DIRTCHEAPBUILDER

2004-05-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

Girl Buys Dome

Charmaine Taylor-www.dirtcheapbuilder.com wrote: ...

Ok with all the discussion of domes, and spraying papercrete huts, and all
I was COMPELLED to purchase a cast-off fiberglass satellite dish ( not quite
sure of the actual original use) it has a cool lightning bolt in orange on the top, and is
8' diameter.

I WANTED the 12 ft' one, but no legal way to get it home down
country roads, under wires here higher up or flat.

Don't want to hire a truck service, OK this puppy cost me $70, and the 12' one
is $150.

It is MORE like a hemisphere than I thought, and will be the roof of my cob tool
shed/hut by next summer.

I got ideas for tiling it from a list-member on the Organic Architecture list; and may "paint" what looks
like "slates" on it as I don't like the look now.

I may pour a reinforcing layer of fibercrete inside, and as insulation, but we
shall see.

If I made a wider, little wooden Hobbit door then I can push the lawnmower, and
other larger tools ( chipper/shredder, pressure sprayer, big shop vaccum) into the shed.

The walls may be sawdust clay with a cob/lime plaster and not true cob as I don't
want to spend the time hand building, slip formin g is my true love.

So here are a couple pics of the dome cap, and a wire mesh dish- 12', in 4 parts
I will make a summer gazebo roof out of.

What fun for a short, wide middle aged woman at the salvage yard, eh??

Of course the minute I asked them to save the mesh dish for me at the Arcasta Salvage Yard everyone who
came through wants it, it was $60. and is a light aluminum frame.

http://www.northcoast.com/~tms/domeshell_1610.JPG

domes/mesh in friend's truck

http://www.northcoast.com/~tms/dome_1615.JPG

dome on the ground.looks a lot
smaller, I can lift it easily, but too bulky to drag by myself

http://www.northcoast.com/~tms/domemesh_1616.JPG

mesh frame dish, easy to lift

http://www.northcoast.com/~tms/domeme_1614.JPG

Proud owner of more dirt cheap builder junk!- herselffo

2004-05-09T12:25:00.000-07:00

Fun with Asphalt Emulsion

Charmaine R Taylor.....
http:.//www.dirtcheapbuilder.com

I am doing a lot of experimenting with Asphalt Emulsion (AE) and Rub-R Slate mixes which
have cardboard, paper, sand, sawdust, lime etc. recipes deviating from
the original mixes the inv entor gave. And AE can stick well to
anything.

New Project: Clothes dryer drum completed with an AE- Rub-R-Slate finish,
with a pure lime-paper plaster over it, colored with Mrs. Smith's brand laundry bluing and
pigments f rom Sinopia and Bayferrox

Pigments mixed with water and drizzled over the rough lime plaster,
allowed to run it's own pattern. I flipped the drum and put the green
pigment going the reverse just in one direction.

The glass shown attached to the rim i s broken "pipe" an d "bong" glass from a local blown
glass artist...yeah it's legal, never been used for the intended
purpose. ( no residue) (g)

Copy and paste the URL shown to see the images..most are under 100k

http://www.northcoast.com/~tms/drum-1.jpg
CLOTHES DRYER DRUM AT BEGINNING

http://www.northcoast.com/~tms/drum-ae1.jpg
DRUM WITH AE COAT

http://www.northcoast.com/~tms/drum3.jpg
DRUM WITH RUB-R-SLATE MIX

http://www.northcoast.com/~tms/drum4.jpg
RUB-R-SLATE LAYER DRY

[YOU CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS RECIPE AT
http:.//www.dirtcheapbuilder.com- RUB-R-SLATE LESSONS]

http://www.northcoast.com/~tms/dru m-grey side.jpg
LIME-CL AY-RHA PLASTER MIX-GREY one side has RHA (rice hull ash) ADDED TO GIVE A different COLOR.

http://www.northcoast.com/~tms/drum_1598.JPG
PIGMENT DRIZZLED OVER LIME PLASTER LAUNDRY BLUING USED, +GREEN.PURPLE PIGMENT S

http://www.northco ast.com/~tms/drumdone1.jpg
COLORFUL BROKEN PIPE GLASS WIRED through HOLES IN DRUM

As a note you can ALSO embed tiles, broken slates, broken glass, marbles, old keys, rusty metal, driftwood, and just about anythi ng that is not too heavy into a li me mortar mix. Start with a small plaster planter pot and test out recipes before attempt ing a big project like the dryer drum.

AND you can plaster just about ANY surface with AE and it will stick, wood, OSB, ply, p lastic, metal.

I use Henry 1 07 brand and Black Jack brand fibered emulsion...both found at hardware and home fixit stores.

