earth plastering

This weekend was all about horrible allergies and working on the back bathroom.  Many years ago, the Tall Short Person came to us and said "there is a hole in the bathtub."  After talking to some contractor friends, we found out the bathtub had be installed incorrectly.  Therefore, it cracked and a hole developed.  That had to come out.  The carpet had to come out.  

It took more years then I would like to admit for us to do something about it.  This back bathroom has very strange dimensions which made finding a tub to fit it a difficult proposition.  The better statement is an affordable bathtub was hard to find.  But I did recently.  

We had our handy man come in and fix my Beloved's sheetrock job.  Mr. Hill said it was not the worst he had ever seen.  Especially for the first time doing sheetrock.

On Saturday, out came the earth plaster.  It is clay and sand with water and pigment mixed in.

Then many hands got to work.  Small Mister kept saying "DIRTY!"  It is mud.  

By the end of the weekend, we even got a laminate floor installed.  The tub is sitting the bathroom now but it is not plumped.  Now, I will freely admit that the floor and the baseboards are not perfect but there is nothing square, flat, and true about this room.  I am a bit amazed they look as good as they do.  I am very pleased, especially since I have felt like total crud most of this long weekend.  Something blows in in the evenings or opens up and I can no longer breath.

Next week will be better.  Mountains, here we come!

cobbing

I got the chance to mix some cob this weekend to put on the wall of the Teahouse.  We paid a friend to put a real roof on the structure for us and when he did he pulled off the damaged bits.  Now they need to be fixed and I started the process.  I got four batches of cob on the wall.  Nothing today because it was misting and there were other chores to do.

As you can tell, I had help from the Small Mister.  He danced with me a bit and told me all about the consistency of the cob.  I just wish I understood his words.  All too soon he will be speaking our language.  My Beloved helped me move buckets as well as the Tall Short Person.  My Beloved actually had the forge going so everyone was in the backyard for a good part of the day.  

The process of cobbing is slow for me.  It works best.  I actually scared my Beloved while I was on the ladder.  He wishes to put the scaffolding back up but I think the ladder is working for me well right now.  The process is also rather soothing.  It is that getting your hands in the mud thing.  

I do hope to get more done and the walls done before it gets too hot.  But too hot may be tomorrow, even though it does not look like it.

We have a computer down so blogging this week may be catch as catch can.

cob oven

One of the columns my Beloved is building is going to contain on oven.  The columns are for a structure that will be his forge.  One is one more fire feature?  We bought firebrick this last weekend and made sure it was the right height.  My Beloved actually took his chain saw to the top of the column so that the oven floor would be level with shoulder.  I will not have to lift up when I place bread in it or when I take bread out.  Or maybe yogurt. Or pizza. Or a casserole.  Or a....

We put masonry sand in the shape of the oven on top of the fire bricks.  We used an old olive oil can to create the chimney.  We then covered the sand with paper.

My Beloved made a batch of cob with out straw in it in the mortar mixer (we are lazy.  we rarely foot tread cob anymore unless it is at a workshop).  We put the whole batch on top.  We just have to keep going up and finish the column.  We will also cut a door.  We just have to build the column up until it will meet the roof.  Then the oven can be used!  Maybe sooner.  We will have to see.

plastering

I finally finished compressing the earth plaster wall in the spare bedroom while my family went and jumped out of a perfectly good airplane.

 

Compressing a wall that has been earthen plastered means that it will not dust.  The way I am doing it here is with a sponge and water.  You use pressure, water, and the sponge to smooth out the surface and compact it.  You can also use a trowel to do the same thing but it takes MUCH longer but the surface can be as smooth as glass.  This is just wall is unique and lovely.  Now to finish the rest of the room for whenever Nilgun chooses to come home.

the rafters are up!

Russell and I got the rafters up on the Teahouse on Sunday.  Okay, so it was mostly Russell but I was the go to person to bounce ideas off, come up with knew ideas, and help move rafters.

 

It is a double reciprocal roof which is one of the strongest out there.

 

This is where the monitor is going to be.  

It does not look like much but Russell worked on it all day.  It also made him very happy.  More cob, deadmen, and lathes are needed but it is a step.  We may have a finished Teahouse by October, with many hours of plastering still to come!  That piece makes me smile even though I am short.  It is going to be hard to reach parts of the walls even on scaffolding.