more compost toilet

Rebar mesh is installed, everything's ready for pouring the concrete

Recycling is another extra job, put aside a week or two so you can source all your materials.
It can also happen that you run out of materials very quickly , do not worry, they will appear

The rebar mesh appeared in very small pieces inside Mateo's Dad car , Juan la Jara, very appreciated.

Make sure that the rebar is not touching the wooden frame

Get hold of a cement mixer !!! It will ease your workload !!!

 Smooth the surface adding some extra hidraulic lime till you can see your face in it!!!

The concrete is best to be poured in one go, that way there will be no cracks .


In the concrete mix add some hidraulic lime 1 bag per 4 bags of cement, or , use natural cement instead  this does not need the rebar.

Found some  good quality door frames long enough to reach 2.80m.

Next step is to prepare the main structure ,for that you need four  2.80m.  pillars

Once screwed together add some smaller pieces of wood to fill up

 Fixing the structure to the slab is quite easy, just drill a hole to the base of the pillar and insert the pillar onto the rebar that is sticking out

 Level each one of the pillars independently.
Do not worry too much about a perfect level at this point, but keep in mind possible adjustments.

Triangles equals strength

There is going to be two compost bins and a space for the pee and water auto siphon


                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Now yes !!! perfect level !!!

 The construction of the balcony has started!!!
This is where the bide is going to be installed that way there will be space for the bench seat and a small hand wash basin

some of the cuts were nearly impossible but possible after a cigarrette

urban gardening??? just finished this planter

all made of pallet wood!!!

 The only problem with pallet wood is to dismantle the pallets otherwise is quite fun to work with you just carry on conecting pieces till you run out of screws

the roof is going up !!!

nearly there

Naguel was rally helpful at this stage thanks Bro!!!

getting more pallets ready

Compost toilet in Petrer Alicante

My good friend Mateo offered me the opportunity of making a course on compost toilets in the land he is taking care of , Villa Ovillo a beautiful organic garden full of life ... and chickens...



So I got my portable toolkit and travelled to Petrer .
We are now doing all the preparations for the course basically building it...

in this stage is when you decide what type of materials you use

 To make a sketchup model is really helpful in order to get a clear idea of how the toilet will look like

the material we choosed had to be pallets as there was nothing else to choose from

get a good crowbar close to you

find some more pallets

select the boards by size and thickness

Then I normally frame the hole and dig 25 cm.

preparing the space there was 3 masive agave 

plants is not easy to get rid of this monsters

this allows the framing to be positioned very easy

a bit of rubble and stones well smashed!!!

just spread some gravel in and the hole is ready for installing the rebar mesh

I had wood lots of it !!!Some chairs for Villa ovillo

this one made using an old fruit box

Agave paddle surfboard

I have always wanted to make a surfboard out of the agave stem since on a visit to Pita Escuela I saw a few pictures of Gary Linden's boards so I gave it a go .

You may need a good stash of  dryed agave stems

It really does not matter if the stems are straight

then plane both sides keeping a good thickness

I used a big straigth agave for the center piece the other pieces where not anything special just normal size even small

then just marking them before glueing

very important good clamps and poliurethane glue are the crack

the fun starts now shaping using a reciprocating sabre saw is an experience

using the planner on 4 mm. is a bit dangerous as you can eat the material very quickly I recommend start on 2 mm. and then see how you feel

and this is the board just waiting to get fiberglass