Exterior Plaster / Electricity (7/23-7/29/13)

Kindra mists the clay slip prior to applying the line plaster.

Jamie and Kindra start the lime at the NE corner.

East wall with first layer of plaster.

a long way to go

The first windows are installed

While Clay/Sand/Straw crew is working outside, the electrician installed wiring and boxes.

Switch boxes and receptacles were fixed with stakes and then cobbed in place.

power to ceiling

The interior continues to have the clay slip applied.  The push was to get the outside covered with lime ASAP

This is a good example of the wires and boxes being fixed in place with the clay slip.  

The plaster continues on the outside.  The whole crew applying plaster, including my sister Carolyn!

Virgina, Kindra, Connie, Kate and Carolyn.  I bet Jamie is mixing plaster!

Jamie and Virginia, plastering the NW wall.

Johnny and Jamison installing windows, Kate and Connie plastering the south side.

North wall of living room plastered with windows installed. 

Tutorial on installing 17 ga. stucco mesh between 1st and 2nd layers of lime plaster.  Because my house is in a wind storm area near the Gulf the mesh is part of the structural package.

4" overlap at all vertical joins.

Connie attaching mesh.

Septic tank installed (7/23/13)

Septic tank is being installed!

This is smallest tank allowed! 

And precious rainwater is used to keep it from floating up, if there's a rain (?)

After stacking but before plaster (7/15-7/20/13)

 

After the bales were stacked there was still a rough surface.

Bales have been trimmed with a weed whacker.

There are still a few holes having custom straw pillows made to fill them.

 

Site sourced clay slip is mixed with loose straw to fill in crevices and shallow areas where bales come together.

Kate and Virginia " stuffing" hollow areas.  Notice that felt paper has been stapled to studs so plaster will bridge the studs.

Jamie stuffing and filling with straw mixed with slip.

All the straw gets the clay slip to give it a stiffer surface for the lime plaster to adhere to.

The straw is scratchy!

The interior walls are "stuffed" and slip coated, too.  Oliver is checking out the work.

The first step of the electrical has been installed, the romex run between bales

The east exterior wall, showing the hurricane straps and clay slip.

More electrical, you can see how it snakes up between where the bales meet.

Clay slip is almost finished!

This is the straw that was whacked off the stacked bales, around the 10,000 gal water tank.

Ready for the next step!