My Final Thoughts - Rozhin

At the beginning, the idea of Bottle wall surprised me because I really like kind of walls that enables you to see through the other side of wall like curtain wall, so I found it really good and exciting project.

As we started to make a group and everyone had participated and initiated on their individual research, I was given the task of working out the mortar and how it can be made of sustainable material and how long it will last, also waterproofing mortar needed to be considered as well, so after all the research that have been done we decided to use  a mixture of soil, clay, sand and water as the mortar.

I think this group project was really good and helpful in terms of being in a situation to work with others as a team and sharing all the information together and discussing the ideas specially working with John and Tristan who have greater knowledge about construction than Alisha and I (Rozhin) as she mentioned it also. In during the process of making Bottle wall I have gained a great theoretical and practical knowledge about construction and how to work with some tools such as rivet gun, drill and hammer and the good part was when I had any question  John, Tristan and Alisha were so kind and patient to explain things to me and help me out.

In my opinion the process of making Bottle wall went really well, as how we managed the time for combining the information to build the wall and doing the water testing. I was really happy after all we did for making mortar ( combination of clay, soil, sand and water ) and having a challenge with fixing the bottles in to the mortar, putting the window and cutting the lintel and rafters in to the certain size and providing a proper gutter and flashing, the water testing that we have done for 5 minutes maybe even more went really well and the wall was standing up strong and the water did not go inside of the window and the roof.

I would like to say thank you to John and his sister for letting us to build the wall in their backyard with all the mess that we have done and also i would like to take this opportunity to thank Tristan and Alisha for their all hard effort. Specially Tristan and John for putting in the extra time and efforts towards the task.

-Rozhin

My Final Thoughts - Alisha

When I joined the group and was informed that we would be creating a bottle wall, I loved the idea! In the past I had read articles and seen images of bottle wall designs, constructions and earth ship like buildings.

My initial thoughts of the project spelt out ‘challenging’ but through the many early meeting that we had as a group it was clear to see that everyone had participated and initiated on their individual research. I was given the task of working out the area around the window and how the window was going to fit and be installed into the bottle wall. I also did further research and worked with a friend outside of the project to make a recycled window frame and guttering. I think we all could agree that the early group meeting were imperative, they helped a lot, and showed that as a group we were prepared to work as a team, and that our proposed Bottle Wall was going to work and be a success!! Sure there were times where Tristan and John did more preparation and deeper research into certain elements of the task, and I think this was just to ensure that all would work well.

Throughout our construction meetings, I realised that Rozhin and I (Alisha)were very lucky to be working with John and Tristan as they have a much greater knowledge about construction. Even though this was the case, it was great to see that the boys never left us out. They would always explain things clearly so that we understood what was going on. I even started playing around with some of the tools, like the rivet gun, drill and hammer, which were all used throughout certain elements of the construction process.

I was shocked at how quickly it took for the wall to consume a batch of mortar mix. We would only get to lay approx. 2-3 rows of bottles before it was time to make another batch of mortar. We were careful and allowed the layers to sit for an adequate time, producing a skin around the outside before proceeding with the next layers. At times we were all quite cautious of the structure and when moving around the wall were were careful not to give it any accidental knocks.

The mortar mix proved to be a little more challenging than expected and further research was required, to ensure that the mix we wanted to create would work effectively with the proposed task. The combination of soil, clay, brick sand and water was an effective solution. It became apparent that each mortar mix made consisted of a slightly different texture and thickness. I think this was due to the manual mixing. One batch of the mortar mix was quite soft and it was here where I had great difficulty in moulding it to fit around the bottles, without it oozing out and pushing against the bottles in different areas. After getting a grasp on the task it became easy! We all became pro’s at moulding the mortar to fit around the bottles!!

When the construction of the window was complete and the lintel was in place it became apparent to all of us that any doubts we may have had, especially with the mortar were gone. The wall was looking fantastic and it was finally coming together! We only had a little more work to do before the wall was up for its challenge of withstanding the 5min water test.

