[Cob] limewashing- Mould on cob wall

[Charmaine Taylor]

Jane, you can limewash the surface now with a thin coat of 1 cup soft 
lime  putty to one gallon of clean water, and stir well, paint on with 
a sloppy brush, it will go on clear and may whiten the wall somewhat or 
look splotchy, initially, but if you will be plastering over it it will 
not matter.

Also place lime in the next plaster too, even 2-6% by volume will aid 
in any mold/antiseptic control, and strengthens the clay.

I often have buckets of clay-lime-sawdust mixes sitting around for 
months ( closed lid)  with no growth of any kind.

lime putty is simply made by purchasing hydrated lime and soaking it in 
clean water in a drum.  keep 3-6" of water over the top of the mix and 
it will not harden.  yu cannot overwater the lime in the drum the putty 
will settle under the water layer and mellow over time and stay 
buttery.  do not stir up the whole thing to use the putty. just use a 
sieve or colander to lift out the amount of lime putty needed, and 
transfer to a clean pail to make a wash/plaster/mortar, etc.

http://www.northcoast.com/~tms/render.html    << plaster

http://www.northcoast.com/~tms/wash.html  < limewash

Charmaine Taylor Publishing  books at dirtcheapbuilder.com
PO Box 375 Cutten CA   95534 707-441-1632
www.dirtcheapbuilder.com  www.papercrete.com


On Jul 1, 2004, at 1:24 PM, Lee Shultz wrote:

> Jane,
> I recall reading about a cob building in Oregon, US, that had some 
> mould on it. They destroyed it when they were finished when they 
> plastered the walls with lime, as I recall.
>
> I'm not an expert, certainly. Maybe someone from the list will know 
> more.
>
> -Bev
>   We have been building a small cob house for some months now, and 
> will soon be finished. For the last week or two it has been raining 
> quite heavily, and now some of the cob has begun to go mouldy - just a 
> little bit on the surface, but still, I do not like it. Moreover, some 
> seeds from the straw has begun to germinate.
>