[Strawbale] 1)vaults, domes, and 2)round houses, 3)waterproofing bathrooms

[Chug.]

Hey Rikki

I made a 3.5m diameter loadbearing last year for an infant school play hut and it was tricky, we had to custom make just about every 
bale and make wedge shapes on the ends to get the curve right
http://www.strawbale-building.co.uk/solihull.JPG

bale on
Chug
chug at strawbale-building....uk
http://www.strawbale-building.co.uk/
.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "rikki nitzkin" <rnitzkin at hotmail...>
To: <strawbale at amper....muni.cz>
Sent: Monday, November 28, 2005 1:19 PM
Subject: [Strawbale] 1)vaults, domes, and 2)round houses,3)waterproofing bathrooms


1)I don´t want to be a bother, but a Vault is not the same as Dome.

2)But since we are one the subject of curves . . .  I wanted to know if
anyone knows what the Minimum diameter for a loadbearing round house with a
reciprocal roof is? And a Maximum?

3)Here´s my home-made advice on waterproofing bathrooms:  I also
contemplated tadelakt but decided that if I didn´t have someone to show me,
it was too complicated.  So I plastered my wall with clay as flat as I
could, then I glued the tiles to them with normal silicon (not very eco, but
it stuck good!, I tried Frank Thomas´s  caesin/lime glue but it came out too
thin).  Since the silicon is a bit thick it made it possible to adjust to
the small difference of my mostly, but not perfectly, flat wall.  I then
filled in with normal, water-proof joint filler.  And that´s it.  Its only
been finished 3 months, but so far no problems.  My theory is that since I
live alone, it is very unusual that I take more that two showers a day, so
the acumulated humidity (my bathroom is well ventilated) is minimal, and
what I have done is enough for the amount of water that splashes on the
wall.  If you don´t want to tile, you could paint a clay plaster with
several layers of oil (new experiments in spain show that vegtable oil works
just as well as linseed . . .I hope its true, because it cost less and is
more transparent!) like they do for clay floors.  This is not entirely
waterproof, but can handle the amount of water for a shower.  I wouldn´t
recomend these techniques in a public shower to be used all day long every
day, but for a home I think it is enough. . . .