[GSBN] Tall walls and wet clay

[Laura Bartels]

I have had two interesting issues come up and thought it might be  
interesting to share with the list.

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.)

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).

Just trying to spur on our conversations again,

Laura



Laura Bartels
P.O. Box 912, Carbondale, CO 81623
Ph 970-379-6779, Fax 970-963-0905
laura at greenweaverinc.com
www.greenweaverinc.com


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