Suscol Strawbale Project - Part 3

Time for the finish plaster!


Off-white aliz on the underside of the soffit


Tracy applying the final coat to the outside of the building


Bob comes around shortly after with the texture


We use the handle of the trowel to get the 'woven' texture

Early morning shadows are amazing


Enjoying popsicles along the way, what a treat on a 110 degree day!

voila!

Suscol Srawbale Project - Part 2

So much has happened with this project since I last wrote!

Building a stone facing at the base of the building

Sculpting window bays around the 'paned' glass windows using Heavy Clay Straw. This has turned out to be a wonderful medium. You get the strength and formability of cob, yet can build quite thin and apply layers horizontally. The mixture is about 1:1 of clay and straw with no sand. I sculpted a retaining form and filled the center space with Very Light Clay Straw.

Amazingly, we got no cracks! Only a continuous shrinkage and gap to fill at the top once it dried

We also sculpted the doorway using the same technique.

Base coat plaster on the inside

We are using sheep's wool for insulating the roof. We dried it out in the sun and then stuffed it into the ceiling cavity as much as possible.

Closed in the ceiling with drywall and covered it with reed matting, for the classic, reed-plaster finish.

Sculpting the molding around the slylight openings.

On the outside of the building, I trimmed the roof-edge in a pattern to make the drip edge more decorative. Not the most fun job in the hot sun.

Bob torches down the roofing, even hotter I am sure!

We line the roof edge with fist-sized rocks. These will retain the soil on the low-profile living roof.