Happy Mothers Day to all the Mums out there.
This week we’re a couple of days or so behind schedule because of a few mechanical hassles with the render pump, but hope to make up the lost time over the next few weeks. The first coat of render is on and the house is basically waterproof, which means we can sleep soundly at night, even if its pissing rain, which it should be doing in the North-East at this time of year.
Except for a few nervous hours when the straw was still exposed, we’ve been extraordinarily lucky with the weather, even having some days in the very high teens or low twenties during this last week. All of this great weather is a huge advantage to us as drying time is critical at this time of the year. no matter where you are in Victoria.
Whereas the builder on our previous job had only allowed us a total of 35mm for the render, making it pretty tricky to ensure an adequate thickness of covering, the builder on this current job has allowed us a full 50mm, which over the whole of the job of nearly 300 square metres, means an extra 11/2 cubic metres of render (that’s a lot of mud!). The ideal thickness on a strawbale job is 45mm, as a 50mm render thickness not only means an extra metre and a half of mud, but this has to mostly be applied in the second coat. There’s only a limited amount of mud that raw straw will hold on the first coat, and if the top coat is too thick it will be prone to excessive cracking, therefore, the second coat is the only place to apply the extra 5mm of render. If the weather does turn particularly wet and cold, we may be struggling to get enough dry second-coat to start the top coat on. The building is situated on a gentle, North facing slope, with good air flow and plenty of sun, meaning it should dry out pretty easily.
Well until next week,
Don’t hesitate to email us with any questions or queries and we will answer as soon as possible,
Hooroo, MarkÂ
