<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">I have had two interesting issues come up and thought it might be interesting to share with the list. <div><br></div><div>One on project, a straw bale public library in southern Colorado with tall walls (which are compressed mid-height), the specs are for the interior to be earth plastered above the 3' wainscot of drywall over ICF. The question that has come up is that with tall walls and earth plaster, should the plaster preparation over wood change in any way over what the plaster subcontractor would usually do. He is accustomed to not using building paper over wood framing in the bale walls, but does use a plaster lath to span to the straw. I am curious about both potential shear movement and compressive load of the plaster itself with tall walls and whether either of these have been addressed differently for taller walls. (Tim Owen-Kennedy- this makes me think of the winery.)</div><div><br></div><div>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. Living in the dry west, this is not something I have much experience with. I remember Sam Droege's comment in TLS about breaking up wet clay by soaking and using a mortar hoe in a garbage can. Projects on a larger scale in areas with very wet local clay might look to some more mechanized proces - either spreading out the clay and turning, or soaking and processing with mixing equipment. One builder in NY once told me that he gave up using his local clays because of this and uses bagged ball clay. If we are hoping to see projects use local material, this may be an issue to address (or perhaps has been already in those damp climates unlike mine). </div><div><br></div><div>Just trying to spur on our conversations again,</div><div><br></div><div>Laura<br><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"><br></div></span></span></span></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></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></body></html>