[Strawbale] any experience with oil, wax,soap, stucco sealers?

[Athena & Bill Steen]

Leanne,
Apparently what it sounds like is that there wasn't enough clay in  
your plaster mix. Or at least for the problem you describe that is  
usually what happened.  My first comment would be to stay away from  
wax.  There's a lot of confusion about using it on walls and floors.   
If you try and coat a wall eventually it can turn cloudy and then  
you'll have a real mess on your hands.  On wood it can be great, wood  
is very smooth and the wax goes on evenly. Plaster, if it is porous  
will give you lots of pores filled with wax that you can't reach and  
they will stay cloudy from the start.  Black soap should be put on  
when the plaster is damp, not dry.  Oils? Your not going over them  
anytime in the near future with anything else.  For my money forget  
everything that you've listed below and go with a simple clay paint  
that uses wheat paste or something to consolidate the surface.  Knock  
off all the loose sand that you can and go from there.  That I think  
would be the easiest, won't interfere with the permeability of the  
wall and leave you the option to go over them in the future.

As long as I'm on the subject I can't imagine why anyone would want  
to add wax to linseed oil going on an earth floor. My question is  
why.  What's the benefit?  Again, I haven't seen a floor that is as  
smooth as wood and most people end up with cloudy pores and oil that  
doesn't harden the way that it should.  Plain linseed oil will harden  
beautifully when left alone. Want a shinier floor, then learn to  
finish the clay surface better.

For now,
Bill

On May 5, 2007, at 7:56 AM, Leanne Rellstab wrote:

> All of my walls have lime plaster, inside and out.
>
> On the inside, I have beautiful living room walls where we put the  
> color into the plaster (as opposed to a lime wash), but then we had  
> to sponge the walls because of cracks, which of corse, brought out  
> the sand.  Now, I would like to set the sand into the plaster, and  
> have smoother walls.  The sand is coming off the walls when you  
> brush up against them, and I'd like a more "formal" look.  We used  
> a 30 grit sand in the plaster.  Burnishing with water and a trowel  
> cause really ugly black lines on the walls (I've tried both metal  
> and plastic trowels).  We also spray on potasium silicate on the  
> some of the walls.  This is a great sealer/durability product, but  
> it doesn't solve my issues in this case.
>
> I was considering using any of the following products, and wondered  
> if any one had any experience with them.  My main concern is about  
> the permiability of my walls.  Also, would they change the color?   
> If I buff them in, what will that do to the sand?
>
> 1.  Bio Shield hard oil #9.
>
> 2.  Raw linseed oil.
>
> 3.  Frescatti Natural Black Soap.
>
> 4.  OSMO Polyx oil.
>
> 5.  Bio Shield Hardwax #32.
>
> 6.  Olivetti Stucco and Lime Paint sealer.
>
> Any input or other suggestions would be greatly appreciated as always.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Leanne
>
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Athena & Bill Steen
The Canelo Project
HC1 Box 324
Canelo/Elgin, AZ 85611
absteen at dakotacom.net
www.caneloproject.com