Monday, August 27, 2012

Building A Well House #1: Rubble Fill Foundation



This post is the first in a series
 for a 80" x 128", dry stack cement block, solar heated, well house we are building 
and will highlight several out of the norm methods of building.

Here we will look at the rubble fill foundation
in which the footer sits on top of a foundation of rubble 
and various size stone aggregate.

The above photo shows the form work ready for the concrete footer
which is at the top of the foundation instead of at the bottom of the trench.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Nearly Natural Hot Spring Pools



Since the last post was on man made hot spring pools 
I thought it would be nice to look at the more natural style pools.

Since most pools are altered by people in some way,
nearly natural refers to pools made with primarily natural, local materials
 and with either sand or gravel bottoms.

Above and below are pools that are dug out from the sandy banks
 along the West Fork of the Gila River in southwest New Mexico.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Concrete And Stone Hot Spring Pools



One of our favorite pursuits while traveling is looking for hot springs 
and even if you don't have a hot spring,
 you may want to build a pool and here are some ideas.

These first three photos are from a hot springs near the small town 
of Aconchi, Sonora, Mexico in the north central part of that state.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Designing And Installing A Rain Water Catchment System



We are just finishing up on a rainwater catchment system on our house
and our first big decision was what kind of tanks to use.

Of course we would have loved to have had nice galvanized tanks, 
but the reality is that the above ground polyethylene tanks we chose were more affordable, 
are easier to handle and install, are able to be moved,
 and will last much longer than the metal.

Many people go with below ground tanks but that requires different tanks,
 and the added cost of digging not to mention the disruption to the landscape,
and the added factor of pumping the water back up to the point of use.