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22 April 2009 – Ring Beam Me Up

Hello out there,

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In my continuing, and only partially successful attempt to fill in the gaps for you in our construction process, here’s a look at how we made the ring beam. It had to connect all the interior and exterior walls and the thirteen posts in a continuous 200 x 300 mm (8″ x 12″) reinforced concrete structure that would tie the whole building together and give it lateral stability and weight bearing capacity for what was to go above it. It’s right on top of the walls and lintels and just below the gables.  Don’t worry, it will make sense as we go along.

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You remember that the poles look like this.

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We had to cut them all to the exact same height.

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And begin to connect them with 1″ x 8″ boards. Chiseled to mate with the round poles.

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This at times looked more like group dancing than carpentry.

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And involved a certain trust on the chisel holder’s part.

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Eventually, we had a very long, very high bench. Which one could sit on,

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or stand on,

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or invite a friend to.

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Before long it had sides

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and the bench became a flume.

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We added the steel reinforcing.

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It was time now for George the electrician to run the plastic conduit to all its places in the form.

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Meanwhile the excavator kept at it,

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and one late afternoon, we had a deepened and de-silted dam

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both of the building foundations excavated,

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a finished ring beam form,

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and the electrician was laying in the last of the conduit.

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We all called it a day and went home to eat and sleep and get ready to pour the ring beam concrete the next day.

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You can read all about that here soon.

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Your construction beat reporter,

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David

Comments(10)

  1. Ed Richardson says

    Dave,

    Outstanding job you guys are doing! Great photos and info on the on going project. keep up the good work!

    Ed Richardson

    • david says

      Hi Ed,
      Thanks for the encouraging words…out here where the buffalo roam…David

  2. Ed Richardson says

    Dave,

    Outstanding job you guys are doing! Great photos and info on the on going project. keep up the good work!

    Ed Richardson

  3. Ed Richardson says

    Dave,

    Outstanding job you guys are doing! Great photos and info on the on going project. keep up the good work!

    Ed Richardson

  4. Bob says

    If your ring beam compares to your sunset, you’re good…Bob

    • david says

      Hi Bob,

      I’m hoping that our ring beam, while not quite as beautiful as the sunset that day, will last a little longer. I’ll keep you posted, love,

      David

  5. Mandy Murray says

    Beautiful…just beautiful. I wish I could be there to help.

    Mandy

    • david says

      Mandy,

      We’ll be here when you can slip away, and we’ll find you a pair of work gloves.

      David

  6. Bonnie Neuer says

    Hi David,
    I am Greg’s Aunt Bonnie (Peggy’s sister) and I want to congratulate you and all the contributors to this construction! Your pictures are fantastic and I love watching this all come together.

    I also wanted to tell you about a young man I met recently at a meeting of an organization in Santa Barbara called “Network 4 Africa”. The young man that sat next to me was a Rwandan who is attending Daystar University in Nairobi. I showed him RROP’s news letter and told him all about RROP. He was very interested and I wrote down your name for him, as he knew where the other site of Daystar is, and therefore, knew pretty much where the orphanage is located. I’m telling you this in case he comes by to say “hello”. His name is Michel Nsengiyumva and he is a very nice young man. He was here visiting for three weeks, and it was his first time in the U.S. Hope you get a chance to meet him.

    Stay well, and we are all so grateful for what you are doing.

    Sincerely,
    “Aunt Bonnie”

    • david says

      Hi Bonnie,
      Thanks for keeping up with the goings on here. I’d be happy to meet Michel. If you are in touch with him, you can have him call me…0726 770 329.
      Best to you,

      David

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