Re: SB: Re: Vault in the desert -- was pinning

[Kirk Haines <khaines@Io.NANC.com>]

On Mon, 29 Oct 2001, Mikal Jakubal wrote:

> The interior floor area of my place is 640 square feet (16' x 40'), but
> with all the buttress spaces, alcoves, covered porches, arcade and so on,
> the total comes up to @2,300 square feet of both conditioned and
> unconditioned space. The point is, you can start with a relatively small
> vault (cheaper and easier to build than a big clunker like mine!) as the
> primary living space and then add enough space around it for whatever else
> you need. Way cheaper and easier to add lightweight attachments than have
> to make the main structure big enough to accommodate everything.

The plan is to have a vault that is 16' x 40', and then to use the space
between the buttresses for additional rooms.  The ultimate plans call for
using all of the butress space for rooms, adding an enclosed entry porch
to one end of the vault, and access from there into the garage/workshop
space.  We'll also build into that area a pantry, as our homesite is in
rural Wyoming, so we can't just take a quick trip to the grocery if we
need something.  The nice thing about the area is that there are a bunch
of "neighbors" who all grow various grains, so there is an abundance of
bales very close by.

> As to attachment, that's easy. The roof frame is bolted through the bales
> with either 1/2" or 3/8" all-thread and secured on the inside of the bale
> surface with 8"x8" mesh "washers". The best material for washers is
> heavy-gauge gravel screen. I get it free or nominal charge at the local
> scrap yard, who gets it from the local gravel plant. They scrap it when it
> gets too many holes in it. I like the 1"x1" hole size. It can be cut down
> with a torch, an angle grinder or a skill saw with a metal cutting blade.
> Pound the bolt through the bales, slip the mesh piece over the end, add a
> big flat washer or a piece of 1/4" or similar bar stock with a hole drilled
> through it, put on a nut and tighten it down. Bombproof and easy. Pound the
> bolts with a thick wooden block so you don't trash the threads, and have a
> thread-cutting die handy for when you do.

Excellent.  That's relatively simple.  How far apart should the bolts be
placed?  24" x 24"?


Kirk Haines
Contemplating vaults in Wyoming


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