It will probably be about 6 ft high at the back part and probably 3 ft high in the front. What I have been considering is just laying a rock wall with mortar about 2 ft thick. and for the pillars in the middle of the house just build 2/2 ft pillars the same way. Does that sound strong enough to put a two story house on ?
Don your saying they just used big rocks for footers if I built like I’m saying above would you suggest a footer or just put big rocks on the ground?
Jakob, it all depends on the hardness of the terrain on which the foundation sits, think about it, the larger the resting surface, the more weight you can place above. You can place the stones on the ground, and the void between them will be filled with concrete and a “flat” surface will be created below, which will not sink into the ground. If you really have a lot of stones, you can just remove the upper softer layer of soil and cover the entire surface with stones, so that you get a plane for the floor plan of the building. On top, you pour a reinforced concrete slab in the floor plan of the building, you can put a tall building up here.
I don’t think it is a concern for you, but most of the time it needs to be below the frost line. Ours is 18-24 in. that keeps it from lifting up when the ground freezes.
If you have no concerns about permits then you have no problems. Frank Lloyd Wright recommended digging a trench below frost line and filling it with stone. He learned the method from Welsh stone masons. He did this for all his building in Wisconsin. I’m not sure if he poured a cap on the rubble before building on it but something flat would be a benefit for further stone work and if you were going to pour a floor or use joists then you would need a ledge anyway. For the rest of the wall look at how he built his buildings at Taliesin West.
These walls were all done with heavy wall forms like you would use with rammed earth and then stones were set against the forms and loose concrete poured behind them so that it filled in the gaps between the stones. Read more about his methods.
Most of the old houses that have rock foundations were built by people that had no money and used what they could find.- rocks and dirt. Concrete was expensive and hard to come by but should have been used for strength. Depending on soil type I would use concrete, not just stones.
Here is a small wall I built using the method I mentioned standing stones against a form and backfilling with concrete. I took some time to fit up the stones so it would look more like a regular layed up wall but that isn’t really necessary. This was a little pump house for pumping water through my decorative ponds and it has been standing for 20 years. Since this requires a loose mix to flow between the gaps I recommend a 6 or maybe 7 sack mix. That is a 5000 psi mix.
If you are building with bigger rocks it is very handy to save and use rock shards from splitting stones to use as wedges to get them to lie where you want them to since the rocks don’t slide on eachother as easily then.
However I have not made as nice walls as Tone, only retaining walls about six-seven feet tall with minimal splitting (using what is on hand) and a somewhat rough look with stones up to perhaps 1200 pounds. Whatever fits.
Hi JacobN.
I think you need to post up some pictures of your available stone-rocks.
It will make differences on what is possible. And just how to do it.
Here is my one side house’s foundation made in 1987/88:
My own ground if you dig any hole produces these old glaciated rounded rocks. And smaller. ~20-30% rocks need picked out by volume.
These are from two tree roots pot holes my crazy Wife had me dig for her two very out-of-climate pomegranate trees. Ha! She just yelled at me they they are specific cultured for PNW westside. Hmm. We’ll see.
I’ve seen this size and shaped rock used. Ground dug they have to be scrubbed washed clean. Easier to gather them from river beds, already cleaned.
Regards
Steve Unruh
I’ll try to post pictures tomorrow
so I still haven’t made it over to the rock pile. but I have some gasifier stuff to talk about.
We are working on this charcoal boat project again.
I have been kinda set on the down draft style gasifier l. I am now reconsidering that. the problems I’m having with downdrafts are weight and complexity of construction. I am considering building an updraft with a flute nozzle.
What would you guys recommend? what are the pros and cons of each; downdraft and updraft?
so to back up a little bit. I am trying to power a 7-8 HP one lung side shaft engine. these engines are on a boat with a drive system very similar to the one I had at Argos.
I am thinking at this point to put the gasifier in the front of the boat and put a cooling pipe in the water running down the side of the boat.
The other piece I am dealing with is filtration.
Has anyone ever had any success with water bubblers for filtering chargas? is an 8 HP one lung engine going to have enough vacuum to make it work?
If not a water bubbler is not realistic. what filter would you guys recommend? I am dealing with a third world setting so fancy air filters and stuff aren’t really an option.
I think some of the issues of an updraft will be rigorous need to have totally converted charcoal. A downdraft is less sensitive to it.
I think with either a simple bag filter should work, or maybe animal wool/hair.
A cross draft would be a medium between the two, less complex and less sensitive than an updraft. Only issue would be keeping the nozzle cool or making it a consumable. Water cooling the gas would work with all 3 designs. Easy enough to do on a river.
If you want dead simple construction and make sure they understand the need for fuel to be good, I’d go updraft.
The down draft Double Flute design works well if the flutes are bult heavy duty to help distribute the heat away. Not sure of how much place you need. A 55 gallon barrel for the total unit would be required.
Hi Jacob,
I ran a 7hp Briggs genset on charcoal. It was based on Koen’s stuff. I found that I needed 24 inches from the nozzle up to the surface of the char. When the char got down to 24 inches it would shut off like a light switch.
I didn’t like the water filter. I ended up reversing the flow and putting four socks over the discharge.
Links to my experience Socks , First project
More complex, yes. But not much, specialy with your skill set. Hevyer, not nessesery. As a matter of fact, l wuld dare to say a downdraft can be made lighter and smaller per ampunt of run time thain a updraft. Keep in mind you always need a good amount of char above the glow zone on a updraft, but a downdraft you can preety much empty to the nozzles.
The engine on my BCS is a solid 470ccm, l think 12hp? The hopper is a old 2.5gal milk can and the hearth part extends maybee a nother 6" down. This gives me over a hour of run time, full power, and weighs probably less thain 10 pounds empty.
Im not braging, let me make that wery clear. Just want to point out what can be done with ease. The gasifier Tone made for my tractor is even more incredible, close in weight and size to myne but it powers a ~ 1000ccm diesel!
In a 3. country scenario, even more so. Fuel can varry, moisture, size… while my BCS gasifier is a bit picky on fuel, it will still devour fuel that a updraft wuldnt even fart on. Tones gasifier doesent even need the dust sifted out, althugh filter does clog fast in this case. But it gives good gas!
I won’t impose my theories, well, here is a sketch for a charcoal gasifier (you can also add some wood for better gas), it’s actually a cross draft, from the middle out. The air enters through the middle nozzle, to which a disk for shaking the ash is attached…
Tone, this design lacks the side nozzles, like the one on my tractor. I do think they still play a important role of creating a oxidative lair around the otherwise “cold” wall for steam and potential tar to be reacted.
The motion of the disk is up and down, like this?
Hello to all. Billy here. I have been out of the loop for quite a while. Very busy with new responsibilities and dealing with health issues.
I think we finally nailed things down a little more on the health stuff. Turns out to be something from my army days back in 2006. apparently there was a several month window when the guys coming in to the army were given some kind of experimental vaccine. They are calling it a “vaccine injury”. (not the Covid vaccine). So I have been dealing with that for a long time. Some kind of auto-immune thing that inflames the joints and skin and gut, and eyes, etc…
Kristijan…or others…
I have a question for the chemists…I need to clean several plastic drums that contained something called “Benzalhyde”. And I have a huge abundance of 77% ethanol hand sanitizer. Am I correct in believing the ethanol will dissolve this substance?
And if so, how much do I need …take a guess. thanks, Billy
Hello Billy, I’m glad you’re with us, I’ve missed your and Jakob’s contributions, well, I’ll leave the answer to your question to dr. Christian.
