Rammed-earth challenge true test of family’s spirit
Building the home of your dreams is all about sacrifice. For the Payne family of four that included no hot water. Colleen Hawkes reports.
We see challenging builds on shows such as Grand Designs NZ, but there are many other homeowners making huge sacrifices to follow their passion. Rochelle and Joel Payne of Beachlands, Auckland – a PhD student and former aircraft engineer – are a good example.
Ironically, they were turned down for Grand Designs a couple of years ago, but there’s no doubt their pioneering project would have been one of those ‘‘slow burners’’.
Stuff first met this family in 2017 when they were digging the footings for a rammed-earth house, which they are building themselves.
But what is even more remarkable is that they are undertaking the Living Building Challenge.
Not only will the house be highly insulated to certified Passive House standards, it will also generate its own power. And no waste water or sewerage will be exported from the site, which means it all needs to be disposed of right there, on a suburban section. Their build, which has a 10 Homestar Design rating, comprises a main house with an attached unit.
The family of four moved into the semicompleted, one-bedroom unit in February and this is when the sacrifice started as it was only this week that a hot water cylinder was fitted. Since February, Rochelle, Joel, Isabella, 7, and Nicholas, 5 have managed without hot water, including right through the winter.
Joel Payne, who is doing much of the labouring with help, says he managed to shower daily down at the yacht club, but the others had to ‘‘make do’’.
The children are sleeping in the small living area, and Rochelle says there wasn’t even a kitchen in the unit when they first moved in to save money on rent.
But living on a building site has become a way of life, and the family have created a lovely garden and outdoor seating area where they can relax when the mess gets too much.
The Paynes say there have been innumerable delays to the project, which they had hoped to complete in a couple of years.
At times, Joel has been hired to build rammedearth walls for other people, and the money has been welcome. He has also built a wall, pro bono, for a community cafe Rochelle part owns.
Ticking the boxes near impossible
The most challenging aspect of the build has been
Joel Payne, whose rammed earth house will eventually look like the picture above
meeting the Red List requirements of the Living Building Challenge. Craig Jarvis of Taylors Mistake in Christchurch, who featured on Grand Designs NZ recently, also found this near impossible and chose to forsake the certification, but to apply the philosophy.
Manufacturers almost never list every single chemical that goes into a product.
‘‘Everything that goes into the build has to be compliant,’’ says Rochelle, whose PhD topic is green building performance.
‘‘But it is so difficult. For example, we wanted this decorative glass splashback for the unit, but it took four months just to check the inks were compliant. It is never-ending.
‘‘Because the Red List is just a hassle, we thought, OK, we’ll just buy everything second-hand [which ticks the boxes].’’
Consequently, the kitchen in the unit is furnished with cabinets found on Trade Me. The appliances were also found on Trade Me, as were the power points and current breakers. And the framing timber was recycled from skips.
‘‘The Laminex Strandboard used for the walls in the unit was the formwork for some of our walls,’’ says Joel. The patterning is reversed, creating a strong visual link with the hard landscaping. The
‘‘Anyone can do rammed earth. If you can bake a cake you can manufacture and make rammed-earth walls.’’
pavers came from a skip, and the couple have found items on the CivilShare website. Even the timber in the soffits is recycled.
‘‘It’s a better environmental outcome,’’ says Rochelle. ‘‘This is much more sustainable than a new home and it is all Red List compliant. I think it leads to a better house – everything has a story, even the tapware.’’
Rammed-earth sandwich
Living in the rammed-earth house is a little like being in a bunker. The double-skinned walls are
600mm thick and are as strong as concrete. They are built using a Structural Insulated Rammed Earth (SIREWALL) system, which is essentially a structural rammed-earth sandwich, with insulation through the centre.
Different oxides create varying shades of pink and brown for a striped effect. And Joel says the construction method is not difficult, although clearly practice makes perfect.
‘‘Anyone can do rammed earth. If you can bake a cake you can manufacture and make rammedearth walls.
‘‘There’s no rocket science to it. It’s just following formulae and mixtures, experimenting and playing around.’’
At present, the couple are completing the garage next to the unit, which will have two storeys. The walls of the two-level main house will be the next project. Eventually, the house will have a green (planted) roof.
Rainwater is already being harvested and stored in tanks beneath the ground, and the garden is now ready to accept greywater. The family have a composting toilet in the unit.
‘‘The council requires us to connect to its sewage system, but that doesn’t mean we need to use it,’’ says Rochelle. ‘‘However, we are putting the plumbing in place in case a future owner would prefer to remain connected.’’
Not that the couple intend selling their house. But they are looking forward to getting more done over the summer.
When completed, their 340 square-metre house, designed by architect Phil Smith of Collingridge and Smith Architects, will also feature tripleglazed windows with thermally broken frames.
Photovoltaic panels will generate all the home’s energy on site, and other special features will be incorporated, such as electric car charging points.