-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Kern [mailto:jimkern@...]
Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2000 8:25 AM
To: natbldg@egroups.com; Chuck & Linda
Subject: [natbldg] Big fence project ideas! HELP

Hi Folks,

 

I have about 100 feet of roadway that I need to build a fence along for privacy.  One problem is that it is not level with the road so the fence needs to be tall.  I would like to make it a natural fence and need ideas.

Jim

----- Original Message -----

From: Chuck & Linda

To: natbldg@egroups.com

Cc: Chuck Learned

Sent: Sunday, May 21, 2000 2:50 PM

Subject: [natbldg] Poster for Sunday's workshop

Hi there,
      I made up a small poster publicizing our get together on Sunday.  I posted
it in Magic Mill and Borders on University Ave. in Madison and will post it
at the Library, General Store, Kalscheurs, and the Village Offices Building.
It would be nice to put one at Miflin and Willie Street also.  I am sending
it out to you all as an attachment in case you have a place that you would
like to post it.  Thanks, Linda Farmer

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----- Original Message -----

From: Chuck & Linda

To: natbldg@egroups.com

Cc: Chuck Learned

Sent: Sunday, May 21, 2000 2:50 PM

Subject: [natbldg] Poster for Sunday's workshop

Hi there,
      I made up a small poster publicizing our get together on Sunday.  I posted
it in Magic Mill and Borders on University Ave. in Madison and will post it
at the Library, General Store, Kalscheurs, and the Village Offices Building.
It would be nice to put one at Miflin and Willie Street also.  I am sending
it out to you all as an attachment in case you have a place that you would
like to post it.  Thanks, Linda Farmer

---

---

Community email addresses:
  Post message: natbldg@onelist.com
  Subscribe:    natbldg-subscribe@onelist.com
  Unsubscribe:  natbldg-unsubscribe@onelist.com
  List owner:   natbldg-owner@onelist.com

Shortcut URL to this page:
  http://www.onelist.com/community/natbldg

Hi there,
	 I made up a small poster publicizing our get together on Sunday.  I posted
it in Magic Mill and Borders on University Ave. in Madison and will post it
at the Library, General Store, Kalscheurs, and the Village Offices Building.
It would be nice to put one at Miflin and Willie Street also.  I am sending
it out to you all as an attachment in case you have a place that you would
like to post it.  Thanks, Linda Farmer

Natural*Sustainable Building Support and Learning Group
May Newsletter

Dear Natural Building Enthusiasts:

Spring is here and with it comes the season of "doing" , you know growing
things, digging things, building things.  Our get togethers while the warm
weather is with us will center around hands on opportunities.  At this point
we do not plan to meet at the WilMar Center until mid to late fall. It looks
like there will be several interesting projects to get involved in.  We can
learn, build our confidence and help each other out at the same time.   We
are looking forward to an exciting and busy building season!

LAST MONTH
We had a two part day. The first part folks came to our home in Mt. Horeb
and played/worked with rocks and earthen plasters. It was good fun and good
work, thank you all who came! We had a wonderful potluck for lunch and even
got Michael Gruber to play us a trio of songs. Music is essential to work
days, those with instruments please make a practice of bringing them. I
(Chuck) love the vision in Gaviatos where they talk about bringing their
instruments into the fields and taking turns playing for each other. Part
two was our meeting.  We discussed plastering and additives, ordered pizzas
and ended the evening with a bit of music on our porch.

MAY MEETING Sunday the 28th
Parades come to mind! Is it a house on wheels? Well kind of... This meeting
we will be building two short straw bale walls connected by a corner on
Brian Fritschler's trailer for the upcoming MREA fair in Madison June
16-18th. The walls are a demonstration of low impact straw bale
construction. We may even experiment with some cobwood (cementless cordwood)
under the window. This will be a great opportunity to practice with straw
bale construction. We will construct a toe up for the bales, apply exterior
pins, build a window buck or two, build and attach a top plate, plaster the
walls with an earthen mix.  We will meet at our house in Mt Horeb.  It
seemed the best place since this is  where the clay is and making a mess at
our place is what we do everyday!
Schedule for the day
We will begin at 9:30.  Potluck lunch around 12:30.  Resume our work around
1:30.  We aren't sure how long things will take to come together.  It may be
go very quickly since what we are doing is small. If we still have time at
the end of the day we will have a meeting and probably discuss different
type of window bucks for different applications. If there is interest we can
go out to eat, order pizzas or make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
around 5:30. You are welcome to join us for all or any part of the day.
RSVP's are helpful for planning and appreciated but not required for
attendance. If anyone has a straw bale needle we can use or a connection and
can bring about 15 bales please contact us ASAP 608 437-7244.  Thanks.
Directions: Take the first exit off of 18-151 into Mt Horeb. Follow this
road. It becomes Main St.  After the 2nd stop light take the first left on
1st St. Go a few blocks to Henry St. Turn right. Go 1 block and look for
tall brown Cedar Home that looks like a construction site. If you drive by
it, you're day dreaming:)

June meeting at the Midwest Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living Fair,
Dane County Expo Center, Madison  June 16-18
As it was last year we hope that our booth will be an informal place to meet
with our group members and other interested people in attendance at the
fair.  It is possible that we may host one or more get togethers at the
fair. The time and location of these will be posted at the booth.  Chuck
will be leading a 30 minute sharing and discussion on low impact straw bale
practices in the town square.  The time we requested was 10:30 on Sunday,
but we have not received confirmation on this yet.
Booth Preparation
It's a reeeallly biggg showww!
Last year we had a great booth and it was a fun place to educate and connect
with people. This year there will be a lot more people attending, so lets be
ready.
We are interested in materials, photos, blueprints that will enlighten,
inform and maybe even inspire the persons attending to give natural building
serious thought. Here is a list of things we have thought of or are planning
on so far.
1. Mark Harrell's Eco Cabin profiled with Blueprints and photos, who knows
maybe even Mark himself:).
2. Willow Deen out in Oregon will be sending us a research document that
will be for sale, comparing costs of natural homes built.
3. Handouts on the Last Straw, samples of Last straw.
4. Summary descriptions of Natural Building.
5. Flyer on our group
6. Permaculture handouts. We would need the permaculture enthusiasts to get
involved here. Cynthia Edwards  a permaculturist/activist will be presenting
at the fair.  She may have literature promoting permaculture learning
opportunities.
7. We have some existing photo's from last year, but we sure would like
more. Any volunteers? Samples of Natural Homes...
8. Straw bale designs
9. Straw bale/Natural builder trades people resource sheet. If you want to
step out and give it a try call us and let us know that your name belongs on
that sheet. Let it be known that we are actively seeking people who would
like to make a living this way and we will try to support you in any way
that we can!
10. The booth. The wall display we are building this month will not be in
the booth area.  It will be in the educational area.  So we need some kind
of display to hold photos and hand outs. We could stack bales like last year
and possibly create a sapling/waddle display unit that could hold several
photos. Is there anyone(s) who would be willing to take a stab at creating a
natural display unit? It's a great way to get comfortable with waddle and
daub which are excellent interior walls. We have saplings on our land if you
are in need of them. Give us a call:)
11. Your ideas?????
Staffing the Booth at the MREA Fair
Have any interest in putting on your extrovert hat and having a part in
introducing people at the fair to our group and to natural building?  The
volunteers who helped out with this last year really made a difference and
had fun besides.  If you want to help out, please let us know.  If you want
to help out and could use some help with your entry fees to the fair, let us
know that too.  We have a few free tickets for booth workers.

Earthen Plastering  June 3rd (Saturday)
For those of you who missed our last work day, or would like another chance
to work with earthen plasters, here's an invitation.  By this date we will
be working on both rough and 2nd coat plasters. Plan on a potluck, or if
you've run out of time or luck and you ain't got no food just come. Arrival
time 9:30-10:00.  We do need RSVP's for this so that we can prepare for you.
Thanks.  If you can't make this date but would like to come another time,
please contact us and we can try to work something out for you.

Want to be in a parade on June 4th?
I (Chuck) got to thinking ...why not put our newly constructed straw bale
display in the Mt. Horeb Frolic Parade, since we will have it on a trailer.
It  would be great to have people to wave, right? Line up for the parade is
at 11:00.  We could meet at our house a little before that.  Afterwards we
could check out the Frolic and/or go for a hike in one of the beautiful
parks around here.  This idea is still under consideration, so if you're
interested please let us know.  Thanks

Timber framing Opportunity
Mike Yaker is working on the timber frame for a straw bale building.  We
know there is a lot of interest in timber framing and here is a wonderful
opportunity.  He is willing to teach you some timber framing skills if you
will help him out a bit in the process.  He is in the township of Windsor
near DeForest.  Please give him a call at (608) 846-7287 or e-mail him at
jmnuese@...  .  He is working on the timber frame on weekends
and possibly some evenings.  We are looking forward to the possibility of
our group having a get together at his place this summer to help raise the
timber frame.

Other Learning Opportunities
There are three building colloquiums that we have information about.   They
will be in Colorado, New Mexico and out east.  If you are interested in a
learning vacation and would like to hear more about these, let us know.

Take care,
We're looking forward to seeing and working with many of you folks,
Chuck Learned  and Linda Farmer

At 11:13 AM 5/14/00 -0500, you wrote:
>ORNL also tested Structural Insulated Panel with Compressed Straw Core
>(StrawSIP). Their tests showed an R-value of 16.5 for a 7-7/8" thick
>StrawSIP, with a straw density of 14 lbs/cubic foot. This equals an R-value
>of R-2.1 per inch! Plus, Jeff mentions an insulating term called the
>framing effect. This is the difference of Hot box tested values versus
>Whole wall simulated values. In the above R-19 wall, the Framing effect is
>15.4 vs 12.8 for something like 20% framing effect. But, the StrawSIP has a
>much nicer framing effect, something like R-17.6 versus 17 for the wall.
>Framing effect is important in moisture mitigation. The lower the
>difference, the less moisture problems your materials will experience.
         Did anyone mention where you can buy StrawSIP panels?  The only
manufacturer I know of is Agriboard Industries in Iowa which had a fire last
year and is no longer in production.  StrawSIP panels might be a more
conventional alternative that banks and insurance companies might consider
now (unlike strawbale which is pretty hard to finance).  Compressed straw
panels for interior partition walls are available and are very cost
effective.  I hope there is some stable company out there that is
manufacturing StrawSIP panels.

Eric D. Hart
Community Eco-design Network
PO Box 6241
Minneapolis, Minnesota  55406  USA
erichart@...
(612) 722-3260
http://www.cedn.org

Here is a helpful note for folks interested in real research done in a lab.
Our list has been quiet to lets here from folks:)
Chuck

Dear Strawbalers:

Quiet list these days. Maybe I can spice things up a bit with some
Insulating value discussions?

I was recently very fortunate to have met Jeff Chrstian from Oak Ridge
National Labs. We discussed my strawbale insulating testing, others
testing, and the ORNL operation. After our discussion, I sat in on a
presentation he made at the National Building Museum here in Washington DC.
His discussion followed a paper authored by Jeff titled "The Whole Wall
Thermal Performance Calculator - On the Net." (web page
http://www.ornl.gov/roofs+walls/ ) I gained an enormous amount of respect
for Jeff during our discussion and his presentation..

I'd like to highlight some salient points from Jeff's presentation as they
relate to strawbale construction. First, lets look at the conventional
building system, typically called R-19 placed in 2 X 6 framed walls. The
insulation has a wrapper rating of R-19, hot plate testing showed an
R-value rating of R-17.4 (for the same material), and ORNL hot box testing
showed an R-value rating of 15.4 for a wall section, called clear wall. (To
me, this was an amazing difference from what you think you get, and what
you really get). Whole wall simulations, which include allowances for
corner, edge losses, along with windows and door framing losses equaled
R-12.8. But, to top this off, that was for properly installed insulation.
ORNL did other testing on rounded insulation corners, improper electrical
box installations and so on, these, typically installed practices, reduced
the wall insulating values further. So that is what strawbale should be
competing with, typically installed wall insulation systems.

ORNL also tested Structural Insulated Panel with Compressed Straw Core
(StrawSIP). Their tests showed an R-value of 16.5 for a 7-7/8" thick
StrawSIP, with a straw density of 14 lbs/cubic foot. This equals an R-value
of R-2.1 per inch! Plus, Jeff mentions an insulating term called the
framing effect. This is the difference of Hot box tested values versus
Whole wall simulated values. In the above R-19 wall, the Framing effect is
15.4 vs 12.8 for something like 20% framing effect. But, the StrawSIP has a
much nicer framing effect, something like R-17.6 versus 17 for the wall.
Framing effect is important in moisture mitigation. The lower the
difference, the less moisture problems your materials will experience.

For some reason, my notes show Jeff said ORNL's clear wall testing of
StrawSIP had a value of 17.6. Huh? Lets see, 17.6 / 7.875" = 2.234, or
R=2.2 per inch. This does not explain my testing results of R=2.38 per inch
for heat flow with the grains of straw. You want to know why? Because straw
insulating value varies with orientation, density, moisture content and
straw material. I'd also like to point out that my testing was more like
the "Hot Plate" testing, not "Hot Box" testing. As show above in the R-19
case, hot plate testing could reveal higher values.

I did notice that the StrawSIP is a compressed straw. Not knowingly, I had
compressed my bale bundles in three dimensions while testing (see
http://solstice.crest.org/efficiency/straw_insulation/straw_insul.html if
you are interested in more info on that testing).


In Jeff's paper he mentions a 1998 stuccoed bale wall test showing R-26.
The paper does not mention the thickness of this wall, the density, and I
assume it is wheat straw. And the paper mentions that the straw wall did
pick up moisture in the stucco process, was allowed to dry, but it doesn't
mention what the final moisture content of the wall was tested, or if it
was tested. Jeff had noted in his talk that the strawbale model showed an
R-value of R-31.2 for the wall. Now I don't know if that was the simulated
whole wall, or the hot box testing. These are probably close as in the
StrawSIP example.

StrawSIP testing also showed advantages of mass in buildings for holding in
the heat in the winter, and coolth in the summer. This is another topic for
another day.

A few more questions still need to be answered in this investigation. I
think the best news is that the Tested bale wall (R-31.2) is potentially 3
times the insulating value of the conventional R-19 best installed
insulating practices, and surely is 3 times or better, than typically
installed practices.

Hope this helps.

JoE

Joseph McCabe, P.E.
Energy Ideas
(301)530-1473
energyi@...

www.energyi.mccabe.net

Please pass this along to anyone you think might be interested.

Fundamentals of Permaculture Course
Friday, June 9, - Sunday, June 19, 2000
Sponsored by Turtle Island Center in Bloomington, Indiana

Main Facilitators are Patricia Allison and Beverly Skinner.

About the Course
The purpose of this course is to offer practical training in Permaculture
design principles.  These principles enable us to meet our basic needs for
food, shelter, energy, gainful employment, and community in healthy and
sustainable ways.

This training will be useful for people with varying levels of experience—from
backyard gardeners to design professionals.  Learn to work effectively with
nature, not against it, and to consider the whole system.

Also offered will be The Permaculture Practicum - which will be at the same
location from Friday, September 8 - Saturday, Septemeber 16.

**for more information email either blessbe@... or
sharingcircles@... or call (812) 323-9768

Turtle Island Center
4443 S. Swartz Ridge Road
Bloomington, IN 47401
(812) 333-2784 (33-EARTH)
sharingcircles@... or
turtleislandcenter@...
http://bloomington.earthsave.org/turtle.html

____________________________________________________________________
Get your own FREE, personal Netscape WebMail account today at
http://webmail.netscape.com.

I got an email about a week ago from somebody named 'Raven' about a new
financing source for 'green' buildings.  Here's part of the email they sent me:

Ecolend is the world's first and leading lender specifically devoted to
financing eco-building projects!
http://www.ecolend.com

I went to the Ecolend web site and was totally disappointed with what I
found.  A very badly designed web page that really didn't say one thing
about how they could get you money for your eco-friendly building project.
The message I got was mostly trying to talk me into being a partner and
making all this money off of referrals.  Many of the links went to a
mortgage broker's web page which didn't say one thing about green building.
I fired off an email to 'Raven' asking about how they financed these
projects (where the money came from, mortgage insurance, interest rates,
etc.) but haven't heard back.  It sounds like some sort of referral service
to a mortage broker which may or may not be legitimate.  The only address I
could find was a PO Box in Nevada which makes me even more skeptical.  I
thought maybe other people on this list might have heard of this company and
could report back.  Thanks.

Eric Hart
Community Eco-design Network
Minneapolis, MN
www.cedn.org
A non-profit that promotes and implements 'green' building projects for the
last 5 years.  We have had some success although we are rethinking what we
do and how we do it in light of all the barriers that are out there.

PS  I'm taking up Chuck's suggestion to use this list more

APRIL NATURAL SUSTAINABLE BUILDING
Support and Learning Group
Newsletter
Hi Folks,

Happy Spring! We had an informative meeting last month with Jeff Foss and
Martin Jelenc sharing some of their knowledge regarding permaculture. This
month we are offering a combination meeting/work learning experience at our
place in Mt Horeb. The work/learning day will revolve mostly around earthen
plasters. We have a whole variety of different surfaces to work with. There
is the straw walls, woodchip walls, an actual wood wall and our bottom three
feet of the exterior of the house will be a combination of limestone and
earthen cement. We will be using a variety of techniques from incorporating
a stucco sprayer for the initial adhesion coat to a more cobish plaster. I
have 110 gallons of lime putty aging so that we may incorporate Harry
Francis' techniques (see article below). As many of you know the walls are a
part of our greenhouse addition.

If you are planning on participating in the work experience then please make
an effort to show up between 9:30 and 10:00 am on the 30th. Bring really
grubby clothes and maybe even a change of clothes. This will be a rain or
shine event as all plastering could be done indoors if need be. We are
requesting an RSVP so that we can be prepared for your participation. You
can call us at 608 437-7244 or e-mail us at clearned@....   Please
let us know by the Wednesday before the event at the latest which is the
26th.  Thanks.  I am asking that those of you who would like to learn
plastering skills to plan on making a day of it as it does involve some
learning curves and instruction on my part.  Linda will be coordinating a
lunch/potluck for those participating in the plastering experience.   We
will hold an actual meeting sometime around 4pm. It would be good if people
could arrive between 3 and 4 so that there would be time to look around and
see what has transpired here.  It would also provide an opportunity for
people to look at some of our books and journals related to natural
sustainable building.  For the meeting  we will have materials and
discussion related to plastering. In addition we would like to discuss
dreams and ideas related to how we can better support each other in bringing
about those dreams. If there are folks coming from a distance that would
rather not get up at the crack of dawn (or even if you aren't but an
overnight outing in glamorous Mt. Horeb sounds fun), you can bring a
sleeping bag and come the night before. We have a pull out double bed
(quality uncertain), a twin bed (pretty good), and an individual size thick
foam pad (pretty good). There is also Blue Mounds State Park just down the
road and we have some land about 7 miles from our house and we may(don't
know for sure) have our camper set-up out there and it has 2-3 beds in it.
Let us know if you are interested in staying overnight.  We will try to make
it as fun and comfortable as possible.  Maybe even dinner and music and
Saturday night.  Give us a call!

