The Dirt Cheap |
The Dirt Cheap |
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The couple who built their rammed earth home detail the building very well, and provide excellent photos of the process.
Results: The base recipe is 10 parts shredded paper to 1 part mature lime putty (hydrated lime soaked in water) soaked together for 2 weeks, sealed.
I will begin by saying TIME is your best asset...aging (maturing) any lime and lime: sand mortars and plasters is highly recommended by the experts. Personally, I have drums of hydrated lime which have been soaking almost 3 years now. Bags of hydrated lime ( type S or N) is simply placed in clean water and left (covered, air tight) to mellow out over time. And when preparing sand-lime mixes plan to store them at least 30 days, preferably 90 before using.
Restoration experts in Scotland and historical references advise letting sand and lime mature together for the best result. If you don't have that kind of time then at least soak lime in water for 48 minimum, 30 days is better, and allow sand-lime mixes to mature in a sealed pail for as long as possible before use. Remember- the tradition of handing down matured lime putty from father to son was carried on for a good reason...it works, and provides the best quality working plaster.
After 30 days I attempted to use the soaked paper:lime as a plaster on the wall...water separated from he mix while in the pail, so the result was very runny in applying to a vertical surface. While handfuls of the paper:lime mix could be smeared onto the gypsum greenboard wall, and it stuck well , too much limewater ran down the wall.
This can be combated by simply draining the mix onto a screen briefly before hand applying. Trowels did not work as well as gloved hands for application. On a straw bale or other very rough surface the fluid part may absorb in quickly.
The lime dried well, and did not flake or crack on the wall at all, and it adhered to the ultra smooth surface very well. I did decide to add a lime and #30 grade sharp sand plaster I had been aging to the mix. The sand fills out the lime:paper plaster and no drips of runs resulted, the mix is like a thick butter when applying, and easily goes onto the wall by hand, or with a trowel.
And this mix is easily troweled to any "design" smooth, rough, textured, all by using hand strokes with the trowel. ( This is an art I am still learning) There are photos of patterns in the Handbook of Plastering: Heavy Lace, Light dash, Monterey, Spanish, etc..and are described as HOW to get that effect..This is a $40-$60 book for the trade, so doing your own experimenting is just as good.
After two weeks neither the lime:paper nor the sand:lime:paper mix had cracked. And you can stop a any point on the wall, feather (thin) out the edge, and come back days later and begin work with fresh plaster at that point. No seams or joint show, just trowel over to blend. Always mist down the drying plaster, and the bare wall areas first, this helps the new plaster not to have too much moisture sucked out too quickly by the dry walls.
The book this information came from, (as well as adobe and rammed earth methods) is: Making Earthen and Adobes Brick the Chinese Way
Amazon Nails: Barbara Jones - UK expert on strawbale, lots of good pictures, and courses offered. website:
http://www.strawbalefutures.org.uk/
See the 78 page FREE online book on SB building here:
www.zen.co.uk/deaftdesign
Stucco plaster troubleshooting guide online:
http://www.stocorp.com/othersections.nsf/htmlmedia/Stuccotroubleshooting.pdf
Australian- Lime render over Straw Bale Article:
http://barney.webace.com.au/~agstraw/lime.html
Earth Brick Construction-E. Hubbell- excellent 1950s booklet-$14.00
Earth Wall Construction (and Pise) in Australia - rammed earth booklet from down under, 1951-$11.00
The Hand Sculpted House-a New Cob Cottage book-$35.00,
Building with Vision- great alternatives to wood- covers many resources for green building, plus papercrete and other materials, where to buy, aand much more. $22.00
Organic House of Cob &Hemp - booklet with interesting use of natural materials-$9.00.
Also NEW books on timberframe have been added, see the WOOD section, and many GOOD USED books are now online, most are one-of-a-kind.
I invite you to visit the www.dirtcheapbuilder.com owner-builder book store for hard to find books and videos on alternative building and off the grid living.
Thank you for your support and patronage!
Be well--and get out there and build something!
Charmaine Taylor
Taylor Publishing
PO Box 375
Eureka CA 95503
Tel: 707-441-1632
Fax: 775-845-9772
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