Cob: Re: earth floors

[Steve Lewis]

Matthew:

I have used an acylic sealer, which I believe is similar to PVA glue,  with
mud.   The product I used is a mexican sealer, ( "5X1 Sealer")  comes white,
dries clear, and nearly glue thick, dilutes with water and makes 6 times
what you bought.  It is for sealing the surface of adobes, fired adobes or
concrete blocks prior to painting.

Mixing this with adobe plaster made a hard water resistant material.  I used
it to shape the surface of poured concrete. It looks like dirt but is much
more water resistant.  It actually sticks and stays better on concrete than
on adobe bricks.  Being dissimilar to the normal earth material, it tends to
come off at the bond when placed over earth.  Very useful material.

Steve


From: "Matthew HALL(SED)" <M.Hall at shu.ac.uk>
To: <carlaevans at hotmail.com>
Cc: <chansey at earthlink.net>; <coblist at deatech.com>
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2001 2:17 AM
Subject: Re: Cob: Re: earth floors


> Dear all,
>
> Thanks for all the feedback and ensuing discussion, but has anybody
actually TRIED adding PVA
> adhesive to mud renders etc. I have made experimental adobe blocks with
diluted PVA water repellent
> surfaces and they behaved as normal but were 100% waterproof - it just
beads right off! Has anyone
> tried this in the field?
>
> Matthew Hall
>
> Centre for the Built Environment
> School of Environment & Development
> Sheffield Hallam University
> Unit 9 Science Park
> Howard Street
> Sheffield S1 1WB
> England
>
> Tel: +44 (0) 114 225 3244
> Fax: +44 (0) 114 225 3206
> E-mail: (work) M.Hall at shu.ac.uk
> E-mail: (home) Matt at Hall2000.fsnet.co.uk
>
>
>