Introduction, tadelakt, clay plaster, straw bale oak frame house.

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roybennett

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Hi All,
Thanks for having us, Registered to do some research, specially to do with lime plasters and various methods like tadelakt etc, got a professional plasterer in to do the drywall with standard multi finish and must say he did a cracking job, the celling heights were beyond my competency and also the quality of the finish needed, days of working 5 meters up in the air are over sadly. Done some rendering and basic plastering but this plastering had to be spot on around an oak frame. This is the project I am self building Merlins House. Now left with plastering strawbale walls and bathrooms, using a combination of clay plaster in dry areas and tadelakt, marmarino etc in wet areas. DIY the only option down to budget, distance and lack of lcoal contractors with more experience than me in these techniques. These methods have to be used due to the mechanics of where the bathrooms are and the spaces/sizes we have to play with. We are building two showers, 1 Japanese style deep soaking tub ofuro style and one sink that all have to be fabricated from formwork and then plastered, already got a basic plan for shapes and formwork. Looking to hear from experienced users of tadelakt type processes before we build the formwork and substrate, the only criteria I have are
1 No additives or synthetic materials to be used in base and finish materials
2 Natural materials only aka Lime, Marble sand, Waxes, Olive oil soap, etc etc
3 Not necessarily looking for suppliers to be plugged or recommended am aware of Mike Wye and Clayworks but open to other suppliers of good quality natural base materials
4 Biggest concern is building a stable substrate and formwork for a Tadelakt bath/shower/sink (not interested in micro cement). Bathroom floor is 18mm OSB cross topped with 18mm Marine Ply over 200 x 50 joists. Thinking of adding another 18mm in Shower tray /Bath area with a stepped access to the tub, giving a 72mm thick floor, before we install the rest of the formwork, .
5 Looking to hear from folk who have been using natural materials for some time or have had made numerous mistakes in this area (best folk to learn from I find)
6 Any advice anyone has, I figure you learn best by exchanging experiences, willing to share photos of the process and progress I finish up using.
Thanks for reading
 
Hi thanks for the compliment, as for stalkerbook I get where some folk are coming from, but we don`t have time to build something more accessible, which ironically lots of folk who use stalkerbook equally can`t be bothered to use either. I`m of an age before even Personal Computer's existed, so have a bit of a more laid back view of the fears around digital stuff, its easy to intentionally mess up the algorithms being used with duff information and if folk get caught doing something they shouldn`t be doing (aka tax dodging, moonlighting, etc), becuase of what they laid out in public, then more fool them, they are either breaking the law and don`t want be caught fiddling and defrauding, in which case I don`t want to know them anyway for their sake and mine, what you don`t know cant be held against you, or anyone else for that matter, or they have no need to publicize what they are doing to generate more business or are in a position where being publicly accessible is dangerous for them. No criticism from me on those scores, each to their own as they say, live and let live is my motto, not a great fan of Facebook but it has its uses. So thanks guys, but is thier anyone on here willing to share thier expertise or experience ?
 
Hi thanks for the compliment, as for stalkerbook I get where some folk are coming from, but we don`t have time to build something more accessible, which ironically lots of folk who use stalkerbook equally can`t be bothered to use either. I`m of an age before even Personal Computer's existed, so have a bit of a more laid back view of the fears around digital stuff, its easy to intentionally mess up the algorithms being used with duff information and if folk get caught doing something they shouldn`t be doing (aka tax dodging, moonlighting, etc), becuase of what they laid out in public, then more fool them, they are either breaking the law and don`t want be caught fiddling and defrauding, in which case I don`t want to know them anyway for their sake and mine, what you don`t know cant be held against you, or anyone else for that matter, or they have no need to publicize what they are doing to generate more business or are in a position where being publicly accessible is dangerous for them. No criticism from me on those scores, each to their own as they say, live and let live is my motto, not a great fan of Facebook but it has its uses. So thanks guys, but is thier anyone on here willing to share thier expertise or experience ?
no
 