Directions to our house:  Take 18-151 toward Verona  (Midvale/Verona exit
off of the Beltline) after about 25 minutes you will come to the first Mount
Horeb exit. Take this exit, follow it into downtown after the 2nd stop light
you will turn left on the next street-1st street. There is an AmCore Bank at
the intersection. Go about three blocks and turn right on Henry St. after 1
block you will see our house on the left at Henry and Maple. It's a tall
brown and green cedar home, you can't miss it.

May Meeting
Brian Fritschler came up with the idea of creating a wall display that could
be built on his trailer and hauled to the MREA sustainable living fair in
Madison June 16th-18th. We approached the MREA staff with the idea and they
said that it would be welcome. The trailer will be displayed in their
educational village area.
We are planning on building the display for the May meeting. The display
will include a corner involving two walls, a toe-up, a window buck, a roof
plate and earthen plasters in various stages of completion. This will be yet
another fabulous hands on learning experience. The location of the meeting
has not yet been determined.

MREA fair: In addition to the display. We would like to profile some homes
that have built, so we are looking for volunteers to help pull that
together. In addition we would like to have a list of trade's people that
would like to offer home construction of natural homes. If you are one of
those people please contact us so that we can add you to the list. If you
have been thinking of doing this but for a variety of reasons have not been
able to move forward, call us and lets explore how we and the group can
support you in taking this step. One of our thoughts has been to sponsor a
few one day events revolving around best practices and techniques related to
strawbale construction for trades people with the intent of building a core
group of natural builders. If you are interested in this, let us know.
If you are planning on attending this year's fair and would like to
volunteer at the booth, please let us know soon.

Videos
If you have one of our videos and will not be in attendance at the next
meeting, please mail them back to us at 197 Henry St Mt Horeb WI 53572

Your Involvement with this group  From time to time I wonder if people are
feeling guilty for not attending meetings or showing up at work
opportunities. Occasionally I get glimpses of this. Just so everyone knows,
this is a guilt free group! We know that our members are in many different
places in their lives with many different activities and commitments to
choose from. We want you to know you are always welcome, however frequent or
infrequent that may be to show up in the physical spaces of our learning
community.

Take care,
Chuck


Stabilizing Earthen Materials with Lime
By Harry Francis

The following material was extracted from the ever informative Last
Straw.(505-895-5400) They're last issue was all about Lime Plasters. I
highly recommend it.
This is a lot of scientific explanation, however I feel it's real important
that we all become comfortable with the idea of using earth friendly
materials when building our homes. Code officials may need convincing and
this is a starting point. Harry Francis is one of the leading authorities in
working with Lime. He was the  Research Director for the National Lime
Association. Awhile ago I forwarded several articles on Earthen plasters to
the listserve folks, this one addresses situations where plasters are
exposed to direct liquid moisture.

The use of lime in home building pre-dates history, with evidence of lime
plasters found in Iran dating to beyond 12,000 years ago. Lime plasters on
straw huts is traditional in tropical countries, and it has been used in
modern societies since before recorded history. In dry climates, adobe-type
clays are often used for interior and exterior coatings in the construction
of homes. Even on the exterior, these walls are very durable-especially if
the rainfall is sparse. In areas where there is higher rainfall and the rain
can run down the face of the walls, exterior earthen coatings tend to
deteriorate over time, necessitating maintenance and repair.

Often these walls are finished with a coating composed of hydrated lime
putty and sand both for preservation and decoration. This lime finish is
more resistant to damage from humidity and rainfall. The question arises: If
lime is beneficial in a finish coating, would lime be beneficial in a
lime/clay mixture? The answer is not an easy one. Many variables are
involved, especially when one considers the variation of the composition of
the different clays around the world(or even around a relatively small
area).

Most clays are very chemically reactive with lime and form natural cements
called pozzolonic materials. Pozzolonic materials are clays or soils, such
as volcanic ash, that will chemically react with lime to form cement.
("Cement" is any soft substance that fastens things together firmly when it
hardens-editor) Their chemical composition is mainly very fine particles of
silica oxide or alumina oxides derived from the deposition of ash from
volcanic eruptions or from the very long-term weathering of igneous rocks to
form very small particle size clays.

Since clays are composed of extremely fine particles, they have a very large
surface area per gram of material. Some clays have a surface area exceeding
the surface area of a football field in only one gram of the clay. Clay
particles are formed in a plate-like structure and exhibit a negative ion
charge. As a result, when exposed to water, the clay absorbs large amounts
of water and swells, becoming slick as the water between these plates acts
as a lubricant. Clays shrink as they lose water and form typical "alligator"
cracking when dry.

Because of their small particle size and strong ionic charge, the clay
particles hold onto water very strongly, resulting in a very slow movement
of water throughout the material. Clay exhibits very low permeability
characteristics, often approaching water movement as low as 10-7cm/second.
(That's "ten to the minus-seven centimeters per second", which is very slow.
About the same as the excellent clays required for lining hazardous waste
impounds.) This is true as long as the clay remains saturated. If there is
sufficient energy to dry out clay soils, they shrink and crack, thus
allowing easy water penetration. However, these clays most often are high in
sodium and/or potassium salts, which act to attract moisture from the
atmosphere. This absorption of moisture from the air, even in very dry
climates, helps to maintain a suitable cohesive structure. As a result, the
materials perform quite well when used for finish coatings and have done so
since the early history of man utilizing local materials to make shelter.

How can lime be beneficial to clay plaster?
When lime is added to clay soils, the first reaction is the displacement of
sodium/potassium ions from the clay particles. Additionally, the clay
minerals are preferentially attracted to the calcium ions present in the
lime. As a result, the clay minerals are re-aligned into end-to-face
structures instead of the typical clay parallel plate structure. This
immediately agglomerates the particles into sand/silt size materials and
increases the internal particle to particle friction. Immediate increased
load bearing capacities are created. This chemical process converts the clay
from a slick pasty material to a friable, crumbly like material. Now the
clay is no longer plastic.

So with small amounts of lime, 1% to 2% or so by dry weight of the soil, one
can modify (which is not the same as stabilize) the clay soils into friable
soils that neither shrink nor swell. This friable material is composed of
silt/sand-sized particles which increase the permeability of the soil-making
it very good for agriculture but not good for plaster. If the lime modified
clay gets saturated, the small amount of lime can be displaced and the soil
reverts to the original clay.

However, if sufficient lime is added to form pozzolinic materials, the
conversion to a soil cement is permanent; and is called "stabilization." In
the stabilization of clay soils, we add sufficient lime(calcium hydroxide)
to raise the pH of the soil mixture beyond the levels needed to dissolve the
silica into a gel. This generally requires less than 10% of lime by the
weight of the soil, or a volume ratio of one part lime putty to three parts
of dry soil. When enough lime is added to the soil along with sufficient
water to make a thick paste, the high pH of the lime dissolves the silica,
forming calcium silicate gel (a superglue, if you will). In effect you have
made a cement out of the soil.  When this mass is compacted and kept damp
for three or four days (as in damp-curing a finish coat on a wall), the
lime/silica gel slowly absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere-through
catalytic action of the water-to slowly form interlocking crystals creating
a very strong, impervious material.

As the pH of the lime/clay mixture drops below the solubility point of the
silica (below about pH 11.5), the super glue mixture cures or hardens. Then
as the water is slowly replaced by the growth of these calcium silicate
crystals(lime/clay crystals), the voids in the mixture are slowly filled by
the chemical growth of these interlocking structures. Any remaining free
lime is also re-carbonated into calcium carbonate crystals. The resulting
lime/clay structure is now a low strength pozzolonic cement that will
withstand severe weathering, and is impervious to liquid moisture as are the
original damp clays (approaching water movement of less than 10-7
cm/second). The advantage of this lime clay structure is that it remains
strong whether saturated or dry, and does not shrink or swell with moisture
changes. The mixture is stabilized. The cured material will not pass liquid
water, but has the ability to pass water vapor-including moisture from
within the wall, preventing dampness and water damage from the growth of
molds, fungi, etc.

The key to successful utilization of lime stabilization of adobe is the
thorough mixing and placement of the mixture at about 3% above optimum
moisture level. This is the moisture level of an easily spread material-one
that will stick to the wall and maintain it place where spread without
slumping. Damp curing of about three days is required for maximum strength
gain and the development of the pozzolonic cementing reactions. Final
finishing is accomplished by rubbing the still damp material (thumb print
hard) to insure all small cracks are sealed. A whitewashed final coating
will seal the surface and provide a desirable color to the wall. Whitewash
is made from mixing hydrated lime (lime putty) with water and skim milk to a
consistency of whole milk. Adding a small amount of salt or glue makes it
more durable. Coatings should be applied thinly and left to dry between
succeeding coats. Thick coatings will crack and peel. Walls should be kept
clean and routinely whitewashed to assure satisfactory performance

Hi Everyone,

This is note to set the tone for discussion on this list. The natural
sustainable building list has been in existence at onelist.com for several
months. For the most part it has mostly consisted of me making announcements
or sending information that I wanted to pass along. A few of you have made
announcements regarding this or that. Historically Linda and I have sent out
a monthly newsletter and that's how this list evolved. I would like to see
the network that we all represent be more actively involved in sharing with
each other. Here are some arenas for discussion and announcements:
*Announcements regarding natural building events/learning opportunities
*Announcements regarding sustainable living, events and learning
opportunities. I don't see this as a general category where everything under
the sun is lumped but I didn't want to leave the opportunity to network and
inform each other about important things relating to living more lightly and
respectfully on earth and with each other, to be left out.

Those are enough categories for announcements, if you have a topic that is
peripheral and don't know, you can email it to me first, otherwise leave it
for other lists.

Discussion and sharing  I would like to see this increased. I have learned
so much from participation on the straw bale list, the cob list, and the
green building list. I would like to have each of us sharing our knowledge
and ignorance. Our ability to help each other and learn from each other is
tremendous. Living a sustainable life in a culture that does not support it
is not simple. Building a natural earth friendly home, shed, project
requires courage and for many of us that translates to support from a
community. To move from an idea of doing it to standing inside your new
creation takes knowledge, skills, hard work and support.

We are community of 97 addresses on this list which continues to grow.
Although, we have had a few large gatherings for the most part our
attendance at meetings or workshops has been about a dozen people. There are
many of you who have never come to a meeting but do identify with our goals
and dreams. The sharing of knowledge, our stories, our dreams, our skills,
our tools, our resources, our fears and concerns can happen right here on
this list serve. There are people right here on this list that could help
you build your home or garage, get to know them.

Some of you are probably panicking and are about to compose a request to be
removed from the list in fear of being deluged with e-mail! You have a few
remedies available to you when and if you think you are getting too much
mail from the list serve.  One is to visit www.onelist.com and switch
yourself to a digest member. The digest member gets at the most probably one
email a day. For example on the straw bale list serve I get a digest once a
day and it usually has about 20 messages on it. It's a quick read and a
great option.  Another is to simply let your finger cruise on the delete
button. It takes about a second. If were are still dissatisfied you could
let us know and we could possibly set up a separate mailing list that would
only get the monthly newsletter or you could send us a handful of
self-addressed envelopes and join the regular mail folks.

Ok, start sharing, don't be afraid to introduce yourself, ask questions,
lets start learning from each other.  We will be sending along an
announcement for the next meeting soon. It will be on the 30th as Easter
lands on the fourth Sunday.

Sincerely,
Chuck Learned

P.S.  by Linda
One List has recently combined with eGroups.  All the old addresses still
work.  The new ones that also work are  www.eGroups.com to view the web site
and natbldg@egroups.com for posting a message to the group.  There is lots
of information on the web site about the service.  I suggest that members
take a look at it.  If this does not answer your questions or concerns,
please let me know.  If you wish to write to individual members of the group
you can do this by looking up their e-mail addresses in the membership list.
As far as I can tell you would need to type their address in on your e-mail
message.  Our group is not listed in the eGroups directory.  This means that
people cannot find us by searching on the web but have to have heard about
us somewhere else.  As always if you just want to write to Chuck or myself
our address is clearned@....  Sorry it took so long to get this
letter about the list serve out.  Hope it is helpful.  Linda

Thought I would pass along this PV for women workshop press release.
(attachment).

ItŚs  about a workshop that will be conducted in Madison before the fair,
June 12-16.  It will be held at WECC.  It is listed in the MREAąs last
newsletter, and on the website (both MREAąs and ASESąs)


Christine Hulet, P.E.
chulet@...
608.523.3726

Chair, National Organizing Committee
Solar2000 Conference of the American Solar Energy Society
www.ases.org
Hosted by Midwest Renewable Energy Association
with the Midwest Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living Fair
www.the-mrea.org

June 16-21, 2000 in Madison

"Solar Powers Life
          Share the Energy"

Hi folks,

I thought you might like to know about this opportunity.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-users@... [mailto:owner-users@...]
On Behalf Of prairiedf@...
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2000 2:39 AM
To: ecomda@...
Subject: Prairie Plant Sale

Hi Everyone,

The Jefferson County Land Trust is sponsoring a Native Prairie Plant sale.
This is a great opportunity to practice some ecologically sound xeniscaping
around your yard. All proceeds go to the Jefferson County Land Trust and
will be use to help protect open space and natural areas. What a wonderful
way to add color and diversity around your home, reduce pollution and yard
maintenance, and help preserve open spaces for succeeding generations.
A hard copy plant sale form, with a more detailed explanation of plant
demographics is available. Jot me an e-mail note and I'd be happy to send
you one.  Let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks much,
Greg David



Native Plant Sale
By Jefferson County Land Trust

Wisconsin Native Plants are among the easiest plants to grow and are sure to
draw attention of neighbors and wildlife.  Planting the flowers and grasses
that inhabited this area historically offers many advantages.  These plants,
of our prairies, savannas, and woodlands, have thrived through thousands of
years in Wisconsin through bitter cold winters and frequent summer droughts.
There isn't a stronger or more adapted plant to our local conditions.
Native plants offer nectar and seeds that attract scores of songbirds,
hummingbirds, and butterflies.  They are perennial, long-lived, and require
very little maintenance.  The roots of native plants out compete shallow
rooted weeds.  Once native plants are established, they require little
weeding.  So...go ahead and plant Wisconsin Native Plants either in a
prairie garden or interplant into an existing landscape.  The wildlife will
thank you.

All forbs and Grasses are $2.50 each
Black-Eyed Susan
Big Bluestem
Butterfly Weed
Bottlebrush Grass
Cardinal Flower
Indian Grass
Columbine
Little Bluestem
Compass Plant
Prairie Dropseed
Culver's Root
Side Oats Grama
Hoary Vervain
Switch Grass
Nodding Pink Onion
WI Prairie Garden   $115.00  (Save $10.00)
Pale Purple Coneflower
Prairie Blazing Star
Prairie Dock
Prairie Sage
Purple Coneflower
Rattlesnake Master
Rough Blazing Star
Showy Goldenrod
Smooth Blue Aster
Smooth Penstemon
Spiderwort
Stiff Goldenrod
Wild Bergamot
Wild Senna
Yellow Coneflower


Make check payable to:  Jefferson County Land Trust
Mail order to:   Midwest Prairies
N1020 Vinnie Ha Ha Road
Fort Atkinson WI  53538
Please include Daytime Phone #

Orders must be received by April 15, 2000
Pick up plants on Saturday, May 20th from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. at
Stoppenbach Park
2 blocks east of the Courthouse in Jefferson.

Thanks C & L.  Minor correction below.
========== snip =====

As such, permaculture design concepts are applicable to
urban as well as rural settings, and are appropriate for single households
as well as whole farms and villages.  (taken from
http:www.attra.org/attr-pub/perma.html)

=========== Organization is:
ATTRA - Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas

Correct URL is
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/perma.html
=========

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Community email addresses:
   Post message: natbldg@onelist.com
   Subscribe:    natbldg-subscribe@onelist.com
   Unsubscribe:  natbldg-unsubscribe@onelist.com
   List owner:   natbldg-owner@onelist.com

Shortcut URL to this page:
   http://www.onelist.com/community/natbldg

Natural*Sustainable Building Support and Learning Group
Chuck Learned and Linda Farmer  clearned@...  (608-437-7244)  197
Henry St., Mt. Horeb, WI 53572

March 20, 2000

Meeting this Sunday, March 26, 4:00 at the Wil Mar Center 953 Jennifer St.,
Madison
	 Happy belated St. Patrick's Day!  We are going to continue the celebration
of the "green" next Sunday at our meeting. The topic of our meeting is
Permaculture.  The term permaculture (permanent & agriculture) was first
coined in 1972 by Bill Mollison an Australian ecologist and one of his
students David Holmgren when he could find no word for a type of agriculture
that did not deplete the land and could endure without constant human
inputs.  Its meaning has evolved for Bill to a design system for creating
sustainable human environments.  Below we have included some excerpts from
others who have written about permaculture.
	 Permaculture ... creates agriculturally productive ecosystems with the
stability, resilience and diversity of natural ecosystems.  It provides us
with the means to meet our needs for water, food shelter, energy and social
interaction through the assembly of beneficial relationships without
destroying the life community around us of which we are an inseparable part.
(Kirby Fry,  Cross Timbers Permaculture Institute)
	 Mutually beneficial plants and animals are placed in close proximity so
that they can meet their own and each other's needs as part of their own
natural behavior.  Inputs of labor, chemicals and raw materials are
minimized through the crafty placement of mutually supportive species of
animals and plants.  (Jack Rowe)
	 Our living environments can integrate home, land, natural and built systems
for greater sustainability and self-sufficiency, helping preserve natural
resources and resulting in dwellings more at one with nature.  Growing
numbers of people are seeking to build healthier, more organic, energy
efficient homes that become an integral part of nature - living environments
which integrate food gardens, water harvesting, treat waste water, create
wind breaks, wildlife corridors and animal habitats.  Integrated living
environments result in people co-existing with the rest of nature, and
contribute to healthier physical, social and spiritual life.  They let
nature do more of our work, saving human energy and money, while preserving
natural resources for the benefit of future generations. (mostly taken from
an article by Joe Matesi that was published in the Winter 1999 issue of "The
Last Straw".)
	 A central theme in permaculture is the design of ecological landscapes that
produce food.  Emphasis is placed on multi-use plants, cultural practices
such as sheet mulching and trellising, and the integration of animals to
recycle nutrients and graze weeds.  However, permaculture entails much more
than just food production.  Energy-efficient buildings, waste water
treatment, recycling, and land stewardship in general are other important
components of permaculture.  More recently, permaculture has expanded its
purview to include economic and social structures that support the evolution
and development of more permanent communities, such as co-housing projects
and eco-villages.  As such, permaculture design concepts are applicable to
urban as well as rural settings, and are appropriate for single households
as well as whole farms and villages.  (taken from
http:www.attra.org/attr-pub/perma.html)

As you can see from the descriptions above this ought to be an easy topic to
cover in a meeting!  Just kidding.  What we plan to do is have an
introduction by Jeff Foss who has been organizing a local permaculture group
and then have a few persons from our area who have been studying and/or
working with permaculture principals available to contribute to our
discussion and  answer questions.  We will try to have our discussion be
focussed on the interests of the group and practical applications for our
area.  Martin Jelenc, who plans to participate, said that talking about an
apple guild might be of interest to lots of people.  It should be fun and
informative.  Look forward to seeing you.  Directions:  Approaching from
12/18 exit John Nolen Drive, turn right on Williamson St., travel a few
blocks then turn right on Patterson, turn left on Jennifer.  Approaching
from Hwy 30, I94 or I90 get on to East Washington (151) travel towards the
capital, turn left on Baldwin, turn right on Jennifer which is one block
past Williamson St. There is a parking lot just east of the building.
Dinner afterwards:  Hey what do people want to do?  We have eaten out and we
have ordered pizzas.  If you have any suggestions or preferences you want to
mention before the meeting, give us a call.

