[Strawbale] Sound Barrier Fence

[Robert Tom]

On Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:36:11 -0400, Jon Van Eck <vaneckj at ewashtenaw.org>  
wrote:

> Ann Arbor  S.E. Michigan ...wet areasproposed that we build earthen walls

> earthen plaster with a finished coat of lime plaster

Jon;

In addition to the points that the Derelict mentioned, just to clarify,  
lime plaster can help to prevent erosion of an underlying earthen plaster  
but it shouldn't be considered as a waterproofing layer.

Earthen plasters, or more precisely, the clay content of an earthen  
plaster will store large amounts of moisture and in winter with freezing  
temperatures, that moisture will expand upon freezing and the earthen  
plaster will self-destruct as a result.

You can see this process happen with terra cotta pots and planters that  
have been left out during the winter, or with clay bricks that are in  
contact with wet earth or with old clay bricks in walls that have been  
sandblasted.

Something that might work is to stack up automobile tires to make the  
wall. (Michigan = auto industry = lots of old tires ?)

One could probably zip some sheet metal screws through the sidewalls to  
join the tire courses together to help prevent the tires from slipping  
during stacking. The cores could be filled with anything (rocks, dirt,  
urbanite, unrecyclable solid waste ? )to provide additional mass for sound  
dampening.

Mesh could then be tacked to the sides (treads) and then plastered.  
Although, it'd be nice to come up with something other than lime or  
Portland cement plaster for the "cladding".

-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
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