Rendering a Strawbale Home

ASK a group of strawbale builders a question and you get ten different answers.” A helping angel who slopped stuff on my wall came out with this comment today. It keeps repeating in my mind and I keep thinking that it is so true that I need to write this down, even though it is close to midnight and we are working extremely long, hard days . . .

You see, we are doing right now the essential thing that everyone has so many questions about; that most of the controversy in baling is about; that some dread and others love — rendering . . . again.

I had no intention of spray-rendering my new house, even though it is two storeys high and has internal straw sections. My friends and family think I have now really lost it, and my partner, Roland, considered staying away on weekends as well. It was a trip to hospital and loss of “unessential organs” that made me reconsider my rendering options. I had lost six weeks of building time and was racing towards a hot, fiery summer.

Straw and fire

If there’s one thing that I worry about, it’s straw and fire. We are building in a bushfire-prone 2 area. Yes I have heard all about the ‘safety’ of bales and the fact that they will smoke and not light up, unrendered. Sounds impressive. Has anyone repeated that test?

Once the string (not wire in Australia) breaks, I like to see the loose stuff remain unburnt! I have seen them catch fire, unfortunately. After the first hot total fire ban day with high winds, my fear — of even a few sparks setting flame to our home — developed into what can only be described as an irrational phobia. This pushed me to believe that instant render protection NOW was more important than all other beliefs I hold about how I think a wall should be covered.

I made the call and spoke to a spray renderer. I wanted the first and second coat only on now. I would do the (third) lime coat by hand in autumn or spring. What experience did he have with earthen renders? Ask this question and most likely you’ll hear ‘bagged clays’, if an answer at all. I actually got lucky because the guy had done some research and testings of different soils from central and Western Victoria, and was willing to give it a go.

I watched and participated in some rendering, feeding the machine in a test on one particular dirt. I was not happy with the result, but adding some lime to it seemed to solve the ‘stick/attachment problems’ which I alone considered to be a concern (fussy b****). Yes, I admit to being particularly ‘anal’ about the rendering process!

Dam clay for slip coat

I had already gathered some great clay from a good neighbour’s dam. I slip coated some internal walls with this clay and tested for the next coat. Also, I had river sand for the clay/straw/sand final coat inside. Short of sieving my slip and sand this could not be used in the machine.

I now ordered the other soil suitable for spraying (but still needing to be shovelled through a sieve), shipped it 100 km, organised the cherry picker, lime, Dave a godsend helper — and Roland had to take this week off too, postponing a project in Tasmania. Although no cheese got wrapped in Tassie that week, we were starting to get two coats sprayed on the walls.

It took Dave and I two weeks detailing the windows and preparing the top of the bales areas for spraying. For two weeks I sooked that all I needed was some time, to regain the time I had lost, and I would do it properly — or at least put the first coat on by hand.

All was done when on Sunday afternoon the call came: the machine was broken, and who knows when the parts required can be delivered.

I sat. The shock and disappointment lasted 90 seconds, followed by a huge smile . . . thank you all there in the universe — you just gave me the time I needed! The fear went and a wonderful calm filled me. It does work every time . . . you get what you wish for but maybe not the way you think. For example: I complained about the brand new windows looking so posh and proper. The cockatoos dropped in and had a go at them. Not so posh and proper now.

I didn’t want straight walls. One corner bulged so massively in compression that we now use artistic licence to make it okay. I don’t believe in spray render for first coat. The machine breaks down.

Now it is Thursday night. Dave and I have finished 2.5 huge walls, and two happy helpers who wanted to learn about, and experience, render today finished another third of a wall. Bugger all to go. We will do the rest from the scaffold.

I believe that by Saturday night all four walls will have received the loving care, attention and the coat they deserve. Every single gap is covered. Every hole is filled. Every brick shape square disguised. Shapes, hearts and form are coming as we work. The wall seems to be squirming under our massaging hands happily as we smile and work on. Two people, loving the process and being convinced that they are doing the right thing!

Now my fire phobia is gone. Setting alight with sparks a wall that has had a proper first coat is difficult. Next week we will start the second coat. On Monday the two people who came for the experience will come back with another friend. We will use the stuff I had shipped in with the lime this time.

Should this machine ever turn up fixed it is welcome to help. Second coats are great for spraying. It will go quickly and easily — the finish is not critical. All we need is a bit of mass and temporary cover to last us until the colder weather when we need to lime render. Next week it can have permission to rain. We are ready and the house will have what it really needed.