Sunday, September 28, 2008

Help!

Ok, this is a cry for help...HELP!
I just did the math, and if we don't get some help,
we're going to have to resort to child labor.


So here's the breakdown:
If a 5 gallon bucket = .777 cu. ft., and if a batch consists of 1.5 buckets of sand, and .5 buckets of clay, then a batch of cob = 1.554 cu. ft. Combined, Brian and I are averaging 14 batches a day (or 21.758 cu. ft.). I thought this was pretty good, until I checked the book, and found out that eventually we should be mixing twice that amount in a day. Hmmm....looks like we best start eating our Wheaties. Anyway, if I calculated right (and I'm kinda hoping I didn't), then we need about 2,634 cu. ft. of cob to make our house. That would mean it would take Brian and I 122 DAYS of mixing to get the job done! Since we can only work on the house 4 days a week (ok, more like 3) at best, we could get it done in 7.625 MONTHS. This is no good...no good at all. If we can work up to mixing 40 cu. ft. of cob a day, then it would still take 65 days or 4 months. Which might be all fine and good--EXCEPT WINTER IS COMING!
Thing about cob is, it has to be dry before winter, because if any moisture freezes in the wall it will expand and crack them. Hmmm. Not so good. Our goal is to have the mud portion of the project done by October 31st. That'll give us November, and into December to let it dry out, and get the roof on. After that, we're hoping to get the windows in, and maybe put the wood stove inside so that we can keep it from freezing, and keep us toasty while we're plastering the interior, and working on our earthen floors and the millions of other things that we'll have to do. But I'm not going to freak out, because I am just bubbling over with optimism (just read the previous post). Plus, I've got faith. Lots and lots of faith.
So, bottom line--Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your feet! If anyone out there reading this would like to help, please let us know! We'd love to have you!

2 comments:

RebRider said...

Love to help, but too far away. I told math would come in handy.
Daddoo

Hannah said...

Hi, Dad!
Why does math have to be so stinkin' honest? I did the math because I was feeling optimistic and thought it was going to tell me we were going to have the house built in a month. But, no--Math had to go and rain on my parade! Oh well!

Love ya,
Han