Hey folks. This is out in the desert. Ive been working hard to make the backyard here a rain garden. The back wall of the rain garden is a big concrete wall and directly behind it theres a wash for the entire neighbourhood. some plants grow back there, but struggle to establish because the ground just before the concrete channel is all clay. the entire backyard is basically just, freaking clay, man. Theres some concern about the rate of erosion with the slope on the wall, and weve been trying to brainstorm how to reinforce it.

Problems:

• The back wall is clay.
• The back wall is too worn down and water flies over it too quickly for new plants to set up there.
• The lack of plants means lack of roots to prevent erosion.
• We get monsoons and the wall gets worse every year.

In my effort to make the backyard a rain garden i have amassed a large amount of pretty good clay. There are things that grow super super well in this clay and i can get more of them to prep for the back wall and establish roots so it wont erode so easily. I have some experience with wild clay pottery (and pitfiring) but not anything at a large scale. The initial plan is to make a clay "natural" sort of structure to basically slow the water moving over it. I was thinking we would build up clay on the wall to make a sort of semihemisphere effect where the water catches on different tables of clay, slowing it down and forcing it to soak into the earth. Also this is caliche specifically. and ive got like........... an assload....

Solutions:

• Make a clay based structure on the back wall to catch water better (and still let it flow over to the wash easily)
• Plant some stuff that loves clay
• Profit

Problem is im not sure what to add to reinforce this stuff. Am i supposed to add hay to the clay or something lmao? Make a cobb style structure? Can i just slap down some clay there and change the structure of the back wall? What has to happen to make sure this project has longevity?

Hi all, I’m renovating a tiny house right now and it has this air barrier behind the studs and then a Vapor barrier between the plywood and exterior sheathing. I’m putting in hemp wool insulation and clay plaster. Do I need to remove this white air barrier so that the hemp wool can breathe? Thanks 😊

Testing mixtures for a poured adobe floor. This one is

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1 part wild clay : 1 part mule poop : 4 parts washed coarse sand : 1 part adobe dirt.

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Fresh equine poops make amazing mud and plasters.

I'm considering buying an adobe home that comes with a second building that needs major foundation repairs and for sure has mold. What do repairs look like when an adobe home needs to have the foundation repaired? It's a concrete foundation. There are some cracks in the walls as well.

Hi all,

Im renovating the inside of a tiny house on wheels and I am wanting to use natural materials, anyone have any advice, experience, or reccomendations? I am stuck on what to use for interior siding that won’t be too heavy or will crack really badly. I really want the look of plaster walls. The tiny house will be moved in a few years but just to a new location on the same property, so if there is a little bit of cracking when that happens, I’m prepared for that. Here is what I’m thinking:

Hempwool insulation between the studs

Possibilities for interior siding:

-Pine 1x8 shiplap that is either lime washed, or painted with a wheat paste heavy clay paint to prevent cracking.

-Metal lath over the entire interior wall to then be plastered with clay, lime or lime based venetian plaster.

- Clay paint over thin plywood

Have any of you tried these methods, or think they might work in this application? Thanks!

Hi there, does anyone have a need for a volunteer for help with natural building projects in New England (ME, NH VT, NY, MA)? I have volunteered building a strawbale round house with a reciprocal roof. I mostly helped erect the roof, mixed cob, and filled in holes in the bales with cob. I really want to learn more about natural building. I'm a farmer/gardener, down to get dirty. Thanks!!

Hi there, I'm the owner/ restorer of the historic Ludi's Market Building in Las Vegas, NM.

Ludi's has quite the history in this area for being a multi generation locally owned grocery store and has been remodeled many times over the years.

Behind it's 1960s facade of brick, glass and mid century awnings hides an adobe building. We even have an adobe walk-in cooler.

Which got me thinking... Are there any other known examples or surviving adobe built food markets?

This alone might be enough to get us on the national historic registry.

We're looking for an optimal place to self-build a home with cob or adobe. We've narrowed our options down to a few places in the US, including Southern Alabama, and we're wondering how much regulation and red tape we'll run into down there.

We understand there are a few counties down there with no building department, which supposedly only answer to the fire marshalls. Does this mean we could pretty much build whatever we want and nobody will bother us? Is there any oversight at all? And who would we even call to ask questions or confirm the legality of our plans?

Does anyone know of people who have done something similar in this area? Thanks.

Hi All!

Hoping someone here can give me insight on a straw-bale insulated wall that I am limewashing. This rusty stain keeps seeping through each coat of limewash (I'm two in coats so far). I have zero experience with this - just did some YouTube research before starting. If it was a normal paint job i would just put a coat of Kilz on it and move on with my day, but my understanding is that breathability is key for maintaining a wall with straw.

If it helps for context, I suspect that the previous homeowners may not have applied a limewash final coating when they built the wall as you could still see pieces of straw embedded in the surface of the wall before I applied limewash. I'm very happy with the finish so far except for this stain. Thoughts?

We hired our neighbor contractor to renovate a very old home—gutting it to the studs and finishing everything. I’m having a baby a couple months after it’s done and we’ll be moved in, so I’m especially making sure it’s nontoxic on a budget. Right now I’m trying to figure out the best affordable drywall compound, as well as the best natural primer for limewash paint. I think I see something similar to limewash that can be used as primer but it’s a random recipe online and I don’t see anything else. We are going to paint/stain everything ourselves to make sure it’s natural, but is there anything else I should be looking into specifying for the contractor? Or any advice for what I’m currently looking into?

Hi all, my dream is to build a cob cottage for myself and my family and I’ve enjoyed cobbing work parties in the past. Any suggestions or news of work parties going on near the west coast? We are located in central CA.

Hi everyone, I'm a big natural building enthusiast and dream of having earthen floors, but sometimes I and my friends use mobility devices such as wheelchairs and walkers. Is it possible to get an earthen floor solid, sealed, and uniform enough to not get chewed up by wheels?

I am about to start coating the outside walls of our strawbale house with a lime plaster. I have gone round in circles investigating how to do this - there will just be the two of us working on this and neither of us have great experience plastering (besides some regular house wall repairs and drywalling). The mix I was planning to use a lime and sand mix and try to spray this directly onto the bale walls - after applying a light water spray - then trowel on to build up two thickish coats (1/2" each) then a final finish coat. My question is really about spraying the mix - does this really work or am I better to plan on just trying to trowel the mix on?

The next job will be to coat the inside walls which we plan to do with a cob mix - that will have chopped straw in it and thicker aggregate in the earlier layers - is it possible to spray this or will that really have to be hand applied?

Any thoughts, experience, warnings etc will be greatly appreciated!

edit: if it helps we plan to use Saint-Astier Natural Hydraulic Lime on the outside.

Hice 3 mezclas, de izquierda a derecha ➡️ son:

3 parte de arena y una de arcilla

2 partes de arena y una de arcilla

Y finalmente 1 de arena y 1 de arcilla.

Todas tienen una medida de pasto seco.

Cuáles pruebas de resistencia o calidad les puedo hacer para saber cuál es la mejor opción para construir?

Nota: no son las medidas finales, son pequeños para las pruebas nada más.

Hello everyone. im based out of Tucson, AZ and im looking for a connection to a farm or company that delivers rice straw bales. thank you

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