One mans waste is another mans treasure
When we were building our Earthship, we ran out of money. Over the last 8 years or so, we have been working on the building with what ever we can find, scrounge or scavenge. For our floor we calculated that it would cost about $8000 to pour a concrete floor. That was way outside of what we could afford.
A neighbour had a few lifts of cement board siding that he did not want any more. Score! Free cement board. But instead of using it for siding, I decided to use it for our floor. It seems to hold up well but it did get dirty easy. So this past week my wife visited an ECO station in the city and came home with a bunch of paint for free. I mixed the different colors together and with a little bit of black paint added in to darken it a bit, we came up with a very nice, earthy clay color to paint the floor.
It only cost us about $40 to do the floor, so we did well. When we need something, my first stop is to see if we can get it for free. My favorite place to shop is the local transfer station. Look at all this gold sitting there waiting for some homesteader to pick it up and re-purpose it all!
The other thing I like doing is bartering with people. My neighbour wanted a gate put up, so I did it for them. In exchange, I am heading into the city tomorrow to pick up 3000lbs of cement powder samples that I can then use to build a stone wall finish in our kitchen and living room area of the earthship. This is the types of relationships that I'm looking for! I love how things fall into place when we surrender to the flow and get excited about how life unfolds.
I even got to use an electro-magnet drill press. Very cool tool to use. Did slick work on drilling the holes for the hinges.
Congrats on what u have achieved! Cudos!
If u want to prevent stainingnof the mud considering using linseed oil or a wax polish. It will allow any stains to wipe off easily.
Yes, thank you. The mud is not our concern, it was the cement board siding that we put down for our floor. Now that it is painted, we will put down floor wax to protect it from staining.
We ran out of our funds to when building our house 6 years ago. So we scrounge, barter, sell some produce and seedling trees to get more supplies and materials for the house. The idea being we don't go into debt to build our home.My husband passed away 2 years and a bit ago and I am carrying on the dream with the help of my sons. Some day our homestead will be theirs so they have a vested interest. And they are learning to how to build without going into debt. We are still a work in progress but I think as with a lot of homesteads the work is never done.
Wonderful. That is our own take on life as well. Everything we built here is for the boys. It does not make sense to kick the kids out and have them start all over again. Each generation should be building on what the previous generation built. That way nobody starts over and the banksters don't enslave each generation. But that also means that we don't 'sell' it to 'retire' but instead live together so that everyone can look after everyone. <3 Thank you for leading by example! My thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family. Spirit moved on, vessel remained behind. That is the way I see life here. <3
Best of luck to you, it is true, when homesteading and scavenging, nothing is really ever finished.
I cant wait for my dad to get on Steemit cuz then he can show off all of the things he builds with scrap. Our property is overrun with what we dub "the hoard", luckily we mostly have only useful stuff left from this years "hoard sorting project" and the building of "the hoard shed". My dad likes to get paid to take things away that rich people are getting rid of. It is incredibly amazing how much stuff we get for free and repurpose. My dad says right now when I asked him how much stuff that built this house and everything else on this property, he said about 80 percent. Sometimes he buys new things like new tools and electricity things, sometimes some 2x4s. Cedarville takes repurposing to a whole new level. I dont think I will ever pay for many things like dishes, planting plots, scrap wood, piping, and many more things. Kelowna rich folk throw away lots of really nice nearly new stuff. Good for us modern day junk scavengers :P
Walking through his hoard would be like a vacation for me. hahaha. Sounds wonderful.
When it is not covered in snow it will probably be up on here, if not by me then hopefully by someone else from here
Get him on here! I wanna see his stuff! ( :
Or take pics for us!!!
haha he signed up. All the stuff is buried in a couple feet of snow rn, but I am sure he will show the world as soon as he can :P his name is off grid andy but i dont know if his account was confirmed yet
Ill keep an eye out for him ( :
Hello @wwf
Nice achievement there with little, you still achieve what is needed to be done
Thank you so much for sharing!
Almost everything here is resourced. Sometimes it just has to be that way.
Mother earth thanks you, i am sure of that!
Working on it. As with any relationship, it is a life long journey! But we are getting better and better at it, as I am sure you are as well!
I wish we had one of these nearby (local transfer station). I love scouring around for different things. You have done a fabulous job with your earth ship house.
It's coming. Still not done. But slowly we are making progress. With no mortgage or debt, it does take time, patience and creativity!
When you wrote 'cement board' I thought of backer board, for use when installing tile, but it looks you were referring to a Hardi Plank type of product intended for use as exterior siding.
I have been a finish carpenter for decades, and I'd be happy to offer any tips you might seek before using materials in unconventional ways. I'd also be interested in hearing more about how the siding is holding up as flooring.
That's innovative thinking! Way to save some ducats you can put to work elsewhere.
Thanks!
You are correct, I just know it as cement board siding. I should have made that more clear in my post. It is holding up remarkably well. I'm actually surprised. A few corners have chipped off, but that is because I did not screw them down. That has been remedied now. I have 4 layers down, criss-crossing so that the floor is stable and hard. As a result, there is very little movement now that would cause chipping or broken boards.
I appreciate your offer for advice. I would not want to burden you with questions that I usually find on line. But I do appreciate the offer. It is very kind of you to make an offer like that. Thank you. I grew up on the farm and my best friend has been doing handyman work for decades. He is my go-to guy. Peace to you.
Well, it sounds like you have good advice and practical experience to draw on already =) Criss crossing the layers is probably exactly what you need to do, to achieve a solid floor that won't crack and chip with a product intended for use that doesn't include being walked on.
Looks good too!
thank you. I've been around the block a few times myself. lol Peace to you. Thank you for checking in. I do appreciate it!
In the first picture it doesn't seem painted cement at all, it looks like boards of Pinewood.
Looks amazing really.
The first picture is not painted, just raw cement board siding. Thank you.
I am all about reuse and finding treasures from other peoples trash! I work at a salvage yard in my town and can't believe the amazing things people will just throw out. And bartering is awesome too, I once did cleaning at a woodworking studio to gain the education of both woodworking and some lutherie from the two old guys that ran it. That was a fun summer ( :
I found you by looking up #salvage ... I've been trying to find a community here on steemit who is into salvage, reuse, repurposing, thrifting, and the like but can't seem to find many yet.
Glad I found a fellow scrapper (;
Wonderful. I'm glad you found me! Yes, we try to salvage everything. I even rescued 7 lifts of scrap 5/8 plywood from a manufacture in the city that makes truck box liners. If people can take the scraps then they open their gates, otherwise it all goes to the dump. So I got 7 lifts. I make all kinds of boxes for vegetables, nesting boxes, etc from it. Scraps get burnt in the stove. Cost me $100 to get it here to cover my uncles fuel costs. But I can now honour the trees that had their lives taken. You will enjoy my blog, especially the earlier entries. I'm glad you found me.