Every now and then I have been updating on the progress of my adobe house project in New Mexico.  Earlier reports over nearly a year can be viewed

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Good morning. This week marks 2 full years of gathering to talk about home repair/improvement matters or whatever else has struck our fancy.

I'd like to thank all the folks who have become "regulars" here for bringing their experience and expertise to the conversation.  I really couldn't do this without your help.

Two years ago, I got this ball rolling with this effort, which everyone should read, if they haven't already, because there is (potentially) life saving information in there about electricity in your home.  In a nutshell: Exercise your GFCI!  If you don't know what this means, you need to read that first SMHR diary.

Good  Morning.  I'm enjoying the 60 degree coolth of a high desert sunrise. It will get up into the 90s later today and shortly we'll close up all the windows and doors that have been open all night to let the evening cool the mass of our thick adobe walls. Because we are surrounded by 50 tons or so of earthen bricks, well insulated on the outside and roof, the inside will remain cool all day, despite the 30-40 degree rise in outside temp.

Tonight, once it cools down, we'll repeat the process. This is the ancient way of survival in the desert, enhanced, of course, by amenities such as insulation and tight fitting doors and windows.  

The other feature of our no-carbon footprint  AC system is trees, a minor forest of shade trees we have nurtured with irrigation water from the acequia that passes through our yard. Fast growing Lombardy Poplar and other hybrid poplars, even faster growing, quickly produce enough shade to make a real difference.

Good Morning.  Checking in from Austin, where I'll have just a few minutes before I want to go in and see Mme Speaker Pelosi appears before the assembled Kossaks.

Truth be told, I slept in late that morning and missed the posting time. I had even written something to have ready, but that Friday night Kossak party at Maggie May's did me in.

Austin is cool, high  rise and honky tonks all in the neighborhood, a most congenial space, and there is no crowd more congenial and convivial than Kossaks.

Good Morning.

Since last week it has continued to be soggy out here on the high desert.  Cloudy skies and wandering thunderstorms, along with the relief from the heat they bring. Green is the dominant theme.

Under conditions like this, thoughts turns to drainage, managing the rushes of water so the water can return to the soil rather than wash away.

Greetings from the soggy high desert, where it has been raining; the usual summer rainstorms, crashing thunder and intense rain. Walking rain we call it, stepping here and there leaving puddles a couple of miles from unsettled dust.

My drainage needs a little work: a little rivulet of water found its way into the house again, signaling the need for attention at one place where the runoff can no longer find a way out.

I'm late this morning, so without further ado...

Good morning.

Short shrift this morning; shop is open and I'm answering questions, but I don't have new photos nor a string of clever words.

Grab some coffee and I'll try to wake up.  Home repair/improvement of Kossak  homes is the topic and sometimes it gets real interesting.

Welcome

Good morning from the high desert of New Mexico.  I've been promising an update on the adobe home project:

This is what we call "dry stack" around here.  The only concrete in this is in the supporting columns that bear the portal.  The stone wall leans inward (architecturally, this is called a "battered" wall) to resist the outward pressure of the soil contained.  As the stone is brought up in layers, the soil behind it is compacted.  The stone wall is capped by a concrete bond beam, which ties the wall together and provides a base above ground moistrue for a 3 foot high adobe wall that will contain the concrtete columns.

Good Morning, Kossians.

The shop is open; coffee is brewing and I'm enjoying the morning coolth; it is down into the high 50s after the evening cool down.  All night my adobe house has its windows open and the 50 tons of earthen blocks that surround me have been shedding BTUs, wafted off by the cool night air.

In a couple of hours, as the sun comes up and starts the daily heat-up, heading towards the mid 90s by late afternoon, I'll close up all the windows and keep that heat out.

Good Morning.

The shop is open.  There's coffee on, and I'm sitting here watching the minor miracle of hummingbirds gathering at the feeder outside the kitchen window.  Check the photo over the fold...

Good Morning.

Crazy burst of winter here the last couple of days, rain and hail, high wind, cold, while I try to get a roof, the actual waterproof surface on all the structure, installed.  IF it goes back to bright and sunny for the next three days, and dries everything back out, my roofer starts on Tuesday.

