Hescos on pallets

Lucky chance, I saw these Hescos still on pallets. In the closeup you
can see how the spirals are preattached to fill about six large-size
bags.

Half-dozen close-ups of Hesco fastenings, sounds dry as old dirt, yes?

The latest in this week’s series of Hescofotos. Focus of this set is how they are
attached to each other. Jean points out that the spiral sections are
used to hook the flat lattices together. I went to check on the
nearest row of them, and what it looks like is that they come in
multi-section sets, so that you can put down eight or ten or twelve in
a row all at once. If you want fewer, you just attack them with the
wire cutters and shorten the row before putting in the bags and the
sand.

 

‘Tis true: you don’t see single Hescos around. They’re always in rows.

Homage to photography artist Nini Norrmann

I have no idea what a “process-based blog” is about, but I am wearing
a soft spot in my tastes for the low-key semiabstract photographs of
one Nini Norrmann, available elsewhere on their own soi-disant process
blog
. In addition, every time I post a Hesco picture to the
blog, the same Nini Norrmann slaps a “favorite” designation on it.

 

So in the latest chapter of my continuing effort to match the
arbitrary and capricious supply of postings here to perceived demand,
I dragged the camera out to the backyard yesterday evening during one
of the lulls in the ongoing sandstorm and shot a couple dozen
Hescofotos, then after dinner ran them through the photo editor (crop,
rotate, straighten, tint, shadow, sharpen, and neutral-color picker,
for starters) to create my own batch of semiabstractions, using the
countervailing lattices and bulges of the Hescos as raw material.
Attached are the results.

 

My favorite so far is no. 1874 (no. 8 in the gallery). The colors seem
more natural and the four-quarters composition is more rigorous, so it
allows the eye to focus on the different contents of each quarter.

The “R – House,” Hesco living!

This doesn’t look bad, but it doesn’t look great, either. In my experience the problem with the Hesco as an interior wall is that it transmits dust. This R-house technique (see the cited website for more pictures) looks like it has the roof sealed somehow to the top of the walls.

I can’t tell from the pictures how this is a big improvement over a tent. There’s more insulation, but it’s easier to aircondition or heat a tent. For flood control it’s more economical to build a big wall around multiple tents.

Busted Hesco

Today’s Hesco snap: this one between the tent area and the street.
Perhaps something crashed into it on the street side.

Blast walls and Hescos

The blast wall, a 15-foot high concrete barrier, shaped like an upside-down letter T, is on the left. Its counterpart, the Hesco barrier, is on the right. A Hesco is a folding metal basket with a paper liner filled with dirt.

The advantage of the Hescos is that you can ship them broken down and fill them where you need them. The blast walls, on the other hand, are more durable and look nicer.

This picture is from right outside the recreation center where I am holed up afternoons to use the internet.