March 20, 2010
It was easy enough to decide where we plan to place the biogas digester, but it is a quite a different story making a solid foundation in the clay filled hill that we had selected. Brigitte and I decided to locate the biogas digester just outside the kitchen for easy access and use. The land surrounding the building slopes quickly downwards so the first order of business was to create a level and solid foundation for the 1130 gallon tank and all the degrading food that it will hold.
After debating a multitude of options for supporting the big lug, it was decided to dig a hole in the hill to level the ground, set the foundation in cement, and build a cylindrical wall to s
et the 
digester on top. Sounds basic enough, right? Well, let me tell you about the Amazonian soil: it is much less dirt and more like clay. Digging four feet into is trouble since it sticks to the shovel, so it is work to get it out of the soil and work to get it off the shovel...and don't get me started about the heat that we did all this digging in! Once that grueling work was done, we lay our sand to level the ground, drove some rebar into the ground to fortify the wall, set the first layer of bricks for the wall, and poured the cement for the floor. Foundation complete! Now let dry and onto building the wall!
It was easy enough to decide where we plan to place the biogas digester, but it is a quite a different story making a solid foundation in the clay filled hill that we had selected. Brigitte and I decided to locate the biogas digester just outside the kitchen for easy access and use. The land surrounding the building slopes quickly downwards so the first order of business was to create a level and solid foundation for the 1130 gallon tank and all the degrading food that it will hold.
After debating a multitude of options for supporting the big lug, it was decided to dig a hole in the hill to level the ground, set the foundation in cement, and build a cylindrical wall to s
et the 
digester on top. Sounds basic enough, right? Well, let me tell you about the Amazonian soil: it is much less dirt and more like clay. Digging four feet into is trouble since it sticks to the shovel, so it is work to get it out of the soil and work to get it off the shovel...and don't get me started about the heat that we did all this digging in! Once that grueling work was done, we lay our sand to level the ground, drove some rebar into the ground to fortify the wall, set the first layer of bricks for the wall, and poured the cement for the floor. Foundation complete! Now let dry and onto building the wall!
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