Part 1 of the Vaulted Strawbale Series:

Building a Tire Foundation for your Vaulted Straw Bale Project

Saturday& Sunday - Aug 25-26 (9 am - 4 pm)

This basic project incorporates most of the skills and techniques that you will need to tackle much bigger things (like building your own Earthship or building that dream mansion out of straw bales).  But the scale of this building is small enough for a beginner “green builder” to learn without being overwhelmed - useful techniques for big or small building projects.  

We are building a small composting toilet (with a living roof) that will remain at the Flying J Organic Farm and is part of the Ohio Green Living Fayre.

This foundation (and frame) will be used for the Very Very Basic Straw Bale Building workshop that will be held on the next weekend (Sept 1-2).  There is a special deal for those signing up for the straw bale workshop - in that this workshop will be offered free of charge to those registered for the Sept 1-2 straw bale workshop.

This two-day workshop takes many of the techniques we learned in building our Earthship, scales them down in a “bite-sized” portion - and creates a wonderful foundation for your vaulted building.   

During this weekend we will, start to finish, build a 8’x8’ perfectly level, perfectly square, structurally sound, and incredibly high and dry foundation out of old tires and dirt.  It will provide a comfortable resting place for our straw bale building to sit on for the next several hundred years.

The Workshop Agenda includes:

• Orientation/ quick tour of Flying J Farm
• Site selection and preparation
• Tire selection and basic Earthship construction concepts
• The Art and Science of pounding tires
• Water issues and “French” drains
• Concrete “half-tires”
• Installing the sill plates and locking it all together
• more water-proofing

Given the size and nature of this project, we will cover the work site in a canopy - so the event will proceed rain or shine (and believe me, after pounding tires for several hours it is the “shine” you are more worried about).

Come prepared to work hard, have fun, discuss politics, eat terrific locally grown food (lunches and snacks are provided), make friends, sweat, have a proper cup of tea - then sit in the shade and admire all you have accomplished.

Workshop logistics (such as what to bring, where to stay, meals, local attractions, directions, and the like).

Class size is limited to 10 students, so please reserve your spot early.  You will also see below that deep discounts are available to those who register early.  For reservations, call us at (740) 674-4300, e-mail annie@bluerockstation.com  or register instantly and pay by credit card by clicking the little buttons below...

“First things first, but not necessarily in that order.”

- Doctor Who

Check out our book on Building a Vaulted Straw Bale Wall

Check out our book on Building a Tire Foundation