Damien Vallero

Has anyone ever used a hopper or an industrial spray-gun to apply plaster on their bale walls?

A couple videos on youtube have shown it in action. Looks neat. Seems to work fine with clay or lime-based plasters. I'm exploring the idea of applying it to the walls of my own recently built strawbale home.

I notice hoppers for sale on alibaba.com for like, $70USD. Might this be a worthy investment? I believe I would need a generator and an air compressor to make it work. Would save a hell of a lot of time, I reckon.

What do you think?

Hey Noble Permies.

My fair lady and I have raised a load-bearing straw bale house in western New Brunswick, Canada, outside of Hartland. Quite rural. Part of the larger South Knowlesville community where land offerings take place for those who are serious about rural living, homesteading, and freedom.

It's so gosh darn loobly in our eyes, the need to share it with others is practically irresistible. We belong to a secret land trust of majesty, mystery, and marvel. People of all stripes. Alchemists and Accountants Alike.

There's something like 8 strawbale buildings in only a couple square kms. A pretty self-reliant scene.

Season two of our build begins Summer 2019. Don't bother paying for a workshop my good fellow, my dear. Come develop your natural building skills alongside us and our colourful community. We're still new at this, but we're going for it. We've been inspired to do this and look to pay the inspiration forward. Housing is a right to reclaim with all our might.

If you're interested, drop a line. Our community accommodates woofers, travellers, and visitors of all sorts.

Keep Free,
Aeron

@alderburns
Thanks for the suggestion. The corners are staked pretty well as is. I hopped inside and braced the corners with some hefty boards running from top plate to bottom plate. Some folks we've spoken to seem to think it's not actually much of a problem and that it can be resolved by some trimming and pulling and further bracing if needed.

Greetings permies:

So my lady and I built a load-bearing strawbale house without the help of corner guides. As a result, unsurprisingly, it seems that 2/4 of our corners have bowed.

It's been a distressing experience because of the high winds we've been experiencing here in western New Brunswick, Canada. I don't feel the corners will fail, but I do feel something ought to be done to improve the predicament.

Have any other builders experienced this kind of snafu? If so, how did you remedy the corner? Or is it just a matter of moving on and putting it out of one's mind with an exercise in hope? I've posted photos for better understanding.

Thanks in advance, fellow permies.

Aeron

Hello fellow mellow permies --

I have nearly finished excavating the Royer Foyer of my underground dwelling and it suddenly dawned on me that I don't really know what I'm doing. Yet I fear not. Hopefully you guys can help me out.

Here we go:

Q1: What kind of shoring does one recommend using? How about the shoring's length, width, thickness? There's a bunch of well-dried, felled timber on the property, but I'm not exactly sure how to use it, and I'm using hand tools only. I thought using dissembled pallet wood might be an alright idea, but I suspect it lacks the length required to connect posts.

Q2: How much space should there be between posts?

Q3: Would a post depth of two feet be sufficient in stable soil/clay earth, or is more depth required?

Q4: I'm aiming for an eight foot ceiling throughout. What is a good length post to use, taking in account the girder and post-hole? 12 feet or so?

That's all I got for now. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks heaps!