TWO Rammed Earth Walls Revealed PLUS Tips - Vlog 53
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- Опубликовано: 23 ноя 2020
- We've fallen behind with videos so it's time to catch up on all that we've done recently. We finished the corner wall section and rammed another wall. We've also learned a few tips and tricks that have worked really well for us and had our first major forming fail.
Hey Bro what name did the ute end up with. I got Nigel the tractor, Wendy the Wacker, Billy the Bobcat, Colin the compressor, Daisy the dancing lady (the tamper). Great vid and you have been busy.
This is my favorite comment to date! All those names just became official LOL
What is the mixture formula, -? -.
I worked with a rammed earth company for quite a few years. One of my jobs was to repair holes and small blow-outs etc. I used glue and sand residue from the wall, applied with a putty knife, then used a toothbrush to emulate the surface texture, and then artists acrylic paint to colour match where needed. Had great results - each area required some ingenuity, but worth it for the results.
Good Job!! I live in Morelia, Mexico. This video know us, that our imaginación is all. Thanks for this.
I like to take a piece of cinder block and rub the walls, makes them very smooth and gets rid of most blemishes
We should try that on the next wall.
It really kills the monotony of just plain concrete or mortar the colors and the shapes are quite pleasant truly! The waves are very relaxing.
Aesthetically it’s quite pleasing, worth it’s value already. Not to mention soothing, making you feel a little less in a box. More Harmonious with the rural environment.
That is so cool. Love the ridge you created to rest the roof beams on. Looks labor intensive and helpful to have heavy equipment. But so worth it. ❤️
VERY labor intensive but also well worth it :-)
Wow wow wow...we just found you guys, instantly connected--finding like-minded "Rammed-Earthers" who are willing and able to explain all of this is such a gift! You guys are living a dream that so many people have. Incredibly hard work plus your passion for sharing "earthy" wisdom is SO appreciated!! These walls are really beautiful--no worries about imperfections at all, those become tiny pieces of the history of your family, and your home, you guys will figure all that out. Nit-pickers and haters gonna hate, am I right? :) Trust us....its so gorgeous!! Now we've got to binge all the rest of the story up to #53 and beyond! Many thanks again :)
So glad you are enjoying! I completely agree with the imperfection becoming part of the history. Thanks so much for the encouragement!
This is great stuff! Awesome skills and overall workmanship. From an architecture perspective, I think we are moving towards this style due to its longevity and thermal properties. I would like to see more on the construction such as how to keep it watertight and window/doors details and fixtures. This might already be on your list in the future, but I was thinking that would help a lot of people and most importantly, your channel's growth as we move more towards this method of construction. Thanks for sharing this content and may you enjoy the process.
Thank you so much! You are correct, we are planning on showing every aspect but it is taking a lot of time because we are limited on man/woman power. In time we will show our water proofing methods and hopefully save people from making the mistakes we will inevitably make LOL
Great work. As you learn, we learn.
That is the idea LOL Let us make mistakes so you can make different mistakes. We are all learning
Looks incredible !!!
Awesome work guys! Recently did a presentation on rammed earth, truly a unique method! Looking forward to the Q&A!
That's great! Glad there is interest in a Q&A, we will get on that and announce it soon
I like the divots and irregularities of the walls. It makes then look more natural.
Right! Me too, I think it looks so cool
Good place to hang a picture.
Beautiful wall construction.
Someday soon I hope :-)
Guys, u recreated the pyramids of Egypt with rammed earth congrats u opened a new dimension into the art of building and engineers will be envy now.
Definitely can't take credit for this but SIREWALL has certainly done this with their years of hard work and research into how to make this a viable option for modern buildings.
Morning morning :)
Gorgeous beautiful walls!
Thank you so much
Before I was born my dad and mom with a cement mixer made there own concrete basement wall with the forms being 2"x8"x 8 or 10' that took two cement mixers of material. not a crack or drop ever came through that wall. He prepared each for the next layer by putting in a 1"x1/2" wood strip to create a channel the day before. Before pouring painted pure concrete to the surface of the day before or week before pour as a bonding agent. This is an approach for a dry joint that may work for you.
That's really interesting. was the wood in for a channel vertical or horizontal?
Nice work and colour palette! I can tell just by watching, that by the time you get to your house, you're gonna have all the little kinks ironed out and you are going to nail the house build! Enjoying your videos.
