Cob: Re: natural remodel

[Patricia Kerns]

I have only tried this myself on a very limited scale (and not on walls),
but Athena Steen has redone part of the inside of her home by putting up
burlap on the existing wall.  She used a very sticky clay slip (think it was
pottery clay) to adhere the burlap to the wall by running a trowel over it,
kind of like a squeegie.  This created a surface amenable to an earth
plaster/paint.  You might look at the Steens' web site (the canelo project,
probably at canelo.com) for more info.

Patricia

-----Original Message-----
From: Ted Schluenderfritz <ted at fidelitas.org>
To: coblist at deatech.com <coblist at deatech.com>
Date: Tuesday, October 23, 2001 6:24 AM
Subject: Cob: natural remodel


>Hello,
>I ended up buying a 90  year old house and I would like to fix up the
>finished attic space. It's got some sort of wall board that was painted
>with a lead based paint (full of holes and peeling wallpaper on top of the
>lead paint). Would it be possible to cob/plaster or light-straw-clay over
>the walls to provide some additional insulation and to protect my family
>from the lead. would this be too heavy for the floor?
>
>what about the ceiling which has the same wallboard type material on it (I
>believe the previous occupant used drywall tape/compound on the seams--it
>looks like a very bad job of dry-walling)
>
>Has anyone done this on an existing structure?
>
>Thanks for any help you can give!
>
>Ted
>
>