Don't be afraid of AE, it is non-toxic, does not off gas ( has a tar smell but this dissapates when dry) SOME 'NATURAL' BUIDLE RS are giving out mis-informaiton about emulsion. Theuy are confusing it with: ROAD & Cut Back Asphalt, which is a different formulation, stinks and is flammable..this is NOT the same formulation.
MODERN AE is bitumen-clay and water in a suspensi on. AE cures by evaporating the water and the clay-AE dries hard and dark brown to the surface it is painted on.
..enn

2004-04-21T18:21:00.000-07:00

GREAT LIME RESOURCES ONLINE:

There are many resources online about lime in all its forms and uses, from plasters, and mortars, to the production of quicklime, restoration projects and clay+ lime combinations. These web resources can be read in any order, just pick a item of interest and dig in. These will keep you busy reading for weeks!

Thanks for visiting and reading...
Ms. Charmaine Taylor/ Taylor Publishing- http://www.dirtcheapbuilder.com *
http://www.papercrete.com

Don't let using "lime" confuse you..it has been used for more than 5,000 years as a building material..and is finding new favor today for natu ra l building. Recently in Italy an entire underfloor storage of soft lime putty was uncovered in the Villa dei Quintili in Rome.
Sealed for almost 2,000 years by the collapse of a floor, the lime occupied an entire room. This palace was obtained by fo rce by Commodus in 182 AD [Seen as the bad guy emperor (played by Joquim Phoenix) in the movie "Gladiator"] Read more on this ancient lime putty here.

National Lime Association Has many free ONLIN E articles, and low cost booklets on technical aspects of lime.

Lime Based Renders by Bob Bennett
Limewa s hes by Bob Bennett
Three Coat Lime Plaster on Riven Lathe by Bob Bennett

Lime Parget- great site on lime parge tin g( sculpting & stamping of lime putty) at the Anna Kettle, UK artist site

Lime Online Italy: Has many good article s in English, sign in required to re ad.
Articles by Harry Francis, NLA techinal manager, retired. are posted here. I h av e included several lime related articles written by Mr. Francis, in my book "All About Lime", s ee mo re titles on lime use by clicking on the link.

UK BUILDING CONSERVATION : A collection of everything you'd want to know about restoring/conserving old and not-so-old bui lding s- gre at lime articles, and more.

Chemistry of lime explained -at basic level

Old House -UK site on Lime

Info on mixing an d using lime:

Traditional Lime Plaster: Myths, Preconceptions an d the Relevance of Good Practice by Ian Constantinides

Lime Plaster over Straw Bale- renders Article

Article s on Pozzolans -binders for lime:
Pozzolans for Lime Mortars by Pat Gibb ons

Articles on Pozzolans (clay binders for lime).. The best site is
the National Parks Service online, an excellent list of preservation and restoration articles, many are good
for natural building. Also see this article at the NPS site on pozzolan use.

Rice Husk (or Hull) Ash- an organic pozzola n for building.

Mount Vernon Conservation -lime conservation wall plaster site

Decorative Lime Materials:

Tom Battersby Ornamental Lime Plaste rs-restoration site., Amazing decorative wall pargetting and much more..a visual feast for the eyes.

Mike Wye & Associates- UK Suppliers of Natural Building and Decorating Products

Real Milk Paint website This site offers premade, dry packaged pig ments for mixing with
water to a real lime based "milk paint". There are other vendors online too: Old Fashioned Milk Paint, and others.

2004-04-18T11:33:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I am known as a mad scientist.

Since childhood I've scavenged, altered, used and adapted materials to build stuff. There are wonderful books and videos on how to use alternative materials for houses, shelters and more.
These I offer at www.dirtcheapbuilder.com , with a FREE info and weblinks site hosted at: www.papercrete.com

This blog is dedicated to offering the details and experiences for using free stuff and junk to build.

Project: Currrently I am turning a large cast off clothes dryer drum into a lime plastered tiled mosaic planter. Learn more at Alternative uses for Rub-R-Slate

Follow along..email me at books@dirtcheapbuilder.com for help on your questions, and visit the websites to see specific resources for YOUR projects.

Charmaine Taylor

Ms. Charmaine Taylor/ Taylor Publishing
http://www.dirtcheapbuilder.com http://www.papercrete.com
PO Box 375, Cutten CA 95534 Tel: 707-441-1632 9-6 PST, Fax anytine: 775-845-9772

MY online articl es at the Eureka Reporter newspaper:
Low cost mixer tools
Finding and testing clay
Building with Clay

Some great web links and resource articles:

The Rice Hull house

240 GREAT Canadian-written articles on homebuilding-all aspects at

Detailed technical
on buildin g with bricks.
There are some great pictures of brick buildings
a nd lots of design advice

Hundreds of house-building related links