Earthen plaster over exterior of stick frame?

I’ve built a 12x12 “tiny house” up in northern New Mexico, and with the recent wildfires I’ve started brainstorming ways to add a little fire protection. Currently I have t1-11 siding, and I’m wondering if I could go over it with an earthen plaster? I have a couple concerns.. One, with the expansion and contraction of a stick frame, would it crack the plaster? Two, my eaves are only 1ft. Would it just wash away?

What is" t1-11 siding" please?
I doubt the stick frame that size will move much, but is it braced?
What is the weather like?
Why 1 ft eaves, wider would be cooler?
Does the shack get hot?

John C Daley wrote:What is" t1-11 siding" please?
I doubt the stick frame that size will move much, but is it braced?
What is the weather like?
Why 1 ft eaves, wider would be cooler?
Does the shack get hot?

T1-11 is essentially plywood with grooves. You see it a lot on sheds. The house is built on piers, and we get really high winds here, so it budges a little when the wind is bad. It’s about 15” off the ground. Bad design… I know. Everything is tied together pretty well. I’d say it’s rather overbuilt actually. I have noticed some nails popping slightly out of the siding, so there’s definitely some flex going on. I also hear things creaking when the sun comes up. Up here it gets down into the negatives in the winter, and 70’s-80’s in the summer. 40ish inches of snow and 14” of rain annually. Not sure why I went with 1’ eaves, it was kind of a spur of the moment design. It does get hot. It’s really well insulated, but I need to figure out some sort of ventilation for the summer. Thinking some vents in the floor (or lower wall) and at the high point of the roof, but that’s for another day. Think I’ve got some passive cooling science to learn.

Hi josh, the earthin plaster and/or stucco will trap moisture in the t1-11 and cause rot, it might take 20 years or less. What did you use for sheathing?

Tom

If I wanted to do what you are suggesting, I would build a frame from chicken wire or something like that a few inches away from the siding. Then apply the earthen plaster to the wire.

I don't know if this idea might help with the moisture problem though having a space for the building to shift and breathe sounds logical to me.

I have seen stucco houses being built in New Mexico where this techniques (chicken wire) was used.

For fire protection and insulation in hot weather I would add an additional layer of metal sheeting on the outside.
I would run vertical steel battens from down low to 3 inches short of the roof.
I would then lay horizontally sheets of iron the full length of the walls.
This gives you a gapped shield which repels radiant heat from fire but also in summer the space created by the gap allows air to flow upwards tqking any heat away frtom the structure.
I Bendigo I actually used two layers of battens and fit sisilation between them for added reflective insulation.
It works well for walls and very well for roofs if you want it.
As Anne says you will need chicken wire for any earth coating to grip to.