angle grinder to cut out the pipes in our basement.  nicole wore her mom’s old steel worker hard hat:

update

we haven’t posted anything in a while, but here are some new pictures of our house, and some of the progress we’ve made.   we finally cleared everything out and also now have electricity.   we put in 2 beams and raised the ceiling joists, and will be starting on the roof this week.

spring cleaning

we closed on the house last monday and have now filled our first construction dumpster with the previous owners, eleanor and tillie’s, possessions. most of the valuables have already been looted, but we found a pretty nice owl collection, a boomerang, a bird bath, a dead squirrel, a dead opossum, and 2 human teeth.  it’s also been really nice to get to know eleanor and tillie. they left about 40 photo albums and lots of letters. tillie owned a painting and wallpaper company, and eleanor worked for bell telephone company for most of her life.  we found eleanor’s certificate and award for twelve years of perfect attendance at work.  they had a really impressive garden… they documented it well in their photo albums. now the yard is overgrown with invasive ivy, bamboo, and multiflora rose, so we have a ton of work to do.

we’ve met a lot of our neighbors and they seem really nice. the woman across the street told us that tillie died in the house and was dead for a few days, but eleanor had alzheimer’s and didn’t realize. a friend found him, and then eleanor went to a home 5 years ago and that’s the last anyone has lived there.

below is a really huge unfinished addition that we finally cleared out.  our neighbors told us that two turkeys lived there for a while, so there were several inches of turkey crap on the floor.   next week we’ll be taking out all of the interior walls of the house, and then it’ll be really cleared out.

 

new truck

we bought a used truck that we’re really excited about. it’s a 1993 toyota and a nice man in pittsburgh sold it to us for only 1500.

cal earth

we just spent a few days at a place called cal earth, a six acre village of earth domes, vaults and sandbag shelters in the mojave desert.    one of the musicians that nicole has been playing with, and a really good friend, chris pureka, suggested that we go and meet her friends, lori and heather, and learn about their building methods.

cal earth is a place that teaches people how to build dome and vault structures.   some are brick, but mostly they use a method called superadobe which is a mixture of earth and cement, poured into bags and then tamped down, and then layered on top of each other to form the structure.  afterwards, the bags are covered over with an earthen plaster.

nicole got to have a concert in the model superadobe home, and it was great because we met a lot of really nice people who were passionate about alternative building.   it was also great to meet lori and heather because they are another couple who are not only on the verge of building their own house, but we just really liked them a lot and are really excited to help them and maybe have them come help us when we all start our projects.

some of the brick domes at cal earth are made into a perfect hemisphere, which amplified sound in a really intense way.   it was a lot of fun to practice our instruments in there, and sing.  the brick dome on the left here is called the rumi dome, and it was our favorite to play in.  and the triple vault on the right was where we slept.

we went with heather to a nearby farm called aquarius ranch.  they have worked on their soil for years adding compost and manure from their animals and now are at the point where they have a csa and can grow many things right there in the desert.   heather and lori have been teaching them how to build a dome, and we went with heather to help out for a day.   we made some earth bag steps leading down to the dome.    anyway, now we’re on our way back north through san francisco and then portland.

here is the website for cal earth:

http://calearth.org/

pillow fight and anemones

on valentines day, we attended the great san francisco pillow fight of 2010. it’s an annual event here where thousands of people gather to have a pillow fight in the square at 6pm. once the clock rang six times, everyone started smacking each other with their pillows. nicole mostly got whacked in the head and face because she’s so short. it was funny to see how guilty people looked after hitting her.  some big guys would just carefully give her a little tap.  some would put all of their might into it.  there were so many people that it was hard to swing the pillow. and then after a few minutes, peoples pillows began bursting open and feathers were flying through the air. we started to make our way out because it got hard to breathe and there were so many people that it got to be overwhelming, but we did have fun.

this is a picture someone else took because we put our camera away once the pillow fight started:

and here’s a short video someone put together:

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also, we found a really nice tide pool on the coast.  there were lots of sea anemones.  they look like big sunflowers and then when you put your finger up close to them, the petals start wiggling around.  they are actually carnivores, and we saw a few that were working on eating some mussels.   when they close themselves up, they camouflage by attaching rocks and shells to themselves.

here’s one half closed up eating a mussel:

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there are many farms and ranches along the california coast. it’s kind of strange to see cows near the ocean. here are some cows we saw on our drive:

we bought a house!

it’s really messed up and condemned, but that’s a good thing for us because we were able to get it for 27,000 and we can basically keep the foundation and rebuild it using sustainable methods and make it into something totally different.    it’s on a wooded acre of land too, which is really great.   there used to be a pretty big garden in the back, which hopefully means we’ll be able to grow some of our own food.   the man who lived here last passed away about 5 years ago and his possessions are still in the house, but everything is pretty trashed… like more trashed than anything we have ever seen.   oh, and it’s in deptford, new jersey, which is only a few minutes away from woods sisters house.  her father, ron, helped us out a lot to get the place and nicole’s mom flew us over from los angeles so we could see the house before making a decision.