Looking Towards This Year's Building Projects
We are doing some thinking about how best to support each other in building
projects and to provide hands on learning experiences.  If you are thinking
of any project - even a bench, now is the time to get in contact with us.
We have heard of a few projects already so we are planning on this being a
busy year.  We may want to have next month's meeting highlight up-coming
projects so get in touch with us soon!

Earthen Plastering
When we finish our siding project we will likely begin to do some earthen
plastering in our greenhouse addition.  If you are interested in being a
part of this please let us know.

Take care,
Chuck and Linda

Hi natural builder enthusiasts who are interested in permaculture, Jeff foss
has announced a meeting at his house in McFarland, hope to see you there.
Sorry about the late notice.
Chuck
-----Original Message-----
From: Foss _ [mailto:old_growth@...]
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2000 10:07 AM
To: perma_bag@...; mfarrior@...; clearned@...;
jpp@...; mnkludwig@...; pharmers@...; fayerock@...;
krishnakarryn@...
Subject: Permaculture Meeting!

Greetings all,
Thinking it was Permaculture Time again, hoping to do this once a month.
How does Sunday, March 5th at 4:45 in McFarland work for everyone?
Some ideas for topics of discussion:
Vermiculture,
Information booth in conjunction with the Natural Sustainable Building group
at the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair,
Future topics, and
where ever else the flow may move the group.

Please bring materials, hand-outs, resources, and references that you feel
are going to be beneficial for discussion.
I'm going to make a soup and some bread for everyone.  Don't feel it
necessary to bring anything but if you do great.
Directions:
>From Madison- Take Beltline to Hwy 51 south.  Go through McFarland (Farwell
Jnct), over Yahara river.  At Toddle In nursery (2/3 of a mile from Farwell
Jnct.), at base of hill, also Exchange St, take a left.  Winds back over
Yahara river, our house is on the right across from the Middle school
enterance.  Driveway just past the fire hydrant on the right.  The house is
a white 2-story farm house with big white barn.  We have the second story.
You can park on the street if needed.
Also, please foreward this out to other interested people.
Hope to see everyone soon,
Jeff




______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

Here are some further links from Mark at the Last Straw.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-strawbale-digest@...
[mailto:owner-strawbale-digest@...]
Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2000 4:00 AM
To: strawbale-digest@...
Subject: strawbale-digest V2 #1394


strawbale-digest       Wednesday, March 1 2000       Volume 02 : Number 1394


Messages in this digest:
  Urgh, *that* creep?! (was: Mark Piepkorn)
  Guess what!!! Off topic, but I don't care!
  Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 21:48:40 -0600
	 Big Doubts & R-value
  Re: Guess what!!! Off topic, but I don't care!
  Re: GAS OUT
  Re: Web-page
  Re: Having BIG doubts
	 vault pictures
  Re: vault pictures
  Re: Guess what!!! Off topic, but I don't care!
  Re: Guess what!!! 1904!!!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2000 19:36:51 -0700
From: Mark Piepkorn <duckchow@...>
Subject: Urgh, *that* creep?! (was: Mark Piepkorn)

"ROBERT OLIN" <jolin@...> wrote:
>
>I just want to say thanks for all the great reading.

No prob, Rob.
If you or anybody else would like more reading material, I just finished
uploading articles on Natural Building & The Building Codes, New Urbanism,
Habitat For Humanity's International Efforts, Intuitive Design, Feng Shui,
Barefoot Architecture, History of Cob, Compressed Earth Blocks, Adobe Oven,
Earthen Floor, Earthbags, Straw-Clay, Natural Paints, Bamboo, Solar
Distiller, Solar Water Heater, Composting Toilets, Solar Ovens and more to
http://www.networkearth.org/natural_building/colloquium.html
There's also the 20 or so (I think it's more) sample articles lurking in
the back-issue index of The Last Straw's website at
http://www.strawhomes.com

And let's not forget the bajillions of links at
http://www.networkearth.org/home/on_earth.html

The old standby Surfin' StrawBale got a teensy update recently courtesy
Sara Mock (she still astonishes me), see either
http://moxvox.com/surfsolo.html or http://mha-net.org/html/sblinks.htm
Oh, it's endless! So much info and I know so little of it... sigh...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Freewheeling autonomous speculation - Think!
I'm off the clock and on my own time, dig?
Mark Piepkorn (f.k.a. M J Epko)
<duckchow@...>
Kingston, New Mexico
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us
by what we have already done.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Kavanagh

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 20:22:45 -0700
From: Badget <calicobl@...>
Subject: Guess what!!! Off topic, but I don't care!

It's Leap Year Day!!   Oh, you knew that already?? Well, did you know
that's the first Leap Year Day of the Milennium??  Oh, you knew that
too, huh?  <Boy, you guys are hard to impress...>
Okay, then were you aware that this is the first Leap Year Day in 400 years
to begin a new century?  Well, geez, you folks really know your historical
events, doncha?  Well, Im gonna try one more tidbit, jest to see if anyone
is still reading....did you know that this Leap Year day is the first time
in four years, the first time this century, and the first time this
milennium that Ken and I have a real anniversary??  HAH!!  You mean I
finally surprised you?  Kewl!  It's our 32nd anniversary...or 8th, depending
on how you figger sech things!
Blooie, who is really happy tonight and jest wanted to share

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 21:48:40 -0600
From: "athie_jane" <athie_jane@...>
Subject: Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 21:48:40 -0600

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
- ------=_NextPart_000_03CA_01BF82FE.BD6E74E0 Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Hi,
We will be driving from Fort Worth to Las Vegas Mar 10 - 20.  If anyone  has
any SB projects they would like to show off we'd love to see them.   Anyone
who knows of some we might look at let us know.
Thanks
Jeff & Amy

- ------=_NextPart_000_03CA_01BF82FE.BD6E74E0 Content-Type: text/html;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"
http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META content="MSHTML 5.00.2614.3500" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>We will be driving from Fort Worth to Las Vegas
Mar 10 -
20.&nbsp; If anyone has any SB projects they would like to show off we'd
love to
see them.&nbsp; Anyone who knows of some we might look at let us
know.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Thanks</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Jeff &amp; Amy</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>

- ------=_NextPart_000_03CA_01BF82FE.BD6E74E0--

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 19:51:10 -0800
From: "Nehemiah I. Stone" <nistone@...>
Subject: Big Doubts & R-value

Chris and Rub Tum,
Instead of doing two posts, I will try to be really brief and get it into
one.
First, Chris: don't build straw bale if you can't feel good about it.  Don't
let anyone talk you into it - you are the one who will have to live with the
results.  That said, I am building straw bale myself and find that the task
is not more difficult, but it is slower and more interesting for me.  I
built the conventional way for years and find the details involved with SB
to be different but not harder.  No, it isn't cheaper; at least not if you
are building two story and want it to be a sound structure.  Now you could
ignore codes and inspectors and just do what you want with it, but  the same
could be said of stick frame.  Until the various trades get used to and
comfortable with SB, it will cost more.
If you really are looking for some way to get reinvigorated and enthused, I
have two suggestions:
1) Build a small straw bale structure (like a shed or coop).
2) Visit someone's straw bale home.
If neither of those convince you that SB is the way to go, then go some
other way.  Don't agonize over it though.
Rob,
The R-value is somewhere around R-33 for 22" (three string) bales and
somewhere around R-24 for 18" (two string) bales.  But that's not the whole
story.  Where the temperature swing day to night to day is significant, bale
walls perform more like R-45 and R-35, respectively, because of the long
thermal lag for heat to pass through them.  The test, which establishes the
R-value, is run with the temperatures inside and out being held at 70F and
0F, respectively for as long as it takes (over two weeks in the case of the
last test at Oak Ridge).  Except in your frozen north, that's not a very
likely scenario, so in the real world, by the time the heat almost reaches
the other surface, the temperature has changed and the heat is no longer
driven that way.
For a more in depth explanation, can I recommend the article I wrote for the
most recent TLS.  It says in two pages what I just hinted at here (and a
whole lot else).
Now, back to my little construction project ....
Nehemiah Stone
Stone Ranch
Penryn, CA
121 09' 17" west; 38 51' 39" north
hm <nistone@...>
- -----Original Message-----
From: strawbale-digest <owner-strawbale-digest@...>
To: strawbale-digest@... <strawbale-digest@...>
Date: Tuesday, February 29, 2000 2:00 AM

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 29 Feb 00 22:11:09 PST
From: "Mongo" <mongo@...>
Subject: Re: Guess what!!! Off topic, but I don't care!

> did you know that this Leap Year day
> is the first time in four years, the first time this century

To be exactly correct; the first Leap Day of this century occurred on Feb
29, 1904.
The first Leap Day of the next century will be on Feb 29, 2004.....
But an any rate,  HAPPY ANNIVERSARY !!!!!

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 29 Feb 00 22:03:46 PST
From: "Mongo" <mongo@...>
Subject: Re: GAS OUT

But what about people who drive Diesels???????

- ----------
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: Tim Steiger <tim.steiger@...>
> To: strawbale@...
> Subject: GAS OUT
> Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 11:30:53 -0600
>
> Three day "GAS OUT"
>
> Don't buy gas from April 7th through the 9th!
>
>
>   Gas Out
>
> Dear Friends and Loved Ones, Last year on April
> 30,1999, a gas out was staged across Canada and the
> U.S. to bring the price of gas down, and it worked.
> It's time to do something about it again. Only this
> time lets make it for three days instead of just
> one. The so-called oil cartel decided to slow
> production to drive up gasoline prices. Lets see how
> many Canadian and American people we can get to ban
> together for a three day period in April, NOT TO BUY
> ANY GASOLINE, during those three days.
> LET'S HAVE A GAS OUT. Do not buy any gasoline from
> APRIL 7, 2000, THROUGH APRIL 9, 2000. Buy what you
> need before the dates listed above, or after, but try
> not to buy any during the GAS OUT.
> If you want to help, just send this to everyone you
> know and ask them to do the same.  We brought the
> prices down once before, and we can do it again.
> Come on North America lets stand together. WE CAN
> MAKE A DIFFERENCE !
> Even if you receive this 100 times keep passing it
> around, this way you know everyone is being informed
> and no one will forget!
>
> ______________________________________________________
> Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
>

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 23:31:35 EST
From: "Scott Watts" <swscooter@...>
Subject: Re: Web-page

Is there a place on the web that maybe we all can send or upload pics to as
far as strawbale cont.

Scott Watts
3001 Lesslie Hwy.
Rock Hill, S.C. 29730
(803) 329-0152
ICQ # 63480849
swscooter@...

______________________________________________________
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------------------------------

Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 21:02:44 -0800
From: John Swearingen <john@...>
Subject: Re: Having BIG doubts

At 08:04 PM 2/28/00 -0800, you wrote:


>  Is SB easier? >  Cheaper?

Compared to low-end (non-custom) stick framing, SB is neither easier nor
cheaper.  "Economy" grade stick-frame is as cheap as it gets, and if you
already know how to do it, there's not much learning curve.

The added cost of the wider
>foundation, the stucco, the plans, etc are bringing the costs above what
>we predicted to build a comparable house from sticks.

The wider foundation and roof, I once calculated, adds 3% to the cost and
what you get is nice thick walls that filter light elegantly.  You also get
good insulation, but you could double-frame sticks and superinsulate for the
same or less.  Other features, such as stucco, add to the longevity and
performance of the house, and reduce long-term maintanance costs. You pay
for what you get.  You can (and many do) pay extra for stucco and interior
plaster on stick-frame houses as well.  But it's not often done when the
bottom line is the main criteria.

>  Environmentally friendly? Well yes, and no, and maybe. IF you can use
>locally grown straw, and if your plasters can be made from locally
>available materials, and if etc etc. From what we can tell of the local
>code we might end up with almost as much lumber in a SB as in a stick.

Environmental friendliness includes energy consumption (heat and cooling),
and the environmental impact of creating, delivering and using materials.
Environmental impact includes whether or not you die from having the stuff
in your house.  SB ranks high on all those charts and is an excellant use of
a waste material.
>And insulation? This one keeps being debated back and forth on the list
>so that newbies like ourselves are now pretty confused. We are building
>passive solar. But if the extra expense/width of a SB wall is mostly
>unused interior mass with very little thermal storage than why use it?

As I said, you could create insulation by double-studding a wall and putting
in lots of fiberglass.  However, straw bales do a variety of tasks all at
once, and insulation is only one:
insulation
support for roof
support for stucco
support for plaster
moisture/vapor mechanics
seismic loads
sound attenuation
light diffusion
niches
shelves at windows
texture and body to walls
solid vs. hollow feeling

So the equation is not as simple as Dollars or R-value....
>  Problems problems problems...... we know what we are getting into with
>stick . With SB we are suddenly fearful of what the wind, rain, and snow
>will do to our walls.

You might feel more confident with stick, but even after hundreds of
millions of stick houses have been built, there are still numerous failures.
Do we know enough to build all the safeguards in
>to eliminate moisture problems? No.

Why not?
Do we know what the snow will do to
>stucco? No.

There is plenty of information on stucco in cold climates.
but we do know there are NO other stucco houses in these
>hills.

But there are stucco houses in other, similar (or worse) environments.
Can we afford the expertise of some of the wonderful builders on
>this list? Unfortunately, No.

Too bad :)
> So here is a question for all of you. Why, as newbies unfamiliar with
>SB, and given all the above mentioned topics, Why should we build with
>SB?  In answering this question you might get a sense of what  is
>keeping SB from becoming a mainstream form of building.

The answers are pretty clear:
Conventional construction has been created and driven by developers and the
real estate industry to give people certain key things, which amount to as
little as possible.  So it's efficient, cheap and appears to be substantial.
You, the building consumer, get to choose paint colors and what design toxic
flooring you want installed.  If your criteria are cost and efficiency and
quality as has been defined by real estate developers, then sticks are for
you!
However, if you have other criteria...adventure, environmental, aesthetic,
and if would like a building which doesn't look and feel like it came from a
factory, but fits you like an old coat, than straw-bale is a real bargin!


>  As for me, I am about as depressed and tired as possible. I am almost
>done with the battle of fighting through the muck of knowledge needed. I
>am tired of convincing the other half, as well as others, that SB is
>really the best way to go when I am not sure I believe it anymore
>myself. Re-enthuse me please! Convince me again that this is the best
>way to build...........

There is no best way to build.  Do it if you want to, to hell with the
reasons :).
John
>Chris (in cold and snowy So Cal)
>
>
>
>
John Swearingen
Skillful Means-Architecture and Construction

We invite you to visit our web site at: http://www.skillful-means.com

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 16:33:14 -0800
From: Mikal Jakubal <mjakubal@...>
Subject: vault pictures

Hi y'all. Or as we say in California, "like, yo! dudes!,
Here are URL's for a few photos of my vault. If you just want to see the
most completed phase, go to the last one. Or maybe view them in reverse
order, sort of like taking the thing apart. It might make more sense that
way. As soon as I get around to it (that is, as soon as it starts raining
again), there will be a whole bunch of pics posted at strawbalecentral, with
full captions, construction notes and the like.
http://www.strawbalecentral.com/sb/jakubal/04.jpg
First bales going in. Lower falsework, gabion foundation and interior rebar
visible.
http://www.strawbalecentral.com/sb/jakubal/05.jpg
This shows the first floor walls and buttress layout. The grey stuff is
clay/wheat paste slip coat, not cement. South is to the right in photo.
http://www.strawbalecentral.com/sb/jakubal/a1.jpg
Temporary loft floor and upper falsework. Note that beams are fully
load-bearing on buttresses. When finished, loft space will be divided into
three sections: the East end (farthest away in photo) will be the sleeping
area; the West end will be an office or maybe extra bedroom; and the middle
bay will be open to the full ceiling height (about 17' from the floor).
Lofts are full stand-up height, about 14' across at the floor level.

http://www.strawbalecentral.com/sb/jakubal/f1.jpg
Upper vault under construction. Note mesh and rebar ribs over the falsework.
"Bale-o-veyor" in foreground (the other end is sitting up on the bale pile).
<http://www.strawbalecentral.com/sb/jakubal/k1.jpg>http://www.strawbalecent
ral.com/sb/jakubal/k1.jpg Ridge being built. Arched doorway is main entry.
Gaps between bales are skylights in middle bay, where it will be open to the
peak.
<http://www.strawbalecentral.com/sb/jakubal/11.jpg>http://www.strawbalecent
ral.com/sb/jakubal/11.jpg Structure with all the bales up (New Year's, or
so). Large window to West will be a bench/bed with two sets of opening
casement windows. Note that every bit of wood in photo except the beams will
eventually come out! The bales will stand on their own (...I hope). The two
wooden boxes up near the ridge are 1/2-bale-sized skylights, one for each
loft. Overall dimensions: inside main room, 16' x 40'; ground to outside
ridge peak, 20'. I still haven't decided how to roof over the buttresses. My
favorite plan is to do smaller cross-vaults over them. The sway-back look of
the ridge is just wide-angle lens distortion; the ridge is actually quite
straight. At present, the whole thing has a giant, temporary gable roof
built over it, covered with battened down tarps.
So, whaddaya think? Who wants to build a vault?

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2000 09:16:09 +0200
From: "Sarah Kopp" <kopp@...>
Subject: Re: vault pictures

Absolutely stunning pictures!  And sparked a thought or two -
Here in israel there are many stone vaults built by Arabs during the Ottoman
rule.  Before I decided on sb I was thinking of building a dome house - but
modern domes do not really resemble vaults.
Anyway, the Arabs used to build these vaults, from 4 - 6 meters in hight, by
piling up huge mountains of dirt and building the vault over it, then
excavating the dirt - really!  I did not believe this until I saw historical
photos of people carting baskets of dirt out of a vault.
So, remember haystacks?  could a hay or strawstack be used as a form for
building a vault of other materials, even strawbales?  even stone, perhaps,
if the stack was first sprayed with something like shotcrete or gunnite or
whatever?  Stone vault building is essentially a lost art here in Israel
because it is so labor intensive, but they are so so beautiful.  Of course I
have heard that stacking hay or straw is a real skill which may already be
lost - anyone know how to do it?
The point would be to get a vault without using supportive ribs of another
material but letting the wall material support itself through load
displacement due to its shape, right?  Less materials, more fun? I am always
thinking of how we can do really good restoration work here - stone walls
vaults are one of the great challenges but my sb walls covered with plaster
look astonishingly like plastered stone walls in the Old City and are much
lighter weight and hopefully more comfortable to live within.
Sarah

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2000 09:23:40 +0200
From: "Sarah Kopp" <kopp@...>
Subject: Re: Guess what!!! Off topic, but I don't care!

