balecob home on earthbag foundation--building progress

Daniel Ray wrote:Here is the beginning of our batch rocket mass heater--we used Peter's numbers for an 8" stove and I can tell this thing is already going to be a beast. Very excited to light it up this week and post some photos of the burn. Our riser is experimenting with the partial octagon shape that was experimented with in the Mallorca workshop with Peter--visit here http://donkey32.proboards.com/thread/2364/rocket-heater-build-peter-mallorca

I love what you did with your rafter ends scalloped. [in the "clay plaster, brown coat on back wall" picture] What width did the ends end up at? 2x6 width?? 2x4??

I checked your yearly weather for Victor. Balmy winters. Your frost penetration foundation line must be minimal.

What a fantastic record of a fantastic build. Congratulations on the results of all your hard work!! I hope you'll enjoy it with your family for years to come.

I love what you did with your rafter ends scalloped. [in the "clay plaster, brown coat on back wall" picture] What width did the ends end up at? 2x6 width?? 2x4??

I checked your yearly weather for Victor. Balmy winters. Your frost penetration foundation line must be minimal.

The very end of the rafters tail from 2x8 to 2x4 over the last 10" or so.

We have a nice microclimate in the Bitterroot. We can get a deep freeze, but foundations don't need to be too deep. This is on an insulated rubble trench at 2 feet.

First earth plaster of the season. We are very close to finishing the exterior plaster of the house and will move on to some cob benches, a workshop, and sauna later this year. Some helpers were sleeping on the job.

Looking forward to following this post! My Husband and I found out about Cob from watching an episode of off the grid. We fell in love with earth based living and plan on building a 28’sq roundish cob home on our property in the TN Cumberland Mts.
I’ve wanted to find a forum where we can share the process of cob and building our natural off grid homestead and it looks like this is the perfect place!

Hi Daniel and LUCKY family! The word, tadelakt, and the pics of course, peaked my interest. Where did you learn of and get enough info to do this process? How long did it actually take? Is there a lot of wait time between coats? What is it that makes the project long?

Found another project.

http://www.naturallimeplaster.ca/content/lime-plaster-sustainable-authentic-tadelakt-1

I like yours. I also read that it is used to actually make sinks, ... .

Is there any concern about differential cracking between the tub and the tadelakt surfaces? What is the wall surface/on the wall to the left of the tub - is that a straw bale wall/coated?

Just saw this question, sorry I missed it!

I forget where I first heard about tadelakt, but the best info I have found on the process is from the book "Tadelakt" by Michael Ochs. It is in german, though you may find an english copy on abebooks. I think it is out of print as the only amazon copies are hundreds of dollars.

The best recipe I got from Ryan Chivers who is a great plaster artist in the United States, very simple process of approximately 1 part hydrated lime to 1 part lime aggregate. I think I've seen that ration on permies as well. You can check out Ryans process documented here https://www.permaculturenews.org/2015/01/02/the-art-and-practice-of-tadelakt/

There isn't a long time between coats, but really depends on the substrate and the temp/humidity of the workspace. Mine was a few hours between coats. You need to constantly check to see if it is ready for the next. The process is very long as you have to spend much time polishing the tadelakt with a polishing stone to get a waterproof surface. This is done with a hard stone and olive oil based soap. The soap has a chemical reaction with the lime which begins the process of calcifying--think soapscum in the shower. The surface is pretty hydrophobic within a few weeks, but as the lime continues to absorb oxygen, it will continue to harden.

I wasn't sure how much cracking would happen with the tub and tadelakt connection. It flaked a little, but I used a large bead of caulk and it is now sealed and uncracking. We can only wait and see how it will perform over years of use.

The wall is a balecob wall. It has bales to the outside with 8 inches of cob to the inside. We plastered this section with a lime based plaster rather than earthen as we knew we were going to finish it with tadelakt.

Some new photos of the house and some more advanced plaster techniques learned from Athena Steen. The technique is done by plastering the surface with multiple colors of plaster, waiting for each layer to harden to "leather hardness", and when finished with the final layer, carving back to expose previous colors. Very simple and very rewarding, we had a great time though as you can see we were working well into the evening to get it done before it dried too much.

nice

An update for our house. We were lucky to have someone come out and professionally film the house for their channel. They cut some of the film they had of us thanking different people so I would like to say a Thank you to the Permies community for all the information you had readily given over the last decade or so.

Wow guys. Would you mind to share the floor plan? Ive been watching the video over and trying to wrap my head around it. You've certainly done something incredible.