“During eight weeks beginning in January 2015, we will create the first infrastructure at Remembrance Farms. We will be building a twenty foot diameter round building using an exciting technique called “super-adobe” or “earth-bag” construction. This low cost method utilizes local materials and requires only simple tools. The technique can be learned easily and the structures are durable and beautiful. A traditional vetiver thatch roof and rammed earth floor will complete the building.
The money we raise here will be used to pay local Dominican workers to help us complete our earthbag roundhouse. This will benefit them not only in terms of employment but it will provide a learning and training opportunity in Super-adobe construction.
Now we’re returning to Dominica to continue to implement our vision of “Remembrance Farms”, a place where we can study and share “best practices” in sustainable living. We’ll build our capacity to offer workshops in subjects such as permaculture design, natural building, and health and wellness, for students seeking an immersive learning experience. Our farm will also serve as a demonstration site for tools and technologies well suited to local conditions in Dominica.”
The new roof looks great! Choosing a material for our round roof has not been easy. Ideally we would build one using a material that is conducive to rainwater harvesting, but we just aren’t sure of the options available to us in terms of materials. We do love that the vetiver thatching is so natural and even traditional in the West Indies, but we see some down sides as well. It seems like a thicker thatch would be ideal. I will certainly keep my eyes out for MCR tiles in Dominica.
Your main options would be metal, MCR, thatch, wood shakes, ferrocement (chicken wire and cement). Ferrocement roofs will turn black with mold in rainy climates.
Owen,
We are so pleased to see that you have promoted our project on your site. Your work has been a major source of inspiration to us in choosing the earthbag method. As you may have seen, we are also big proponents of vetiver and can’t wait to explore some of the ways it can be used in natural building. Please check us out on facebook- we will be posting progress pics as we go. http://Www.facebook.com/remembrancefarms
Thanks you and Happy New Year,
Ursula Schaefer and Caleb Prescott
Remembrance Farms
Glad to help. Did you see the blog post from a few days ago with our new MCR roof?
https://naturalbuildingblog.siterubix.com/new-tile-roof-earthbag-roundhouse/
Vetiver thatch is great except it’s not real durable. We decided to bite the bullet and build a more permanent roof.