Happy Happy day and many many more!
Did you know that the Jewish calendar has a leap year over second and third
year respectively?  And that we get a whole extra month instead of an extra
day?  This is a leap year for us too and we are now in the end of the first
month of Adar - the second month of Adar begins on Wednesday the 8th of
March.  The year, by the way is 5760.
While I'm at it - Pharoah didn't tell the Jews to make bricks without straw,
he told them he would no longer supply it.  They were forced to meet the
same building quotas with the added burden of having to collect and chop the
straw themselves.  It got so bad that many men divorced their wives,
claiming it was a sin to bring children into a life of such arduous
suffering.
One fun thing my adobe architect David did last year was to get a bunch of
kids in his neighborhood building little pyramids out of adobe bricks during
the Passover holiday - the holiday that celebrates our release from Egyptian
bondage!
Sarah
Tsfat, Israel

- -----Original Message-----
From: Badget <calicobl@...>
To: strawbale <strawbale@...>
Date: éĺí řáéňé 01 îřő 2000 07:41
Subject: Guess what!!! Off topic, but I don't care!


>It's Leap Year Day!!   Oh, you knew that already?? Well, did you know
>that's the first Leap Year Day of the Milennium??  Oh, you knew that
>too, huh?  <Boy, you guys are hard to impress...>
>
>Okay, then were you aware that this is the first Leap Year Day in 400
>years to begin a new century?  Well, geez, you folks really know your
>historical events, doncha?  Well, Im gonna try one more tidbit, jest to
>see if anyone is still reading....did you know that this Leap Year day
>is the first time in four years, the first time this century, and the
>first time this milennium that Ken and I have a real anniversary??
>HAH!!  You mean I finally surprised you?  Kewl!  It's our 32nd
>anniversary...or 8th, depending on how you figger sech things!
>
>Blooie, who is really happy tonight and jest wanted to share
>

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 23:46:04 -0800
From: crtaylor <tms@...>
Subject: Re: Guess what!!! 1904!!!

>> did you know that this Leap Year day
>> is the first time in four years, the first time this century
>
>To be exactly correct; the first Leap Day of this century
>occurred on Feb 29, 1904.
>


Ahahahah...this is why my  software for MS Excell kept putting in 1904
yesterday!!!
Y2K bit me afterall...but jest a wee sting, I was able to deftly, with a
single wrist action twist, type the correct date! ha!
Charmaine R. Taylor
Taylor Publishing 1-888-441-1632 9-2PST
PO Box 6985,Eureka CA 95502
http://www.northcoast.com/~tms


------------------------------

End of strawbale-digest V2 #1394
********************************

Here are a few more articles worth your time. Don't forget the meeting today
and check out www.balewatch.com and find your favorite designs and bring
them in and tell us why! 4pm Wilmar Center.
Chuck
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2000 14:25:22 -0700
From: Mark Piepkorn <duckchow@...>
Subject: Earth Plasters and Aliz

Presenter's Statement on Earth Plasters and Aliz for Spring Colloquium 1997
by Carol Crews

A clay slip, known to some as an aliz, is used on an earth-plastered wall
almost like paint is used on other surfaces. The purpose is to seal and
beautify the surface. After it has become soiled or damaged, another coat
may easily be applied to renew its fresh look. Traditionally, the Aliz was
applied with a sheepskin in a very thin layer. This was done as a part of
spring cleaning after a winter of woodsmoke, often using the skin of a
spring lamb which had been killed for food. In Taos, the favorite material
was a micaceous pearly-grey clay called Tierra Blanca found in a cave south
of town. The finish work on adobe buildings was traditionally women's
domain, and many vintage photos portray this activity.
The oldest example I've seen of a clay slip not used in pottery was in an
Anasazi cave in the Tsankawi ruins. On the floor under two inches of dust
was an intact layer of peachy-colored clay sealing the coarse graininess of
the tufa cave. In Africa and India the use of clay slips for decorative work
on houses is well documented. Earthen architecture is the most basic and
common known to man in most of the world, but the accessibility of cement
and cinder-blocks are causing people to value their traditional methods
less. They want to try out what they think is a more permanent and therefore
better means of construction. This is very apparent in Mexico where people
associate mud dwellings with poverty, and prefer the status of concrete
buildings despite their failure to moderate temperatures.
Modernization has definitely affected the use of clay finishes here in Taos.
Even at the Pueblo, some people are buying latex paint for their interior
walls instead of using the old techniques. Wherever there is a leak the
paint peels off, revealing dark mud beneath. Paint keeps the wall from
"breathing" properly, or more technically correct, its ability to transpire
moisture without it being trapped against a barrier of a more impermeable
substance. Clay slips on the interior and mud plasters on the exterior allow
an earthen structure to absorb moisture and then dry out again without
creating major problems.
A big lesson was learned at the famous St. Francis de Assisi Church in
Ranchos de Taos when it was coated with cement plaster in 1967. The plaster
cracked and allowed moisture to go deep into the adobes and stay there,
unable to dry out again. Large sections of the buttresses had to be rebuilt,
and the community has now gone back to annual renewal of the mud plaster -
which not only keeps the church building in beautiful condition, but
strengthens neighborhood ties as well.
Before sharing the details of clay slips with you, I will briefly explain
the basics of plastering the wall with mud.
Clay is essential for stickiness, so first you must locate some. Do a shake
test by placing your sifted earth in a jar of water with salt added and
shaking it up thoroughly. When it settles, the clay will be the top layer,
the silt is in the middle, and the heavier particles of sand will have sunk
to the bottom. Plaster dirt should be at least 20% clay. Even at this
percentage, you may wish to add manure or flour paste to make it stickier.
When plastering straw bales, I find it easiest to first spread a thin layer
of mud with a high clay content and no additional sand or straw on the bales
to lock into the straw and provide a surface upon which the next layer can
adhere. If you use this technique on tight bales, you can avoid using stucco
netting. Even when chicken wire or lathe are used, the smooth mud will
penetrate the metal and leave no air spaces to cause future cracks. You
don't have to wait for this to dry before adding the thicker layer of
plaster with straw added.
On rough cob or adobe and for the next layer on strawbales, I like to use a
plaster with high clay content and lots of straw mixed to a slippery,
easily-spreadable consistency. This can be applied with the hands to a
dampened wall and is very good for filling in depressions. (It gets rid of
your own depression too, because it feels so good to sling that mud around.)
The condition of your walls and how much shaping they need will determine
whether to use long straw, chopped straw or a combination. The thicker the
layer needs to be, the more long straw it should have. Don't trowel this
layer down smooth, but get it as flat as you can with your hands and let it
dry out thoroughly. It will make lots of little cracks and provide a perfect
surface for the next layer to adhere to.
Always try out an earth plaster you are not familiar with by making a test
patch of several square feet. Clays differ in their shrinkage rates, and if
it cracks too much you need to add sand and more straw. I've seen some
plasters dry into the sort of cracks you find on the bottom of a dry lake
bed and fall off the wall. This happens more often to a trowelled surface
because there is less surface area to release moisture than if it's left
rough. If the dry plaster is very soft when you scratch it, it has too much
silt or sand and needs more clay, fresh manure and/or flour paste, which
makes long-straw plaster very good for the outside of a building.
In India, the Middle East, and elsewhere, it was discovered long ago that
old stinky mud works better than fresh mud, and so it is mixed in a pit with
animal manure and other wastes and left to "ripen." This causes the
molecules of clay to line up as closely as they can, improving wet
plasticity and dry toughness. The same principle is well known in
pottery-making.
The next layer is the final coat before the Aliz, and if your adobe, cob,
rammed earth, pumice-crete or straw/clay walls are even, as I know the last
three surely will be, this is the only layer of plaster you may need. If you
are using a found adobe-dirt clay, sift it through a quarter-inch or
window-screen size mesh and add an equal part of medium- to fine-grained
sand to it. Add about 1/4 to 1/3 the dry ingredients' volume of chopped
straw. This should be easily workable, sticky enough to adhere well to the
dampened wall, and wet enough to trowel on easily but not so wet that it's
hard to pick up. Robert LaPorte recommends adding a small amount of cooking
oil to the mixture to make it slide on more smoothly, and I find it does
make a positive difference. Disks of plastic cut from the tops of coffee
cans, yogurt containers or whatever, are a useful tool for going around
curves and "bullnosing" around windows and doors. If you have gathered a
more pure clay that is in lumps, it's best to soak it and make a slip by
stirring it into water. A paint mixing tool put on the end of a drill
simplifies this job as long as the lumps are not so big they would jar the
tool. Add fine sand to the thick clay slip until it is the right
consistency - up to 70%, depending on the clay - and then add the straw to
it.
To apply this plaster in preparation for a clay slip, you need a trowel, a
tile sponge, and a bucket of water. I prefer to work from a bucket of
plaster rather than a hawk so that I can use both hands and don't wear out
my arm holding the awkward hawk... though I know most professional
plasterers would disagree. I wear rubber gloves, scoop some plaster onto the
trowel and apply it to the dampened wall like icing on a cake. I cover about
a square yard at a time without worrying about smooth perfection.  Then I go
on to the next yard. When I finish that, I go back to the first yard, which
has had time to "set up" a bit, and smooth it out with the sponge. A
floating tool could also be used, but this seems to leave the surface
rougher. The sponge leaves a perfect, fine-grained "tooth" for the Aliz to
bind with. If it's still too wet to sponge smooth, wait a little longer. If
you want to leave the plaster without a clay slip, you can trowel it hard
and smooth at this point, spraying it lightly with a squirt bottle as you
go.
A very fine finish plaster can also be made without straw, to be applied in
a thin layer to a wall which is quite flat already. If clay is hard for you
to find, you can purchase it at a pottery supply store. White Kaolin, which
we use for slips, can also be used for plasters. If you're less concerned
about color, and planning to put a slip over it anyway, ball clay of a grey
color is very good in plaster because it has greater plasticity and dries
somewhat harder than Kaolin. Either mix the fine dry sand (70%) and clay
(30%) together first and then add water, or mix the clay and water into a
slip first and then add the sand. Don't forget the splash of oil for
workability. Proportions may vary somewhat depending upon your sand.
And now for my favorite part, the final clay slip, or Aliz. I use white
Kaolin and ground mica as my major ingredients. Often I add a small amount
of fine sand, especially to the first coat to make it thicker and fill in
any small irregularities in the plaster surface.
I use cooked flour paste as a binder in the proportion of 20% to 25% of the
liquid. To cook the flour paste, set a 2/3-full pot of water to boil on the
stove. In a mixing bowl, whisk together equal parts cheap white flour and
cold water. When the pot of water comes to a rolling boil, pour in the flour
and water mixture and stir it well with your wisk. It should thicken
immediately and become somewhat translucent. Don't keep cooking it or it
will scorch. The proportion of all the water to the flour is approximately
four to one.
I understand that gum arabic also works well as a binder, but I haven't
tried it yet. I have used Elmer's glue on occasion to give the first coat
more strength over a weak plaster. Instant flour paste can be purchased as
wallpaper paste. Milk products also act as a binder, buttermilk being best.
To mix the Aliz, you will need a container at least as large as a 5-gallon
bucket, and a big wisk or a paint-mixing attachment on the end of a drill.
Start with 3 parts water to 1 part cooked flour paste in the bucket to
approximately 3/5 full. Use a saucepan, coffee can (or whatever) for a
scoop, and start adding the ingredients proportionally. Recipes vary
according to the surface and whether people love mica or not, but generally
I use three scoops of white Kaolin, two scoops ground mica (or more), and
one scoop (more or less) of fine sand.
Sand is mainly for the first coat, or if mica is not available. Be careful
not to breathe the fine particles of dust and mica, or wear a dust mask
while mixing. Keep adding these ingredients until the mixture is the same
thickness as heavy unwhipped cream. You may have to add a bit more water to
achieve this. Sodium Silicate is an ingredient used in slip-casting to keep
the particles of clay afloat in the water, and is useful in this context as
well. A very small amount is required. It will also thicken the mixture
somewhat, as will powdered milk which also makes the final product a little
tougher.
Colored clays or pigments may be added to create different colors. The
colored clays would replace Kaolin in the recipe, and pigments should be
soaked in water, if not actually ground, to prevent color spots from showing
up. The earth pigments sold to color concrete are quite suitable for our
purposes too.
If mold might be a problem, add a little dissolved borax powder.
I love to add larger chips of mica to the mix, but they are not commercially
available as far as I know. (If anyone out there knows of a source, please
let me know.) If you can find large flakes of mica with no rock attached and
want them smaller, chop them up in the blender with plenty of water. Bits of
chopped straw are a popular addition to the Aliz too.
Bags of ground mica are available through KMG Minerals (PO Box 130, Velarde
NM 87582; phone 505 852-2727) at $10 per 50-lb. bag, but shipping costs are
high. The V-115 is the largest grain currently available, and gives a
visible sparkle to the surface. The 1-1-17 is the next largest grade and has
a more subtle sheen. Mica-200 is finely powdered and offers no sparkle at
all, but improves the texture and thickens the mix. If it's easily
available, mica makes a lovely addition to finish plasters as well as clay
slips, and adds to their workability. It is like a molecularly flat sand
which is smooth instead of gritty. It's a major ingredient in joint compound
and is also used as a lubricant in drilling oil wells. I have appreciated
this quality of mica when sculpting with sticky mud. Just dip your hands in
a pan of mica frequently to keep the mud from sticking to them. (KMG should
hire me as a salesperson.)
You will need a few tools to apply the Aliz to your wall: a 3- or
4-inch-wide brush, a one-inch brush for edges (natural bristles are best),
two small buckets, and a fine-grained tile sponge. Sheepskins work, but I
find them slippery to hold on to and the coat of slip is not as evenly
applied.
Do not moisten the wall first. Make sure it is completely dry, because damp
plaster will leave water stains. Start brushing at the top of the wall so
you don't mess up your fresh work with drips. Cover the floor with drop
cloths. If the wood of your window edges and lintels is rough, tape it first
to save yourself cleaning work. If it's smooth and painted, the slip can be
wiped off easily while it's still wet. Use the small brush for edges, or
another way is to mix some of the slip with extra sand in a small container
and apply it to edges with a palette knife. In small curvy areas, sometimes
I mix the Aliz a bit thicker and apply it with my hands, and often at the
bottom of the wall I use the sponge to dip out some slip and slide it up the
wall, starting at the base.
Most walls require two coats. Make sure the first one is completely dry
before applying the second one. When the second coat starts to dry and look
mottled, becoming "leather-hard," take your sponge and a bucket of warm
water and polish the finish in circular strokes with the squeezed-out
sponge. Rinse and squeeze out your sponge often so that it will cleanly
polish off the mica flakes and bits of straw (if you have chosen to put them
in). Polishing smooths out the brush strokes and gives the surface a finer
texture. You can even dry-polish it again later with a rag to get off any
last bits of sand and polish the mica to a greater sheen.
When you are finished with your job, save the leftovers by drying them into
"cookies". These may be stored, then soaked and used to repair any small
damages.
I can't emphasize enough the need for trials and experimentation in this
type of work. There are many variables in Mother Nature's materials, so
never take them for granted. I haven't gone into the various additions like
psyllium husks, cactus juice and micro-fibers here, but they are things that
can be used. Happy Mudding!

* * * * *

Carol Crews, Gourmet Adobe; HC 78 Box 9811, Ranchos de Taos NM 87557

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2000 14:26:30 -0700
From: Mark Piepkorn <duckchow@...>
Subject: The Straw Bale Earthen House

This article ran in The Last Straw (see http://www.strawhomes.com ) about
four years ago.