Hi All,
Thanks for having us, Registered to do some research, specially to do with lime plasters and various methods like tadelakt etc, got a professional plasterer in to do the drywall with standard multi finish and must say he did a cracking job, the celling heights were beyond my competency and also the quality of the finish needed, days of working 5 meters up in the air are over sadly. Done some rendering and basic plastering but this plastering had to be spot on around an oak frame. This is the project I am self building Merlins House. Now left with plastering strawbale walls and bathrooms, using a combination of clay plaster in dry areas and tadelakt, marmarino etc in wet areas. DIY the only option down to budget, distance and lack of lcoal contractors with more experience than me in these techniques. These methods have to be used due to the mechanics of where the bathrooms are and the spaces/sizes we have to play with. We are building two showers, 1 Japanese style deep soaking tub ofuro style and one sink that all have to be fabricated from formwork and then plastered, already got a basic plan for shapes and formwork. Looking to hear from experienced users of tadelakt type processes before we build the formwork and substrate, the only criteria I have are
1 No additives or synthetic materials to be used in base and finish materials
2 Natural materials only aka Lime, Marble sand, Waxes, Olive oil soap, etc etc
3 Not necessarily looking for suppliers to be plugged or recommended am aware of Mike Wye and Clayworks but open to other suppliers of good quality natural base materials
4 Biggest concern is building a stable substrate and formwork for a Tadelakt bath/shower/sink (not interested in micro cement). Bathroom floor is 18mm OSB cross topped with 18mm Marine Ply over 200 x 50 joists. Thinking of adding another 18mm in Shower tray /Bath area with a stepped access to the tub, giving a 72mm thick floor, before we install the rest of the formwork, .
5 Looking to hear from folk who have been using natural materials for some time or have had made numerous mistakes in this area (best folk to learn from I find)
6 Any advice anyone has, I figure you learn best by exchanging experiences, willing to share photos of the process and progress I finish up using.
Thanks for reading
Hi sounds an interesting build.May I ask why not microcement for and only tadelakt? Especially for bathtub?Do you know the maintenance upkeep of tadalakt?
 
Hi sounds an interesting build.May I ask why not microcement for and only tadelakt? Especially for bathtub?Do you know the maintenance upkeep of tadalakt?
Hi Plas1 thanks for the reply, Yes I am aware of the maintenance requirements, yearly refresh with olive soap and burnishing, keeping an eye on any movement cracks etc etc,as for microcement never used it and know almost nothing about it except technical articles and youtube videos, only one contractor up here and they are very, very expensive (not knocking them, just well outside our budget), North West Scotland where we are tends to be either high end turnkey bespoke builds or budget self builds without much in between.
Add in we are looking to use low carbon natural materials wherever possible without any additives might help understand why we are looking at the clay/lime plaster route, having worked with both materials before, and the bath has to be built into the space available, am aware of the risks re movement etc but until we can afford the £5,000+ for a Japanese deep tub that will fit and last longer with no maintenance, we are restricted to this route. If you have ideas open to them.
Thanks :)
 
Hi Plas1 thanks for the reply, Yes I am aware of the maintenance requirements, yearly refresh with olive soap and burnishing, keeping an eye on any movement cracks etc etc,as for microcement never used it and know almost nothing about it except technical articles and youtube videos, only one contractor up here and they are very, very expensive (not knocking them, just well outside our budget), North West Scotland where we are tends to be either high end turnkey bespoke builds or budget self builds without much in between.
Add in we are looking to use low carbon natural materials wherever possible without any additives might help understand why we are looking at the clay/lime plaster route, having worked with both materials before, and the bath has to be built into the space available, am aware of the risks re movement etc but until we can afford the £5,000+ for a Japanese deep tub that will fit and last longer with no maintenance, we are restricted to this route. If you have ideas open to them.
Thanks
 
Hi Plas1 thanks for the reply, Yes I am aware of the maintenance requirements, yearly refresh with olive soap and burnishing, keeping an eye on any movement cracks etc etc,as for microcement never used it and know almost nothing about it except technical articles and youtube videos, only one contractor up here and they are very, very expensive (not knocking them, just well outside our budget), North West Scotland where we are tends to be either high end turnkey bespoke builds or budget self builds without much in between.
Add in we are looking to use low carbon natural materials wherever possible without any additives might help understand why we are looking at the clay/lime plaster route, having worked with both materials before, and the bath has to be built into the space available, am aware of the risks re movement etc but until we can afford the £5,000+ for a Japanese deep tub that will fit and last longer with no maintenance, we are restricted to this route. If you have ideas open to them.
Thanks :)
Totally understand about the low carbon natural materials.As for maintenance it is every 1-2 months on tadalakt.I apply venetian and microcement and would be happy to discuss options/costings should you wish on 07719330726.Thanks Rich
 
Hi, this is a very interesting post. May I ask why you are determined to use only natural materials? This is a very common theme with a lot of people, and I'm often left wondering why. Other than esthetic preferences it doesn't make much sense to me. My personal concerns are more to do with things like effectiveness, safety, environmental impact, sustainability etc.
Thanks!
 
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