Car tyre foundation volunteer day!

Next Saturday 27th June we will be making a start on the car tyre foundation for our exciting new building – Cartref COCA.
It will be a straight forward task – putting the car tyres into position on the ground and then filling them with gravel; it is important that the gravel is well packed. We will need to do two courses of the tyres. It will require a bit of effort but everyone is welcome – big and small – provided you can lift a trowel or spade then you’re in!
We will start at 9am, have a shared lunch and work through to mid-afternoon (depending on how long it takes) but anyone can come for as long as they want.
Sensible footwear and clothing are essential and gloves are also good to wear. If you have your own trowel, shovel and mallet / sledge hammer then please bring with you.
The stone filled car tyre foundation is a rather unconventional solution but is perfectly suitable for this kind of building. Basically it has two functions – [1] acts as a ‘capillary break’ which will lets water pass down through it but wont let moisture from the ground to travel upwards and [2] it raises the straw bales off the ground to avoid splashback from the rain. There is no need to excavate trenches and fill with concrete as the underlying ground is able to bear the weight of the building and our solution ensures that Cartref COCA’s foundation has a low environmental impact.
We will be having a JCB on site tomorrow morning at nine o clock to scrape away the top soil and level out and lumps and bumps in the underlying firmer soi. We will be having a ‘sod breaking’ ceremony before the JCB starts work to mark the start of the project and to set a successful trajectory and engender feelings of good will towards our exciting new building; Gerald will be saying a few words. If anyone would like to come along then please be there for 9am.
Otherwise we look forward to seeing you at the car tyre foundation volunteer day next Saturday 27th June from nine o clock at Caerhys!