The House of Random Camel has a new member! Mark's moving in over the next few days, and has designs on turning 27 basement into a space for home brewing, which will be fantastic! It also means there is a new urgency to tidying up the basement.
In 27 basement at the moment we've got issues with damp, so first the mission is to clean it up and reduce mould. We now have a luxcrete street level block window in both basements [thanks to friends and family] so we can begin the cleanup & de-damping. The main challenge is making sure there is air flow so we get the damp out of the basement without causing problems elsewhere. One suggestion we've had is to use heat convection to draw the damp air up through an air duct. This'll be really important when we're using it as a brewing space, because the moisture created by the brewing will add to the damp.
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| 27 basement |
In 23 basement we are working on a line of bottles and mortar [above the luxcrete block] for light and installing a ventilation system [or systems] to help with air flow. As this space is going to be used for musicians and band practice we have the extra complications of soundproofing and acoustics to contend with. If you're in a band [or even if you're not] & want to support what we're doing, please get in touch. We've pencilled in a work weekend for Sat 26th & Sun 27th October, so if you fancy coming down to work on it with us that would be great. I'll post it up when we've got a definite plan together.
At our last party and work weekend Gem and John put compost bins together using polycarbon, old pallets and willow to help move air around them. We've been using them! and they serve the purpose much better than the old plastic one did. We also started stripping the paint from the windows outside to prepare for winter and will hopefully have all the downstairs windows done before it gets cold, which would be nice!
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| compost bins |
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| our recycling system... |
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| A blast from the banner making years [before my time] |
The hallway and landing in 27 are looking better all the time as we strip old wallpaper and cover up wires. We figured less people want to book a lovely room to use for therapies if they have to get to it through a badly decorated hallway and landing. So we've decided to relaunch the healing room when the landing area is looking tip top and the woven artwork we started back in April is ready to go on the wall - I'll keep the blog updated about that too.
In other news, the House of Random Camel was one year old this September! We also had a few birthdays, and we said goodbye to two original co-op members and friends. Gemma's cycling round Europe to learn more about eco-building, and Mike has moved to Germany with his girlfriend. Alex's got more photos of the big birthday/anniversary/send-off party on his
flikr.
So, this means we still have room for a new co-op member! If you believe in what we're trying to do/want more info/think you might want to be part of it,
email us.
