[GSBN] Tall walls and wet clay

[Rikki Nitzkin]

>> Laura Bartels:

> On another project, an office building in PA, they have located  
> great clay, with little expansiveness, but when sourced, is very wet  
> and not easily processed.

How wet is it? In Denmark the people have clay slip delivered directly  
on sight. No dry clay is used. Personally, I prefer working with "clay  
slip" (clay the consistency of a thick milkshake) to using dry clay.  
If it is too thick you can add water and use a hand-held mortar mixer  
with a "paint" drill bit to thin it out a bit. If it needs seiving it  
is easier to do the thinner the mix. This WILL change the proportion  
of sand/straw added to the mix, so make some tests and be sure to be  
consistent in the making of the clay slip.

If it wet like modeling clay (humed but solid) it is too dry to mix  
well and too wet to disolve easily, so it would be better to dry it  
out and pulverize it.


Rikki Jennifer Nitzkin

Self-builder, education and consultation Straw Bale building and Earth  
Plaster
rikkinitzkin at earthlink.net
www.geocities.com/rnitzkin
0034 657 33 51 62
Aulás, Lerida (Spain)

Coordinator Spanish Straw Bale Network
www.casasdepaja.org
casasdepaja at yahoo.es

"We have the Right and Responsibility to Create the World we Want to  
Live in"