Couple quick tips that you may or may not need :)
Another way to improve your cold joints: before you vacuum, run a flatbar scraper along the form edge and the top surface to remove the crud that is just weakly bonded and wouldn't otherwise come loose with just the vacuum.
And for attaching your bottom plates of your forms to the concrete, to avoid the blowouts of ramset, as well as the cost of tapcons, you can use duplex head nails. drill a hole the size of the nail, but insert the nail with a length of rebar wire along with the nail. the wire will wedge the nail in tightly, and a prybar will remove it easily after the build.
That's a great idea for the cold joints. Personally I (Ricky) really like the look of the cold joints. It makes it feel more organic and natural. But I think it would be worth trying just to see the different results
@@RedEarthRanch i like them too actually. even doing the scrape i mentioned, they remain obvious, but a little cleaner, and less likely to "dust" or crumble in the finished product.
Wow Stuart, your website displays amazing work! Very impressive!!
Great work
Great work so far! New fan and subscriber. Not sure if someone mentioned this yet. You can use body-fill (Bondo) on the inside screw impressions so the wall is nice and flat when you take off the forms. May be good to keep small batches of each colors to use for touchups later. Starting our home in a year or so. Thanks for all the great tips so far. Good luck with the rest of the build!
Welcome to the adventure! That's so exciting to hear about your build, keep us posted. We actually just bought some bondo and are waiting for the weather to clear so we can patch up our forms. Thanks for the tip!
Thanks! Will do. Excited to watch your progress. Cheers brother!
Please, please, please keep notes on lessons learned and products tested for best practices. When you're done, you can put together an information product we can buy.
1. Take the SIREWALL course.
2. Use the RER course for the nitty-gritty.
Whadaya think?
This is a great idea! Now that we have made a lot more mistakes and learned from them I feel more confident that we could actually offer something. We'll keep ya'll updated on when we have something.
love to see the finish product and like to see moisture
Excelente! muy buenos consejos. Extraordinaria aventura de construcción. Felicidades!
Muchas gracias por unirte a nuestra aventura.
Could you post a video about full process of rammed earth wall from soil selection, mixing ratio, curing, etc.
Much of that is proprietary to SIREWALL and it isn't our mixture so we are not able to share those details without violating our relationship with SIREWALL. I'm so sorry we can't share more, but if you are interested I can't recommend SIREWALL enough. They have been amazing to work with and love to teach people about Rammed Earth. They are the experts and we are the students
Arrechiiiiiisimo, los felicito.
Hi I'm from Australia, I always inspire by Rammed Earth, really wish one day I will use your tech to build!
Your video help me a lot, thank you!
Peace and Joy
Ming
Any one around Brisbane area like to do it?! Let's learn it together!
So glad you found us helpful. Best of luck on your project
Just keep on doing
Its nice what you are doing
I enjoyed that
Thank you, I will
takeaway - chamfer corners, make the form airtight, clean up with a stone (relative hardness might be a factor?) and don't pound bumps with the hammer, Wej-It and TapCon might be good...
the pressure washer cleanup made me flinch. I realized that stuff has got to be at least equivalent to 300psi concrete but I can imagine finding a vein of softer stuff and mining through the wall, heheh. Of course that would be a QC fail, so I guess ok.
That about sums it up LOL
You can always use hydronic cement to repair any problems .. look might change but regardless the repair will be so simple for ever
I just found your guys's channel. It's great. Starting on my own real soon
EXCITING! Keep us posted on your progress
Thats got to be the best feeling ever
it super is!
Good job!
Thanks!
good stuff. glad I looked for rammed earth today. great reveal!! : ),
you mix the term 'concrete' with the term 'cement' fairly often. they are not interchangeable however.
skip the pressure washer bit bro. and the 3 pound hammer....
I know...what can I say old habits die hard
you're making awesome content!
Thank you so much!
I have brought ya'll some subscribers...I hope they enjoy as much as I do...love this channel
Thank you so much! We really appreciate it
Lovely and I'm looking forward to practice. My concern is joining those layers to look uniform, ofcoz i know it is not easy to fill the whole wall in a day
You can do it!
Hi, I am loving it.
Maybe you can teach me how the rebar works someday.
Anyway, try using tape to make the walls more even and smooth eg
between the chamfer and the forming boards,
between two adjacent boards where there is a vertical line,
and even where the screws went in that you were hammering in or scrabbing with a stone.
