Cob Ferro-cement roofs?

[raven talmhain]

UWE,
Just currious, what is "stabilized earth"?

Raven Talmhain

(perverse Romans? Not really. They were always smart folks, besides they
sure knew how to throw a party.)

"The heretic is he who lights the fire. Not she who burns in it."
W. Shakespeare

On Mon, 26 Oct 98 19:02:45 PST "uwe" <uweb at megalink.net.mx> writes:
>Hi Jud,
>
>talking about materials (not being an engineer I don't know about the 
>pos=
>sibility of cracks, etc.), my dream is to build the roof with fibrous 
>cem=
>ent first. In fact, the "cement" would be Roman cement (3 parts earth 
>wit=
>h a clay content of 20-25% and 1 part lime). The reason that I want 
>such =
>an insulation is that you gain/lose (summer/winter) about 70% of all 
>the =
>thermal energy through the roof. Over that I thought to place first an 
>=
>earth plaster, perhaps stabilized, and finally pure lime. All this 
>stuff =
>has to cure moist (very important!!!), and as soon as the lime is 
>"hard" =
>to the pressure of your thumb, you rub oil or wax into it. Do it when 
>the=
> sun just doesn't shine anymore on this part of the roof, and do a 
>very =
>thorough job, until there is no more color change. That will make it 
>comp=
>letely impermeable.
>
>Being this stuff so good, I would make the cistern the same way; first 
>=
>stabilized earth, and finally lime. If you make the cistern 
>underground, =
>you don't need any rebar, chickenwire, etc., as it is supported by the 
>=
>surrounding earth. After treating the inside with oil or wax again 
>(produ=
>cing calcium soap, which is insoluble in water, and doesn't let it 
>throug=
>h, but breathes), I would apply a whitewash with lime, a little casein 
>=
>and very litle salt. Clean the cistern thoroughly every year and 
>re-apply=
> the whitewash; kills pathogesn due to the high pH (12.45). How do you 
>=
>like this option?
>
>Uwe

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