#179 Constructive Destruction transcript

6 years ago, we bought this [music] abandoned piece of land to find a new way of living. And since then, we have been building our base camp and living areas, clearing [music] the land from invasive species, and experimenting with natural construction materials. [music] And in this update, we will have some neighbors visiting to help debark a mimosa patch, and we will reorganize the structure of the brick ruin. Welcome to a new project [music] camp update.

Last season, we [music] developed the brick ruin all the way from a few overgrown walls to a stable house with a roof. This year, we are working on making it a cozy house for two people to live in. We bought a secondhand stove from a lovely lady, owner of a local cafe. It needs some repairing and renovation, but afterwards it's ready to be used. The plan for the interior of the brick room is to have two rooms. The next step is building the heating system.

Last season, we already built a foundation for it, but in the meantime, the design was adjusted. The foundation is underneath these floorboards and a pile of rubble. I will cut a wider opening to examine what [music] we're working with. [music] Woohoo! We got a hole. Okay, so I found these two guys here. I don't know what they've been up to, but suddenly the whole beeping floorboard is out. As you can see, subfloor is up.

And that is because this concrete slab here, which is the foundation for all the masonry work we're going to do, is a little bit smaller than it needs to be. So, we have to remove some of these floor joists and we have to bring up this subfloor panel. And then we're going to build some forms, pour some concrete. It'll be good to go. [music] >> [music] >> Oh, she's coming. [music] There we go. I don't know if this floor joist was this hard [music] getting in, but holy floor come back.

My goodness, [music] she's out. There were no screws holding that. That was just pure friction. >> [music] [music] >> We got our form. Thank you, Caroline. Putting in our stainless steel [music] mesh. Close your eyes. >> Oh, don't close your eyes. [music] We came up the ramp with this very light materials. Take a look. Yeah, we're going to mix that [music] in. >> [music] [music] >> Great. It's the next day now and our limerete slab is hardened up a bit.

Uh we're going to let it sit a bit longer to firm up even more. And in the meantime, we're going to put together the floor so we can walk on it. Ooh. Ooh. Damn. Hold on. >> Wow. Nice. >> So, sometimes life doesn't always go as expected. Um, as for today, [snorts] uh, it feels like we're moving backwards, which is a little bit shitty, but we want this building to [music] live long. So, [sighs] what we found out is that both of the sides over there, that floor joist, and [music] this one over here need some extra support because the floor is sagging, which is good that we found find it out now instead of after building masonry.

Um, so what we're doing is that piece of granite or maybe another one, we're going to cut to size [music] and we're going to with force put it underneath. So hopefully the floor becomes a little bit more level, too. I'm going to try to make more noise than the chainsaws. [music] >> Oo, good luck. >> Thank you. >> [music] [music] >> WA workspace is so fast. [music] >> Wow. >> Yes, that's great. [music] >> Perfect fit. >> [music] >> Okay, >> that looks promising. >> It does look promising, >> Ross. >> Yeah.

What do you think that is the most important part of our work that we have a safe building, safe and structurally sound foundation >> that [music] will support all the other structures in here? [music] You got it there? Y that's nice. >> That's snug. >> Look, that's solid. [snorts] After this, we will be at the same starting point as this morning, which is amazing. Whoop! Boom! [music] Booms. Um, we need this piece out to fit our heating system in, but we can't leave this top part floating because it's not strong enough.

So, what's what Ross is going to do is take out this whole part. That is coming. [music] I got a break on the joint. [music] [music] Woohoo. >> [music] >> So yesterday, um, we took away this last piece of wall that was in the way for our heater. It needed to go. But then today, we figured that this I mean, yep, we can't save it anymore. Not [clears throat] in it its place. We will reuse it. But then we have this one.

And this one is not doing anything at the moment. And I'm quite lucky with the rest of Portuguese people and whoever. But imagine Dave. We decided to take it down. Yep. So that's what we're going to do. We're taking it down. Not like this, but with caution and with care. And we kind of already came up with an idea where we can use it. But that you will find out later. >> I guess it was too much. That was really difficult.