The parapet, roofing and guttering of the wall all came together smoothly. All materials used were consistent in being sustainable. By this stage all 4 of us couldnt seem to wipe the smile off our faces. The wall was complete and a great sense of achievement was reached.

Throughout the process of the wall each group member took their own individual photos, which were then compiled at the end of the task and e-mailed off to Tristan so that he could upload them to the blog.

I really enjoyed working together with Tristan, John and Rozhin. It was also great to see that team work played a big part in the project, working successfully. Overall, the project task for the subject was great. It was good to actually have a project that involved some ‘hands on’ work. I learnt a lot through the duration of the bottle wall construction and I was able to gather a greater understanding to some of the construction elements thanks to John and Tristan.

I would like to say thank-you to John and his sister Alexis for allowing us to put up the wall at their house. Even though John has deferred his studies, it was great to see that he didnt let the group down. His participation within the project for the benefit of Tristan, Rozhin and myself was greatly appreciated. Thanks Tristan and Rozhin for all your hard effort, especially Tristan for putting in the extra time and research towards the task.

- Alisha

My Final Thoughts - Tristan

At the start, the idea of building a Glass Bottle Wall sounded challenging and something that would be fun to tackle. The group meetings we had during the early stages of the project were much needed as they really helped us divide tasks where we could all go away and research something each. The group meetings also helped us put the ideas down on paper about how to actually go about constructing this wall in some form of order and efficiency. I suggested certain ways of how to construct the wall which became the chosen method of construction. As individuals we all went and got our research done, where i was in charge of working out the roofing structure.

During construction, I found that John and Myself (having the construction knowledge) were left to the actual cutting and fixing of the main frames and such, but when it came to laying the mortar, the girls got in and got their hands dirty and pulled their weight which was great to see. It was also great to see that we were able to teach Rozhin and Alisha about certain construction tools and methods in the process, they even gave it a try using the tools. 

In terms of the mortar, finding the correct mortar mix seemed to be a little challenging in my view. The first batch was very sticky due to the clay, but wasn’t setting in time, so in the next batch we tried less water more soil and sand and the same amount of clay, this worked great. The mix was sticky and was skinning over relatively quickly. 

The other thing i found difficult during the construction was when we were entering the stage of running the bottles up the sides of the window frame. I found it hard to stop the mortar bulging out around the face of the window. The mortar mix was still a little to watery for this application which was rectified in the next batch. All it took to make the bulging mortar right, was to take excess mortar away and use it for the next layer of bottles. This therefore took some of the weight away, and stopped the bottles wanting to push their way outwards. 

Continuing along the process, everything else came together quickly and without a lot of trouble. The outer frame had closed up a little during the process so the lintel needed to have a little bit trimmed off it but that was no big deal.

Construction meeting 03 is where I realised that we had forgotten to do something that would greatly save us time. Early in the construction meetings, I discussed with the group that when we got to the parapet stage, while the mix was wet, we needed to push the flashing into the wet mortar and let it hang so that when it came time for the guttering to go in, we could just lift the flashing up then tuck it back into the guttering. We had forgot to push the flashing into the wet mortar mix. The result from this was that we had to dig a grove into the set mortar and tuck the flashing into that grove. This wasn’t all that hard to do as the mortar wasn’t rock hard, but lesson learnt, have a list of tasks to do on the day and tick them off as you go.

The final amount of construction on the wall went without any hitches, the roofing structure went up and the sheeting and flashings and guttering worked as planned.

Overall it was great to see that we could use so many recycled materials and also use material off cuts that would usually be thrown away. Any new materials that we needed weren’t purchased and cut with high wastage, the new materials came in the form of offcuts that other people were not going to use. 

It was great to see that Rozhin and Alisha were able to learn about some construction methods and learn the tools used.

It was really satisfying see the wall stand in its glory in front of us. It really gave you a big sense of achievement of just what we were able to do. 

I would like to take the opportunity to thank John and his sister for allowing us to mess up his driveway and house on the days we were there. And to Rozhin and Alisha for pulling their weight with the required tasks.

- Tristan

5 Minute Water Test Time has arrived!

19-05-12 Was the day of the water test.