* * * * *

The Straw Bale Earthen House
by Athena and Bill Steen

There is an old saying, "an adobe without straw is like a person without a
soul." That is not to say that it is impossible to make a good adobe without
straw, but speaks of the long-standing relationship between the two
materials that is as old as anyone can remember. Earthen materials and
natural fibers have a strong affinity for one another. They preserve and
protect one another. In combination with earthen materials, natural fibers
such as straw increase tensile strength and help control shrinkage and
cracking. The addition of earth or clay to natural fibers brings about a
significant increase in fire, water, and insect resistance.
In contrast, natural fibers decay when they come into contact with highly
alkaline substances like concrete, especially in hot, humid environments.
For that reason natural fibers are not used to reinforce concrete without
additives or modifications that neutralize the negative effects of the
alkalinity.
Prior to the publication of our book, The Straw Bale House, most of our work
with straw consisted of building with it in its bundled and compressed
form - i.e., bales. Over the past three years, the beneficial relationship
between earth and straw has increasingly captured our imagination. For us,
the above statement with a slight twist would be true: "A straw bale
building without adobe is like a person without a soul." The two substances
are so compatible that we find it increasingly difficult to conceive of
using one material without the other, and in the process have discovered a
world of seemingly unending possibilities in the combination of earth and
natural fibers.
Our most recent straw bale structures have become earthen/straw-bale
hybrids. Once the straw-bale walls have been stacked, we use traditional
English Cob, a wet earthen mix with a high concentration of straw, to fill
all the cavities and joints in the bale walls. Cob is like an adobe mix, but
with as much straw as the mud mixture can accept before it fails to bind. We
often draw on the same material to shape window and door openings, create
moldings, or form extensions or shelves that grow from the walls.  The same
mix of earth and straw has allowed us to create highly curved sculptural
interior walls, bancos for seating, as well as free-form fireplaces.
When there are larger spaces in a wall that need to be filled but are too
small for a bale to fit, we often choose a mix of loose straw coated with a
clay slip. Popularized in Germany over 400 years ago, this is known as
Leichtlehm, or "light clay." This mixture of straw and clay is most commonly
packed into slip forms, creating walls that are essentially "rammed straw."
Unlike rammed earth however, it requires no heavy machinery, and less
intensive form work. It can be used to create thin exterior or interior
walls, insulation and ceiling panels between rafters, load-bearing
components between floor joists with second stories, or insulation below
adobe floors. The straw/clay provides less insulation than bales, but offers
greater flexibility in constructing walls of different widths. Packed into
adobe brick forms, straw/clay can also make lightweight blocks.
We often use straw/clay to fill smaller framed wall sections where bales
would take up too much space - for example, in south walls with large
expanses of glass, or in gabled ends. Above window and door frames is
another place we often use this mixture, with one of the most recent
examples being a beveled window opening with a rising arch built of split
bamboo and filled above with straw/clay.
Our pursuit of more knowledge about this wonderful material brought us into
contact with German earth builder Frank Andreson, who widened our world of
clay and natural fiber combinations to include clay/wood-chips,
clay/sawdust/straw, wattle-and-daub, clay/water-reed/burlap-panels, as well
as marvelous natural clay plasters with natural fiber lathing and
reinforcement systems.
These combinations of earth and straw have accompanied us over the past few
years to Ciudad Obregon, Mexico, a modern agricultural city in the state of
Sonora, which is annually overwhelmed with the burning of almost a million
acres of straw. Together with Mexican co-workers and friends Teodoro and
Emiliano Lopez, and members of a neighborhood called Aves de Castillo, we
have been stretching these earth and fiber combinations to new limits for
creating ultra-low income housing and shelter. The last structure we
completed was a simple rectangular, load-bearing straw bale structure with
parapets of straw/clay and a unique flat roof constructed of small wood
beams, carrizo (an abundant, bamboo-like reed) and a straw/clay roof
coating. This little room (with electricity, no plumbing) cost a respectable
$1.75 a square foot when completed - clearly competitive with the cardboard,
corrugated asphalt paper, and pallet-wood shacks of the surrounding area.
Approximately half of the $1.75 per square foot went for the wood window and
door frames. The straw/clay mix on the roof was coated with a mix of white
cement, powdered marble (marmolina) and an acrylic waterproofing agent.
Since this building was finished, another small structure built entirely of
load-bearing straw/clay bricks has been completed.
Adobe block used for interior walls and bancos (seating) has proven to be an
excellent way of providing thermal mass for structures with straw bale
walls. Straw bales can be used to create super-efficient passive solar
buildings, but they need the addition of adequate thermal mass to store the
heat gained during the day from the sun. Several years ago, we built small
passive solar straw-bale guest house that uses a combination
adobe-interior-wall/banco for thermal mass. By using adobe, we were able to
create a beautiful, sculptural, curved wall that was quickly constructed and
perfectly fit the space while providing the mass we needed to make the
building perform as intended.
Earthen plasters have been used extensively in many countries for many
centuries. We have found earthen plasters to be an excellent covering for
straw-bale walls. An almost inseparable bond is formed between the plaster
and the bales as the mud mix becomes completely integrated with the straw.
Earthen plasters are breathable, allowing whatever moisture may be in the
bale walls to escape. There may be no other building material capable of
regulating moisture levels as effectively as earth, which continually
absorbs and releases moisture as necessary. Being a flexible, forgiving
material, like straw bales, earthen plasters are easier to repair than
harder surfaces like cement. They can be applied by hand or machine to the
bales directly, without wire reinforcement. We do trim with a chainsaw the
"folded" side of the bales to ensure a good bond between the earthen mix and
the straw. By screening this loose straw through 1/4" hardware screen, we
also are able to make all the short-length straw we need to add to the
plaster mix.
We typically stabilize the exterior plaster with the gel from the prickly
pear cactus, commonly known as nopal in the Southwest; however other
materials such as linseed oil, lime, or polymer-based products like concrete
bonder can also be used. If more weather resistance is needed, we use one or
two coats of lime plaster over the initial coats of mud, in much the same
way that German straw/clay buildings are plastered.
Straw and earth also can make a soft, insulating, and beautiful floor which,
if done carefully, can be sufficiently durable for most domestic
applications. The use of straw/clay between floor joists for a second story
floor base also allows the use of an earthen finish floor. Our own
experience over the years, coupled with extensive interviews with other
builders of earthen floors, has yielded methods of constructing earthen
floors that we feel are suitable for most climates and conditions.
A lingering dream of using straw thatch roofs is also beginning to come to
fruition. During the past year, we have worked with thatchers from the
southern Mexican state of Tlaxcala (where thatching with rye is still in
practice), and with English thatcher Aaron Greenwood. The first step in
reviving this beautiful art has been securing old long-stemmed varieties of
grain that are suitable for thatch roof construction. We are currently in
the process of growing out crops of some of these special varieties for use
on upcoming projects. Some of this straw will be used in Mexico, while the
rest of it will be reserved for a five-week training program that Aaron will
be conducting during the summer of 1997.
It's truly an amazing experience to watch these two materials - straw and
clay - combine to create almost every facet of an entire building. By
viewing building as a process of combining different-but-complementary
materials rather than adhering to a particular building system, we have
given ourselves the freedom to create structures that respond to a wide
variety of contexts and circumstances. They can be elegant or simple, quick
or detailed, inexpensive or costly, and probably most importantly, they can
be built from predominantly local materials in whatever combination best
matches the local climate. Like the rest of life, building can be much more
fulfilling when founded on a good relationship. For us, viewing building as
a process of combining earth with natural fibers has led to an unfolding of
options and possibilities that would not be open to us if we were to remain
simply straw bale builders.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Freewheeling autonomous speculation - Think!
I'm off the clock and on my own time, dig?
Mark Piepkorn (f.k.a. M J Epko)
<duckchow@...>
Kingston, New Mexico
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
... they feel that they are being mocked and that
their values are being attacked at the very root;
they hurl curses about in every direction and pull
the blanket of their education up over their ears.
- Hermann Hesse, Language

Mark Piepkorn, editor of the Last Straw just posted a wonderful array of
important articles from experts in the field. I highly recommend you read
and save this material. If you are on the strawbale listserve, delete now.
Chuck

Messages in this digest:
  The Role of Straw-Bale Wall Finishes
  For Love Of Mud
  Earth Plasters & Strawbale

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2000 14:18:11 -0700
From: Mark Piepkorn <duckchow@...>
Subject: The Role of Straw-Bale Wall Finishes

	 The following article by John Straube is in the next issue of The Last
Straw (see http://www.strawhomes.com ), which will be mailing in a couple
weeks.

	 The issue was guest-edited by Athena and Bill Steen, who put together a
stunningly good piece of work. They not only handled content, but were
given the reins on layout. Originally intended to cover the topic of
plasters in general, they compiled so much information on that broad topic
that they decided instead to focus principally on lime and wall coverings
philosophically (for want of a better word). An issue dedicated to earthen
plaster is in the offing, as yet unscheduled.

	 Besides the following article, other features include Mike Tate of GenLime
discussing how to select lime products for building; an excellent interview
with Harry Francis on the history and current production of lime in the US
(which contains much more useful and interesting info than the title might
suggest); an excerpt from the National Lime Association Handbook from 1923
about preparing lime for use; an article about finding and using waste
limes from industrial processes; stabilizing lime with nopales; a very good
reprinted article from Designer/Builder magazine featuring British lime
expert Jeremy Sharpe titled Successful Lime Plaster; notes on fresco
techniques and traditional lime-ash floors; an informative piece on
stabilizing earthen materials with lime (by Harry Francis); an article from
Rob Tom titled Keeping Straw Bale Walls Dry which discusses various
techniques and their relative merits (or lack thereof); and more.

* * * * *

The Role of Straw-Bale Wall Finishes
by John Straube

Wall finishes are widely misunderstood in the building industry and even
more so in straw-bale buildings. The reason for the confusion is simple -
the multiple functions of building finishes are rarely considered. This
article will examine the fundamental requirements of the building
enclosure, and then discuss the role that straw-bale finishes play in
fulfilling these requirements.

The building enclosure is the physical part of a building that separates
the interior space from the exterior; and it has at least three more
specific functions:

1. Control, regulate and moderate the flow of matter and energy between the
interior and exterior (e.g., heat, air, moisture, sound, fire, insects,
solar radiation, etc.).

2. Support, transfer and/or accommodate structural forces imposed by the
interior and exterior environment (e.g., wind, snow, earthquake, gravity,
people), or from within the enclosure (e.g., shrinkage, expansion, creep).

3. Finish the interface of the enclosure with the interior and exterior
environments to meet comfort, esthetic, and functional requirements (e.g.,
colour, texture, pattern, reflectance, abrasion resistance, etc.).

In many cases, an additional building requirement is imposed on the
enclosure to distribute services such as power, telephone, water, gas, and
even conditioned air.

One of the appeals of straw-bale walls is that they create a building
enclosure with good performance out of as little as two materials: plaster
skins and a straw-bale core. In modern building enclosures, many different
materials are used to fulfill all the functions of the enclosure. For
example, a typical wood-frame wall might use the following layers:

vinyl siding - controls rain and sun, supports wind and impact, and
finishes exterior with colour, 	 texture, pattern, abrasion resistance

air space - controls rain and water vapour

building paper - controls air, rain, water vapour

sheathing - provides support to the outer layers and to the structure, and
controls air

batt insulation - controls heat flow

vapour barrier - controls water vapour diffusion flow

drywall - controls air flow, fire, and sound; and supports the finish

paint or skim coat plaster - provides a finish of the appropriate colour,
texture, pattern, etc.

To many people, the paint or drywall is the interior finish and the vinyl
siding is the exterior finish. As can be seen, these layers actually have
other functions to perform in a successful building enclosure, and many
performance problems can be created if finishes are substituted without
regard for their control and support functions. For example, replacing the
drywall with wood paneling will dramatically reduce the fire resistance of
the wall. Paneling over drywall would not, since the paneling is replacing
only the paint in terms of functionality in this example.

A straw-bale wall has fewer layers, and so each layer must perform more of
the functions, e.g.:

exterior plaster - controls rain, sun, water vapour, insects, sound, fire
(from the outside), impact/abrasion, and supports impact and structural
loads

straw bales - control heat flow in service and during fire, and supports
and transfers structural loads

interior plaster - controls air flow, water vapour, fire, sound,
impact/abrasion, etc.

Therefore, if one is considering a "finish" for a straw bale wall, the
control and support functions required by the wall design must be
considered. A drywall interior finish does not provide any support, does
not protect the straw from rodents and insects that enter at unforeseen
flaws, and will not prevent the circulation of airflow within the straw
bales in cold weather or during a fire.

The number of finishes that have been used for straw-bale walls is rather
large, and the differences between them are more than skin deep.

Bonded and unbonded

An important initial classification of the range of finishes is that of
bonded and unbonded finishes. Any prefabricated finish (wood siding, Hardi
Plank) and all wet-applied finishes over building paper or housewrap cannot
bond with the underlying straw. The difference between bonded and unbonded
finishes is significant to performance. If the finish skin can move
independently of the straw-bale core there will be little load transfer and
the strength and stiffness of the wall will likely be significantly reduced.

Unbonded skins over air spaces create other performance problems. Any space
between the straw bale and the skin is a path for air flow. In the event of
a fire the high temperatures involved can create a chimney effect even
within a 3/8" wide space. This is a serious issue for interior finishes and
is one reason to be concerned with a drywall finish.

Finally, the use of building paper behind skins affects the moisture
performance. The building paper is often included to prevent rain water
from wicking inward to contact the straw. However, this moisture break
works both ways. If moisture is moving from the inside to the out, it will
most likely condense on the back side of the exterior finish. Water that
condenses on the back of a bonded plaster will be absorbed and then wicked
to the surface where it can evaporate. If a building paper is used, the
vapour will condense on the inside face of the building paper where it will
remain, trapped by the building paper, until it can evaporate and diffuse
outward. This is a much slower process.

Support

The exterior skins tend to take most of the vertical loads from the roof
and in-plane loads from wind and earthquakes, while the skins act together
with the straw bale to resist out-of-plan bending loads from wind. While
cement-sand plaster is much stiffer and stronger than other plasters,
slightly thicker layers of lime-sand plaster can meet most of the
structural requirements. Straw-clay plasters may have a compressive
strength of as little as 100 psi, but when they are applied in thicknesses
of 3" or even more, the two skins can resist a reasonable load.

The tension capacity of most materials is less than their compression
resistance. This means that in some situations, wind uplift forces on a
roof can exceed the capacity of the finish skins. It is relatively simple
to add wire or rod tie downs that connect the roof directly to the
footings. In other cases, it is preferable to add wire mesh reinforcing.
The technical advantage of mesh is that it improves the ductility (and
hence the disaster resistance) of all plasters.

Cement plaster will not creep (deform under a sustained load) an
appreciable amount, but clay plasters are likely to. Over a 9' wall height,
creep of more than 1" can be expected. The use of two different materials
or thicknesses for load bearing interior and exterior skins can cause a
wall to bow or deform as one skin shrinks or creeps differentially from the
other. This may not be much of a problem if the skins are not too
different, the loads are low, or the load is applied off center to the top
of the wall.

Abrasion resistance is an important part of a wall finish function. People
and animals can easily wear away a clay plaster if they are allowed to.
Lawn mowing equipment and concentrated flows of water can have the same
effect. Lime and earth-based plasters can be made quite abrasion resistant
with the aid of natural additives and coatings.

Rain control

In some cases one wishes to reduce the rain load on a wall by applying a
rainscreen approach. [See The Rainscreen Siding Approach, TLS#26, p21 -ed.]
The use of a rainscreen over a well-drained air space can be highly
recommended for its superior and time proven rain control. However, a
rainscreen should not be applied directly over straw bales. A fully bonded
layer or material, such as an earth or cement plaster, should first be
applied over the straw bales to provide fire control, resist insect and
rodent infestation, control wind washing and minimize convective air flow.
If the wall is load bearing, this layer should also be designed to provide
the required structural performance.

Some bonded finishes provide a much higher level of rain control than
others. For example, cement based stuccos tend to absorb the least amount
of rain (and dry the slowest) but can withstand submersion in water. Lime
plasters are reasonably moisture tolerant, but can be eroded by
concentrated flows of rain water and require some maintenance. Without some
form of stabilization (e.g., prickly pear cactus juice, linseed oil,
casein, etc.) earth-straw plasters are very susceptible to softening and
erosion when exposed to even limited rain, and require the most amount of
maintenance. Lime-stabilized clay and cement-lime stuccos offer combination
properties that may often be the best choice.

An oft-ignored characteristic of an exterior finish is its ability to store
moisture. A thin cement stucco layer (3/4") may provide less rain
protection for the straw than a thicker (3") earth straw plaster. A thick
layer can absorb and store a significant amount of rain without the straw
becoming wet, while a thin layer will quickly become saturated and begin
wicking water to the interior. Of course, the drying ability of thicker
stuccos is less than thin stuccos, so there are compromises.

Air Control

A function of the finish layer that cannot be ignored is that of air
control. Uncontrolled air flow through a wall will result in significant
and dangerous condensation in many situations. In cold weather, air flow
from inside to out will deposit moisture on the back of the exterior
finish. In warm weather the opposite can occur. In both conditions, air
leakage will transport far more water than vapour diffusion.

Straw bales are too air permeable to control air leakage and require a
separate layer to do this. This layer must be strong enough to resist the
design wind load and sufficiently air impermeable. The most common reason
air leakage is not controlled is due to a lack of continuity. Every crack
and interface (between the floor and wall, wall and window frame, around
all penetrations, etc.) must be sealed airtight. Synthetic caulking or a
clay plaster can be used to provide the seal. Continuously bonded finishes
are superior air barriers because they confine leakage to the small area of
any flaw and do not allow air to flow laterally behind the finish layer.

Another air flow concern is convective flow behind finish layers. Hot air
rises and cold air falls. If the temperature difference across a wall is
large, air may circulate within bales and between cracks in bales. Normally
the air permeability of bales is low enough to resist this flow. Providing
a gap behind the finish on one side, e.g., in the form of interior drywall,
will immediately reduce the air flow resistance by about half and
circulation can begin. This circulating air will bypass the thermal
resistance of the straw-bale wall assembly. Applying a thin bonded coating
over the interior of the bales in this situation will control convective
air loops. [See Bale Wall Hot Box Test, TLS#22 p 22 -ed.]

Vapour Flow

Some degree of vapour flow must be controlled in all walls, and different
finishes provide different levels of control. In general, vapour diffusion
will not cause a moisture problem if the finishes have a similar level of
vapour permeance and this permeance is less than about 2-4 US perms. In
cold climates the interior permeance should ideally be less than the
exterior vapour permeance. In hot humid climates the interior permeance
should be more than the exterior. For a cold climate, an interior permeance
of less than 4-5 perms and an exterior permeance of 8-10 perms meet these
ideal requirements. There is a considerable amount of latitude in
interpreting these rules. [See TLS#22 & 24 for much related info -ed.]

In general, cement plasters will be the most vapour impermeable (4 perms or
lower for 1.5") and clay or gypsum plasters will be the most vapour
permeable. In cold climates, additional vapor control may need to be
provided to interior layers with high vapour permeance (especially gypsum
plasters). Any level of additional vapour control can easily be added to an
interior layer by applying an appropriate paint. The interior paint layer
is not for finish purposes in this case but is a vapour control layer.
Special vapour barrier paints (less than 0.5 US perms) can be purchased if
the code official insists, or a latex paint over a primer can be used for
moderate vapour control (typically 3 to 4 US perms). An oil based paint
will prove an intermediate level of control in the order of 1 to 2 perms.

Fire Control

Although experience has shown that well-compacted straw bales will not burn
easily, certain finish layers vastly improve their fire resistance. Cement
is fire resistant and an equal thickness of lime can provide even more
resistance. Gypsum plasters and gypsum drywall, however, add more fire
resistance per inch of thickness than any other popular finishes. During a
fire, a chemical reaction occurs within gypsum which absorbs a large amount
of the fire's heat energy. The present evidence suggests that any
reasonable thickness of cement, lime, earth, or gypsum plaster will provide
fire control superior to that provided by normal stick framed house walls.

Summary

The traditional practice of applying a fully bonded wet-applied plaster
over straw bales as a "finish" cannot be abandoned or significantly
modified without careful analysis of the wall's functionality. Plaster
finishes are not just good looks, they also provide fire protection, act as
part of an air barrier system, control vapor diffusion, resist impact and
abrasion, and are a major structural component of straw-bale walls. Any
replacement "finish" must provide the same functions.

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2000 14:20:21 -0700
From: Mark Piepkorn <duckchow@...>
Subject: For Love Of Mud

	 An article by earth-plasterer Keely Meagen <keelymeagan@...>.
Keely's currently putting a book together to be published and distributed
by Elk River Press. Charmaine will hopefully let the list know when it's
available.

	 This article and those following in the next couple posts are about
traditional hand-applied earth plaster. For folks into speedy application,
earth and lime aren't your cuppa joe (though there's earth-plaster pumps
starting to make their way into the process, and Keith Lindauer told me the
other day that he roughcast - ie, "harled" with lime and subsequently
limewashed - the back of the SB Casita at Sundial Village in Rico Colorado
recently with a drywall texture gun to great effect).

	 What this article and the ones following leave out is the thickness of the
earth plaster... a fairly important thing to leave out. Most of the active
practitioners of earth-on-bales recommend a clay slip as the first coat,
followed by one or more coats (usually one thick coat and then a finish
coat *if desired*) of straw-rich clay with or without various stabilizers
and sand contents. After the slip coat, the straw-rich earthen base goes on
thick, a *minimum* of a couple inches. At a workshop, Carol Crewes said
something like, "Oh, put it on really thick so you don't have to put more
on later."

	 I've had a couple calls over the last few months from people with earth
plasters that were falling off the walls in big chunks, crumbling apart,
cracking like crazy. In both cases the plasters were applied about an inch
thick in a single pass and contained no straw. Earth plastering requires
some knowledge and lot of experimentation with local materials to get the
best possible mix and application technique. It's not as easy squirting
some water on the ground and then smushing the resulting mud onto the wall.

	 I'd urge anyone to consider the building - *any* building - as a whole,
and its potential lifespan. Taking a couple full-time weeks to
earth-plaster a small house by hand using the Steen's method (sorry, I
don't have an article from them specifically about it, though Bill's
certainly posted a great deal of info to be found in the archives) is very
insignificant compared to a hundred-or-more-year lifespan.

	 Will earth and lime plasters require maintenance? Sure. How much and how
often depends on how your house is designed (big eaves or wraparound
porches means less weather exposure which means less maintenance - not to
mention less chance of moisture intrusion, but that's another topic), what
the characteristics of the earth plaster mix you use are, whether you put a
finish coat of lime on it, etc.

