Slipform Masonry

[SouthernThunder]

I've been reading about a building method called slip form masonry where forms are set up and rocks laid in with concrete poured over them. Seems pretty durn easy and would be awfull handy for someone with rocky land and a lot of time. Im curious if anyone of you folks have tried this for anything?
I have also been unable to find anyone with a web page showing a completed project.

Does anyone know how you would insulate something like this? It has to be a horrible cold mass in the winter time!

I guess traditionally you would frame up the walls on the inside but this seems redundant to me since the masonry is capable of supporting the structure on its own...

[kitaye]

Yep, sounds and looks pretty easy.

http://www.hollowtop.com/cls_html/stone_home.htm

http://www.mtevans-gs.info/build/build.html

[chamoisee]

I have done it. I'm not sure if 'easy' is the word for something that involves lifting lots of heavy stone and stacking it in place....but it's fun! It is easier/simpler than building a dry stone wall- there is more flexibility in rock placement, but on the other hand, you can't simply plop the rocks into the form just any old way.

Finishing- the wall that I worked on was a curved retaining wall in a greenhouse, with just earth behind it. All the walls in that greenhouse are either stone slipform or glass. The stone provided passive solar mass- storing heat during the day and the releasing it slowly at night.

I would go through Ken Kern's books for ideas on finishing these walls for a house. Off the top of my head, maybe float wooden walls or drywall using strips of wood, with enough space between the stone and the wall to put insulation in between? Would moisture condense in there and cause a problem?

[chamoisee]

Forgot to mention...a slipform wall usually has a 'good side' and a 'bad side' (in the sense of less cosmetically appealing. You can make both sides nice, but it's a lot more work. If you finish one side with something else, it will save you much labor and pointing of mortar, and you won't have to worry so much about the appearance of both sides of the wall, so the selection of rocks will be easier to work with.

[3girls]

See the books by Scott and Helen Nearing. They used slip-form construction on all their buildings and the garden wall and continued various projects well into their 80's and Scott even helped in his 90's. It is a simple method and finishing it can be anything you want. You just need to remember to embed the things necessary to attach whatever surface you decide on. With an internal stove, once the stone walls warmed up, they will keep the place quite snug.