[GSBN] "Dipped" plaster - Straw Bale buildings

Sun Apr 14 07:57:51 UTC 2013

> Why dip bales?

Some just like it; we humans are rarely as rational as we pretend to be.

The only good reason I can think of is that it protects the bales from
fire before one can really start plastering.

André - thinking he's logical - de Bouter
France

>
> 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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>>
>
>
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