Cob: Washington, DC Cob (Bamboo lath)

Tue Aug 19 19:16:47 CDT 2003

        For anyone in the Washington area that is interested, I have an 
unlimited supply of bamboo and the tool needed to turn round bamboo into lath 
strips, and I am happy to share both my supply of bamboo and my splitter. 
       For those not in the DC area the splitter tool I am referring to is 
G-3750 from the Hida Tool & Hardware: <A HREF="www.hidatool.com">www.hidatool.com</A> 
       The main difference between using bamboo lath and regular pine lath is 
that bamboo is free and I like to use U-shaped nails to attach the lath 
because regular nails split the bamboo and do not have much holding power. (The 
U-shaped nails split the bamboo also, but a strip of bamboo is pinched and held 
under the U-portion of the nail.) Hold the nail in a pair of needle nose pliers 
to start the nail into the wood.
       There was considerable cracking where my cob wall joined the 
cob-covered lath, but it was not a problem. I simply chipped off the loose cob adjacent 
the crack, wet the surface with a brush and filled the crack with more cob. I 
then applied my scratch coat (one part clay and two parts finely chopped 
straw) over the walls and joint.
       Last week I experimented with a brown coat. One part sand, two parts 
clay and 4 parts horse manure. It stuck to and filled in the scratch coat 
beautifully. I have now mixed up a 10 gallon batch of the same and plant to apply a 
brown coat to the rest of the wall later this week.
       The only real hassle about making up the brown coat was trying to 
screen the horse manure through a 1/4 inch screen. Clay and sand passed through 
the 1/4 inch screen and then through window screen quite easily.
       This time I did not screen the horse manure, but instead broke up the 
turds using drywall mixing equipment i.e. a 2" mixing paddle that attaches to 
my 3/8 inch electric drill and a potato masher with square holes.
       Earth plaster is a true pleasure to apply. You wet the wall with a 
brush and push the plaster off a hod on to the wall. The plaster stays where you 
put it and does not seem to crack or fall off. My only previous experience 
with plastering was applying cement to a straw bale wall. It was a nightmare. 
Cement would stay on the wall for a few minutes and then fall off. I think I had 
as much cement on the ground as on the wall. My friend Peter said that the 
second coat went on much easier, but it could hardly have been worse.
       Anyone who would like to try applying an earth/manure finish to cob 
and lath walls is welcome to stop by. I used a saturated solution of borax to 
hydrate the clay and manure. This cuts the odor problem a little and kills off 
all the parasites other bugs that might reside in fresh horse manure.
       Anyone interested in plastering or obtaining pictures of my cob wall 
please send an E-mail or call Ed @ 703-360-2316.
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<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT  SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">        For anyone in the Washington area that is interested, I have an unlimited supply of bamboo and the tool needed to turn round bamboo into lath strips, and I am happy to share both my supply of bamboo and my splitter. <BR>
       For those not in the DC area the splitter tool I am referring to is G-3750 from the Hida Tool & Hardware: <A HREF="www.hidatool.com">www.hidatool.com</A> <BR>
       The main difference between using bamboo lath and regular pine lath is that bamboo is free and I like to use U-shaped nails to attach the lath because regular nails split the bamboo and do not have much holding power. (The U-shaped nails split the bamboo also, but a strip of bamboo is pinched and held under the U-portion of the nail.) Hold the nail in a pair of needle nose pliers to start the nail into the wood.<BR>
       There was considerable cracking where my cob wall joined the cob-covered lath, but it was not a problem. I simply chipped off the loose cob adjacent the crack, wet the surface with a brush and filled the crack with more cob. I then applied my scratch coat (one part clay and two parts finely chopped straw) over the walls and joint.<BR>
       Last week I experimented with a brown coat. One part sand, two parts clay and 4 parts horse manure. It stuck to and filled in the scratch coat beautifully. I have now mixed up a 10 gallon batch of the same and plant to apply a brown coat to the rest of the wall later this week.<BR>
       The only real hassle about making up the brown coat was trying to screen the horse manure through a 1/4 inch screen. Clay and sand passed through the 1/4 inch screen and then through window screen quite easily.<BR>
       This time I did not screen the horse manure, but instead broke up the turds using drywall mixing equipment i.e. a 2" mixing paddle that attaches to my 3/8 inch electric drill and a potato masher with square holes.<BR>
       Earth plaster is a true pleasure to apply. You wet the wall with a brush and push the plaster off a hod on to the wall. The plaster stays where you put it and does not seem to crack or fall off. My only previous experience with plastering was applying cement to a straw bale wall. It was a nightmare. Cement would stay on the wall for a few minutes and then fall off. I think I had as much cement on the ground as on the wall. My friend Peter said that the second coat went on much easier, but it could hardly have been worse.<BR>
       Anyone who would like to try applying an earth/manure finish to cob and lath walls is welcome to stop by. I used a saturated solution of borax to hydrate the clay and manure. This cuts the odor problem a little and kills off all the parasites other bugs that might reside in fresh horse manure.<BR>
       Anyone interested in plastering or obtaining pictures of my cob wall please send an E-mail or call Ed @ 703-360-2316.</FONT></HTML>

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