Continuing to put mud on the walls

There were several things to do this last week that did not involve the house, but we were still able to mix and apply several batches of plaster.

On Monday, the boys and I worked all day plastering the walls in the laundry room. We mixed seven batches of plaster and put them on the walls. Each batch weighs around 240 pounds wet. Once it dries, it’ll lose about 40 pounds per batch (a five-gallon bucket of water). So, that’s 1,400 pounds of thermal mass on just these four walls alone. If we count all the walls we’ve done so far (including the walls we did on Friday that I haven’t mentioned yet), it figures out to about 3,500 pounds of thermal mass, and we’ve only put the first coat on a few of the walls. There is still the second coat on the straw bale walls to be figured and a finish coat on all the walls. I find it interesting to think about the mass of the plaster that will help moderate temperature and humidity (clay is good for that) when the house is done.

I took the photos today of the plaster we applied last week. So, you can see that it is drying nicely. It’ll be cured within the next week, I expect. The places where it is thicker will take longer to dry thoroughly, but there’s not really any hurry. The only concern is mold. If the weather cools off and it is damp, the plaster won’t dry quickly like it does when it is warm with a good breeze blowing through the house. We had a few areas on the walls that we packed with slip straw last fall that grew some mold on the surface because the drying conditions deteriorated after we packed them.

I’m not really worried about the mold. It seems to originate in some of the straw that is used in the mixes, probably because of the presence of mold spores. It can only survive and grow in moist conditions. I have discovered a safe way to kill it and prevent it from spreading – white distilled vinegar. We sprayed walls that grew mold after packing last year, and it took care of the problem. There have been a few places where some mold appeared on the surface of the plaster when the drying conditions were not ideal recently. A little vinegar kills it quickly. I’m sure if it was a major case, not just a little here or there, that there might be some other remedies needed, but this one is working for us.

So, after doing all the walls in the laundry room, we didn’t get back to plastering until Friday. We only had the afternoon, and we worked in the guest room. We were able to get 2 walls done. We’ll finish this room tomorrow if all goes well. And, we’ll do a few more walls, too. It is reasonable for us to finish the first coat on all the downstairs walls this week.

 

Putting mud on the walls

Since we have all the interior walls packed, it was time to focus on plastering. We did a little plastering a few weeks ago – just one batch. The boys both commented that they would rather play in the mud than pack the walls. So, they seemed happy to plaster.

We started with the dining area wall on Tuesday after doing some cleaning up on Monday. This was the largest of straw bale walls to be plastered, considering walls as areas between posts or on one side of a specific rooms. This wall is 9 feet tall and 14 feet wide with only one window. The thing with plastering the straw bales is that we have to work the plaster into the straw. The goal is to get it pressed into the bales an inch or two. Also, around the windows where I curved the bales, I really have to work the plaster in. I used chicken wire on the curves. So, I have to press the plaster through the wire and work it into the straw with my fingers. When the ends of the straw face outward, it’s easier to work the mud in, but when the straws lay cross ways, like most do in the curves and on the ends of bales, it takes more effort to work it in.

So, I worked the plaster in on the window curves while the boys worked on the sides and below. Once I got the curves done, I helped finish up the rest of the wall and make sure it was all pressed in to the bales as desired.

On Wednesday, we decided to plaster some of the slip straw walls. Having done a little of this previously, we knew that it goes on much easier than the straw bale walls. You don’t have to work it in the same way. Our process involved the boys smearing the plaster on the walls with their hands. I would follow with a trowel to smooth and even out the plaster. We were able to finish the wall below the stairs, the wall along the stairway, and almost all of the walls in the hallway, including in the linen closet but not the cabinet above.

We actually finished these walls in the morning and then spent time in the afternoon sifting some more clay dirt. We’re using clay that we excavated when digging the root cellar. I ran the tiller through the clay pile to loosen things up and then we screened it through 1/4” hardware cloth to remove rocks and larger clods of clay. This makes a nicer mix of plaster. We screened it into half of a 275 gallon tote – the same thing we mixed the slip straw in, only we put the metal frame around it to give it some rigidity.

On Friday, we plastered in the mudroom. We were able to get all of the walls plastered in there except for a small section above the interior door. We had two walls of straw bale and two of slip straw. There were curves around and above one window and the exterior door.

I calculated that in the three days of plastering that we mixed and applied 1,500 pounds of plaster. Once the water dries out of it, that is 1,200 pounds of plaster. This is only the first coat, too. The straw bale walls will require a second heavier coat to fill in the irregularities, maybe even a third coat. The slip straw walls will only require one more coat. At this rate, we will have several tons of thermal mass on the walls which should help moderate the interior temperature during the summer and winter.