Let me know what you think
I think now that we know that sanding works we will try this. We didn't before because tape lines will show and it is almost impossible to tape perfectly straight so we were okay with seeing the form lines. However, if we tape then sand I think the lines will mostly disappear. We'll see after our next large wall and show the results.
Yeah!!! Hugs to Tug!
@syburch Thanks for the recommendation :-D
@@RedEarthRanch syburch is Sally Burch;-)
@@syburch Well thank you so much Sally for your suggestion. You ROCK!!!
Muchas gracias por el video saludos desde Argentina
Was just in contact with Joss at sirewall and have purchased our property to start our regenerative permaculture and house build journey. Love what you guys are doing and would really appreciate connecting to learn more. We are in planning phase and are interested in rough man hours per sq ft of wall and cost to build sirewalls yourself.
That's AWESOME! We are so excited for you. Pricing is based mostly on material costs if you are willing to do the work yourself. For us it worked out to about $135 US per yard in material. This includes the rebar, insulation, add mixture, cement, color, sand, and gravel. But your price may vary based on material costs in your area.
Keep the good work going, i'm watching you from Egypt and hope one day am gonna do this .
God bless you and your family ❤
Thank you and welcome! Hopefully you can learn from our mistakes and mishaps and have a great rammed earth home some day.
regarding the use of tapcon vs ramset to temporarily anchor your forms to the slab... You could also do what we call in the skatepark industry, "cat dicking." AKA pinch screw.
Drill your hole like you would for a tapcon, but use a deck screw and a piece of tie wire in the hole with the screw. Usually bend the tie wire into a V so theres two pieces of wire in the hole with screw to get it to bite. Point the bottom of the V into the hole and leave some extra wire hanging out for easier removal later. Sometimes have use a second V of tie wire to get bite.
Same concept as a pinch nail but easier to get out. IMO. Nice thing about cat dicks vs tapcons is that the screws are less expensive and you probably already have a drill handy with your deck screw bit of choice (F*** phillips head screws). You wont have to switch between 5/16 hex for tapcons and a star bit for your screws. one bit for all.
That's a good idea! Thanks for the tip!
Hey bud the problem with the corners pre-drill holes and use bolts and washers instead of screws then you won't have to worry about it separating under pressure when you pack it on the corners just an idea might help to fix the problem
I genuinely hadn't considered that! Good call, I'll have to give it a try and see how the formwork goes. Thanks!
Good job guys! Please give me some tips on how made the forms. Like your form work.
We basically used 16 ga steel studs and screwed them to the MDO to add rigidity. Best tip I can give is screw them down every 2 feet or even every foot because the force of ramming will actually break the heads off the screws
once again I want to congratulate you for sharing this great work,
I want to know if it is possible for you to give us a video where you share all the amounts of
cement
sand
lime
colorants
and other elements that you have used according to this experience
We actually did a video showing the mixture for our material on vlog 41 (ruclips.net/video/ISzL4aEH7EI/видео.html).
But for reference sake: Our mixture is 3 parts sand, 1 part gravel, 9-10% cement (1 bag for 10 cu/ft), and 1-6% color (1-5 lbs per bag of cement)
Please NOTE: this mixture works for the material in our location and may not work for other material in other parts of the world. If you want to get the strengths that we are getting I recommend working with SIREWALL to get a mix design done. They are an amazing company that has been super helpful through this process.
wow, this is amazing! i want to learn more.
plz share more details abt rammed earth techs!
Will do, we will keep the vids coming
love it
Have you all thought about bondoing the screw holes that’s on the forms? So that way you won’t get the bubbling from the screw holes.
We should have a video out about that soon"ish" Another viewer recommended that and we are going to give it shot.
Points of interest:-
1:32 Gap between end and beading
2:23 90 degree corner inner appearance
3:21 90 degree corner outer alignment
3:44 Appearance
5:15 Hydrophobic property
6:01 Centering
6:36 Form deflection at top
10:23 Beading above beading issue and remedy
12:52 Check for Hydrophobic tendency by pressure wash
14:25 Stains removal by pressure washer
Parabens muito bom trabalho cometario do brasil
Beautiful walls bro. Nice job. I am thinking to build my house in Pakistan. Keep sharing guus
Awesome! Hopefully you can share the results that you get once you get building. Looking forward to hearing how it goes.
congratulations red earth ranch family for this project, how long does it take to dry the walls
We pull the forms off after 5-7 days just to make sure everything has sufficient time to cure. Really the walls are good after about 24 hours but we like to be on the safe side.
Cool!
