<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Dear Community,<div><br></div><div>I've been meaning to raise this question for a bit, but now have a specific project that has prompted me to finally get to writing (isn't it often that way?). As straw bale projects are used for larger projects, and lime plaster is used on these, it begs the question of whether we need to be using expansion joints on large expanses. With lime having different characteristics than a cement stucco, I'd be curious to know from those who are well ahead of me in doing large straw bale projects with lime if you have seen issues with not using expansion joints. For those who may use them, at what square footage of unbroken wall has it seemed to begin to make sense? Certainly there are large historic lime plastered structures to look to, but given the fact that historically the substrate was not straw bale, I wonder also how we can still learn from these and apply lessons to our work. </div><div><br></div><div>I am always grateful that we have this community and these discussions. </div><div><br></div><div>Regards,</div><div>Laura </div><div><div apple-content-edited="true"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#4C721D" face="'Times New Roman'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; "><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><br><br></span></i></b></span></font></div><div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#4C721D" face="'Times New Roman'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; "><b><i><br></i></b></span></font></div><div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#50742B"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="ArnoPro-SmbdCaption"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">Laura Bartels</span></font></font></font></div><span><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#50742B"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="ArnoPro-SmbdItalic"><i><font class="Apple-style-span" face="ArnoPro-SmbdCaption"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">P.O. Box 912, Carbondale, CO 81623<br>Ph 970-379-6779, Fax 970-963-0905</span></font></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><br></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" face="ArnoPro-SmbdCaption"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><a href="mailto:laura@greenweaverinc.com">laura@greenweaverinc.com</a><br>www.greenweaverinc.com</span></font></span></font></i></font></font></span></span><span></span><div><br></div></span></span></div><br></div></body></html>