Building a CEB Micro-House

As best I can recall it, this is the method we used to build the CEB Micro House.

1)     When we arrived at the site we found that there had been a concrete square base slab laid on the ground about 9-12 inches wide, I am not sure how deep down it was in the ground. This formed the foundation of the house. There was also piles of CEB bricks of varying compositions and stabilizations from 0% cement to 10% cement. Other materials included sand, gravel which had been crushed from the rocks which had been brought in to the site, soil, lumber, plywood and some preformed structures such as two window frames and a door frame. Some lumber framing was in place to hold up the door frame and also to support the ‘guides’ which would be used to lay the bricks.

2)     On top of the concrete base square slab we placed a layer of wire mesh 6 to 8 inches wider than the slab itself. Boards were fixed to give a guide as to where the bricks should be laid. Then, a mix of ‘slurry’ which was a combination of soil and sand was made using a tractor and augur to mix the containers with water. This proved to be tricky as the augur was not the most effective tool for mixing. When the slurry reached the right consistency which was judged to be ‘ketchup’, it was taken in buckets to the site. Here, bricklayers, dipped bricks into the slurry and laid them up against the boards used for guides in courses along the concrete base slab and on top of the wire mesh.

3)     As each course of bricks was completed, the wooden guides had to be raised for the next course. It was important that the corners were properly laid such that they ‘knitted’ together. In between each second or third course of bricks at intervals of about 1 foot, thin wires were laid on top of bricks which would be used later to secure ‘chicken wire cocoon which would cover the walls of the building. At appropriate height the two window frames were inserted into the brick work.

4)     When the walls were completed a wooden frame was built around the top of the window and door frames and concrete lintels were poured into the frames and allowed to set. On top of the brick walls and the lintels a larger frame around the whole square of the building was constructed and into that more concrete was poured to form the bond beam at the top of eh building and upon which the roof members would stand. Set into this bond beam were rebar sections and some J-hooks.

5)     On completion of the bricklaying part of the walls, chicken wire was wrapped around the inside and outside walls and secured with the wires protruding through the brickwork. This was tricky and not very successful and eventually the chicken wire had to be either screwed into the brickwork with screws and washers or stapled to the bricks in order the get it to lay flat enough for the stucco to be applied.

6)     Then a mix of stucco continuing sand, gravel and cement was made and this was applied using trowels to the interior and exterior walls This process was not easy due to the irregularities of the bricks and also the chicken wire which inevitably came away from the wall and produced areas where the stucco could not cover it.

7)     The roof members consisting of 5 heavy timber right angled triangles secured at the corners by ‘hurricane plates’ were constructed on the ground and then had to be lifted into place on the top of the walls and the bond beam and then secured.

8)     Attached to these rafters were purlins and further supports which were cut and fitted while the workers were standing on the top of the walls. A plywood ‘loft floor’ which would provide a second floor in the house was fitted and eventually the metal roof fitted over the top.

9)     Subsequently, two further coats of stucco would need to be applied the last being a smooth finishing coat, window louvres will be installed and the food hung onto the frame. Inside the house, the floor will be leveled with sand and then bricks will be laid and then treated to give a smooth finish

10)  The description above is a brief and incomplete one as there are some smaller intermediate steps which I have not documented which in some cases caused much discussion and concern but I believe that I have covered most of the main steps in the build process.