The first wall to get formed up is the largest of the 2 walls, this wall is not only curved but sloped up on the top. We are forming what will become a huge rammed earth wall for the backdrop to the stage performance area, it is 80 feet long and averages around 6.5 feet in height.
The footing is in and ready to go. The footing has a stem wall which is unnecessary and not normally what we do. With stabilized rammed earth you can build directly on the footing and bury part of the wall below grade.
Yashwant and Rudy are building double whalers that have a space in between so threaded rods can be inserted between them. These walers also have a flat 2×4 on the side so the plywood sheets can be attached when they meet.
Building of the forms is progressing with the aligning of each waler underway.
The first layer of plywood is attached. We used 2 layers of plywood to reinforce the forms since it is more difficult to bend 1 layer of thicker plywood to make curves.
A view from the back which also shows the forms for the concrete seating in the background.
We used a rubber form liner to cover the plywood mitigate lines from plywood joints etc. The strip of wood that is sloping and chamfered is the pour strip that show us the grade of the wall and what level to trowel the cap to.
Putting the finishing touches on the forms.
The rammed earth builders on this project from Left to Right: Yashwant, Rama, Clifton, Trevor, Rudy, Jedediah and above on the platform is Ashar.
The canopy is up, the forms are complete and it’s time to start ramming!