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<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">Dear Andre </FONT><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">and
Coralie</FONT><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">I don't know anything about sodium
silicate, but Rikki Nitzkin posted to the list about using potassium silicate
for waterproofing(copied below)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">We also have similar problems to you in France
with our Straw Bale Building Association-only 40 ish subscribers of which nearly
half-19 are students, and four of us who actually do most of the work in
our spare time receive free membership, leaving 17 or so actual full
subscribers!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">we scaled down our association newsletter to
just an update of events and a few small articles, and send out the Last Straw
instead, now it is more Euro orientated.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS"><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">I can see a time in
the near future( and Barbara and Bee have said this too) when we will become
just an internet network of interested people, especially with the plans to
make TLS more online friendly.</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">I think what you wrote "<FONT face=Arial
size=2>-The lack of building codes pushes SB construction towards owner
builders. Who only need one house and quit the movement after finishing
it."</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">is also true for us, and we also find it hard to
coordinate a gathering and the U.K is not that big, so I understand your
problems well </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">But do keep up the excellent work you do
and France will be lucky to have a least one reliable source of strawbale
info.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">Best wishes with your CD, book and house/center,
and I would have thought you would have built your own masonary
heater.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">keep spreading the word!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">Chug</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">
<P><EM>HI!</EM></P>
<P><EM>This weekend I was talking to an architect friend who mentioned two more
ways to waterproof earth plasters:</EM></P>
<P><EM>1) Potassium Silicate ("dissolvable glass") ; it goes on in 2 coats,
first 1:1 with water, and 2nd pure silicate. If you want to do it with
color use white paint as a base: 5kg of Zinc Oxide and 4 lt. (5kg) potassium
silicate--mix the paint a day before using. You can add any natural pigments you
like, or colored earth. leave 12 hours drying time between coats, and
don´t do it in rain, freezing weather or strong sun. </EM></P>
<P><EM>2) an old monk´s recipe: pigments mixed with beaten eggs.</EM></P>
<P><EM>Does anyone have any experience or comments on either of these
techniques?</EM></P>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV><EM>RIKKI </EM></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A href="mailto:m.ep@laposte..." title=m.ep@laposte...>André de Bouter</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
href="mailto:strawbale@amper....muni.cz"
title=strawbale@amper....muni.cz>ESBN</A> ; <A
href="mailto:GSBN@lists....com"
title=GSBN@lists....com>GSBN</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, February 28, 2003 9:33
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Strawbale] Sodium Sillicate and
an update</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hello everyone,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Question:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>A potter friend suggests that I mix Sodium
Sillicate (not sure this is the correct English word) in my earth
plaster, or mud floor, as he claims it will allow us to have a more 'fluid'
mix while using less water. This should make the plaster easier to mix and
apply, give less risk of craking and possibly make the plaster more water
resistant.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>He suggested to mix 3% Sodium Sillicate to the
water.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Any ideas on this?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- chemical reactions?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- breathabilty?<BR>- an ecological
sollution?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- ?????</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>And a little update.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>French SB Association <BR>(Association pour la
Construction en Fibres Végétales)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Due to a lack of active participants it has been
decided that this non for profit should be terminated.<BR>Although the demand
for SB is constantly rising it seems difficult to get a good network going in
France.<BR></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>reasons I see are: </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- France is a large country (relatively
speaking of course) and anual gatherings are therefore
difficult/expensive. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- Internet use is just starting
here.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- The lack of building codes pushes SB
construction towards owner builders. Who only need one house and quit the
movement after finishing it.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>French SB Book.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The project I was working on has transformed into
cooperation with Terre Vivante who are translating Astrid and Herbert Grubers'
SB book 'Bauen mit Stroh'. If all goes as planned they will use our
images for a collor section.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>As this book is a introduction to SB rather than
a detailed 'how to' I'm trying to stimulate Terre Vivante to translate a
second book as soon as possible. (I realized I would not be able to write a SB
book of the level of some of those out there whithout spending 10 years on
it)<BR>I hope the arrival of a French general SB book will activate a new
network. Our french mailing list is waiting for them. (and this goes for
for other french speaking parts of the world as well).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>CD rom</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I'm still trying to find the time to finalize
this one before the onset of summer mud frenzie.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Our SB home/center</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The geese are flying to the noth again, sign that
the big cold (-14 Celcius is cold for our région) is
over.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The hopelessly under sized masonry stove
that we borrowed to keep our newborn from freezing defended itself well. The
house is not finished (for the moment no windows on the south side, only
a temporary unplastered SB wall, and cracks in the other
walls everywhere) but we did manage to 'finish' our bedroom before
Coralie gave birth. </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>The last two weeks we
cleaned up our garden and planted fruit trees.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This year year we will try to finish the
extérieur walls and the roof insulation. That way we will have more comfort
and I can spend less time cutting wood. The south shoud receive the second
hand windows that I've been collecting; giving us more light and
heat next winter.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Bale on,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>André de Bouter</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>La Maison en Paille<BR><A
href="mailto:m.ep@laposte...">m.ep@laposte...</A><BR><A
href="http://www.la-maison-en-paille.com">www.la-maison-en-paille.com</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
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