[Cob] Water glass sealant

[Ocean Liff-Anderson]

waterglass soaks into the wall, dries, doesn't look really change the  
surface at all...

must be careful, it is toxic - think liquid glass - don't want to  
inhale, ingest or get on the skin...


On Jul 23, 2007, at 1:20 PM, hms.mommy at juno.com wrote:

> Ocean, what kind of finish does the waterglass give?  Is it smooth,
> shiny, and so forth.  Thanks,
> Carrie
>
>
> On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 22:21:32 -0700 Ocean Liff-Anderson
> <ocean at woodfiredeatery.com> writes:
>> Waterglass is Sodium Silicate (not potassium silicate), and Kiko
>> Denzer and I have used it extensively on the restaurant cob
>> features.  It can be brushed on after the cob wall/cob plaster is
>> bone dry.  We used a 50% sodium silicate/50% water solution.
>>
>> I have found that Sodium Silicate works well for mildly wet
>> locations
>> - areas where the wall is subject to no more than blown mist.  But
>>
>> driving rain will soak through eventually and harm to cob, plaster
>>
>> will flake off...
>>
>> Limewash is the best waterproofing you can give to cob - that's why
>>
>> the cobs in Wales are still here, 500 years later!
>>
>> Ocean
>>
>>