BARREL VAULT ROOFS AND CEILINGS

Finished Houses
Harris & Leslie's House
Bill's House
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Construction Photos
Harris & Leslie's House
Bill's House

Harris & Leslie's House

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Bill's House

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Art Gallery

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Construction of Affordable, Do-it-Yourself Housing

Harris & Leslie's House

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Bill's House

One of my current goals is to develop a low income house for the 3rd (or 1st) world that is easy to build from local materials and that will last 200 years. Photos are of a moderate income house we're doing for computer Billy. He built this web site.

THE HOUSE
3 bdrm, 2 bath, 55 sq.M each floor
4 each, 4M X 5M barrell vaults-- 2 on each floor

Bedroom and kitchen connected by bathrooms, closet, and 2 story atrium

FORMING SYSTEM

The idea here is an inexpensive, reusable formwork. Three guys (gals) can set the formwork for a 4M X 5M vault in 2 hours flat-- the second one,anyway. WOW!! If you want an inexpensive vaulted/domed roof--- my system could give you some ideas.

Tip: drive 8d nails with tie wire, pig-tails into your lt. wt. vertical wall blocks at 1.5 M height from floor ( will vary), to tie in the sides of #6666ww barrell vault formwork. Drive 20d nails (or pieces of 3/8" rebar) into the wall blocks above the formwork to grab the pour. Stick up the 2X2 pine, then 26 ga. lath (or aternative material), and start pouring the shell. This is as simple as it gets for concrete vaults.

FORMWORK

 

needed for each 4X5 M vault:

  • 10 each 2X2, 8 ft., pine
  • 20 each 2X", 10 ft
  • 33 sq. meters #6666 ww driveway mesh
  • some nails and tie wire
  • Cost of formwork-- less than $30/ vault, for the first 4.The formwork can then be reused an additional 50 times.

    Note: with a little imagination you can use the same formwork for both, 4M wide vaults and 3M wide vaults.

THE LAYERS - bottom to top:

  • 2X2 pine--formwork*#6666 ww--formwork
  • 26ga non galvanized plaster lath-- inexpensive in Mexico. (You could probably substitue plastic mesh onion sacks or burlap on top of reusable chicken wire, for this lath layer)
  • 1/2" Shell-- 6 parts light weight aggregate, one part cement- volume
  • #6666 mesh--it can be thinner than the formwork mesh or the same thickness
  • 4-8" pour with light weight-- mixed 8/1
  • 1/8" polish (the same day as pour, it sticks better and can be thinner)-- mix: 3 screened sand /one cement
  • fill low sides of vault with loose aggregate, for second floor
  • pour 2" flat floor for second story-- mix:2 lt wt.aggregate,3 sand and pea gravel,one cement--volume

    Note: you can pour the roof in sections. Start on Monday and pour some everday till you finish to avoid "cold" seams.Waiting more than 24 hrs between pours is not recommended. Use pure cement slurry (neat cement) with latex bondo at daily seams.

THE WALLS

10-25cm thick --Block made of the same lt. wt. volcanic aggregate. 10/1 cement, vibrated. Poured, hard concrete, reinforced, vertical, pillars every 3M aprox. Reinforced bond beam at top of walls, tied to 2" thick, second story floor. Foundation and wall costs are best calculated on site.

ROOF COST
6" (15cm) thick 4X5m vaulted roof in Mexico

 
$US
formwork--( 4 at a time)
$30
33 sq. M #6666 mesh
60
33 sq M 26ga plaster lath
30
5.2 cubic m aggregate@$18/m--6" / 15cm, thick
100
cement--(6/1 mix) 20 each 50kg bags X $8.00
160
materials for polish
40
labor-- form work, pouring,and polishing, 3 guys X 3 1/2 days
180
design help---5 hrs. @ $20-----me
100
 
 
Total for roof , Mexico
$700


Note: Cost per sq. M , not finished on the inside= $35/M or $3.50/sq ft Note: we're still pricing out these roofs so some of the above may change-stay tuned.

Note: on labor cost per worker:
free =you (and your 2 brothers-in-law)
$20/day=skilled,hardworking,Gto MX,
$100/day =USA,hard labor
3 guys--3 1/2 days.
I'm assuming a power mixer and laddering buckets up to the roof with humans.The second roof should be faster. Once you eliminate the design fee, this is an economical roof.

ROOF THICKNESS
Six inches is good for the final roof in mild climates. Four inch vaults are adequate for the first floor vault that will be filled on the sides and have another floor above.

R-VALUE
It all depends upon the aggregate you use. For a fluffy pour with my aggregate I claim 2 1/2 per inch, but I don't know for sure.So 6" is about R-15.Properly used solar gain messes with R values and R40 ceilings may not be necessary with this material even in cold sites.If you find you want more insulation, mix and place another 6" next year. Folks at the ferro group (see Links) are working on other materials because they don't have the good aggregate available locally.

BUILDING CODES
A lot of places here in Mexico we can do engineering on site-YIPPE !! That freedom is changing fast, even here. Vaults should be an easy structural shape to calculate and get stamped. I'm currently looking for programs.

LINKS ON THIS SITE

More on low income roofs - http://www.geocities.com/flyingconcrete/lowinc.htm

Roof forming - http://www.geocities.com/flyingconcrete/Forming.htm

Some ideas for underground barrell vaults - http://www.geocities.com/flyingconcrete/cellar.htm

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mxSteve at gmail dot com
You can reach Steve at the following address:
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