	 Will cement plasters require maintenance? Sure. There will be cracks to
patch (you can't "fix" cement, subsequent layers and patches don't
incorporate into previous layers), if you use a sealer you'll have to
reseal eventually, if you paint (why?!) you'll have to repaint. Point is,
cement plasters are not maintenance-free. People think they are, and so
ignore them and are typically completely unaware while problems develop and
compound.

	 Straw-bale wall systems are NOT the same as studwalls or adobe or bricks
or cob or swimming pools or anything else. Communication of ideas requires
comparison, but comparison can't be confused with equation or problems
result.

* * * * *

For Love Of Mud
by Keely Meagen

Mud is magic. Mud is fun. Mud can also be quarrelsome. Don't get me wrong,
I love earth plasters. I want all new straw-bale homes to be wearing them.
They make the most beautiful walls I have ever seen. The colors are
gorgeous and incredibly varied. The walls feel soft and homey. Earth
plasters can be rustic and undulate with the bales, or create smooth walls
with even curves and a polished finish. The materials are cheap, easy to
come by, and healthy for the environment. Earth-plastered walls breathe
like living beings, protecting bales from moisture damage by exhaling
moisture instead of locking it inside. Mud is a blast to work with, can be
extremely durable, and is easy to patch and repair when necessary.

Sometimes earth plastering is so simple it is astonishing. Friends in
Arizona and California have found that the earth beneath their straw bale
cabins had the perfect proportion of clay and sand. All they had to do was
add water, one also added a bit of chopped straw, and voila! Beautiful
plasters that didn't crack.

So why do I quarrel with my walls? Well, I don't really (mud is always
right). But I have had several long, drawn-out head-scratching sessions
while questioning my walls ("just why are you doing that?") Working with
mud keeps me on my toes and forever curious.

The simple truth is, mud will never be a standardized material like cement.
Each batch of dirt is different and has its own personality. Earth plasters
have a slower drying time and must be built up more slowly than cement.
There are very few people with big machines to spray it on (and even fewer
who have enough experience to be beyond the experimental stage). If you
want smooth walls that don't reveal the shapes of the bales, you are
probably looking at a lot more labor and time. And then, with each new
batch of dirt, there are the potential surprises. In this country, we are
only beginning to recover the lost art of earthen plasters.

It used to be different

(Information from this section comes from research conducted by Susan
Barger and was published under the title Investigations Into The Durability
of Plasters, Part One: Initial Materials Characterizations and Correlation
With Oral Tradition.)

A hundred years ago in New Mexico, each village had its own location for
the best plaster dirt. Adobes could be made from virtually any earth, but
the plaster dirt was special and was often carted, if necessary, to the
building sites. Its properties were known and loved, and the techniques for
working with that particular dirt were passed down from mother to daughter
in the tradition of the enjarradoras.

Unfortunately, much of that plastering knowledge was lost with the arrival
of the upstart newcomer, cement. The source sites for the dirt are
remembered by few. Carole Crews, Cornerstones (the folks who restore the
old adobe churches in NM), and others have done a lot of research into the
old ways. Susan Barger has some fascinating interviews with older folks who
remember participating in the plastering as kids. She also analyzed old
plaster samples, looking for clues to what makes a durable mix. Ms. Barger
found the chemical reactions in mud plasters to be so complex that they had
more questions than answers at the end of the research. Clearly more is
needed. But even if we understand how to work with one particular dirt, the
fact remains that the soil of Santa Fe is different from the soil in
Oregon. In fact, the dirt under my feet may be completely different from
the dirt 30 yards away.

So What Does This Mean?

First of all, relax. Earth plastering is easy. Once in the mud, many of us
feel we are remembering information our cells have tucked away for us long
ago. Getting in the mud helps us access that knowledge. I had a similar
experience in one of Robert Laporte's timber framing workshops. After
struggling with the chisels for days, feeling clumsy and awkward, I
experienced something clicking in, and all of a sudden I was handling that
chisel like I'd been doing it for years. But we shouldn't have to rely
completely on intuition and memory of past lives! Or whatever it is that
happens in those magical moments. So here are some tips avoiding potential
problems and keeping the fun in the mud.

First, ask yourself these questions:

How much durability do I want and need? Is it a meditation hut or a
conference center? Do you have ten kids?

How much time do I have? (If you need it finished this week, call the local
cement stucco crew. Earth plasters take longer. Plan it into your schedule.
Prioritize the areas that need to be finished first. Prioritize the
exterior if winter is coming on. Interiors can be done in cold weather, but
there are cautions about plastering in winter.)

How much money can I put into this? If you are on a tight budget, get your
friends to help you and/or do workshops. The materials are dirt cheap and
the labor will be free. If it is a big house, consider bringing in an
experienced person to show you the ropes and help you figure out the mixes.
If you want to hire a crew and want smooth, polished walls, expect to spend
more than you would for cement stucco. If anyone out there knows how to
make it less expensive, write an article and let us know!

What do I want the finished walls to look like? It takes more labor and
materials to create smooth walls out of lumpy, undulating bale walls. If
you like the natural curves, keep them!

What materials do I feel comfortable using? The mining of materials - even
dirt - is harmful to the earth. Look first at what is around you, and what
friends have available on their lands. Try to use materials that have the
least impact to create the plasters you want and need. We will all make
different compromises-make sure yours feel ok to you. And get creative if
compromising doesn't work for you. Perhaps you'll discover something that
will help us all out!

Enough Talking And Thinking... Let's Get Into The Mud!

Start Simple. Use the dirt from digging your foundation. Test simple mixes
(clay and sand, or clay and straw in varying proportions). If one of those
does not give you the durability you need, or if they are "fussy" (hard to
trowel) look at other clays, or start adding amendments one at a time.
Don't assume you must use a particular amendment. I tried for months to get
flour paste (aka wheat paste) into the mix at a Moab, UT cohousing
community center, thinking I needed it for durability... but even tiny
amounts made it ridiculously difficult to trowel. In the end, we settled
for clay and straw. Really strong, easy to trowel, and didn't dust. (Thank
you Kaki for pointing out the obvious).

Reject sand and crusher fines from the local gravel yard sometimes have
clay and sand in perfect proportions for plaster. It's worth investigating.

Make test batches for each layer of plaster. If you need a really durable
plaster, or you are doing a big house, do a lot of testing. The more
familiar you are with your materials, and the larger you make your test
patches, the fewer the surprises you'll find when plastering the walls for
real.

Forgo chicken wire. It's labor-intensive, a pain to work with and prevents
you from working the plasters deep into the bales. Cedar Rose developed the
idea of using a drywall texture gun to spray a thin clay slip onto the
bales before plastering in order to help the plasters really grab onto the
straw. It Works. (You can also apply the slip with your hands, but it's
really messy).

I now use the following system: patch holes first by stuffing them with
straw dipped into a clay slip. Let the patches dry. Spray the walls once
with a clay slip, and have others come behind working the scratch coat in
with their hands before the slip dries. Don't build out the wall at all,
just work that first coat deep into the bales. (The elements of this system
all came from Cedar Rose.)

On smaller buildings where it doesn't make sense to rent a drywall texture
gun, I combine the slip and scratch coats by making one sloppy, high
clay-content plaster and mush that directly into the bales. It seems to
bond to the wall almost as well and saves me from going over the wall twice
by hand. Pits work well for mixing large batches of plaster if you have a
bunch of people. I think it is faster than using a mixer, and easier to let
the plasters sit overnight. (Old folks in NM say plaster that sits
overnight is better - easier to work with and makes a more durable
plaster.) To make a pit, put 4 or 5 straw bales together in a square or
circle, and cover with a tarp big enough to go over the edges. Mix it by
stomping around with bare feet. You can then roll the mix by grabbing the
edge of the tarp and pulling towards you. (This helps get unmixed materials
off the bottom). If there are only one or two people plastering, or it is
getting cold outside, a mixer is faster and easier.

Use fresh, clean chopped straw so that you do not introduce mold spores
into your plasters. Chop it quickly with a leaf mulcher (a sort of
stationary weed whacker that shoots chopped straw out the bottom). Sears
has a "leafwhacker plus" for about $110, and it is well worth the price for
big plastering jobs.

Keying plasters into the previous layer helps create a strong wall. Things
that will help: wet down the previous layer of plaster before adding a new
layer, and leave the scratch and brown coats rough (if you use a trowel,
come back with your hand or whisk broom or rake to give it some texture
before it dries.)

To Each Their Own

In Building with Earth, John Norton says:

"It is important to recognize that the technology of earth building is
extremely varied, not only in a technical sense - the soils available, the
way they can be used, and the functions to which they are applied, but also
in a social sense - from the user's viewpoint there is a great variation in
what is regarded as an acceptable standard."

Many Thanks

Mud plasters have come a long way in the last ten years, in part due to the
significant contributions made by some amazing folks researching
traditional earth plastering methods and developing new systems for
plastering straw bales. My thanks to Bill and Athena Steen, Carole Crews,
Cedar Rose, and Cornerstones for their dedication to the craft and for
sharing what they have learned. My work has been made easier and more
effective because of their teaching. Special thanks goes to dirtbag
magicians Khaki Hunter and Doni Kiffmeyer for their innovative approach to
earth building and plastering.

C'mon Y'all, Join Us In The Mud!

- - - - - -

A Word About Durability

In the cliff dwellings of the Southwest, there are intact mud plasters that
have lasted well over 700 years, mostly without maintenance! Earth plasters
can be extremely durable.

There are different approaches to the durability question. Some say if you
want plasters to last longer, make them thicker. It's true, that works. In
the Southwest, vertical earth plasters on exterior surfaces erode an
average of 1 inch every 20 years (per Adobe & Rammed Earth Building Design
and Construction by Paul Graham McHenry Jr.), so a few inches should last
decades.

Cedar Rose has found that house design, the plaster mix, and application
techniques (particularly the need to key plasters in to the straw and any
previous coats) all affect durability. I agree. If you want your plaster to
last, pay attention to all of these. (This subject is probably an entire
article in itself).

More and more in my work I try to think of durability with sustainability.
How hard is it going to be to repair? I try to keep my mixes as simple as
possible, and leave the owners with several buckets of dry mix that can be
wet down and slapped on a needy wall quickly and easily.

To check a plaster patch for durability, rub it hard with your thumb. Does
it resist dusting and crumbling? Pinch it hard between thumb and finger. Is
it hard to smush? Turn a hose on exterior plasters (after they have dried
thoroughly). Does it eat into the plaster slowly or does it disintegrate
quickly?

These tests will help you determine what will hold up and what won't. (If
you get blasted with horizontal rain and hail often in your area, consider
adding lime to the exterior mix or putting a finish coat of lime over your
plasters).

A Word About Clay

Clay is amazing. There are many different types and according to potter
friends, they run in a spectrum from the bentonites (sticky and
expansive/more prone to cracking) to the kaolinites (not so sticky and
hardly expansive/less prone to cracking). So a soil with 30% bentonite will
act differently than a soil with 30% kaolin. And there can be several kinds
of clay present in the same soil.

Bevin Dunn blew my mind when she informed me that the clay particles are
not responsible for clay's sticky nature. The mineral fragments linked to
the clay are what make it sticky! The ramifications of this tidbit seem
enormous. I just can't figure out where to go with this. Ideas, anyone?

Whoops, What is This?

These are a couple of the major problems I have run across in my work:

Mold. At a recent job we switched clays for the finish coat, put out a lot
of work in one day to get it on the walls, and the next day we were
surprised to see the wall covered with little white fuzzy spots. We hoped
they would disappear as the wall dried, but instead they stained the wall,
leaving the rich color with lots of lighter blotches. Wiping it with a
borax solution or hydrogen peroxide changed the color and the texture... so
we redid the wall, adding dissolved borax to the plaster. Had it been
summer, when we could have had better ventilation and faster drying, this
would not have been such a big problem - but that mold was fierce and I
think borax would have been necessary anyway.

Mold spores can come in with the dirt or straw. Use clean chopped straw and
try changing your dirt if you discover mold. Ventilate well. Adding borax
or lime to the mix will kill molds. If you develop mold when plaster is on
a wall, spray it with hydrogen peroxide to kill it before adding new
plasters. Mold can be a significant health problem, especially if it is of
the black slime variety. (I hear vinegar and lemon juice also work, but
have never tried them.)

Effervescence. Excess minerals in dirt can rise to the plaster surface,
blotching finish plasters. Use another clay or wash your clay (Call me for
directions if you have to do this), or learn to enjoy the mottled affect.
This was a serious headscratcher in Moab, UT and the solution (washing) was
spirit-inspired, but slowed us down significantly. Some batches of clay
were washed better than others, and consequently we still had problems with
minerals rising to the surface by the time we reached the finish coat. You
can tell this might be a problem if a white or yellowy film rises to the
surface after mixing up a clay slip and letting it dry.

Freezing Plasters. Do not let your new plaster freeze when wet, before or
after it go on the walls, until it cures. If they freeze hard enough before
curing when on the walls, they will become quite crumbly and need to be
removed. If you don't remove them, you may suffer blowouts on all of the
remaining coats, as the plaster no longer grips whatever it was keyed into
and can't support the weight of new plasters.

If you must do interior plasters in the winter, do the following first:

Put at least one layer of plaster on the exterior if weather permits or
tarp the walls.

Caulk the windows.

Insulate the ceiling.

Keep the place heated.

Ventilation. When a lot of plaster is drying at once, you must have some
ventilation (all that moisture has to go somewhere), but don't open windows
over wet plaster. Speed the drying of thick scratch and brown coats by
turning up the heat or pointing a fan at them; it is ok if undercoats crack
as long as they don't pull away from the wall. But don't point a fan or
heater at finish coats or they may crack severely. Keep an even, warm
temperature once you begin the finish coat. Sections of plaster that seem
to take longer to dry and change color. Usually this is caused by a section
of plaster underneath that was not fully dry before the next layer went on.
Because it is still wet, the plaster on top takes longer to dry, and for
some reason plaster that stays wet for a long time frequently changes
color. This will most likely be a problem over holes that have been patched
with a lot of plaster. Before you put on your finish coat, make sure your
walls are bone dry!

Money. This is not a problem that comes from the mud, but it definitely
affects the plastering. Cost overruns are common in building, and funds may
be tight before the plastering even starts. The more of the labor provided
by owner/friends and workshops, the cheaper the finishes will be.

If it is a big house, a fancy finish, or must be exceptionally durable,
getting the help of experienced plasterers for developing appropriate mixes
and troubleshooting can save you time and trouble. The straw bale email
list (go to http://www.crest.org and look in the Discussion Groups area for
archival and subscription information, or send an email to
strawbale@...) is an excellent and inexpensive way to get answers to
your questions from folks who have experience, or are willing to take wild
guesses. (Laughs are guaranteed, the wild guesses are usually admitted as
such, and there is amazing information and experience shared).

Prioritize what you need. Think about doing the plastering in stages (some
this summer, some next summer). Get creative and let us know if you find
any ways to speed up the process!

* * * * *

I could go on for years with suggestions and ideas, but these are some of
the most basic helpful
suggestions I have found from my own work with earth plasters.

Before I finish off, I have to mention two fabulous ideas I have come
across:

Earth Plaster on Drywall. If you use wheat paste in your finish plaster
mix, you can put it right
on drywall. It's quick, easy, and beautiful. Just be sure to use a
gypsum-based (non-synthetic,
non-asbestos) joint compound. I had to scrape our test patches off drywall
and it was tough. If
you want it even tougher, paint the drywall first with a mix of 10 parts
hydrated or homemade
wheat paste, 1 part fine sand and 1 part clay. Let it dry and don't wet it
down before you plaster
it. I've sunk 16 penny nails into drywall finished this way without
splitting, chipping or other
damage. It surprised even me! Thanks to Cedar Rose for the adhesion coat
recipe.

Easy Nichos. Troweling nichos into smooth curves with no trowel marks is
near impossible, and
can take even experienced plasterers huge chunks of time. A quick, easy way
to get lovely shapes
with no trowel marks is to run a strip of 4 mil plastic along the curved
edge (perpendicular to it). It
smooths out those edges in a snap. Thanks to Stephan Bell for this gem.

* * * * *

Keely Meagan coordinates Artisan Earth, a women's roving natural building
and earth plaster crew, with Alyssa Spencer and Kim Barnhart. Keely is
based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. <keelymeagan@...>

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2000 14:24:06 -0700
From: Mark Piepkorn <duckchow@...>
Subject: Earth Plasters & Strawbale

	 An article by earth-plasterer Cedar Rose. She has a strong
chemically-sensitive streak and emphasizes the use of benign materials.
There are statements made in this article that I personally don't agree
with... and that means what? It doesn't mean that Cedar is wrong, just that
some of what she says doesn't work for me. It means that the key to success
is education (plain dumb luck isn't a key, it's the unlocked back door). A
person who informs themselves and then backs up the intellectual knowledge
with experimenting and experience is a person who is going to make good
decisions. Don't just talk! Go out and try. (Those people named "Bill" who
know me are probably snickering.)

	 I've been going over the three volumes of The Natural Builder spiral-bound
booklets that Steve Berlant put out a while back, and have once again been
finding them fascinating. They're basically a compendium of notes from an
incredible array of sources - some conflicting, some supporting. They're
not how-to manuals, but are very thought-provoking and chock full of
information that should come into play during investigations of these
not-thoroughly-documented-in-any-single-place traditional techniques. As
always, VERIFY EVERYTHING - preferably with your own experience - before
believing it. Volume One of the series is Creating Architecture From Earth;
volume two is Monolithic Adobe Known As English Cob; volume three is Earth
And Mineral Plasters. For more info see http://www.naturalbuilder.com

* * * * *

Earth Plasters & Strawbale
by Cedar Rose

Most people choose strawbale for environmental considerations, wanting to
be kinder to the earth and to themselves. Straw bales have low embodied
energy; they're easy and fun to use, while being light on the earth; and
they can help create a nurturing home environment.

Earthen plasters share all of those characteristics with strawbale; they
are completely compatible mates. The straw provides us with a natural
material to keep our homes well-insulated and protected from harsh exterior
elements... and similarly, earthen plasters protect our bales with natural
techniques which embrace the ancient roots of cultures all over the world.
We can achieve strong, durable finishes while being responsible for our
personal impact on the planet and the health of our homes.

The current production level of cement and concrete causes serious
environmental damage by creating significant amounts of air pollution,
water pollution, and damage to the earth from mining operations. Current
uses of cement and concrete introduce outgassing into home environments
from additives, curing agents, radioactive materials, and possible radon
exposure from aggregate used in the mix. Synthetic stuccos introduce a
combination of harmful chemicals which also outgas. Concrete and synthetic
stuccos compromises the health and well-being of our families and our
planet.

While concrete in some applications (like foundations and slabs) can be
sealed with non-toxic sealers to prevent out-gassing into a home, the use
of these sealers for concrete stucco, or the use of synthetic stuccos, is
not recommended because it reduces the breathability of your strawbale wall
system, potentially creating significant moisture-related problems.

Whether we are addressing moisture from condensation, the weather outside,
or build-up from the interior of our homes, the ability to dissipate it is
important. Moisture can be a problem when it is trapped in the building
components by a non-breathable surface.

