[Strawbale] Sodium Sillicate and an update

[André de Bouter]

Hello everyone,

Question:
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.
He suggested to mix 3% Sodium Sillicate to the water.

Any ideas on this?
- chemical reactions?
- breathabilty?
- an ecological sollution?
- ?????


And a little update.

French SB Association 
(Association pour la Construction en Fibres Végétales)
Due to a lack of active participants it has been decided that this non for profit should be terminated.
Although the demand for SB is constantly rising it seems difficult to get a good network going in France.
reasons I see are: 
- France is a large country (relatively speaking of course) and anual gatherings are therefore difficult/expensive. 
- Internet use is just starting here.
- The lack of building codes pushes SB construction towards owner builders. Who only need one house and quit the movement after finishing it.

French SB Book.
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.
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)
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).

CD rom
I'm still trying to find the time to finalize this one before the onset of summer mud frenzie.

Our SB home/center
The geese are flying to the noth again, sign that the big cold (-14 Celcius is cold for our région) is over.
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. The last two weeks we cleaned up our garden and planted fruit trees.
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.

Bale on,
André de Bouter

La Maison en Paille
m.ep at laposte...
www.la-maison-en-paille.com





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