[Strawbale] Great Lakes Lime Test Results!!

[Michael K. Lough]

Just in case there is a soul out there that is interested in the final
result of
the Great Lakes Lime Test. Here it is!

You might recall suggestions being made on the list that there would be NO
difference in the constituition of the 2 test batches in an after winter
freeze test.

Encouraged by this and with the learned contribution of an esteemed
consultant on this list I declared the the Great Lakes Lime Test to be
over BEFORE I inspected and sampled the two batches.
 This might have been a mistake I am sorry to say


On opening the largely frozen since January 8th batch on Saturday the 26th
April
(a warmish sunny day) I saw nothing unusual. When I pushed a cedar shingle
to the bottom of the 5 gal pail I found the lime to be inconsistent in
resistance to the
wood. When I used the shingle to lift some lime I could feel largish lumps
and when I brought some to the surface above the 4 inches of surface water
it was visibly granular and resembled cottage cheese somewhat


I then got a "handful" of "cheese" and tried to squish it into a paste and
flatten the lumps.
This was quite successful and a lime "paste" was easily made.

In a side by side comparison with the "inside" control batch the "outside"
batch
was even when squished somehow not as creamy or "gelatinous" as the inside
batch.

This of course begs the question as to why this is so. Is it because the
puttification process of the "outside" batch was halted in early January
due to
freezing and therefore the inside batch puttified longer? Or did the
outside
batch get changed in some tiny way by the freezing?

The only way of course is to hold the 2 batches in the same temperature
until
next January or so and put the outside one inside and the inside one
outside thus
equalising the freezing times for both batches and do a similar test in
April of
next year.

I am not sure the world is prepared to wait for this however and I will no
doubt use these batches this year but I will try and follow the frozen
batch through render mixing to wall application.

any thoughts are welcome

Michael Lough