T-Brick Shed: Doors and Plaster

By -
Wall plastered a week before
Work goes on in the plastering department. Sifting out the bigger lumps makes a huge difference. The plaster applies well and looks good. When it dries it you can run your hand along the wall and nothing sloughs/dusts off like it did before plastering. However, some hairline cracks are still forming. Some possible causes and solutions I'm considering:

1) Wall sucks moister out of plaster
Solution: As I work I constantly mist the wall before applying plaster. I don't think this is the issue.

2) Plaster drying too quickly
Solution: Throughout the work day I'll return to recently completed sections and mist them. Perhaps I could cover the wall with a damp blanket overnight. I might get some help from the weather if it ever cools down. Cooler temperatures will slow down the drying process.

Crack Detail
3) Not enough aggregate(sand) in the mix. The binder(clay) will swell when it absorbs water and then shrink back as it dries out. Aggregate is needed to fill in the voids.
Solution:  I bought some masonry sand today and started adding it to my plaster mix.

In non-plaster news we've gotten the doors on. Hurray! I was careful during wall building to make sure the rough openings would fit the windows we purchased because windows aren't known for their ease of resizing. I wasn't as particular about the doors because I planned to custom build them. We decided on a rustic look so I've had my parents on the lookout for retired fence pickets.

Disassembled fence panels courtesy of my parentals . Gracias! 

Back of the napkin design sketch.

Laying out the first door. I'll remove the metals brackets after I get the cross pieces attached.

Laying out the cross pieces.

Finishing the first door



Finishing the second door


Hanging the doors

Doors installed!

Doors stained!

Originally, I was going to put backing on the doors but I think this looks much nicer.


Comments

Colin said…
Doors looks fantastic. I thought the rustic plans were for the outside? Make it looks like a Mexican adobe shed. Really does look good. Plastering is always a problem - my solution was always to get a professional plaster in, but then that would defeat the purpose!
31 October 2016 at 06:04
Colin said…
I just realised, perhaps the idea is to always have the doors open! Stylish but in secure.
31 October 2016 at 06:07
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Black Soldier Fly Larva Harvester

By -
Image
Black soldier fly larva are voracious decomposers. Here's a video  of a some larva completely devouring a hamburger over the course of five hours. And here's a video of some chickens completely devouring some black soldier fly larva. Black soldier flies have some curious qualities that make them particularly well suiting for cultivating their larva as fodder for your feathered friends: As stated before black soldier fly larva are voracious. They will eat fish and meat scraps that you would not typically put in your compost pile for fear of attracting larger vermin. They break down organic material into usable compost extremely rapidly. As an added bonus black soldier fly larva eat the eggs of other fly species who foolishly lay their eggs in rotting organic material. This severely diminishes your population of house flies and fruit flies. I had a compost pile that was beset with fruit flies until the black soldier fly larva moved in. When a black soldier fly larva is re...
Read more

Roundwood Building Workshop

By -
Image
I went to a Roundwood Building Workshop this weekend. Roundwood is timber that is left as logs rather than being cut into planks. We constructed a shelter for a cob pizza oven (yet to be constructed). The timer is a mix of red cedar and ash juniper. Before doing anything with it we had to take the bark off it to prevent insect infestation down the road. The night before the project leaders charred the end of the posts that would be put in the ground. The charring is another insect infestation prevention measure. Getting the cut ends charred is of particular importance. The post holes were dug to a depth of 2-3'. We also half buried a couple of dozen roofing nails in the charred end of each post for additional stabilization. The cool thing about roundwood is that you can use features of the tree(like this limb) to add beauty and support. This limb will provide support for a girder. After we got the posts in position we back-filled the holes with decomposed g...
Read more

T-Brick Shed: Rubble Trench French Drain Installation

By -
Image
The last thing Jean told me before she left for the UK was that I had better finish the shed project before she gets back or else. The trench was a little soggy still but I decided to press on with the french drain installation for fear what that else may be (Although, I'm hoping the "else" will be make me a delicious sandwich). I dug out the high section blocking  the drain outlet and and cleaned up a some edges before putting down landscape fabric and a layer of gravel. Putting down the landscape fabric in the trench. Landscape fabric is water permeable but significantly less sediment permeable. This will help prevent the gravel and french drain from becoming blocked up with silt. Here's my work crew. The tamp/rake tango Release the hose! Uncoiling the perforated tubing. First objective was to fill in the tripping hazard that is the drain outlet. Note how we form a sort of gravel/perforated hose burrito with the landscape fabric. We...
Read more