We were all extremely happy with the way the Bottle Wall turned out. We were also very confident with how it would preform under the water test. We all knew that the construction was done in the best way possible, all the right precautions were taken out and everything was flashed correctly and water proofed correctly.

We placed under the overflow pipe to collect the water that we were going to use during the water test, and had plenty of extra buckets on standby for when each got full. 

We were ready!

The video started rolling and the water started flowing, the water cascaded onto the facade and roof and you could hear the water flowing down the guttering then out through the overflow down into the bucket, it is all working!

The test continued on for over 5 minutes, we were done! The wall successfully passed the water test! 

On checking the wall outside and inside after the test, we found absolutely no water penetration what so ever inside ! The wall performed perfectly, taking all water off the roof, down into the gutter, and into the bucket ready for garden use. 

However we didn’t stop there, we decided to squirt water everywhere at different angles to really put the wall to the test, and amazingly still 100% water tight!

This was the outcome we were looking for and expecting, job done!

Fantastic job on everyones behalf during each phase of the Bottle Wall Construction

Video of the water test coming!

- Tristan

Construction Meeting 04 - 19-05-12

This construction meeting was the last of the meetings. It was intended that everyone fronts up to complete the construction phases of this Bottle Wall ready to see if all the hard work pays off by having the wall not leak under the 5 minute water test.

The day began by everyone cleaning up the ‘daggy’ bits of mortar that had fallen and run in places. We did this by using trowels. The sides of the walls were addressed and also the window sill ledge was cleaned up. The face Bottle ends received a final clean up and the Interior bottles received the same treatment. 

The top plate received a clean up ready to make way for the box guttering and the rafters, and the used formwork was disassembled and cleaned up to be re-used our rafters and battens. 

All group members then turned the attention to assembling the box guttering and over flow ready for wall placement. We riveted a end plate into one end of the guttering, with John and myself (Tristan)  giving the girls a first time experience at drilling and using a rivet gun. At the opposite end of the guttering, we cut a hole into the end cap before attaching and then attached the end plate onto the gutter in the same way as mentioned above. 

After all the riveting was complete, we turned our attention to making the guttering leak proof. We did this by using a water proof silicon that is used on every housing and commercial project and literally filled the gaps with our fingers, making sure no gap was left. On the end with the hole in the end cap, we slotted in the overflow pipe and again leak proofed it. After this, we put the guttering aside for the silicon to set. 

We moved on to the next task which was setting up the roof structure. I was assigned to the cutting of the timber materials while John was the marked them up and Alisha and Rozhin giving the helping hands to support the timber pieces during the mark up and cut process. 

After all the pieces were cut and checked, we then proceeded to assembling the roof framing on the ground by nailing the pieces together. We then placed the assembled structure onto the wall using the fence behind as the other structural item. 

The next step was to attach the flashings in the roof area. We attached one flashing to the rafters and bent it down over the ends so it will fall into guttering once placed. The parapet flashing was next to go on. A big mistake was noticed when going to attach the parapet flashing to the parapet, we had forgot to push the flashing into the wet parapet mortar mix as originally planned. Another solution was needed, quickly. After some thought, we came up with the idea of cutting a grove into the hard parapet mortar. We gave it a try and it worked! We were able to slot the flashing into the made grove and let it hang into the guttering once the gutter was placed. 

It was time to place the box guttering in, with careful placing, the guttering was placed and the flashings were put over the top into the gutter. On construction meeting 03 I thought ahead about the gutter fall and placed mortar to dry and one end so the guttering would have fall. It worked a treat, the gutter had correct fall to one end. 

John was lucky enough to find an off cut of clear sheet roofing which we were then able to cut down to size and use as our roof sheeting. We measured and cut the sheets as required and then continued to mounting them to the rafters using the correct fixing screws with the rubber grommet attached to eliminate water penetration around screw holes.

The wall is looking fantastic and the sense of achievement is really satisfying. We were there! The wall was complete and ready for the big 5 minute water test. John, Rozhin, Alisha and myself were all standing back, taking everything in, reflecting on the journey that has brought us to here.

Bring the water test on!

Construction 04 Photos coming!

- Tristan