Thanks so much
Lightly rub bumps with a brick or sand stone , then pressure wash. Looks nice. Wanting to build one in Ohio.
We will definitely have to try that! Thanks for the tip
After rammed earth has had a few days to set up, it should be sealed with concrete sealer, for more protection from the elements. Apply with a pump up sprayer. Goes on milky but dries clear.
The SBA additive that we use makes it so we don't need to seal our walls. They are hydrophobic from the time we pull the forms.
come to Brazil to speak beautiful English like this, my friend. I will be waiting for you. One day I will speak like this
You can used u channel to slide between all the hole of the metal stud to stiffen the form up
Good call! We will have to give that a shot
Thanks for the great videos. I tried my first small bench project last weekend and though I like it, I still have a lot to learn. Did you do a trade on insulation vs no insulation for your walls and if so can you share the pros and cons? I would imaging the added complexity, labor, and cost all have to be significantly offset by the increase in home efficiency. I would also have to assume that the foam is a negative impact on structural strength, but at these thicknesses, maybe it does not matter. I am looking to do a house outside of Phoenix, AZ with several main rammed earth walls ~18" thick so I need to deal with the heat but not cold. Did you pick the insulation for protecting from hot, cold or both? Also, can you summarize the total labor hours per maybe square foot of wall area on average once you go into a rhythm?
Hey Shea, the insulation is used to protect against hot and cold. The insulation provides your R-value and insulation. Without it the walls will heat up in the sun like an oven even at 18" thick. If you are only using the rammed earth on interior walls you will probably be okay, but if they are external you are going to want insulation. At those thicknesses it doesn't affect the structural integrity as long as you get a good mix design. I would reach out to SIREWALL USA because they should be able to point you in the right direction for a mix design, I actually took a class with them just outside of Phoenix
@@RedEarthRanch Do you think that Rockwool would work well as an insulation layer?
@@lissee212 I think the issue with Rockwool is that it won't hold up to the ramming process. Those rammers hit really hard and fast and even with the foam we are using we will sometimes tear out a section by hitting it with the rammer. There might be other factors but I remember that there is a reason we didn't go with a more natural foam like Rockwool.
@@RedEarthRanch Thank you for the reply, this really helps a lot! :)
Impressive. Beautiful monoliths stacking up against the landscape. I think you should avoid hammering and nitpicking at the small defects until much later when you have time to consider all the best ways to do "finishing" work on the walls (perhaps take time to do a variety of finishing tests on a small test wall). I expect you'll come up with ways to sand or polish or fill, or just leave the defects alone as they collectively blend in to the whole thing and just add a lot of character to the finished house. And hey....if you really screw up you could just cover up the whole thing with drywall! 😁 (just kidding - that would be a sin) 😂
LOL drywall will never come close to these walls hahahaha
Yeah we are kinda testing as we go for finishing techniques. This is going to be the garage so we are not too worried about it being a little rougher finish
I was curios to test someone to hammer rammed earth wall and wash it with pressure. Thanks a lot!!!
Now I'm definitely sure it rigid and durable
Glad we could help :-)
You can fill the void on the form first so there's less clean up
great work. mistakes made are learning experiences. its an insane amount of work. takes me a full day to form, mix and tamp 1ft section of 12ft wall by hand. what gauge of steel studs used? the ones at home depot dont look as strong. did you buy them at steel supplier?
We are using 16ga steel studs from a steel supplier local to us. They make steel studs and tracks for construction.
Great work you both, I am about to start a rammed earth project in Canada on my mountain acreage. Love what you two are doing. Question, what is the hydro phobic admix you are using?
It is from SIREWALL USA, here is a link sirewallusa.com/product/sba-sirewall-base-additive-5-gallon-20-quarts/
$1800 a bucket?! How much wall will that treat?
Did you start your build yet?
Would love to learn this whole process practically, in your presence
Well we are not experts by any stretch but you are welcome to come give a hand :-D
👍 👍 👍 ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
Thanks , great content What is your mixture formula? Looking forward to see the end result
Our mixture is 3 parts sand to 1 part gravel with 9-10% cement
For your exterior side of the ram earth applied lin seed oil to keep it water tight it natural product
That is an option but the admixture we use will make the walls hydrophobic. The other issue with Linseed oil is that it would need to be reapplied every few years. We also looked at Tung oil but it is waaaay more expensive. I may try something like Linseed for the basement walls
@@RedEarthRanch linseed oil also act as a binder for the fine sand make it more durable
Thanks for sharing the tips. Must have some bullet resistance qualities too? Good build, share any savings on building / construction costs?
