This Coastal Rammed Earth home has some incredible features in the design. The central column will house a wood stove, provide ventilation, light, and support for the whole roof structure. There will be 26 Glue-Lam Beams up to 59 feet long when complete. As you can see all of the cuts are double angled miters, and there are a lot of them! This structure will support a ceiling “sandwich” a total of only 43/4” thick which will house all of the lighting, solar & PV pre-plumb, fire sprinkler and other plumbing. This hill is so steep that the crane used to install these beams is stationed in the front room, and is progressively working it’s way out of the building. Hat’s off to the crew!!
This is an example of Semmes & Company’s use of locally harvested and milled wood. This is a set of book shelves and a window chest in the library of a straw bale house nearing completion in Atascadero. The wood is from a Sycamore Tree that fell on a local ranch and was milled in nearby Santa Margarita. It was constructed by one of Semmes’s & Companies finish carpenters.
