- Thread starter aockenden
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Lol true but this stuff will just be the scratch and float coats. Topcoat / skim will be a standard lime + sand mix, so that should get it grayish white so the lime wash won’t need 10 coats…That looks awesome, love the texture and colour of it. Guessing it will take a fair few coats of limewash if you don’t want to see the black
At least you won’t get complaints of it being too white
First wall now has its main insulating charcoal / clay / hemp / lime plaster coat on the wall. So it’s ready for a single lime + sand skim coat and then painting. This coat is probably about 3 cm thick on this wall. We had to do slightly less than our target of 4 cm to avoid causing any issue with the door frame which we haven’t installed yet. The rest of the walls will get 4 cm thick.
My wife did all the trowel floating / smoothing, while I did all the mixing and rough application onto the wall.
My wife did all the trowel floating / smoothing, while I did all the mixing and rough application onto the wall.
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I'm becoming more and more intrigued by the intended use of this structure. My list of such, which still includes a Screaming Kids Bolt Hole, has now been amended to include a Cheesery of all things.
Any clues for Frustrated of Ludlow?
Any clues for Frustrated of Ludlow?
Definitely a manly bolt hole but mainly a work-from-home office.
Haha what brought cheesery to mind?
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Sooo, warm, cosy AND sound-proof - good move.
Short story long. A while back one of the First Ladies Sisters in Law presented her with a Xmas gift from Marseille where she and her husband had been living. This comprised a small book of Regional Recipes and a kit of bits and bobs with which to produce cheese at home. Insofar that the heavily underlined and highlighted recipes were those for Roquefort and Gorgonzola (the latter not native to France but near enough for the author) whose niffy reputations go before them - literally during production, storage and use! - it was clear that the gift was intended to discomfit me, whose dislike of such odiferous fancies was, and is still, well known, while seemingly embracing the First Ladies admiration of all things cheesy.
Seeing the dig for what it was, the First Lady feigned enthusiasm and for two weeks insisted that suitable space, equipment and supplies be provided to assuage her new found fromagery ambitions. She only relented and let me off the hook after I promised delivery of another pair of Louboutins. Fortunately that exchange was deemed worthy and I then went back to the top of the First Ladies list of favourite cheesy things - and the cheese makers kit met a fiery end!
Short story long. A while back one of the First Ladies Sisters in Law presented her with a Xmas gift from Marseille where she and her husband had been living. This comprised a small book of Regional Recipes and a kit of bits and bobs with which to produce cheese at home. Insofar that the heavily underlined and highlighted recipes were those for Roquefort and Gorgonzola (the latter not native to France but near enough for the author) whose niffy reputations go before them - literally during production, storage and use! - it was clear that the gift was intended to discomfit me, whose dislike of such odiferous fancies was, and is still, well known, while seemingly embracing the First Ladies admiration of all things cheesy.
Seeing the dig for what it was, the First Lady feigned enthusiasm and for two weeks insisted that suitable space, equipment and supplies be provided to assuage her new found fromagery ambitions. She only relented and let me off the hook after I promised delivery of another pair of Louboutins. Fortunately that exchange was deemed worthy and I then went back to the top of the First Ladies list of favourite cheesy things - and the cheese makers kit met a fiery end!
Well told, I got a chuckle out of your flowery language.
I’m running out of charcoal so needing to make more. By the time we’ve finished all 4 walls at 3-4 cm thick, we’ll have used 4 full wheelie-bins of charcoal. Pretty nuts.
Today I made a new open-top burn kiln which I will use from now on. I switched to this as it’s supposed to create a cleaner burn (thanks to air currants which draw smoke back into the fire to be re-burned), reduce the risk of PAH condensates within a sealed environment like my two-barrel retort system, and produce more charcoal per unit of feedstock. It also won’t consume / burn-out / use-up barrels the way the original nested retort system does. Lastly, you can use bigger pieces so the feedstock requires less pre-processing to get it down to appropriate size.
The first burn with it was really positive, though it definitely requires more hand-holding to progressively load the kiln every few minutes over 2 hours.
Today I made a new open-top burn kiln which I will use from now on. I switched to this as it’s supposed to create a cleaner burn (thanks to air currants which draw smoke back into the fire to be re-burned), reduce the risk of PAH condensates within a sealed environment like my two-barrel retort system, and produce more charcoal per unit of feedstock. It also won’t consume / burn-out / use-up barrels the way the original nested retort system does. Lastly, you can use bigger pieces so the feedstock requires less pre-processing to get it down to appropriate size.
The first burn with it was really positive, though it definitely requires more hand-holding to progressively load the kiln every few minutes over 2 hours.
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My up-cycling efforts with old oil drums pale by comparison.
Similar line of thinking as your good self but I stopped at a BBQ Smoker - which didn't get much use this last Summer.
Similar line of thinking as your good self but I stopped at a BBQ Smoker - which didn't get much use this last Summer.
Nice, there’s so many things you can do with them, eh?My up-cycling efforts with old oil drums pale by comparison.
Similar line of thinking as your good self but I stopped at a BBQ Smoker - which didn't get much use this last Summer.
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I've found, since giving up on city life and moving into the sticks, that my interests have broadened to embrace activities I would never have previously contemplated. In truth though I'm just a cheap git who will always opt to get the same bang as others out of fewer bucks!
Same here
We were doing the 4th and final wall yesterday. I got the mix itself too wet and overly dampened the wall before applying. Halfway through the smoothing / floating process, half the plaster peeled off the wall in a giant sopping-wet matte, and collapsed onto the floor with a wet smack. So we had to take it all off the wall (the half that was still left) and let the plaster mix and the wall dry out for 24 hours (with dehumidifier running on full blast). We then reapplied it this afternoon and got it smoothed / floated and everything is fine now.
It felt like a disaster at the time but we ended up wit a good final result today so I’m happy enough. Definitely a lesson learned on the consequences of too sloppy a mix when dealing with these thick layers of insulating plasters.
It felt like a disaster at the time but we ended up wit a good final result today so I’m happy enough. Definitely a lesson learned on the consequences of too sloppy a mix when dealing with these thick layers of insulating plasters.
Thanks, we’re still going to skim it with a lime skim coat plaster so the grey won’t last sadly. I also kind of like it. After the skim coat we will limewash it with an off-white NHL limewash.