Straw bales have the ability to breath and dry out, except under extreme
conditions, without compromising the bale's integrity. Cement stuccos can
cut down the breathability of the wall system; sealed cement stuccos more
so. On the other hand, earthen plasters protect the bales by shedding rain
while simultaneously creating a breathable surface which assists the
drawing-out of moisture which inevitably enters the wall system, usually in
the form of vapor.

Clay molecules are shaped like platelets. When wet, they swell naturally to
seal the moistened surface preventing deeper penetration of moisture in
towards the bales. The clay platelets also act to draw moisture from within
the bales out to the surface to dry [unproven statement, but with anecdotal
experience to back it up - ed]. This is an important element of system
durability, especially in harsher climates with higher moisture and/or
freeze thaw cycles which can wreak havoc with concrete finishes. When time
comes for repairs, earthen plasters are much simpler and easier than
concrete.

We have found time and time again that, when done right, earthen plasters
and finishes are far superior to concrete and synthetic stuccos in many
ways. In comparing the complete picture of earthen systems against other
stucco systems - including durability, longevity, materials costs
(financial and environmental), ease of use and application, availability,
long term maintenance, effects on the complete building system, and human
health - we have found that hands-down (and hands-on), earthen is the way
to go.

A long lasting, durable Earthen finish on a straw-bale structure is
accomplished by considering the following factors:

House Design. Where does the water go? Think about interior as well as
exterior moisture concerns.

Climate considerations: Snow? Rain? Winds? Hurricanes? Blizzards? Where do
the storms come from? What time of year? How do roof systems come together?
How do your walls come together? etc.

Construction details. With consideration of your plaster system, how have
you connected your walls, foundation, roof? How do you tie in from one
building component to the next? Have you eliminated non-natural and/or
non-breathable surfaces that your plasters may come in contact with?
Constantly keep in mind how you can "key" your plasters into your structure.

When using earthen plasters, always have your bales stacked with the cut
sides to the interior and exterior; don't have your bales on their sides -
this eliminates the best surface area for your plaster to key into.

Plaster Mixes. Your mixes are determined primarily by the type of soils you
have available to you, which are unique to each project. Where are the
materials from? Do you have an adequate supply to complete your project?
What is the clay content? How does the clay respond to moisture? What type
of mineral composition is your clay? How "workable" is your clay? How
absorptive is it? What is the clay/silt/aggregate content of your dirt?

Additives are often used in earthen plasters: manure, cactus juice, flour
paste, ox blood, etc. Fibers are variable as well, including straw, animal
fur, cattail fibers, hemp, etc. Each has their own contribution based on
their constitutions: proteins, fibers, enzymes, microorganisms, pH,
minerals, etc. Your mixes are unique, and additives and combinations of
materials are also dependent on the materials at hand. Do many experiments,
determine the composition of your mix and determine which will serve each
application the best that it can.

Application. It is extremely important to "key into" (that is, have a
mechanical bond between) each layer of straw and plaster. Chicken wire,
metal lathe, gaps in the bales and loose straw can all contribute to
eventual failure of an earthen stucco finish. The air trapped behind the
plaster causes its surface to be vulnerable and be one of the first areas
to breakdown.

Joints and spaces between bales need to be packed with a damp clay/straw
mixture, and kneaded into the bales themselves to prevent loose areas. Deep
holes can first be backed with dry straw, and then packed on the surface
with damp straw/clay. We like to do this during our first slip spray
process. This packing gives the plaster a strong surface to key into and
eliminates the problem of plaster from falling off of our wall for lack of
mechanical bond.

A common mistake made with earthen plasters is to spray or spread a thicker
plaster mix directly on the bales as a first coat; this eliminates a strong
bond between the plaster surface and the straw bales. Instead, apply
deeply-penetrated slip coat of water and clay first. You can use a stucco
sprayer, drywall texture gun or a hand pump sprayer to apply a clay slip
coat. Another option is to use a very damp straw/clay mix and "slop" it on
the bales. The most effective and least time-consuming is the sprayer or
texture gun technique, which provides a consistent coated surface for the
plaster.

Let the slip coat dry, then mist the wall and go over it with a wet
straw/high-clay/sand scratch coat mix, making sure you are keying into the
spray coat well. Whether you apply this by hand or sprayer, use your hands
to work it well into your surface coat.

Once you have applied this coat, let it dry. Mist it down again and apply a
higher sand mixture that has more structural integrity to it. This layer is
used to fill in and shape your walls.

Once this coat has dried, moisten again and apply a finish coat.

Between each coat, except for your finish coat, leave your surfaces rough
and mist them before applying your next coat. All the while, focus on
"keying into" your previous coat, working your plaster layers in well.
Cracks in your surfaces are good for keying your next coat into. Avoid
cracks in your finish coat, of course. Although earthen plasters take work
and time, the end result is incredibly satisfying, beautiful, durable, and
contains your own unique personal touch.

The earthen finish coat can be left as is, or oiled or finished with an
assortment of natural clay plasters, paints, alis, or casein finishes with
a huge variety of natural pigment colors.

To simplify a fairly complex topic, if you have a straw-bale house
well-designed for the use of earthen plasters and natural finishes, if your
mixes achieve a solid, durable, breathable surface, and your application
techniques have keyed in and secured your finishes well, you will achieve a
durable, long-lasting earthen finish for your straw-bale structure. For a
plaster system which is natural, easily available, fun, environmentally
supportive, and a healthy building material, Earthen Is It!

* * * * *

With over 20 years of experience in natural and holistic building and
design, Cedar Rose Guelberth has developed effective natural plastering
techniques for strawbale for many climate conditions in a large variety of
projects. She teaches and consults throughout the US, Australia, and
Canada. She also owns and operated the Building For Health Materials
Center, which offers non-toxic building supplies and finishes, appliances,
and more. Email crose@...



    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Freewheeling autonomous speculation - Think!
     I'm off the clock and on my own time, dig?
          Mark Piepkorn (f.k.a. M J Epko)
         <duckchow@...>
                Kingston, New Mexico
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
       ... the fully trained artistic eye is
       the smaller half of the journey; the
       principal thing is the beginning, the
       opening of the eyes.
                              - Herman Hesse,
                               On Little Joys

------------------------------

End of strawbale-digest V2 #1386
********************************

Hi folks, Here is a reminder of the importance of roof's first and another
cement stucco testimony.
Chuck

>From: Bill Hunt <billhunt@...>
>To: ROBERT OLIN <jolin@...>; strawbale <strawbale@...>
>Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2000 10:11 PM
>Subject: Re: Wet Bales
>
>I had always assumed that concrete stucco would wick moisture out of the
>straw if there was any.
>


DON'T ASSUME THAT!!!  I am unhappily spending the better part of each work
day at my half-finished sb infill house pulling out wet straw.  We have
concrete stucco on the outside of the house and I just started mud
plastering the interior.

In every case the bales remain wettest against the cement stucco.  Bales
that appear perfectly dry and don't even smell have been found to be sopping
wet and turning black up against the cement stucco, even though most of our
weather throughout the winter is very dry and sunny.

Where did the water come from?  It came through the roof before the roof was
finished, it came through the roof when a corner blew off in a storm, it
came through the window openings which had been covered with heavy duty
plastic sheeting that was ripped to shreds by the same storm that took off
the corner of the roof and it came in all the doorways, which were also
covered with tarps, and pooled on the floor against the walls soaking the
bottom inch of the bottom course of bales.  After the big storm a friend and
I replaced the tarp and I begged my window contractor to put my windows in
(they were paid for months ago.) He didn't want to get the frames ruined by
plastering so he came over and put up plywood over the window openings,
inside behind the plastic.  Subsequent rains ran down the surface of the
plastic and got in under the plywood.

I am sort of keeping my sanity by reminding myself over and over that it is
only a small number of bales that are ruined and since I haven't plastered
inside yet I can easily see where the problems are and fix them.

I lived most of my life in Seattle and my advice is to build in the winter,
post and beam, get that roof on well before the bales are harvested and
check its performance in the spring.  Then line up your plastering
contractor or crews and have them ready to come in as soon as the bales are
stacked.  Get your bales delivered and put up as fast as you can, put the
windows in, build temporary threshholds and put the doors in too.  Then when
the exterior plaster is done you can relax and take your time finishing the
interior elements, the plumbing and wiring etc.   That's how I plan to do it
next time:)  Plus I think I would build a curb either of concrete as part of
the slab or rubble and wire mesh, like a very short gabion, or even very low
hollow-core blocks if such a thing is available to set the first course of
bales on.  That way they would be above standing water and any water that
enters from above would have a way out at the bottom.

My 2 agorot.

Sarah
Tsfat, Israel

------------------------------

Dear Everybody,

Here is an opportunity if you have the time. It sounds like the event last
year was terrific. Also we are still looking for a few good people to come
on over to Mt Horeb and work with us on our cedar siding project. We are
finding it quite enjoyable and meditative work. We are working this Sunday
and everyday and next weekend right up until our meeting. Give us a call 608
437-7244 and come on over!

dear WWAT'ers, please respond to the email at the end of this message.
A few natural building internships are available at Lama foundation in
northern new mexico this June.  This would require coming a week or two
before the second annual natural building and permaculture convergence and
staying a week or two after to help with the construction of the passive
solar workshop.
If you would like to experience, hands on, a full range of natural building
methods, learn more about permaculture, and also help Lama rebuild, June
25 - July 2, this is the week to be at Lama.  Co sponsored by permaculture
drylands institute, the last straw journal, and the Lama foundation, this
multi-faceted convergence will center on construction of a passive solar
workshop to demonstrate straw bale, cob, and adobe building techniques.
Other projects and presentations will include earthen plasters, timber frame
joinery, permaculture design, renewable energy systems, sector planning,
high alpine forest ecology and system regeneration, and various other
appropriate technologies.  Participants are also welcome to join in Lama's
daily schedule of early morning silent meditation or yoga, afternoon classes
and evening activities.
The Taos solar fest is being held June 24-25, with hands on demonstrations,
music, food, and fun for all.  More information is available upon request.
contact
lama@...

----
For instructions on joining, leaving, or using the Willing Workers in
Alternative Technology list, send email to WWAT@... with
HELP in the SUBJECT line.
To send mail to the entire list, post to wwat@... .
Please begin subject lines with "Worker Wanted" or Worker Available" as
appropriate.
Archives available at http://www.greenbuilder.com/wwat/.  Updated weekly.
----

Thought you might find this old post interesting/entertaining also.
Would appreciate your letting me know if these  posts are the sort of
stuff you're looking for.
strawboss

- --------- Forwarded message ----------
Well it appears when my system crashed a while back those posts
disappeared. What follows is basically from memory

1. permits & temp pole (can't remember)
2. septic and well $3000
3. 250 wheat bales @ 2.25 ea delivered about   	 $550
4. 5/32 aircraft cable , etc for tie down system  $100
5. prefab hopped up hip trusses $1000 self  installed
6. ply decking and 30# felt $1000 self installed
7. 1 dbl french door, 1 ext. door w/ operable  window, +  2 @ 3050
windows,              1@2030 window, all dbl pane  $1000  material only,
all new
8. contracted out foundation and slab $1000  (incl. color  $200 extra)
9. contracted  plumbing in slab $365 l&m
10. stucco $1500 materials (as an experiment &  price not to be repeated)
11. wiring materials only $1000
12. plumbing + fixtures materials only  $1000
13. interior partition wall + door/window  bucks+roof plate, etc $2400
material only
14. expensive aluminum shingles $1800 material  only
15. cabinets, scrounged @ no cost
16. thru the wall new HVAC $800
17. Oops, I forgot the R-30 blown ceiling  insulation. About $250.

My roof calls for about 13 sqs and if you used regular 15# felt and 3 tab
shingles you could save about $1600 over the aluminum shingles and the
#30 felt I used.

I hope this gives you a clue. Remember this was in 1994 and for a 24x30
loadbearing. Also I am a serious scrounger and barterer (is that a
word?). Is this anywhere near what you expected?

strawboss
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Just for the possibility it might be
interesting see following.
strawboss

Subject: reply - compare SB vs conventional
Two things come to mind immediately.

The first thing of course is the fact that you can grow the bales in a
season for lots of houses vs years it takes to grow trees.

But second, with a straw bale house I believe you end up with a more
secure and supportable shelter. A straw house (mine's load bearing)
with 2' thick walls is incredibly embracing. One's sense of security is
very real. Even without stucco a sb can keep out hurricanes, howling
storms, and the sounds of same as easily as keeping  out road and
neighbor  noise. When properly plastered (stucco or earth) you complete a
cocoon sort of environment you don't feel in a wood house. You have such
an incredibly efficient house your $ requirements for utilities is
significantly less. This means you have to spend less time earning $ to
pay out to power companies. Your temp fluctuation is so slow you
sometimes hardly recognize it at all. Building w/sb is not near as
complex as stick framing. I've done both for our family. Even our
handicapped son helped build the sb while I would have been slow to even
have any of the family join in on the carpentry for the frame house. A
straw bale on your foot or a stack of bales falling over isn't near as
painful as getting clunked with a 2x4 or getting your finger pinched
moving lumber. With sb no body comes by your sb site to steal building
supplies like a nice bunk of plywood or 2x's.
Really though, sb is very forgiving. It is also a mindset. Sort of going
w a more natural flow. Nope, the walls aren't likely to be exactly
straight. But you know what? You aren't perfect either. While plastering
covers a lot of irregularities, bales and otherwise, ( snic) stick frame
won't allow as much play. And face it. We all need more play.
strawboss

Hello to everyone,

Sunday Meeting at the WilMar Center, February 27th 4-6:30, Designing Our
Homes for Good Living
Last year we had a great meeting on design and we would like to continue
this learning together in our next meeting. We will  bring some designs from
a straw bale builder and designer which Chuck found on the web.  The website
is www.balewatch.com.  It might facilitate our discussion if folks would
take some time to look at this website before the meeting and select their
favorite designs/features.  We would like to explore  together  features and
qualities you have admired in homes that save money, energy, and make a home
a livable/enjoyable place to be. If you have access to other designs that
you would like to show people, bring them in. If they are small it would be
great to have handouts. If they are large, we could all gather around them.
Please bring in your own designs if you have them.
Directions:  The address of the WilMar Center is 953 Jennifer St.  Madison.
It is on the East Side.  Approaching from 12/18 exit John Nolen Drive, turn
right on Williamson Street, travel a few blocks then turn right on
Patterson, turn left on Jennifer.  Approaching from Hwy 30, I94 or I90 get
on to East Washington (151) travel towards the capital, turn left on
Baldwin, turn right on Jennifer which is one block past Williamson Street.
There is a parking lot just east of the building.

Other Info
*Robert Bolman's April presentation Cancelled. Those of you on the internet,
know this already. His schedule became too busy. The good news is, we now
have a video of his slide show, Natural Building and Social Justice, for
circulation. We have also begun to circulate the six video set of last
summer's International Straw Bale Conference.
*MREA We are thinking of highlighting designs for the MREA fair, of homes
that have been built. For example there would be blue prints and then
pictures with description of the building process. Ideally cost would be
highlighted as well. We are looking for people who have built and would be
willing to have this together for the big Madison based MREA event in June.
*For those not on e-mail or brand new to it, there is included at the end of
this letter a straw bale learning/work opportunity with Todd Osman.  E-mail
people got it already.
*The topic planned for our March meeting is Permaculture.  We have a couple
of presenters in mind. Feel free to give us your suggestions also.

Invitation to Work and Learn
Yup it's the farmhouse again. We would love to share the opportunity for you
to learn how to put up siding. Cedar siding is not a shining star as far as
a local resource (due to relative scarcity) but it can last a hundred years
or more if it taken care of. We are beginning this week with an experienced
carpenter to train us.   We are planning on  making this weekend, Feb. 19th
and Feb. 20th an official work weekend at our home. It would be wonderful to
see some of you on either on Saturday and Sunday (both if you really get
into it!) We will provide you  good guidance, hot drinks, lunch, a tour of
our greenhouse/sun space addition, a look at our collection of books and
journals related to natural sustainable building and lifestyles and the
scintillating conversation that is always present when our members gather
together. (If the weather is below 25 for a high, we will postpone that work
day. So far the forecast looks good.)  For those who are interested, but
can't make it this weekend we will likely have the same plan for the
following weekend. Please RSVP so we know how many to plan and cook for.
Clearned@... or 608 437-7244   P.S. You may be asking yourself, "Why
don't they wait for warmer weather?"  The answer to that question is that
right now we have lots of scaffolding available to us.  It in fact is all
set up around our house which will make siding the house much easier.  The
owner of the scaffolding would like to have some of it back when March
begins.  So we want to seize this window of opportunity if possible.  I have
been told that siding a house can be a pleasant job in winter, provided the
weather is decent.  Let's hope for that!

Local Exchange Trading System "LETS" - a tool for further empowering our
group members?
One of the key reasons why we started the Natural*Sustainable Building group
was to create a community of people that would be there for each other as we
take on building projects as well as other important projects that relate to
living lightly on the earth. We have seen this vision become a reality many
times over as we have relied on the advice and help of others in this group.
We have been thinking for some time about ways that we could make our
current system of volunteering more reliable and empowering for our group
members.  In this process Chuck happened upon information about LETS systems
that really excited him.  Below is a description of an English LETS system
and here are two websites with further information
www.gmlets.u-net.com/faq.html for their FAQ's and
www.transaction.net/money/lets/index.html .  In the future we would like to
discuss this idea with group members.  Perhaps we may even have some time to
do that this month.  Feel free to call or e-mail your thoughts or questions.
We want to do some further research and get feedback from the group about
starting our own LETS system within our group.

Take care, hope to see you soon,
Linda Farmer and Chuck Learned

We received a phone call from Todd Osman.  Todd is a contractor who is
working on his third straw bale project.  He is inviting everyone who would
like to participate to help put up the bales.  This is a small house close
to Ferryville on the Mississippi with a full basement, a wooden floor and
timber framing.  Todd is a very experienced builder who would be a great
person to work with and learn from.  Todd usually works Monday thru Friday
so that would be the best time to visit.  The building is close to Mark
Harrell's Cabin so you could likely drop by and see this as an added bonus.
Please call Todd if you are interested.  Home  608 872-2525  Work site 608
734-9114.

