Rich Aylesbury said
"Plasters do need to do a bit more than just look good. They're not just a decorative finish to the room; they also help to regulate the internal environment."
Takeaways to entice you to watch
Vapor permeability! Capillarity! Hygroscopic! Durability! Alkalinity! Lime plaster has all that, and this video explains it wonderfully. There's even a helpful spectrum.
Did you know gypsum plaster is salt-sensitive? And therefore it reacts with paints over time?
Structures must withstand wind-driven precipitation, freeze/thaw cycles, maybe movement and structure flex.
This of course begs the question - it does! really! -
Would you rather wear a woolen overcoat or a plastic bag in damp weather?
This is it, y'all - the kernel that's got lime tripping all my nerd triggers.
Feel free to be amused at my expense (I am!
) while I attempt to explain my over-abundant excitement:
Here we have a single construction component that, once installed, will interact with its environment to make me more comfortable for longer inside my home.
No blower motors.
No duct work.
No moving parts.
No switches.
No noise.
Just
one thing -
one material
one component
that sits there (for years!)
silently improving my life
SIMPLY
because of its chemical and physical properties.
Aaaaand... people knew this a very, very long time ago.
Wow.
So now my mind explores:
What
other traditional or natural or historical construction components and concepts are available to me which will similarly make my dream castles more luxurious for longer? And is there anything even better than lime?
Note: I picked on modern HVAC systems merely to contrast simplicity versus complexity. Probably the "simplicity" of lime is relative, too - given difficulty of installation, time to dry, maintenance, and probably other ways I'm still ignorant of.
I don't think that lime is a 1:1 substitute for heating/cooling systems. But maybe utilizing it (or other materials) would help me simplify those systems, or decrease my dependence on them.
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