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<FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'>Hello again John,<BR>
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This from Rick Green (and a remarkable photo of the wall attached!):<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Helvetica, Verdana, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:9pt'>Martin,<BR>
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The project is located at the north end of the Las Vegas Springs </SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Helvetica, Verdana, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'>Preserve at the junction of Hwy 95 and Valley View. We did a total of seven building</SPAN><FONT SIZE="2"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:9pt'>s within the Desert Living Center made from straw bale, rammed earth, or a combination of the two. A web search for the Desert Living Center should give you a lot of information. I will locate some pictures and get them down to you.<BR>
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The wall was built before the buildings and was completed I believe in 2004. The sections were ten feet wide and varied in height, so we made 1/2 bales here and shipped them as full blocks, to the installer</SPAN></FONT><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'>s only had to cut the outside added strings, and could then just stack the bales. There were 10,000 bales total, and I think we made up</SPAN><FONT SIZE="2"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:9pt'> 4,000 half bales. The wall is functioning well, and from the Hwy 95 side is very attractive, as it displays colorful precast concrete panels with customizable insets, which advertise coming attractions at the Preserve.<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'>The rough surface on the south side of the wall was intentional, to absorb the intense heat, rather than reflect it back on the pl</SPAN><FONT SIZE="2"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:9pt'>ants close to it. As far as sound attenuation, the wall performs very well, as you might expect.<BR>
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I have a lot of </SPAN></FONT><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'>first hand information on the Desert Living Center if that is of interest to you.<BR>
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</SPAN><FONT SIZE="2"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:9pt'>Take care,<BR>
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Ri</SPAN></FONT><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'>ck<BR>
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An impressive wall, that given the 10’ width Rick describes, looks to be 25’ tall. No idea how it is constructed, and not sure about all that I’m looking at in the photo (the top cap, the pieced vertical “columns”, the base).<BR>
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In any case, there it is. I’ll forward any additional information that Rick provides.<BR>
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Martin<BR>
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