Oh yeah it would definitely stop a bullet. As far as saving on costs the best advice I have is do it yourself. If you are not in a hurry it will save you the most.
Creative, what is the best mixture I reached
Sir it looks very nice. How many days it took to complete your project. Wall in this video.
Your wall looks likes sandstone and granite in texture and look. I am impressed by your genius.
Can you please share what exactly are all the raw materials that you have used to make these beautiful and hard rock walls.
I am from India, I am thinking to make my own small house using this method.
Your guidance will help me a lot to save my expenses
Hey @Lucky our walls are made from 3 parts sand, 1 part 3/8 gravel, 9-10% portland cement type 2, then 2-6% color. That is the mixture for our specific material and may not give the same results with different materials. Hope that helps
What are you using between joins between rammed sections any paste or wet concrete paste or nothing because when we ran it's in sections
the colours are really beautiful, what type of soil gives this colors ?
Terrific project! what type of work gloves did you recommend. Saludos!
Thank you so much! I buy from Vermont Glove. They are expensive but believe me when I tell you, you get what you pay for. They ended up saving me money in the long run because it took 8 months for my pair to wear out as apposed to 3 weeks. Highly HIGHLY recommend them
Lindo parabéns Perfeito ❤
Muito obrigado
Hey, can you tell me the brand of your screener on your felehandler? I've looked at a few different manufacturers and none of them have the 10" or 12" hole at one end. I'll be starting my own rammed earth project in a few months and that would be so much easier then the 'home-made' bucket we've used on the past for the telehandlers. Thank and keep up the great work!
It is Ettera brand www.skidsteersolutions.com/skid-steer-mix-and-go-concrete-mixer-attachment-eterra/
Can u explain how to put slab on rammed earth walls, and how structural support can provide. I like to learn about rammed earth
just wondering why most of the layers are seamlessly layered on top of each other, but then you can still see the long cracks / crevices on the surface? Is there anyway to make it all flushed without any of those cracks?
Great video. Quick question: can the rammed earth be plastered and painted after completion?
Just so it has a modern finish (for those who want it )
Absolutely! We love the look so don't plan on it but I imagine you could plaster and finish it just like concrete
Him: This is my favourite corner of the house
Her: It's the only corner in the house, love! HAHAHAHAHAH!!!
LOL so true
Yeah I’m really glad that you’re sharing this because this is my dream home or to watch you guys making at yourselves is pretty impressive and this is only my first video on your channel
I’m wondering if at the end of it all you’re going to share exactly how you made out financially in regard
Wondering about your local government and how that might’ve been a challenge for you but there may be a video I need to look at
We actually called our local government and because we are in unincorporated territory in our county they don't really care what we build.
That is pretty neat. What do you put over the wall? Like paint or sealer? That sure looks strong like concrete. I saw you had rebar in it, that should hold up.
Nothing goes over the wall. That is the finished product, pretty cool huh?
@@RedEarthRanch That is beyond cool. I love watching the videos, keep up the good work!
Where did you get the metal to build the forms? I love the video's!!
Cowtown materials sells the metal studs. But any metal stud supplier should have them. They are 16 ga by 6 in wide
Fantastic.Can we use the technology for bridges construction ?
I'm not going to be the one to try it. I imagine it would be difficult to build forms that could hold up to the forces over that far of a span. But hey, I'm not an engineer LOL
We too practice rammed earth construction in India, I want to know what hydrophobic admixtures you used.
Thank you very much for sharing your experience
It is from SIREWALL sirewallusa.com/product/sba-sirewall-base-additive-5-gallon-20-quarts/
Nice wall. Use a piece of 2x4 next time when you Hammer the divots out.
Yeah...I got a little froggy with the hammer...ooops
Seems to me, the imperfections what makes it beautiful
Couldn't agree more!!!
Good morning, from Argentina. Thanks for your videos. Where can I get more information to place the roof. I need to see how to put it on those walls, on concrete or on wood? Can you recommend a manual? Thank you so much!
check out the inspiration kit from SIREWALL sirewall.com/inspiration-kit-form/
@@RedEarthRanch eyy muchas gracias!! Desde Argentina abrazo grande!
@@buscandoalcentesimomonopod6625 Gracias por todo su apoyo y aliento.
