Brittney Gee

Coydon Wallham wrote:

Brittney Gee wrote:Question 1 is, could the bench be essentially doubled in length and function just as well? We are hoping to run a longer bench through a bedroom and into a living room. And, it would actually run under an "empty" wall of tongue & groove separating the two in order to do so... hopefully no issues there?  

And 2: Could the wood feed conceivably be shifted 90 degrees? Ie, be installed to the side of the barrel, rather than the "butt" end?  Or might such a joint there cause issues with draw or else-thing?

Are you specifically looking for a lightweight and/or temporary RMH build? If not, it's likely like you would benefit from a cob style design over this pebble style.

I'd suggest looking over Ernie and Erica's book on RMHs (the rocket mass heater builders guide) before settling on a design. My understanding of the principles spelled out there is that you would be able to to build something to meet your criteria on both points.

If you go with a variation of this pebble style but include a longer bench, I would suggest using an 8" exhaust pipe that is flush with the horizontal ducting. The 6" vertical exhaust going down into the 8" duct for stratification effect used on this iteration seems to limit the draw through the system. Systems this size without the "juice box" design reliably work with much longer runs of ducting through the mass. Specifics on how to calculate those numbers for varied situations are in the E&E RMH book.

Coydon, thank you! I'm grateful for your recommendation. We went ahead and purchased Ernie & Erica's RMH book so as to better understand the dynamics in general. We do not need something temporary/lightweight, and it is my understanding that cob is much more efficient. Thank you for reminding us of this and inspiring us to look back in that direction!

Hey friends,

Hoping someone can help answer a couple Q's about these plans, and also hoping that I'm posting in the right place!

We're first-time builders aiming to install this RMH in our new home (post & beam / tongue & groove) and definitely don't wanna eeeeeff anything up.

Question 1 is, could the bench be essentially doubled in length and function just as well? We are hoping to run a longer bench through a bedroom and into a living room. And, it would actually run under an "empty" wall of tongue & groove separating the two in order to do so... hopefully no issues there?  

And 2: Could the wood feed conceivably be shifted 90 degrees? Ie, be installed to the side of the barrel, rather than the "butt" end?  Or might such a joint there cause issues with draw or else-thing?

We'd also be interested in consulting with a seasoned RMH'er in person in/around southern New Mexico just for some peace of mind, if such a person exists! Or maybe this can be done remotely with good communication and the sharing of drawings? Definitely open.

Thank you kindly for sharing your thoughts! These plans are great and we appreciate them and you.

Scott Lawhead wrote:How’s the process going?

I am prepping for an earthen floor next year, currently have a compacted gravel subfloor. I am planning on pouring a tiny concrete foundation for our kitchen island and still covering it with earthen floor.

How has progress been coming along, any trips for putting concrete under earthen floor?

Hey Scott! Congrats on your upcoming earthen floor. We're in-filling with soil right now and, as the wise R Scott has suggested, "compacting the snot out of it" with a steel tamper. Later will come drain rock, followed by road base... we plan to rent a Jumping Jack in the near future.

Your idea for pouring a foundation for your island is an interesting one! What are your considerations around that? Our oven is located island-like also, and I hadn't thought that far ahead. Afraid I can't offer any tips myself (this is our first rodeo, so to speak), but I'm intrigued to hear this about your plan.

James Landreth wrote:The more I farm the more I've come to love stretching,  using a foam roller,  and getting occasional massages.  I've really come to appreciate all this for personal care routine.

One thing I hear is that these practices have the potential to remove toxins and lactic acid. I've tried to research this out of curiosity but have found conflicting reviews. I'm curious to hear what other permies think about this. It occurred to me tonight as I was thinking about it that quite a few people on here are professionals in alternative medicine.

For anyone new to growing food, I urge you to consider these practices for self care regardless of toxin release. Without them I really think I would have a lot of physical health issues now. Labor can wear on your body more than people realize

Resounding YES! Hubby and I are building our house right now and stretching before bed especially is proving to be an essential practice. I'm curious about your routine? What are you stretching and/or rolling on? Would you care to share the deets? We don't have a foam roller at this time, but do wiggle around on the floor with two rubber balls placed between shoulders and along spines. I imagine we look kinda looks like bears scratching up on a tree, only horizontal. X)

Glenn Herbert wrote:Great looking beginning, Brittney! I hope you post more pictures as you progress.

I think that if you use the concrete chunks in the lower layers of fill, and bed them well so there are no big air gaps, it should work fine. Be sure to compact the gravel fill so it doesn't settle later. The sooner you do the filling, the longer it will have to do any settling before finishing the floor.

Thanks very much, Glenn! We're excited and in-joying the process. That's a great point about getting the fill in there ASAP. I've actually been avoiding starting the process because, you know, the joys of lifting all those big concrete chunks... X) But I do believe you're right about the settling and am grateful for the inspiration to get started sooner rather than later.

Matt McSpadden wrote:Hi Brittney,
I am no expert in foundations, earthen floors, or soil hydrology. Now, that I have that out of the way :)....

How big are we talking about? If the pieces are less than 1ft square, I don't think its going to be a big deal as long as you compact over them well. If they are bigger like 5 or 6 foot pieces, then I think it is more likely to cause some weird problems down the road. For the big pieces I would put them as far down as I could and as flat as I could and make sure things were packed under and around them tightly. Or if you had the time and energy, maybe break them up smaller so you still get the volume, but the pieces can pack in more normally?

Thanks for your inquiry, Matt! The chunks are more around the 1 ft size, some a bit larger than others. I do like the idea of breaking the larger ones up a bit.

Hi friends,

My hubby and I are currently building a 1000' post-and-beam home off-grid in the high deserts of southern New Mexico and are thinking ahead to installing the earthen floor.

Our home requires a lot of fill on one side, and we were recently gifted with a load of large broken-up concrete pieces from another project that we are considering adding in and compacting around (so as to purchase less gravel and/or move less soil).

But, we have our suspicions that this method of adding large concrete pieces into the base layer of fill soil and/or gravel may...

a) cause the floor to settle unevenly over time;
b) disrupt the natural "grounding" feature of an earthen floor;
c) cause stranger things (?) to happen with energy/moisture/water as it moves around at the ground level;
d) Eff something else up to the point that we may regret the very moment we laid eyes on them?!

Any thoughts or experiences or intuitions? We look forward to hearing!

Hey friends,

This is awesome, thank you!

Q... we were due to receive plans for RMHs per the recent Kickstarter sometime in August, I think, but haven't received them? Wondering if they have been released and maybe we missed it?