The structural frame - The Hempcrete Topic: Designing and Building with Hemp-lime - page 272

Design the frame so that shuttering spacers are the same
length on both sides.
Think about other ways in which the frame design can be used to reduce work later in
the build. For example, consider how the frame interacts with the erection of temporary
shuttering around it. Shuttering boards are held off the frame at the correct distance by
long screws and specially cut spacers made from plastic tube. So you can save work by
having your frame positioned exactly centrally within the wall - meaning that the spacers
needed for the external and the internal shuttering will be exactly the same length, which
greatly simplifies the job. Moreover, if the frame is offset from the centre only slightly,
the different-sized spacers needed to set the shuttering on each side of the frame will
differ only slightly in length. The problem with this is that two very similar-sized lengths
of plastic tube can look almost identical when they are chucked in together in a bucket
covered in dried lime. Given that on a large building you could easily need upwards of 50
or 60 spacers for each side of the frame, you can imagine the amount of time you can waste
sorting out which ones you need - as well as undoing shuttering that is not held firmly, or
is out of true, because the wrong spacer has been used.
Remember that even though the frame is not on display, it is important that it is constructed
with the utmost accuracy (see Chapter 8 ) . The shuttering that will form the faces of the
final hempcrete walls is constructed off this frame, so timbers must be placed accurately