Rammed Earth Greenhouse Wall- Chemainus, B.C.

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Why build a rammed earth wall for a greenhouse? The main reason is to store heat and increase the growing season. The thickness of the rammed earth wall allows for solar energy to be absorbed and released slowly, this helps to increase the temperature at night as the heat is slowly released. During the spring and fall when the weather is cooler but the sun is still shining, it will raise the greenhouse temperature and help to increase the growing season. As you can see from the layering and pieces of marble, granite and slate we can use our creativity to create art as well!

 

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The Finished Wall.

 

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Rammed earth layers.

 

Building the Chemainus Greenhouse Wall

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We built the Chemainus greenhouse wall on Vancouver Island, B.C. just outside Duncan.  This project was a collaboration with Scott and Carla, the owners.

 

 

nailing-footing

Nailing a board to the footing that will hold the forms in place.

 

 

rammed-earth-forms

Nailing the strongback to a whaler. For these rammed earth forms we used materials that Scott already had, which meant smaller whalers so we added an extra strongback because of the length of the wall.

 

 

rammed-earth-mix

Scott turning the rammed earth mix with his old tractor.

 

 

shoveling

The inaugural shovels into the forms.

 

 

inside-wall

Working inside the 1 foot wide form.

 

 

ramming-earth

Scott ramming some earth.

 

 

top-wall

Nearing the top of the wall.

 

 

placing-stones

Placing stones of marble and granite.

 

 

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Marcelle ramming earth.

 

 

removing-rammed-earth-forms

Removing the forms the next morning.

 

 

details-wall

Carla details the wall to help to expose the beautiful stones and give the wall some texture in key areas.

 

 

rammed-earth-wall-layers

Loving those rammed earth wall layers!

 

 

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Scott and Clifton in front of their wall.