all of the rooms have had something like a hurricane go through them, because they all look like this:

we’ll begin working on it at the end of march when we get back from our trip.  if anyone happens to find a truck that is cheap and sturdy, let us know, because we’ll be looking for one.

free things in san diego

post by nicole- i played a really nice show in los angeles, and then we drove to san diego the next day.  now we have a couple of weeks without any plans.  the past few days we’ve been trying to find free things to do, since we have a pretty limited income right now.   first we went to the coast on the block where my uncle drowned.  there were lots of seals and sea lions, which we really didn’t expect to see.  it was strange imagining my uncle dying here.  the seals are getting ready to give birth and there were dozens of them lazing on the sand yawning and stretching.

this is the view in the other direction:

it was unexpectedly cold here the first day, but then it warmed up and we got to be outside and play some music.  we found a game store that let you sit there and play their board games for free, so we did that a few times.  lots of people go there seemingly every day to play really elaborate games with little figurines and tape measurers.    i think it’s called warmachine or something.   we liked to play catan, and the store ran out of the game, so they gave us their demo game for free to take with us, which was really nice.

we’ve slept in walmart parking lots the past 5 nights, and this morning they finally kicked us out.  i think we’re going to switch to pilot travel centers now, which usually don’t mind if we park overnight.     another free thing we’ve done for the first time is dumpster dive.  we did it at a trader joes in the middle of the night and found some bread.  there was lots of steak there, which wood was pretty excited about, but i told her that we should pass on that.

we also saw a free concert with a musician who played a kora, which is an instrument from africa.   on sunday we went to a pentecostal church and watched people speak in tongues.

we’ve been playing banjo and fiddle in public places more often, and it’s been nice to see people’s reactions.  some dance around while they walk by, some give us really nice smiles and take our picture, some sit near us so they can have their dogs listen, some say thanks.

truth or consequences

we ended up staying in truth or consequences for several nights, which is a town in new mexico named after a game show from the 50s.  it used to be named hot springs, nm.   ela is the woman we stayed with.  she is 59 and plays accordion.  she also does artwork with pastels and sometimes earthen clays.

truth or consequences has lots of natural hot springs, so we went and soaked both of the nights we were there.  the water was about 105 degrees and is was pretty relaxing.

it’s really a small town- everyone seems to know each other.  ela introduced us to many people.  one woman we met is an internationally known bookbinder.  she looked at nicole’s poem book that we made and was actually very encouraging.  she gave us about 3 hours of tips and bookbinding lessons and then even fixed up nicole’s old antique suitcase that we use for her cd’s.  anyway, this is her:

then we drove to silver city, nm, and nicole played a show at the historic silco theater with peter mulvey, who is a really good friend and musician.

new mexico and stories of juarez

we are couch surfing in las cruces and are about to go to truth or consequences.  on our way here from texas, we stopped at a park called bottomless lake and played some music:

there were lots of quarts crystals there:

we are couch surfing with a woman named sally, who is a co-founder of an organization for mothers and families of disappeared and murdered women in juarez, mexico.  since the 90′s, there have been hundreds of women who have been killed, mostly nice young women who end up in vacant lots.  the police and government have done nothing about this.  they are very corrupt and have not done any investigations into these murders and disappearances.  many people even say the police are connected.

in the past couple of years, juarez has also had the most overall murders of any other city.  3,000 just last year.  mostly it has to do with the drug cartel.  sally used to go into juarez weekly to help the mothers, but now it is so dangerous, she can only go a few times a year.  one of her current projects is raising money to help some kids get screen printing ink and shirts to do some art projects.  she will also be working with no more deaths next week, who go into the desert near the border every weekend to collect the bodies of the mexicans who haven’t made the trek, and they also drop off gallons of water for those who need it.

we asked her what she thought would really help the situation with the border and issues between the us and mexico.  she said mexico’s struggles have dramatically increased ever since NAFTA , the north american free trade agreement, was put in place in the mid-nineties.  the US companies were able to send our factories down there with barely any regulations, if any.  she says that it is really necessary, if we are going to have free trade, that people need to be able to freely cross the borders.  it is not fair to have unfair and unsafe working conditions there and not here, and to not allow people to cross.   not too long ago, people crossed back and forth every day.  there are towns on the border, with families on both sides. then clinton started building the wall, which cost billions and does absolutely nothing.

sally also made us ceviche, which was really good… and took us for a hike at the soledad canyon.

here is a prickly pear cactus.  they are all over the place here:

one of the days we spent at the white sands national monument.