Each batch of plaster consisted of 2 buckets of sand, 1.5 buckets of clay-rich dirt, one bucket of water, and half a bucket of chopped straw. I mixed it in the concrete mixer, using my hand to help ensure that the sand was mixed through properly. It made a nice easy to apply plaster.

We’ll be mixing up a lot more in the coming weeks.

Straw in the wall: an instructional video on slip straw

I’ve been thinking about and intending to put together a video on using light straw clay, also known as slip straw, in interior walls. The boys and I have packed 1,100 square feet of walls now. So, we have a little experience. I figure that I really was learning how to do it by the time we finished this week, but I’m not going to go back and start over!

Anyway, I figured it would be best to shoot some video on the process before we got it all done. As we worked on the final walls, I videoed different parts of the process, and then I spent some time over a couple of days to put together an instructional video called Straw in the wall: using light straw clay (slip straw) as interior wall fill.

 

The walls are all packed!

On Wednesday of this week, the boys and I finished the last wall to be packed. All of the interior walls have been packed with slip straw, and once the last ones are completely dry (by the end of next week), all of them will be ready for plaster. We’ll be focusing on the plastering job we have starting soon.

We calculated that we packed 1,100 square feet of walls in the house and used about 50 straw bales (give or take). We didn’t keep track of how many hours of work that entails, but it was several. It’s nice to have that part of the project done.

The first floor walls are all packed

The boys and I have been working on packing walls for the last couple of weeks. It takes time to put up forms, mix slip straw, and pack it in the walls, but we’re getting it done. We had several walls that still needed to be packed downstairs, and these are the ones we’ve been working on. Today, we finished the last of the downstairs’ walls.

Yesterday, we got the tub/shower unit out of the barn where it’s been stored for the last 2 or 3 years. We bought it for $25 from Lowes because it was damaged. I bought materials to fix the damage (for about as much as I paid for the unit), but I haven’t fixed it yet. It was filthy after sitting in the barn for all that time, but we cleaned it up before we took it in the house. I didn’t think it would fit through the doorway into the master bathroom where it will go. I was wrong, though; it does fit. So, it’s not in the bathroom – it’s in my bedroom.

I had left two studs out of the wall between the bathrooms so that I would be able to get the tub/shower unit in when the time came. I put those in place yesterday morning, and we finished packing the wall. We also worked on the wall on the hallway side of the main bathroom. We finished this wall and the walls on either side of the linen closet today. Since we finished early enough, we went ahead and finished packing the two sections of wall left undone in the storage area on the east side upstairs.

So, now, the only walls left to pack upstairs on the west side. We ought to be able to get those finished in 3 or 4 days of work.

Guest room walls finished

We finished packing slipstraw into the guest room walls last week. Previously, we had completed the wall adjoining the pantry and the wall adjoining the laundry room. The only wall sections that were left were near the door, one being very narrow and the other at the end of the closet and near the back door. There were also two spaces above the bedroom door and the closet opening which needed to be packed or closed in. I decided to close them in with drywall – they will be plastered later just like the slipstraw walls.

Here are a couple of photos of the last sections in the guest room after we completed them. The first one looks down the hallway from near the bathroom. The second photo shows the two enclosed areas above the door openings.

Work continues: packing walls

Although it has been 7 months since I last posted, things have continued here on Cedar Ridge Farm. There is always something to do. When I last posted, my hope was to continue working on the house during the winter. That plan, however, didn’t really pan out, even with a heat source in the house. Nevertheless, since spring has arrived, the boys and I have been working on it.

The primary task we are focusing on right now is getting the rest of the interior walls packed with straw. Once they are packed, we will move on to things like plastering and plumbing. There is still a lot to do in order to be able to move in, but we’re hopeful that we will be able to get things completed by this fall.

Today, we finished packing the mudroom walls and the upper portion of the last wall to be completed in the master bedroom. Previously, we packed the walls in the laundry room.

Currently, downstairs we have to pack the wall between the bathrooms (part of this wall is packed), the two walls in the hallway (pantry and main bathroom walls), and one section of wall near the back door. There is still one room upstairs that needs the walls packed. Our current schedule is to work full days on the house three days a week. It is possible that we’ll have the walls all packed in a couple of weeks. It’s not a hard job; it just takes time. I still need to make an informative video on slip straw.

Here are some photos of what we accomplished today:

More slip straw

As I’m able, I continue to work on the house. There are many different projects to keep me busy, of course. As things come together, even though there is a lot yet to do, I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We will get it done and be able to move in sometime.