[music] >> [music] >> We dust the water. That's so funny. Oh, [music] leave it. [laughter] >> Oh, for sure. >> Well, that Oh my goodness. Oh, so too much sand dry too quickly, too much of an aggregate, and then you get this kind of water that doesn't glue anything together at all. I really want to have that last piece hanging there for a bit >> before we finish. It's Oh, it's so good. Let's see. [music] What's happening? >> Setting up staging uh so we can support the beam as we cut it.

[music] Just mark [music] the top. [music] So cool. Good job. I'm a little bit nervous. It still has a lot of it. >> Yeah, I think [music] I know the whole thing. [music] >> Ready? [music] >> Okay. I think this side's clean. This one is free. [music] >> Woo. We're going to move the staging into the middle. I'm thinking of a head supporting it because there's nothing here supporting [music] you. Next >> [music] >> Heat.

Heat. >> [music] >> Go. [music] That decision hurt a little bit in the first place, but now that everything is done, it feels much more open and spacious, and I'm sure we can find a nice spot to reuse this concrete lint tool. We are really happy that we fixed the floor before moving forward. But enough fixing for now. Let's see what the landscaping team is up to. I heard they invited some friends over. >> Okay, next project for landscaping.

This time, no chopping. The area that we are going to work on today is close to the area that we chopped in winter. There we had a really rough approach and basically clearcut the whole area to serve as a fire break. Now we use a more delicate approach. For that we have the help of our friends, a group of people that is living in the area and is always keen on helping in the project hands-on. This task today is perfect because with the help of many hands, we can get everything done in one day.

And now let's see Julie's explanation. So we are here. This is the road that goes up there and we go here. The top road is here. And the idea is to go as a group because there are like couple of patches in the patch with mimosa. There is one here, one here, one here, and one here. And we just go there like a banana peel. And that's it. Should be fun. >> We got the tool. We have this pocket of tool. So if you have a tool, you can put it in the box.

And if you want to swap, >> just put it back in the box. only bring the right >> and then you still have to like >> most of the tools are quite sharp. I going to talk and you're going to debark. >> Fine. So, in the moment, the mimosas bring the water up to the to the leaves. Um, and if we debark them now, they're going to dry out slowly and then all the root system dies with them. Um, and then this way we can get rid of them quicker without so much work.

If we just chop them, they respout and then it's the never ending cycle of like brush cutting or chopping again. Um, and then the way Yeah, I think like Julie showed the small ones we can just take out with your tool of choice. >> I prefer this. >> Perfect. And then the easiest method is basically that you cut a circle around the whole tree. Um, that's why they work quite well cuz you can cut around it. Then you can peel off the bark.

And then >> and now you can pull >> pull this way. >> And then we peel them all the way around >> like peeling a banana. >> The most important thing is that we have a hole around the tree and then we put peel it to the bottom. >> We in the end we want to keep this area like a natural forest area. So it's also nice if we have more of the material in the forest that the nutrients can go into the soil. >> Yeah. 6. [music] [music] Oh, that's a good one.

That Like a flower down here. [music] Heat [music] up here. [music] Okay, so the first area is basically done. So we can move on to the next one. Let's go. [music] >> What are you doing? Maybe you hold a bit so the people can pass. [music] I'm trying out a new way of debarking, a new way of living. It's not the most efficient way, but it's quite fun. Hello. Hala. What a day. Yeah, >> thermometer for the day. >> So, we basically finished.

We're about to leave. We did a really good job. It's so much that we debarked. That's very massive. Um, and now we're gathering everything, everyone, and then we head down and have very, very tasty lunch. >> [music] [music] >> Crazy [music] mimosa. >> Good job today, guys. Wow. So good. A lot. >> Okay, the work [music] is done. For now, we have to wait for at least a year for the mimosas to die. Then we can take them out and hopefully a [music] nice native forest will grow there in the future.

And if you enjoyed watching the constructive destruction of the brick ruin that you saw in this update or anything else that we do here in camp, you can support us on Patreon and already [music] watch the next two updates in 4K and without ads. If not, you can also subscribe here on YouTube. Thanks for watching. See you [music] next week. Same time, same channel. Ciao. >> [music] [music]