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Light Clay Straw

Clay Plaster Benefits

The Unique & Beneficial Properties of Clay Plaster

By Straw Bale Building, Light Clay Straw, Cob Building, Clay Plaster
Clay Plaster Benefits

Clay plaster base coat application in process

Clay soil is one of the most ancient, rudimentary, yet effective building materials on the planet. Besides being naturally abundant across much of the earth, clay has unique properties that make it not only suitable but very desirable as a natural building material. Clay is used for the production of fired brick, sun-baked adobes, cob, and natural plaster finishes.

In this very basic introduction to clay soil, I will highlight some of the unique water-loving features and other useful attributes of clay when it’s used as a natural building material, particularly as a plaster finish.

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Properties of clay plaster

How to Make and Apply Base Coat Clay Plaster

By Clay Plaster, Straw Bale Building, Light Clay Straw, Resources
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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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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Preparing for Clay Plaster: Making and Installing Wood Trim

By Carpentry, Light Clay Straw, Doors & Windows, Resources, Clay Plaster

clay-plaster-floating-fiberglass-stucco-mesh-02

Light clay straw walls are a great surface for finishing using natural plasters. Because the straw-clay is tamped inside of a stud wall, you have a fairly flat surface to start with, compared to something like straw bale which needs a lot of trimming and often extra thick plaster to achieve an even surface.

Here I’ll give some tips and suggestions for how to prepare a light clay straw wall to receive clay plaster, using our recent outhouse project as our demonstration site. In this post, I’ll talk about how to make and install wood trim, which should be the first step in preparing your newly built wall to receive clay plaster.

There are a few tricks you’ll need to ensure a quality job. Read ahead for my method…

 

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Another Way to Make Chopped Straw

By Earthen Floor, Straw Bale Building, Light Clay Straw, Clay Plaster
Making Chopped Straw with a Lawnmower

Making chopped straw with a standard lawnmower

Chopped straw is an invaluable ingredient for clay plasters and earthen floors. Unfortunately, it’s a bit of a drag to actually make the stuff if you don’t have the right tools or equipment. If you’re building a straw bale wall, you get the benefit of collecting the chopped straw once you shave your walls (which is commonly done with a weed whacker). But if you’re working on a different type of structure, you’ll have to find a way to specifically make the chopped straw.

The ol’ “weed whacker in a barrel” gets really old really quickly, and frankly isn’t that effective. If you don’t have a leaf mulcher or wood chipper, which are far more efficient, you can actually use a lawn mower with a bag attachment to chop all of your straw for plaster. Here’s how to do it.

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A Light Clay Straw Building Primer

By Resources, Light Clay Straw

stuffing-slipstraw-in-wall-cavityIt’s been quite the eventful September. The big news of the month is that we hosted our first Natural Building Workshop at the homestead. It was, in a word, wonderful. We had a very diverse group of 10 folks come out to learn all about cob, light clay straw, clay plaster, and clay paint. I couldn’t have asked for a better group. I’m continually amazed at the positive energy that is generated through these workshop experiences.

One of our projects was building the light clay straw walls of our new outhouse, which I’d like to document a bit here. This is an outhouse that will serve future workshops and large events (as well as being quite useful for just ourselves, too). The building is also a little bit of a “natural building showcase”, as it will have a few different types of natural finishes on display when all is said and done.

Read ahead to learn about how to build a light clay straw wall.

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Fall is for Cob Benches & Outhouses

By Cob Building, Natural Building Workshops, Light Clay Straw
Framing the outhouse

Putting roof decking on the new outhouse

Our first official natural building project on the land this year is an outhouse. Ha! I kinda love that. Right now we’re in the midst of framing a small two stall outhouse that will be one of the site projects for work & learning during our upcoming Natural Building Essentials workshop. This outhouse is going to get a pretty special treatment in the form of light clay straw walls and a clay plaster finish. The finished product should be pretty de-luxe.

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