$350 Studio Challenge, Part 1 Foundation

Isn’t my new desk beautiful? Haha. I have nowhere to store it yet, so a tarp will have to do.
Before we left, we started the foundation for the studio. Here you can see the tires we lugged out of the landfill for the base. (The photo is facing south.) I am very grateful my husband is doing the majority of the foundation. He used to do this type of work for a living and can get it done about 3 times faster and better than me. Although, his previous company never used tires.
We didn’t get to the concrete pour before we had to leave. But here is mostly what we have so far. (Photo faces west.) Twelve tires pounded with dirt, inner tubes, and free sand from the landfill. It turns them into 300lbs+ biomass bricks (although the passive solar effects on this structure will be minimal, based on the design). The boards surrounding the tires to create the form also were scavenged from the landfill. What isn’t pictured is the chicken wire screening on top, which we took from some temporary animal crates we had to make awhile back, and some pegs to hold the timber frame ... taken from a failed project last year. Keep in mind this foundation is a lot bigger than what the inside will be, since it will have 1.5’ thick walls.

Thus far the total cost is $0.00. I bought 10 bags of concrete, which I hope is enough for a two inch pad. Total cost: $39.00. I could have gotten it down to $6 (the price of a straw bale) if I made the whole foundation out of cob. But I am sick of cob and the cob floor we made inside the house took months to dry. I want the audio/writing studio functional in two weeks and completed no later than four, so I decided it was worth the cost.
I was too lazy to clean my chainsaw, and decided to take down the timber needed with an axe. Holy crap. I have serious respect for our ancestors. I only managed 1.5 trees. My husband finished the last half, because damn. The impact ended up bruising all the muscle and I think bone in my right hand and arm and I sprained my pinky. They were small trees, too! One is pictured, although it is difficult to make out the true size. The two trees I felled were needed to open the south face for solar exposure, and would have been choked out anyway because the tree grove was too tight for all the trees to flourish. These two will supply the rough timber for the whole base, minus the rafters which I think I can get from a tree that fell on its own earlier.

Normally, I like a stripped look to the timber, but I’ll leave the bark on this round. I might get some bugs inside for a few weeks or months, but otherwise there won’t be any ill effect. Shrinking also won’t cause major issues, if any, so I’m not worried about that (the number one question I usually get when I say we chop our own logs for structures).

Total cost for lumber: $0.00 + bruising.

I stopped burning the candle at both ends recently, and just pitched the whole thing into a fire. We’re at a motel, currently, and I’m trying to use this time to catch up on sleep. Unfortunately, sleeping has never been one of my talents. A constant war between the brain and the body, the imagination and the needs.