[PARA]What is a LETSystem?[PARA]A LETSystem is a trading network supported
by its own internal currency. It is self-regulating and allows its users to
manage and issue their own 'money supply' within the boundaries of the
network. [PARA]The key points include: [PARA]* co-operation: no-one owns the
network. [PARA]* self-regulation: the network is controlled by its users.
[PARA]* empowerment: all network users may 'issue' the 'internal currency'.
[PARA]* money: money, as a means of exchange, is an integral feature.
[PARA]LETSystem recording services keep track of transactions and issue
statements of LETSystem trading. [PARA][PARA]Is a LETSystem a type of barter
system?[PARA]LETSystems use their own type of 'money' - they are money
systems. [PARA]Barter is a type of exchange where we swap goods and services
without using money - I give you a loaf of bread and you give me two
cabbages. You fix my car and I'll cook you dinner. But you may not like my
cooking............. [PARA]Money overcomes the limitations of barter. I give
you money for your goods and services and you can spend it elsewhere. In a
LETSystem you can use your account to buy what you want from one person and
then sell what you can to another. [PARA][PARA]What does LETS stand
for?[PARA]The word "LETS" was chosen to highlight an invitation (let's) and
a culture of consent. LETS embodies the 'Law of Two Feet' - "If you like it,
you walk in. If you don't, then you walk away". [PARA]Eric Frank Russell,
the story writer, expressed this as "Freedom I will, Freedom I won't" -
everybody has choices. (Ref. 1) [PARA]LETS supports trading which results in
win-win outcomes. This is to be contrasted to the more coercive types of
behavior often seen in communities which are short of money - "I've got the
money, so you have to work for me." In LETS, there is never any obligation
to trade. [PARA]The use of LETS as an acronym was an afterthought. The most
common rendering is 'Local Exchange Trading System'. However, we prefer to
avoid the use of the word 'local', as it suggests a geographical emphasis,
which can be misleading. [PARA][PARA]What is the basis of LETS?[PARA]LETS is
based on the value of the individual within the community. This involves
both freedoms and responsibilities. We can outline the main criteria:
[PARA]* consent, nothing happens without it. [PARA]* no interest to be
charged on account balances. [PARA]* common ownership, resulting in
cost-of-service provision of support services. [PARA]* disclosure of
information - to ensure the informed action of users. [PARA][PARA][PARA]What
is a LETSystem Registry?[PARA]A LETSystem Registry is where you register
when you want to start LETS trading. The Registry then co-ordinates the
recording of your transactions and the sending out of your statements.
[PARA]LETSystems and other similar networks can also be registered, enabling
one Registry to support several different systems. This makes systems easy
to set up. As soon as a system is registered, individuals can open their
accounts in it and trading can begin. [PARA]LETSystem Registries are
community-based, not-for-profit enterprises. They are responsible directly
to the individual account-holders registered with them. [PARA][PARA]What do
LETSystem Stewards do?[PARA]Each LETSystem has stewards who are responsible
for the integrity of the LETSystem. They are accountable to the
account-holders and their powers are strictly limited, as defined in the
LETSystem agreements: [PARA]* they can instruct Registries to decline to
record transactions considered inappropriate. [PARA]* they can liaise with
Registries, in particular regarding their charges. [PARA]* they can act as
whistle blowers, drawing the attention of the trading community towards
actions which endanger the integrity of the LETSystem. [PARA]Although
Stewards are authorised to act on behalf of the LETSystem trading community
in carrying out these duties, they remain personally accountable and
personally liable for their actions and decisions. Stewards also risk the
loss of the system unless they act with the general consent of the other
account-holders. [PARA]Stewards may be the initiators of a system, or else
provision for their appointment can be made at start-up. [PARA][PARA]Section
2 - Using your account.[PARA]Do I have to earn before I can spend?[PARA]No,
that's not necessary. [PARA]All accounts begin at zero. For one account to
move up, another account must move down. [PARA]So at any one time
approximately half of us will have positive balances and the other half will
be negative. Negative balances are an essential feature of the system, so
they are not to be viewed as bad and wrong (i.e. debts). Negative balances
simply mean you have received more goods and services than you have given
out. [PARA]So, if you wish, you can buy something with your first trade. As
long as your initial commitments are modest, this is perfectly acceptable.
[PARA]If you wait to earn before you spend, you could find it slower to
start trading. If everybody had to wait to earn before they could spend,
nobody would get started! [PARA][PARA]How do people get hold of trading
units to start with?[PARA]You use your account to earn and spend. For
example: I pay you to paint my front door - 5 pounds for the paint and 30
pounds for your time. I give you a 5 pound note. We agree that I pay you the
remaining 30 pounds on our neighborhood LETSystem. Your account rises by 30
and mine goes down by 30. [PARA]You can now spend your 30 (or more, if you
wish) with anyone else on the same system. [PARA]Every time an account moves
up, another account must move down by the same amount. [PARA]

This is sort of a follow-up on the concerns I have about using Cement on the
exterior of any home. The chart below gives you an idea of how much moisture
is generated indoors and how important it is to give it an exit. Of course
vent fans can help a lot.



a persnickety sparkthrower wrote:

>  I admit the building WAS leaky--but I also can't help wondering
>  whether it would have been all that much different even if it'd
> been tight.  Air at those temperatures has very little moisture
> in it, and I do wonder whether bodies and other moisture-
> emitting things will raise the overall level all that much.

Alan;

It just so happens that last night, Flubber (aka Rob Jolly)
pestered me into  me to pulling out a sketch that was in the Spring
1998 issue of The Last Straw and there are some numbers on it which
deal with your question.

>From the "Little House of Moisture Horrors" sketch, next to the
witch who was brewing-up some Soup de Jour in a big, honking
cauldron downstairs:

Interior Vapour Generation:

Moisture from 	 Quarts per Day
- ------------------------------------------------
* Construction Materials (first year) 40
* Standing Water in Basement  30
* Damp Basement Crawlspace  25
* Attached Greenhouse 	 25
* Humidifier (large) 	 20
* Drying 1 cord firewood  16
* Clothes Drying 	 13
* Respiration/Perspiration (4 people) 4.7
* Clothes Washing 	 2.1
* Unvented Gas Range 	 1.3
* Cooking without lids 	 1.0
* Houseplants (average number)  0.5
* Dishwashing 		 0.5
* Floor Mopping 		 0.4
* Showering and Bathing 	 0.3

(Source: "Walls, Windows and Roofs for the Canadian Climate"
            National Research Council of Canada 1975   )
===========================================================

It is interesting to note from the above "typical" numbers that
the amount of vapour put into the air from showering and bathing
is at the bottom of the list (in terms of quantity) and that most
people seem to only want take extra precautionary measures to prevent
moisture migration into their SB walls in their bathrooms,
(presumably where most of their showering and bathing takes place).


But the bottom line is (as stated last night and umpteen times in
the archives ),

	 " Yes Alan, interior moisture generation can be
           responsible for putting large amounts of water
           into the air which can find its way into the envelope
           materials if care is not taken to ensure the continuity
           /integrity of the interior air barrier."

In older, minimally-insulated structures, the insulation layer was
so thin that moisture had less trouble "cooking off" .
In superinsulated structures it is highly likely that moisture
will get trapped in the envelope materials leading to the
possibility of microbial activity which may be unhealthy and
eventually lead to structural rot.
- ---------- * ----------
Rob_Tom @ ncf.ca
Kanata, Ontario, Canada

This is an announcement regarding the Natural Building Colloquium East.
Other opportunities, contacts and locations are listed at the end of the
letter.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ketsie@... [mailto:Ketsie@...]
Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2000 11:38 AM
To: Ecovillage@...;; BruceSilv@...; Maybel@...;;
Blackrange@...;; Dancy@...;; Clearned@...;;
Chuck@...;; Mccoy_daniel@...;; Earthswt@...;;
Dgregory@...;; Davocunham@...;; DCAT@...;;
Strawnet@...;; DKohlberg@...;; David@...;;
ECOARTDB@...;; Dlevine@...;; Dsacilowski@...;;
Raduazo@...;; Sgeluz@...;; Sgeluz@...;; Birkani@...;;
Kimbers@...;; Agb@...;; Gael@...;;
Htc3@...;; HFWESSELS@...;; Jnall@...;;
Jlakey@...;; Junderwood@...;;
Judyh577@...;; Biwb@...;; PZGarver@...;; Hendrsn@...;;
Aa983@...;; Mdslock@...;; Larryjoesanders@...;;
Kyle529@...;; Clearned@...;; Flcloset@...;;
Mr8680@...;; Mpr9@...;; Mjh123@...;;
Mark.a.hoberecht@...;; Duckchow@...;;
Marty@...;; Shuman@...;; Nfoster@...;
Cc: Ketsie@...
Subject: Building with Sprit (NBC-East 2000)

APOLGIES FOR MULTIBLE MESSAGES OR CROSS POSTINGS (I am working on it)
Hello,

Peace and Blessing in the new  year.  Below is an announcement regarding
"Building with Sprit" (NBC -East 2000) we hope you will consider joining us.
More details to follow.   Please let us know of your interest so we can
gauge
the size and scope of the event. Thanks, look forward to seeing you all
again.

Best wishes,
Darren


"Building with Sprit"
June 3-10, 2000 -- PeaceWeaver Retreat Center - Bath, New York
Join us for a week long exploration of natural building techniques
including: straw-bale, cob, cordwood, light-clay, bamboo as well as
workshops
on energy efficiency, alternative energy production and appropriate
technologies.  Learning sessions focusing on housing issues: human rights,
diversity, affordability, sustainability and rebuilding after war and
environmental disaster. All this and more to take place at the beautiful and
inspiring 265 acre PeaceWeaver Retreat Center.   Meditation, yoga, talking
stick circles, sweat lodges, hiking, swimming, body work and natural foods
will be offered.

Hosted by the PeaceWeavers, Green logic Design and the Natural Building
Colloquium - East 2000.

For registration information call The PeaceWeaver Center 607- 776- 4060
or email <pw@...>
For program information call Darren Port at Green Logic Design/NBC-East
212-769-6387 or email <ketsie@...>.
Presenters and project leaders are now being sought, if you would like to
present a workshop or  lead a building project please call Darren at
212-769-6387 ketsie@... or <ketsie2000@...>



Other Y2K Natural Building Colloquiums (NBC), events and gatherings include:
NBC-West, April 28 - May3, Camp Latgawa, Ashland OR.
For more info call 541-826-9699

Build Here Now, June 25-July2, Lama Foundation, Taos, NM.
For more info call 505-895-5652 <thelaststraw@...>

NBC-South West, Nov 2000, Black Range Lodge, Kingston, NM
For more info call 505-895-5652

2nd Nebraska Straw-bale Conference, Sept 29-30, 4H Camp, Halsey, Nebraska
For more information call 402-483-5153 <jc10508@...>

Our newsletter will be coming soon, we are leaning toward having the next
meeting be on designs for living, if you would like input into the meeting
or have resources or suggestions, contact us soon.

A few quickies:

I have been meeting some folk interested in learning more about
Permaculture, they get together and support each others learning and
interest. Tommorrow aft and evening there will be a meeting at our house in
Mt Horeb. We will be driving to our land in the aft, probably around 2:30 to
3pm ish, then we will meet at our house and potluck.
If you are interested, gives us a call or drop a note.Or if you can't make
this get together and would like to be informed of future gatherings let us
know.

I had received a note from one of our list members, not real happy with the
way I handled the note about the announcement of Todd's and his wall
raising, more specifically about my comments regarding  the use of cement
based stucco renderings. He wishes I would have presented it differently and
provided more information.

So I thought I would add a few more pieces. There has been an ongoing debate
for a few years or more about whether to use cement stuccos. Currently many
professional builders do use it, they feel that it provides the reliability
that they need to guarantee their work on major investments that their
customers are making. Most of them have said they would not build their own
homes this way, but...

The Last Straw editors have several times stated that research is showing
that surrounding a material like straw with cement is not a good idea  and
at the last Intl. Strawbale conference this was reinforced. However, in
California and other Earthquake zones, they felt it was needed.

The problem is humidity needs to be able to release to the environment and
cement stucco's do not allow that or very little. The other problem is when
cement does crack and as you know it eventually does, it is very difficult
to restore its integrity. Typically in load bearing walls, cement stucco's
are used to carry the load of the roof. In Wisconsin, we tend to use
non-load bearing walls. As far as the stucco mesh is concerned, by spraying
on a cement stucco, at least in the rough  primary coat, there is sufficient
penetration into the straw for bonding. If you use mesh and it is not really
tight to the bales, then you can have separation from the stucco and bales
which weakens the integrity of the system.

More could be said, about this and I welcome opinions to the contrary. So if
not cement stucco, what is to be used. One option is use Earthen Plaster in
a a few coats of varying mixtures stabilized with Linseed Oil and perhaps a
bit of lime. Another option is to use a lime stucco over a coat of earthen
plaster, this has worked really well in my experiments. A third option is to
simply put on a siding of your choice such as Cedar Siding, which I am
currently doing with my Greenhouse addition. I would be happy to discuss
this further online or offline. The challenge is that people making their
living need to see long term examples of homes with more environmentally
friendly methods working. So lets get building and take good notes and share
them!

I really encourage people to get out and work with Todd this Saturday, he is
a top notch builder. Also Mark Harrell is available to give tours of his
house, just let him know, see past newsletters for his number or email him
or call us for a number.

For now,

Chuck

Good news from Canada. Below is a press release.

February 1, 2000
SHEC LABS scientifically validates key technology for the production of
Hydrogen Fuel from Water using Sunlight
Saskatoon, Canada: SHEC LABS - Solar Hydrogen Energy Corporation (SHEC) has
developed a process to use the heat energy of the sun to extract hydrogen
out of water.
Hydrogen is a clean fuel. When hydrogen is consumed in a fuel cell, the
primary exhaust is water vapour. There are no carbon emissions such as
carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas attributable to global warming and
climate change.
The hydrogen fuel cell developed by Ballard Power as well as other fuel cell
companies, requires hydrogen fuel to operate. Opponents to the fuel cell
technology say that the limiting factor is that there is no readily
available source of hydrogen. For this reason, hydrogen is primarily
produced from fossil fuels in a process called steam reforming. This process
still creates carbon emissions and is often referred to as dirty hydrogen.
The most common method of producing "clean hydrogen" is to use solar panels
to produce electricity to electrically split water into hydrogen and oxygen
in a well known process called electrolysis. The cost of solar panels today
is prohibitively expensive therefore using this method to produce a
commodity fuel is not currently economically viable.
SHEC is solving this problem by completely bypassing the electrical process
and uses the heat energy of the sun. SHEC concentrates sunlight with
reflectors to create the heat required to spilt water into hydrogen and
oxygen. Since reflectors are much less expensive to manufacture than solar
panels, the potential for an economically viable "clean and renewable"
hydrogen source exists.
On January 31st 2000, after extensive testing, SHEC has scientifically
validated an augmentation process it has developed to split water. "This is
a major breakthrough" said Ray Fehr, a director for SHEC LABS. This
augmentation process will be used with another key "hydrogen separator
technology" which is currently undergoing validation tests. The separator
technology tests should be completed shortly. These technologies will be
used together to form a complete process for the extraction of hydrogen from
water using sunlight.
"Our process is a complete renewable energy cycle. Water that is used in the
production of hydrogen is returned to the planet when the hydrogen is
consumed as a fuel. The potential for a hydrogen energy economy is enormous.
It can power cars and provide heat and electricity to homes." said Fehr.
SHEC LABS - Solar Hydrogen Energy Corporation is a leader in the development
of Solar Hydrogen fuel. At the heart of the system we are presently
developing, is a proprietary water splitting technology that converts water
into hydrogen and oxygen without any pollution and is totally renewable.

Contact: Maureen Lalach
SHEC LABS - Solar Hydrogen Energy Corporation
2214 Hanselman Avenue
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
S7L 6A4
Canada
Tel: (306)956-1133
Fax: (306)956-1144
SHEC'S WEB site on the internet is at: www.solar-h.com

Hi Natural Building folks:

At the last meeting, at Linda and Chuck's place in Mount Horeb, a couple of
people expressed an interest in the NWEI discussion courses. Although not
directly related to natural building, this may be of interest to more of you.

The NWEI discussion courses are on the topics Deep Ecology, Voluntary
Simplicity, and Choices for Sustainable Living (there is one on
Bioregionalism too but we need to develop a "local supplement" before
offering it locally).

Each group is self-run,  and  meet eight or nine times for about 1 1/2 hours.
Before each meeting, the participants read a chapter in a collection of
writings on the topic. This takes about 45 minutes.

The aim of the groups is for each participant to explore and clarify their
own views, and a diversity of viewpoints is encouraged.

I have been on a pilot deep ecology group this fall and winter, and it has
been a wonderful and fun experience.

Let me know if you are interested in knowing more about this. There will be
more groups starting up in the area in the coming weeks. It would also be
great if we could get one together with the Natural Building folks. The
courses are designed to also be used at a work place, so let me know if you
want to start one up where you work.

Be well,
Per Kielland-Lund

Anyone want to go to Colorado? See you this Sunday.

-----Original Message-----
From: billc@... [mailto:billc@...]
Sent: Saturday, January 22, 2000 12:28 AM
To: wwat@...
Subject: WWAT: FWD: SUSTAINABLE BUILDING JOB OPPTY
>From: "R C Herman" <rherman@...>


>    For the past 9 months I've been working with a local small contractor
>building straw bale houses. The company I work for is a new entity, run by
a
>middle-aged couple of high integrity and a desire to promote sustainable
>housing. I got involved with this project to get hands-on experience with
>'alternative' construction methods, and ultimately became responsible for
>on-site operations (so much for out of the rat race...)
>    One of the biggest problems we have is finding good help. We have an
>acute need for workers to complete our current project (and for subsequent
>ones). If any on this list are interested in working in straw bale
>construction in southern Colorado (Pueblo area) please contact me off-list.
>
>Bob Herman
>rherman@...
>

please reply to Bob directly.
Bill Christensen
billc@...

Green Homes For Sale/Lease:  http://www.greenbuilder.com/realestate/
Green Building Pro Directory:  http://www.greenbuilder.com/directory/
Sustainable Bldg Calendar:  http://www.greenbuilder.com/calendar/
Sustainable Bldg Bookstore: http://www.greenbuilder.com/bookstore


----
For instructions on joining, leaving, or using the Willing Workers in
Alternative Technology list, send email to WWAT@... with
HELP in the SUBJECT line.
To send mail to the entire list, post to wwat@... .
Please begin subject lines with "Worker Wanted" or Worker Available" as
appropriate.
----

Hello,

I'm investigating a potential move of my store...

Does anyone have any resources that deal with energy
efficient lighting from a retail store design perspective?

I would also like to explore the idea of adding some off-the-grid
components if feasible for the site.

Now for the big question....

The space I'm looking at is the old Fur Fin & Feather on State Street
next to The Soap Opera.  The interior is in pretty rough shape...
as you can imagine after 30 years as a pet store.
Preliminary estimates for renovation put the majority of costs on
tearing out the old built in fixtures, paneling, and floor tiles.

It was suggested that I solicit for volunteer to help the demolition
of the interior.   With enough hands that it could go somewhat quickly,
like an old time barn raising (but in reverse). There is a lot of old
"weathered look" grey panelling, peg board, and fluorescent fixtures
that could be reused if anyone had a desired for it. Unfortunately, it
would need some airing out...

The remodel would include many green building components which I have access
to.  I'm excited about the potential to refurbish the hardwood floors that
have
been hidden for decades.  It could be a charming space....

Please keep in mind this is very preliminary.  I'm just trying to get
as much input for the decision making process.  Any thoughts or willingness
to help with the demolition (if it goes that far), I would be happy to hear
from you!  The time-frame would be March, 2000.

Thank you so much!





Kelly Doering, Proprietor
Home Environment, Inc.
216 North Henry Street
Madison, WI  53703
608-251-4905
608-251-4906 Fax
877-251-4905 (Toll Free)
Website:  http://www.home-environment.com

"Earth Conscious Products"