I wrote a blog and thought I would post it here as well. I intend to write a series along this line to aid poor folk transistioning from urban to rural living to build a home and will just add them here as I write them. I will be keeping it simple and I'm sure you guys have some too that will help them.
CLASSIFYING GRAVEL
I was raised to the homestead way of life and these things are natural for me but I have always had a deep admiration for those that come with nothing but fierce determination to build their lives with hands. The blogs I write as with the first one “Basic Comforts of Life” are aimed at those who have the heart to take the leap with little or no money. There are other ways and you may not have the same resources in your area, I just hope you take what I post to heart. People tend to bite off more than they can chew and that is where most go wrong. Start small and you can always do more after you have been established. A topic like this one may not seem that important or interesting but if experience means anything to you heed each word. I will post other building methods to turn your resources into a home in time.
A building does not begin with the foundation. It begins with the excavation. Gravel is the best to build on because of its drainage qualities. Large structures are dug down below frost level to gravel or backfilled with gravel but that type of project is beyond the reach of the people I am addressing. A gravel pad is all that is needed to lift a small cabin high and dry and give it a firm foundation and floor. I’m making a pad for a fuel storage tank here but the principal is the same.
Large rocks in gravel make it hard to dig with hand tools.
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The tools I use are a cultivating hoe, a small spade (I’m getting old) and a rake.
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I use cultivating hoe to pull rocks out of surface.
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Larger rocks are separated into a pile for building rock walls.
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Gravel can now be shoveled much easier and I shovel it across an area where more rocks are brought to the surface.
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At this point I use the rake to remove the remaining smaller rocks. This size rock is great for drainage and in this case I will be building a retaining wall and it will be backfilled against it. The racks tines are about ¾ of an inch apart so what remains is ¾ minus. This is the right mixture for making concrete and is easy to shovel and level and compacts firm. Us poor folk don’t need a compactor either, just hose it down with water and sand will work its way between rock better than a compacter will do the job.
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This is all you need to build a cabin on. Stay tuned, the rest is just as simple.
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