materials

12/11/05

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Building with ferrocement

 

Collecting reusable materials was an important and time consuming part of the process.  Luckily, I was able to find ample 2 inch P.V.C. pipe and flexible plastic pipe, and welded wire in two different gauges that had been dumped.  After an exhaustive search I ended up purchasing my gutters and clips new.  One of the barrels was also found.  The remaining two barrels, bailing wire, faucets and hoses, some P.V.C. couplings and 14 pieces of rebar that seemed to have been precut just for me were acquired by trade from the Scrap metal yard.  Two of the barrels had such large intake holes that they required rubber couplings to connect them to their 2 inch P.V.C. downspouts.  The chicken wire was purchased from the Arcata Community recycling center.   The sand was collected locally. Tools for the project, including bolt cutters, a drill, ladder, were borrowed from friends.  I collected demolished concrete and got a donation of used potting soil from a friend to create an herb spiral that will be watered by the barrel shown below. Though I spent more money than I had intended, I found that most of the time the perfect materials seemed to come to me just as I was getting ready to give up and buy them.

 

For a itemized cost list of this project

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