Having that roof on, and all the inspections completed for the various mechanical systems within (plumbing, electricity, heat, AC, gas, low-voltage etc) clears the way for the final phase of the project, covering everythijng up and making it all beautiful.

Good morning.  Our long cool  high desert springtime continues, with the addition of several days of welcome rain.  Green emerges slowly as the dominant color as the last of the trees leaf out and winter-dormant native grasses come back to life.

Various projects continue, and I'll report on them someday soon, but right now we are here,  once again, to discuss repairs and improvements on Kossak homes, YOUR homes, and perhaps have some information, advice and encouragement you might find useful.  We'll see who among our ad hoc cadre of construction professionals and gifted amateurs shows up.

If you have an issue, bring it on and we'll try to save you some bucks and aggro.  Or, show us what you have been working on.

Good morning. The shop is open, coffee is on;  Spring is fully sprung here on the high desert and my world out here has turned green.  The huge ancient cottonwoods, last to emerge from dormancy are putting out their first leaves, following the  invader Asian elms and olives and the poplars.

On my own place here, I have had a small crew doing a mud plaster job on my outbuildings: shop, wellhouse and chickencoop, and this weekend I hope to get the door and the window in to the East wall so the plaster can be trimmed out around them.  We mix the mud from local soils, and it costs me, at local rates, about 50  cents a Sq Ft for the labor to trowel it on the walls, both adobe and straw bales.

Good Morning, and welcome.  The shop is open and there's coffee on the stove.  We gather on Saturday mornings to discuss home repairs and/or improvements, in hopes that you might find help, advice or encouragement to tackle distractions of this nature that keep you from your True Appointed Role in Life, the election of more (and better) Democrats.

Hard to keep that focus if there's a faucet dripping in your background or your roof is dripping on your head.

We are big on empowerment; YOU CAN do a lot of things yourself, and spare yourself the expense and frustration of having to hire professional to solve what might be a minor problem if you have a little insight from our ad hoc cadre of construction professionals and gifted amateurs.

There's not much over the fold, but...

Good morning.  The door is open and there's coffee brewing.

Saturday morning community-fest and at this booth we discuss home repair/improvement crises and projects.  Got a leaky faucet, or a gurgling toilet? Our ad hoc cadre of construction professionals and gifted amateurs has got info, advice and even inspiration to help you out.

Empowerment R us.  Welcome

Good Morning, once again.

Amazingly, I am writing this the night before, and I have a few more photos of progress on the adobe house I am building.  Make the jump to view them.

This is, as usual, the Saturday morning hangout for the DIY builder/project types amongst the Kossians, where we share our home improvement/construction projects and try to answer questions that arise from other Kossians who may have woken up with a dripping faucet or stopped up toilet or some other catastrophe that might be interfering with our True Goal In Life, the election of more, and, hopefully, better Democrats to public office.

Here is the teaser...

Good Morning.

Low bandwidth edition today, although progress continues on the adobe houses as split-cedar latillas are being installed in the living room, and regular peeled latillas are going onto the hand hewn squared timbers that support the kitchen ceiling.  The split cedar is bright red, and aromatic, and when completed will be a stunning piece of visual texture.  I should be able to show that next week.

Meanwhile, grab a cup of whatever and pull up around the fire (yes, I made a fire this morning, as we had a quick spring snowstorm yesterday and this morning it is frosty and cold, just in time to nip the flowering apricott and peach trees that have ventured forth too soon.

Bring us your projects, dreams or problems concerning your house and keeping it up and humming. Every week, it seems, we actually do help someone out with advice and encouragement, because they spoke up.

A lot of stuff around the house is doable, and doesn't require the services of expensive professionals to make right.

Empowerment is a political act.  You can do it.

Good Morning, and welcome. I didn't make a fire this morning, but there's coffee on. For those of you new to this, we meet and talk about fixing our houses/homes, ask for and share advice on various "how to do it" topics ranging from  dripping faucets to adding on a room, or about our own projects or problems.

We do empowerment:  you can do this. We might be able to help.

From time to time I have shared the progress on an adobe house I am building and this week have some more photos you may enjoy, over the fold.