Belgian Shepherd Dogs at Mirribandi, Groenendael & Tervueren, Australia

MIRRIBANDI

Our House – Our home

2006

28.01.06 – Straw Bale Day! The bales were placed into position. Cut with chainsaws, bashed by sledge hammers, pushed and pulled into submission, working within the timber & steel frame - this is very therapeutic work! Note the steel posts were wrapped in Hessian to avoid condensation in the bale wall. See the plinth raised wall with pebbles for aeration under the first row of bales. New skills learned were to split the bales (without them falling to bits), stitching bales, trimming bales. All fun!

The second row, and our first corner! And the chainsaw at work!

Our first full height straw bale wall! See the ply at the top which is later pulled downwards to compress the bales. They are left to settle for a while before rendering too.

March-April 2006 Internal plaster walls and recycled timber VJ’s are installed. More timberwork for the high internal walls too – hardwood weatherboards, chosen for it’s natural rustic appearance. The front door is installed – it is an antique Balinese door. The electrical wiring is fed into the bales – Roger is a licensed electrician. The gas plumbing and water plumbing was installed by their respective tradesmen at this stage too.

May – The first coat of render goes on. Here is Frank from Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow Straw Bale Construction with Pricilla, the render machine. Builders sand, plus the dirt from our underground tank hole and precious water are fed to Pricilla, and sprayed into the straw bale walls. The mud is then hand trowelled smooth, and a plastic and fiberglass mesh is embedded to the mud to reinforce the wall. After the wall has it’s first coat, the wall is scored to give the next coat a good key to grip to.

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Aug – the second mud coat is put on. Again, it is sprayed onto the wall by Pricilla, and then trowelled off. Mesh was used again.

Aug – Zincalume corro ceilings installed on the mid height roof section. The upper most ceiling right in the middle will have to wait for a working bee in 2007.

Sept – the kitchen is installed by Walter & Miller of Ipswich. It is timber, designed to match the antique bar we picked up from Salvage at Newstead. The bench top is camphor laurel, by Roger. Yet to be installed are the kitchen appliances, and sink, and splash backs.

Sept – the sandstone floor is laid. First the blue primer, next the stones are laid out, then Roger painstakingly glues them down into place. Next, the white grout is applied, and later, a sander will file off a fine top layer to reveal the beautiful stone.

Nov – the third and final mud coat. This time, cement mixers were used to mix up a mud slurry of white plasterers sand and dirt from our tank hole, and water. This was then wheel barrowed up to the wall, and hand trowelled on and finished off with a sponge. A top coat of casein (a clear milk based product) will put painted on in 2007 to stop dusting.

The finished walls (minus the casein)

Dec 2006 – the laundry cupboards are fitted. Since this photo, Roger has now fitted the sister piece of camphor laurel to the kitchen bench top to finish the laundry off nicely. The last of the internal weatherboard timberwork is finished.

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