[GSBN] "Dipped" plaster - Straw Bale buildings

Thu Apr 11 16:02:13 UTC 2013

I am curious about the labor-intensiveness of this process, having tried it
myself and determined not to do it again! :)
Plaster coated bales are HEAVY!  I have had great success with simply using
a clay slip first coat over the entire wall, packing the gaps, (lots of
elbow grease and a good crew leader to make sure there are no loose ends),
a thick troweled base coat, and finish.   The slip layer and enough elbow
grease ensures a good wall penetration.  Why dip bales?

On Thu, Apr 11, 2013 at 8:48 AM, Andy Horn
<andy at ecodesignarchitects.co.za>wrote:

>  Hi Andre****
>
> I could not agree with you more with what you have said, that “you need to
> drive the plaster into the bales” I suppose I am wrong to use the word
> dipped bales, because once the bale is in or above the “dipping tank” or
> bath filled with a yogurt like consistency of earth, we take wooded stakes
> i.e. cobbing sticks – and force the slip plaster right into the
> straw.....so it is never a simple case of just dipping the bales.****
>
> ** **
>
> As opposed to trying to get the plaster on the bales vertically, by taking
> a watery plaster and pouring it from above into your bales positioned above
> the dipping tank / bath at a comfortable working height and forcing it into
> the bales with a cobbing stick I have found it to be an easy way of getting
> a seriously solid clay coating.....typically a minimum penetration of about
> 80mm. We don’t have such extreme cold so I don’t mind exchanging a bit of
> insulation for added thermal mass. We then half dry the bales off until
> they stiffen up into the consistency of cob. We then take these “cob-bales”
> (like giant bricks of cob) as i like to call them and stack, compact and
> fix them onto the walls with a combination of vertical and horizontal
> staking. We then immediately begin to work the walls with a cobbing stick
> and adding on the plaster. It is quite labour intensive, but a whole lot
> faster and makes for very solid walls.****
>
> ** **
>
> See photos and text of some of the process at:
> <http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.555753287791955.1073741825.190372104330077&type=3#!/photo.php?fbid=563405057026778&set=a.555753287791955.1073741825.190372104330077&type=3&theater>
> ****
>
>
> http://www.facebook.com/EcoDesignArchitects.and.Consultants#!/media/set/?set=a.555753287791955.1073741825.190372104330077&type=3
> ****
>
>
> http://www.ecodesignarchitects.co.za/ecodesign-projects/residential-projects/category/46-house-morris.html
> ****
>
>
> http://www.ecodesignarchitects.co.za/ecodesign-projects/community-involvement/category/20-wolvekloof-training-workshop.html
> ****
>
>
> http://www.ecodesignarchitects.co.za/ecodesign-projects/public-buildings/category/34-nieuwoudtville.html
> ****
>
> ** **
>
> In 3rd world / developing nations – where I work – labour is cheap and i
> believe it is important to create job opportunities for people, so I prefer
> using labour based methods wherever possible. I imagine that spraying it on
> with machinery is also highly effective, but is not something I advocate
> for this part of the world. Here we need to create job opportunities for
> people and desist enslaving more and more of our ways to ones that are
> dependent on  machines and develop simple ways of doing things. We still
> have a hand plastering tradition in this country and gunnite / or sprayed
> plasters are not used in our building trade except, in the swimming pool
> industry for making ferro-cement pools. So here we need to work with hand
> plastering methods and what I like about the “pre-coating” method is that
> it combines speed with strength in a labour based low carbon dependant
> method. ****
>
> ** **
>
> But yes I need to change my terminology from using the word dipping to
> using the word pre-coating or something similar because the word dipping is
> really quite mis-leading.  I find as humans sometimes we can get so wrapped
> up in our own jargon / words that we sometimes forget that we may not be
> communicating what we intend and wonder why things get misinterpreted.
> Thanks for picking on that Andre. ****
>
> ** **
>
> Kind regards,****
>
> Andy****
>
> ** **
>
> [image: Logo-and-Address]****
>
> ** **
>
> *From:* GSBN-bounces at sustainablesources.com [mailto:
> GSBN-bounces at sustainablesources.com] *On Behalf Of *
> forum at lamaisonenpaille.com
> *Sent:* 06 April 2013 10:08 AM
> *To:* GSBN at sustainablesources.com
> *Subject:* Re: [GSBN] Wall Heights - Larger & Multi-storey Straw Bale
> buildings****
>
> ** **
>
> Hello everybody, ****
>
> ......for instance I would think that if one had an earth plaster for
> instance which was very well bonded into the straw (as with say a
> pre-dipping method where one has up to 80mm of earth fused with the outer
> layer of straw)  ****
>
> I just wanted to comment on the dipping method for creating a -supposed-
> superior bond.
>
> Chris Magwood (correct me if I'm wrong) who has dipped with  French
> Dip-Tom Rijven has tested different types of bonding plaster to bales and
> the outcome (not surprisingly) was that dipped bales do NOT hold their
> plaster any better then other methods.
>
> I have also dipped with Tom and opening up them bales afterwards showed no
> penetration in dense bales.
>
> IMHO, in order to create the best bond one can, one has to drive the
> plaster into the bales as hard as one can.
> Letting a bale sit in a few inches of slip does not 'wick' the plaster in
> a bale. And if it does go into the bale, I worry about the density of that
> bale.
>
> Have a nice weekend,
> André
> France****
>
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