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Post by Granny Smith on Nov 17, 2012 16:57:05 GMT -5
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Post by joanfromzone6 on Nov 17, 2012 17:51:31 GMT -5
nice looking root cellar - probably goes well with the new cadillac -
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Post by Sheila on Nov 17, 2012 18:31:28 GMT -5
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Post by Granny Smith on Nov 17, 2012 18:52:02 GMT -5
I'm trying to figure out how to cover a camper (the kind you pull with a car) with fibrous concrete and bury it without collapsing it. I think that would make an awesome storm shelter/root cellar, with all the comforts of home.
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Post by joanfromzone6 on Nov 17, 2012 23:17:42 GMT -5
people have done it with school bus shells -
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Post by Granny Smith on Nov 18, 2012 11:09:08 GMT -5
Using a bus was my first thought until I found out that even those destined for scrap were selling for $4K or more each. I can pick up a halfway decent camper for less than half that. I'm not sure what to do about the windows or if I would need to reinforce the roof with rebar. I'm also considering covering the whole thing with sheets of styrofoam or the spray-on kind, not just for strength, but for insulation and to help keep it from rusting out.
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Post by joanfromzone6 on Nov 18, 2012 11:23:06 GMT -5
sounds like you were a deprived child - no access to an erector set -
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Post by joanfromzone6 on Nov 18, 2012 11:25:00 GMT -5
dead chest freezers also make good ammo storage containers - need tg reinforce the floor, tho - |
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Post by Granny Smith on Nov 18, 2012 13:42:32 GMT -5
sounds like you were a deprived child - no access to an erector set - I knew this wasn't just a random comment, but a clue, so I started reading about erector sets because I wasn't familiar with them (We had access to real building materials when I was a kid, so never really got into the toy models much) Then it hit me to reinforce the whole thing, including covering the windows, with steel panels. I could use the tin that's still on the hill from the barn blowing down. Good idea, Joan! On second thought, I wouldn't even need the trailer, unless I really wanted the amenities. I could just cover wooden frames with steel panels, then cover it all with concrete and a layer of dirt. All I'd have to buy would be the concrete. Sweet! |
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Post by joanfromzone6 on Nov 18, 2012 18:45:32 GMT -5
i don't know if you've ever heard of gunite - it's a sprayed concrete that can be lightweight and fibered that is most commonly seen in swimming pool construction - it's good for objects with a complex finished shape that would be difficult to produce with actual forms -
anyway - the israelis have been fooling with the stuff for years to make sturdy but fast and cheap structures on their outlying kibbutz's - they pour a slab - then inflate a balloon to about half-full on the slab - it forms half-sphere like a soap bubble on a flat surface - then they slowly spray gunite (gunnite?) all over it in a very thin layer - allow it to harden and then another layer and so on - the final layer can be a couple inches of insulating foam -
next step is to use a saw to make whatever door/window/vent openings needed - two balloons can be placed side by side and the resultant shape is like adjacent and touching soap bubbles -
the spherical shape is immensely strong - and the half-sphere encloses the maximum amount of interior volume with the least amount of surface area - thus great material cost savings are realized -
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Post by Granny Smith on Nov 18, 2012 19:58:18 GMT -5
Sure I've heard of gunite. Roeper school, in Birmingham, MI was made of it. Dad took me regularly to watch them build it, back in the 60s. I learned later, in mechanical drawing class, that the dome shape is the strongest architectural form. My original plan was to make this a dome so it would be more certain to support the weight of the dirt over it.
A couple of weeks ago, I watched a tv program where they made an entire underground house out of gunite and another where they made a hurricane-proof house out of it. The underground house used welded wire as a frame, but they didn't show how they kept it from falling through. The other one used a big balloon, like you mentioned. They said they had to run 7 air compressors the entire time or the balloon would collapse under the weight of the gunite.
The problem is, where would one find a balloon like that and all those compressors? Since those seemed expensive and hard to find I thought something with a rounded top might work as well and that's how I came up with the camper. The amenities in a camper were a bonus.
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Post by Granny Smith on Nov 18, 2012 20:05:58 GMT -5
It just occurred to me, if gunite is lightweight (I assumed it was heavy) then I probably won't need to reinforce a camper, just cover the windows so it will stick to them.
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Post by joanfromzone6 on Nov 18, 2012 21:06:28 GMT -5
gunite is lightweight - RELATIVELY SPEAKING - when compared to other types of concrete -
the video i had seen showing the activity in isreal utilized a single compressor - i do not recall if they included any metal reinforcing but, if they did, it was after several layers of spray had been applied and cured - the mesh would have then been covered with several more layers of gunite to create a sandwiched cross-section -
there is a fairly recent advance in spray-on that IS lightweight - they use a gunite apparatus modified to inject the two chemicals that mix to form polyurethane foam into the stream of concrete - the foam components do not start expanding until after the layer of concrete is in place but well before that layer cures -
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Post by Granny Smith on Nov 18, 2012 21:44:52 GMT -5
Sounds like I need to talk to a contractor and see what the specs are for it. I'll probably have to have it sprayed on anyway. This doesn't sound like a DIY project, although I could do all the prep.
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Post by joanfromzone6 on Nov 19, 2012 8:50:54 GMT -5
some time ago i recall seeing a video of a young guy who did rig up the equipment and did spray a structure all as a one-man diy project - don't know where i saw it but i'll keep looking -
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