Also, a useful building material. The idea behind the rubble trench is to fill it with medium-sized rubble (2-5 inches in diameter), which (due to the spaces between the chunks) allows drainage and room for water to expand if it does freeze (not really a concern in Palo Alto, but nonetheless...). Over the rubble goes a layer of gravel to fill some of the gaps, make the rubble more stable, and provide a smoother surface for the earthbags to sit upon.
First, a photo of the raw unprocessed urbanite, ready to be broken. Most of what I used were junky bricks that couldn't be used in something like a garden path or another project. Being large bricks they needed to be broken into smaller chunks. To do this I merely placed one brick on top of two others with a gap (to form a fracture line), and then smashed them with a 40lb 6ft wrecking bar (wear safety goggles and ear protection while doing this...). Its hard work, but satisfying...
And a photo of the finished product:
Here's a photo of the rubble in the trench. I used some larger chunks of rubble (up to 5 inches in diameter) at the bottom (my size 13 foot is in the photo for comparison):
Followed by smaller chunks (2-3 inches in diameter) on top of that:
Here's a view of the trench, full of rubble:
And, another view of the finished rubble trench:
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