On the first day this week, three families came over to help pack straw in some of the interior walls. We really appreciate their willingness to help. We all enjoy spending time together.

There are still several walls to be packed before they’re all done, but we made some good progress. We packed the wall behind the stairs, the wall on the kitchen side of the pantry, part of one wall in the hallway, and half of another wall in Robert’s room.

One of the most time consuming aspects of slip straw is moving the forms, but there’s no way around that. It’s actually a fairly simple process, and it makes a nice product.

Getting muddy again: plaster and slip straw

There are many different projects to work on in the house. I have the luxury of focusing on just one thing or working on several at any particular time. Sometimes, diversity is nice. It’s also nice to get a particular project or focus completed.

When I got the bags of clay for the finish plaster moved into the house, I mixed up a small batch to put on a wall in order to see how it will look. Because it is powdered clay, it feels very different from the material we’ve been working with that we dug out of the ground. It’s fluffy. I mixed the small batch in a bucket and applied it with a trowel on the living room wall which I had previously plastered (the slip straw wall).

I screened the sand through a window screen to remove the larger grains/small rocks. I mixed it at roughly two parts sand to one part clay. When wet, the plaster is gray in color. As it started to dry, I buffed it with a plastic lid cut out of a yogurt container. This helps to push the grains of sand into the plaster and make it smoother.

It turned out well. Once it dried, it was no longer gray but, rather, white, like it was supposed to be. It was a thin layer of plaster, and I didn’t get it all applied as evenly as I would like. There are areas with a different texture because I wet the trowel to try to help spread it a little more in places. These areas have a different feel and look than the other areas. That’s okay. This was a test patch to learn from. I’m thinking I’ll make an alis (a clay paint) to go over all of the walls when done. The alis will have wheat/flour paste as one of the ingredients to help give it a non-dusting texture. It doesn’t dust badly without it, but you can rub of clay if you try.

Last week, I felt like playing in the mud some more. So, I mixed and applied three batches of plaster to the bales on the front wall of the house, from where I left off on the wall that will be behind the wood stove to the corner of the living room. This coat uses a high clay content plaster and has to be worked into the bales. It’s applied by hand and actually feels good. It was neat to work the plaster around the curves near and above the windows and begin to see the look of plastered straw bale walls in the house.

You can see the plastering job in these photos. When they were taken, the plaster wasn’t completely dry yet. That’s why there are dark areas. I’m looking forward to applying the second coat which will begin to smooth out the walls and fill in the depressions and irregularities that are evident with the first coat. One of the things I did before I started to plaster was to nail a 1x2.5 inch board at the base of the wall. The plaster will come out flush with the board near the floor. Then, once the finished floor is installed, I will have a surface to nail base board to.

Earlier this week, the boys and I packed some slip straw in the girls room which is upstairs on the east end of the house. Earlier this summer, we had packed most of the walls in this room, but there were a few places that we didn’t get done and hadn’t finished yet. One of the things I’ve learned about slip straw is that the thicker the clay slip mixture, the stronger the wall. Previously, we’ve used some slip that would’ve made better walls if it had been thicker (more clay in it). They are all okay, I think, but the areas we packed using more clay in the slip are more dense and tight. I think I ought to do a video on slip straw…

We packed the closet walls which are on either side of the window on the north side of the room. I’ve imagined this window having a dormer-like feel because of how the walls will be, and it does. The closets also seem quite nice. They’re about 3.5 feet wide, and each upstairs bedroom will have two.

While I was working on another project later in the week, Ramiah decided to pack some on the storage room wall on the east side upstairs above the living room. He mixed the slip and straw, put the forms on, packed, and moved the forms all on his own. I think he did a great job and am very proud of him.

Slip straw in more interior walls

We had some friends over on the first day of the week for a straw stuffing party. The previous week I bought two sheets of 3/4” plywood for another two sets of forms. I also mixed up about 60 gallons of clay slip in preparation.

We started on the wall between the living room and master bedroom next to the two sections the boys and I did earlier. We also worked on the wall beneath the stairway, the other interior wall in the master bedroom, and a couple of bathroom walls. By the end of the day, we’d completed most of the walls that we’d started.

On the next day, the boys and I were able to finish all of the walls that we’d started during the work party. Then on Tuesday afternoon, our whole family worked on one wall upstairs. Then, yesterday afternoon, we worked on another wall upstairs. We ought to be able to complete the rest of the walls in that bedroom and storage area (on the east end of the house) in another afternoon’s worth of work. I’ll share photos of our progress upstairs later.