5 Tools You Will Need To Host An Alternative Building Workshop
One of the more popular ways to achieve the alternative home of your dreams is to host an alternative building workshop. During these workshops, you supply the project, materials, and tools, and then volunteers supply the labor. It can reduce the amount of time it takes to build a cob, adobe, or earthbag home and can help make up for a lack of expertise on your part. If you are thinking about hosting an alternative building workshop, you should contact an expert in the type of building you want to try. They will give you a general list of items you need to supply. However, if you want the workshop to go smoothly, there are a few extra tools that you should consider renting or purchasing.
Industrial Cement Mixer
Mixing adobe, earthbags, or cob by hand is possible. In fact, your instructor may want to teach people at your workshop how to mix by hand so they get a thorough understanding of what the texture should feel like. However, once you get past the basics and start building your home, you will want an industrial sized cement mixer to mix your earth for you. This will keep your volunteers from getting tired and also keep a large amount of people engaged at one time instead of waiting for the earth to be mixed so they can continue working.
Circular Table Saw
When you are doing earth works, you may be surprised at the amount of timber you will use. Boxing out the windows and doors, installing electrical mounts, and various finishing touches will all require timber cut to size. To do this efficiently, you should invest in a table saw. Again, this will keep your volunteers working and learning new techniques instead of forcing them to repeat basic manual tasks.
Power Sanders
Once your house is constructed, it will consist of rough layers of dirt on both the inside and outside. Depending on the look you are trying to achieve, you may want to sand down the rough spots. While sanding by hand can allow you to create intricate patterns, if you will be sanding the entire home to a flat surface, you should consider renting a few power sanders. These can be used to quickly take away protrusions and rough spots. Since they are more powerful than sanding by hand, they can also realistically be used for leveling window frames and the top level of your walls.
Generator
If you are going to have power tools at your construction site, it is important that you have a way to power them. A larger generator will allow you to power multiple tools at one time or charge batteries for cordless tools. A generator can also supply music for nighttime entertainment after a hard day of working.
Adequate PPE
One final thing that you should not overlook if you will be renting or purchasing large machines or power tools for your volunteers to work with is proper personal protection equipment, commonly called PPE. While you can suggest that volunteers bring their own gloves, you should have safety goggles, a few extra pairs of gloves, dust masks, and hearing protection available for your volunteers to use.
While an earth home can be built without industrial power tools, you and your volunteers will end up getting the most out of your workshop if you invest in this extra equipment for the duration of the workshop. Your volunteers will be able to concentrate on technique, your instructor will be able to teach more varied approaches to specific problems, and you will get more work on your home completed. For more information, contact a business such as Horizon Equipment Rentals.