Shodo Spring

To clarify: This is an inside wall and an inside floor. I'm still excited by all the helpful comments, and plan to do it soon. Thank you all.

(Maybe when it's time, I'll use it on the exterior too.

Cristobal Cristo wrote:I would use pure lime plaster on concrete.
Why?
It is harder and more durable. It's also easier to do it right for exterior than earth plaster. If done well it does not have to be painted. Concrete low water absorbency helps to cure lime with less sprinkling. It looks beautiful.

Cristobal Cristo wrote:I would use pure lime plaster on concrete.
Why?
It is harder and more durable. It's also easier to do it right for exterior than earth plaster. If done well it does not have to be painted. Conrete low water absorbency helps to cure lime with less sprinkling. It looks beautiful.

Thanks. I looked up the recipe for lime plaster. Am wondering if I can use ash or sawdust instead of sand (or part of the sand). Free but also insultion and other factors.

I looked it up and found this: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950061819308347  which recommends adding a little wood ash to lime plaster used for re-pointing concrete block.

It looks like this is the right place for my question. I have a 1935 barn converted to house, and I want to build a bedroom in one corner. I had used waterproof paint on one wall and the floor, and plan to do the rest of the floor (open to arguments) but that stopped the mold and dampness in the basement.

Now I want to do a wall that's open to the outside, and we just cleaned and are tuckpointing the concrete block, which looks solid. I'm thinking about a natural plaster (but what? our land is not clay) and adding some insulation - perhaps a thin layer of light clay, perhaps straw, paper, or wood ash mixed in with the plaster. I'm thinking I can apply plaster directly to the block or the light clay.

I've been reading a bit about uses of wood ash, and it seems like it would increase insulation properties. (There's 6" styrofoam on the outside. Yes, I did that, oh well.)

I'll also be doing a floor, and have some suggestions already. Best wish is to do it with natural plaster, but I have some interesting suggestions involving a floating floor over biochar (would not have thought of that).

Questions:
What kind of plaster would you use, and why? The space will always be cool. I see lime of various kinds, clay base, gypsum. If clay, suggestions where to buy powdered clay in the winter? If I had clay on the land, I'd wait for spring and dig it. But this is pretty sandy - good for growing.
What about the wood ash, or maybe incorporating paper or straw or something into the plaster? (I've done a finish coat with bentonite clay, so if I don't like the looks of it I'll do that.)
Other suggestions? This is mostly about the wall, but I'm still collecting suggestions about the floor too.

Hey, thanks. We make biochar but I never thought of it in building. Of course my floor is very much not level. .

Phil Stevens wrote:You could consider a floating floor, since you're thinking of doing something with recycled timber. Then the leveling layer doesn't need to bond with either the concrete or the stringers that the flooring gets attached to. Sand or earth would both work in this context.

I'm planning to do a floating floor over finely crushed biochar on top of a rather ugly slab (at least it's level...that's about all it's got going for it). The idea is to put down a thin layer, maybe 2-3 mm, dampen it with a wheat flour slurry to stop dusting, then lay stringers on top. Next I'll backfill with biochar to the level of the stringers, then do another round of starch slurry and nail the floorboards down to the timber. The motivating factors are to get the insulative and moisture control properties of the biochar, and to have the floor not be acoustically coupled to the slab to limit sound transmission.

Well, this was fun. First, I used to live in Cumberland MD - but not in the country. Loved the hills and would go to remote places. Next, I wonder whether your NE Ohio was Cleveland - my home town.

I like your attitude. Where I live now is a little too civilized. I'm more afraid of some of my neighbors than strangers.

Justyn Mavis wrote:This is my experience. I'm in Southern WV, Flat Top if you'd like to know the town, I live very close to a Ski Resort, and lots of other Rec land around. I practice "right to roam" I don't have a single no trespassing sign anywhere. But, I do have other signs. Please Close Gate, Nature Sanctuary, etc. When I see folks I normally chat with them, tell them about the amazing view and and polite instruct them of some of my requests. I added Trash Can in a few spot (Normally where the ski/snowboarded jumped the fence to "hangout") At one point a lot of kids started milling about, so I install a 9 hole disc golf course "free to play". When young adults would try to use the top of the mountain for a red neck breeding grounds, I was drive up there and play 70's porn music, but never interaction with them. I wave a lot, I let people metal detect, and general treat them with kindness. Most of the "bad" people go away, and even a few of the teenager, turned into adults later came back to talk to me to ask why I cool? -- We have no "law" here Southern WV is pretty much free, (we also all do own guns, and WV is extremely gun friendly) What I found is most people are cool, they just want someplace to go to get away from what ever real life issue they are running from.

The handful of "bad" people were dealt with pretty easily (I grew up in the inner city of NE Ohio, a little street smarts make you magic in the country)

a.) We had some kids cutting my cattle fence, the cows got out, we closed the main road (folks trying to help me get the cows back in) story got back to the family that the reason the main drag was closed was because some punk kids were cutting cattle fences and magically the fences never got cut again.

b.) I added more gates on the road up the mountain in completely pointless areas and the drunks stop driving up there.

c.) I got guineas

d.) Posted a letter at the post office about the request I have if you want to free roam my land.

e.) and just invited more people to hike, play, fish and whatnot.

Killem' with Kindness. ( PS for legal advice I tell everyone to play at your own risk, I know not the dangerous of my land)

Thanks. I'll look into it more.

Thankss, Cristobal. It's  a start. I probably shouldn't do the "more demanding" version, but 30" is very small so I can go a little bigger.  

Cristobal Cristo wrote:Shodo,

In theory you could build 100mm/4" BBR system. The ISA for such a heater would be around 2.4 m2, so the heater could be 30x30x55". However the small systems, with riser diameter less than 5" may not always work as desired. They are more demanding in workmanship and material selection.

Hello Peter,
I'm writing for just one reason: I want a small rmh for a small space - about 300 square feet. Whenever I look at rmh designs, they are gigantic. Yours is small. Maybe you or someone here can advise me: can I build a small rmh? Do you know? (I'd rather not be as high-tech as your designs, if possible.)

Thank you.
I'm trying to figure out whether I can build a small rocket mass heater to warm two rooms , total maybe 10x25x7' high. I can imagine a location in the middle of the outside wall, but wonder how much space I need and whether the stratification chamber would help it be smaller. There's lots of information on Paul's site to help build, but it doesn't help me answer the first question. What's the minimum size?

I'm very interested in your plan to pour a concrete floor and then put earthen floor on top of it. I'm in that situation because the concrete is already there, but after looking round here I notice that most people prefer not to have the slab. I'm also interested in the Tataki method - and just read about it. If you have links, I'd love to know more. I found a person in Japan, named Holzueter, who seems to know a lot.

I wish you well with your project.

Warmly,
Shodo