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May 01
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Current Project: Natural Plasters on a Faswall Home

By Clay Plaster
Clay Plaster on Faswall Block

Applying the clay plaster base coat to faswall block

This spring is all about plaster. I’ve been hired to complete the plaster work on a faswall block home in western Kentucky, including the clay plaster interior and a lime plaster exterior. There’s 3500+ total square feet of wall between the interior and exterior, which is no slouch. I just returned home from completing the clay and lime base coats with our crew. It was a big push and I’m glad to be done… well, at least until it’s time to go back and apply the finish, anyway.

Read on to see some images of the base coat clay plaster on faswall block!

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Apr 03
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Our Straw Bale House in ‘Small Homes’

By Strawtron, Book Reviews, Timber Framing, Straw Bale Building
small home book - lloyd kahn

Lloyd Kahn’s latest, Small Homes: The Right Size

Lloyd Kahn of Shelter fame has a new book out, titled Small Homes: The Right Size, and I feel much gratitude that our straw bale & timber frame home is featured within its pages. Lloyd’s books have been a big source of inspiration for me these past 10 years. Flipping through Shelter, Home Work, and Builders of the Pacific Coast have been powerful influences and have helped me to feel connected to the worldwide movement of folks creating beautiful, unique, hand-built homes.

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Mar 18
Love1
earthen floor

Introduction to Installing Earthen Floors

By Resources, Earthen Floor
installing an earthen floor

Installing the base layer of an earthen floor

Earthen floors are floors composed of compacted clay, sand, and straw. They are made flat and troweled smooth just like a concrete slab. However, the finished product is much softer on your feet… and on the earth itself. You can build an earthen floor with readily available materials. The labor input is quite high, but the material cost should be very low. And of course, the embodied energy is low, too — this is a very resilient, low tech method that can be incorporated in a variety of locales. Here’s a very short introduction and answers to common questions about earthen floors.

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Mar 05
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Live Edge Wood Countertop

By Woodworking, Natural Remodeling
diy live edge wood countertop

The nearly completed live edge wood countertop

I’ve gotta admit, there’s something really visually appealing about “live edge” wood, that is wood with the natural outline of the tree left in place and not sawn square. Last year we bought a nice slab of cedar when deliberating about how to build a countertop between the two posts of our timber frame retrofit in the kitchen. This winter the cedar appeared dry enough to go ahead and make our own DIY live edge wood countertop. I’m glad we went this route. Here are the results.

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Feb 02
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The Completed Timber Frame Wood Shed

By Carpentry, Timber Framing, Bent Raising
8x16 timber frame wood shed

The finished timber frame wood shed (sans siding)

In the fall of last year, I was contracted to build a small 8×16 timber frame wood shed and it was a great opportunity to get back to the ol’ chisel and mallet. I love this type of work — the materials, the scale, the tools, and the workflow feel so good. In my first post about the shed back in November, I shared some photos of the building process. Here are a few more pics of the raising and the finished shed.

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Jan 06
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Properties of clay plaster

How to Make and Apply Base Coat Clay Plaster

By Light Clay Straw, Resources, Clay Plaster, Straw Bale Building
Base coat clay plaster

A student floats a creamy layer of clay plaster during one of our workshops

In my recent series of posts, I’ve described the process for building and finishing a light clay straw wall. First there was mixing the light clay straw itself and stuffing it into wall cavities. Then I discussed how to prepare for plaster by making and installing wood trim, and coating the walls with a simple clay slip. Next I’ll describe how to make and apply a base coat (or scratch coat) clay plaster. Now it’s really getting fun.

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Dec 08
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Slick Way to Anchor Wood Posts to Concrete

By Timber Framing, Foundation

Concrete Post Anchor

A common design question when working with wood posts and concrete (or stone) is: how do you anchor posts to the concrete? Honestly, if we’re talking about a large structure with a lot of weight, gravity does most of the work and you don’t need a specific connection. A concrete post anchor may be necessary in a variety of situations, however. Here is a particularly slick way to anchor wood posts to concrete using a very discrete piece of hardware.

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Nov 21
Love1

Timber Frame Wood Shed

By Hand Tools, Carpentry, Timber Framing

ziggy-swings-axeGears quickly shifted this fall when I was contracted to build a wood shed in town. Up until a few weeks ago, I was trying to squeeze in as much work as possible on the ol’ homestead projects — the light clay straw outhouse in particular. I did end up getting the little outhouse to a good point. (Plastering season is over… unless for some reason we get a 60+ degree stretch in December. You never know these days, sadly.)

Anyway, the wood shed I’m currently building is a proper timber frame with wood joinery, which is obviously very exciting for me. Getting contracted to do a timber frame anything has been my goal since moving to Berea a few years ago. Here are a few photos of the building process.

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Oct 26
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How to Make and Use Clay Slip

By Clay Plaster, Straw Bale Building, Light Clay Straw
Clay slip on a light clay straw wall

Smearing clay slip on a light clay straw wall prior to plastering

Clay slip is an essential material for coating straw bale and light clay straw walls prior to plastering. Basically, it serves as an adhesion coat, essential for getting the first coat of plaster to stick to the wall. There’s not much science to making clay slip, and it’s really fun to smear. Here are a few really simple tips for making and using clay slip for natural walls.

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