[Cob] Lime- the mason's craft-Chinese lime+paper

[dirtcheapbuilder-Charmaine Taylor]

On Jan 12, 2005, at 12:17 PM, Marlin wrote:

> Hydrated Lime works very well, not sure why anyone needs to use 
> QuickLime but maybe I missed that part.


You don't really.  The Limeys in the UK  profess theirs is the best.  
And 100 years ago you could buy and slake your own, in the US    but 
the PROS- master plasters/masons  did it, not the average person unless 
they were experienced in home building.. as many, no doubt, were.

  I have the 1920s-30s newsletter of the "California Plasterers"  union  
   imagine thousands of guys in black suits and fedoras..the PROS...  
discussing their craft.   ( they did wear white  overalls on the job... 
but all the images in the newsletter are very formal.)

Hydrated lime production in this country is so precise that you get 
GOOD perfect lime to use buy simply buying hydrate.

as "Harry said.. bags 6 months old have had a chance to get AIR to 
them..and the first 1/4" in the bag is crunchy and set back to 
limestone again..  sift it out and use it for  clay-lime plasters and 
base coats.   the rest of the lime m ay be fine for general use.. for 
fine finsih laster  get Type S lime, or make sure the Type N is fresh.

and YES  definately use manure-clay mud coats first to level and fill 
out walls.  I have a broken sheetrock  wll in my studio.  I   infilled 
with paper-fiber-clay blocks ( aka fibercrete), the attached dress 
netting over them down to the sheetrock in place. and clay-manure 
plastered to  float the surface flater.  Once dry I can lime plaster 
over and you will not know the difference  once done.

this saves money.. and  fives a natural layer effect to the wall.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I will repeat my Chinese -lime+ paper recipe. I used it to plaster  my  
entire work studio inside...on a variety of surfaces...   cheap 
particle board, sheetrock,  fiberblock, ...and I love this stuff.

10 parts  wet lime by weight to 1 part shredded  paper. ( I use office 
paper which has been shredded by a cross shredder to get   smaller 
pieces.   this is hard to figure sometimes... so it is easier to just  
go by 'eye" and it makes no  difference.
[ ie one gallon- by weight of paper ( say 8 pounds)  is a darn big bag)

Place a 1 gallon of soaked lime ( which is now putty) in a clean  
container. add a huge bagfull of chopped shredded paper.  add a gallon 
or so of clean water to thoroughly wet and soak all  paper, mix it up 
well with a  garden fork ( 3 tined forks are easy to use- paint stems 
mixers will ball up ) . \

cover with a tight lid, and let sit for  month.  all the paper should 
be damp or covered  with lime so all of it is soaking.

Mix up and add sand to taste ( more sand is like masonry mortar , less 
sand is fluffier  and looks like paper mache on the wall)


   Make test patches on scrap, or on wall, once dry see how you like the 
look.. and add more sand as needed.

One plaster I did in my guest bath   shows the bits of paper as 
colorful confetti... so the wall is  pale but the colors of red, 
yellow, black show up softly.   Over time the color will bleach out of 
the paper in the tub.  so wait longer or use no color paper.

Troweling on the wall is a learned skill.. I use my gloved hand to 
smear a  handful on the wall... then trowle over it to spread, or just 
load a trowel and  spread about 1/4" thick



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