Hi Sir. Am from India. Do you have any pictures of the tools and tackles used while doing the wall structure?
will love to learn and see cost $ in a three bed room house
Send us an email and I can share some of the costs info@redearthranch.com
Beautiful! How did you do the electrical and plumbing?
Electrical goes inside the forms then it gets rammed around using rigid conduit. Plumbing is a little trickier, we will have a basement with pipes on the ceiling or pipes in the concrete foundation.
@@RedEarthRanch thanks for the reply I forgot ask one more question about any cracks that may be possible. Really enjoy watching your videos. And the walls look exquisite. Wishing you a good healthy life in future!
@@ranjanihn If cracks come up they can be patched similar to concrete or left in place. Because of the rebar cracks shouldn't really hurt anything.
Cold joints could you explain About cold joints for best joins for Next ramday
Beautiful project but a few questions.
1. Why pressure wash the walls?
2. Why are you looking for perfection ?
We are pressure washing the walls to get any residue (dust, dirt, etc) off the walls from the construction process. We are not looking for perfection just close enough :-)
do you coat these walls with a breathable sealant, PVA, or some sort of clear coat to trap dust and loose bits from falling off, Rammed earth is as old as house building is, the Chinese mastered it 5000 years ago, most of the great wall of China was originally rammed earth walls, and they are still standing in places,
Tell more about electricity and plumbing ? I want to know if installation will be exposed or recessed?
For the garage and workshop we will have it exposed with rigid conduit because I want the ability to move it around and reconfigure the shop. For the house we have a full electrical plan laid out and will reses them into the walls when ramming. Basically we will use rigid conduit in the walls and ram around it to solidify it. Hope that makes sense.
Hi
How cuold we protect the rammeed earth wall from the heavy rain and explain about low cost paint to protect the wall
Please.
It does not need protection from heavy rain due to the admixture we add from SIREWALL. We also do not plan on painting it for the same reason
Great video! The walls look beautiful! How much approximately does it cost to build the forms?
Forms are about $100 US to build one large form.
can you give an insight into your foundation?
Absolutely! We have a 6 inch thick slab with 3 ft wide by 2 foot deep footers anywhere there is a rammed earth wall. The walls are 2 feet wide so there is 6 inches on either side for safety.
I wonder if a few drops of sodium silicate (liquid glass) concrete sealer on those hammered in bumps would re-bond the collapsed particles. So they wouldn't get blown out later?
I have never heard of that. I have no idea. If you have a product in mind let us know and we might be able to test that out to see if it works.
@@RedEarthRanch
Its cool stuff, cheap, and can be found under a lot of names. It really is glass (silica) suspended in water. Once it catalyzes, it solidifies into glass. On cement, it will begun to fill in the surface voids and make the surface more durable (less dust), harder, and a little shinny.
Word of caution thought. Wear glasses, gloves, and don't ingest any of it. Tiny glass shards can form in cells and tissue, not cool. It's said that it can be painful. So maybe roll it, don't spray unless you got things under tight control. Its not reactive or anything like that. You just don't want it seeping into your skin or eyes, mixing with the natural water, then have tiny crystals glass beads or shards forming in/around those cells. Ouch!
Here's a wiki on it: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_silicate
Here is how you can make it (if you would want to :D ): www.instructables.com/How-to-Make-Sodium-Silicate-Water-Glass/
Rutland is a popular distributor of it. On Amazon its under $25/gallon.
www.amazon.com/Rutland-Products-146-Cement-Adhesive/dp/B004YEDQOK/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=sodium+silicate&qid=1627603618&sr=8-3
I guess its not as cheap as milk, but a little goes a long ways.
Check it out. But be careful while its liquid. But once it turns to glass, its really glass sealing up your rammed Earth wall or concrete.
I guess another couple of warnings kind of comes to mind. The natural micro-cracking if concrete can show up in the glass surface if you tend to put it on thick like I do. Just reapply another coat in the 4 or 5 years and it will mend those little cracks back together. The other warning is, you may want to make a little test rammed Earth wall and try this stuff on it. I'm pretty sure it will increase the surface hardness, make the colors come out a little darker/bolder. But having never worked with rammed Earth..... I'd just feel awful if you put this stuff on your hard work and it messed it up. So please experiment a little. Also, I don't know how environmentally detrimental its manufacture is. I don't think its too bad, but I've been surprised before.
Was just reading the Wiki. Says you may want to wait 7 or so days.
"Concrete treated with a sodium silicate solution helps to reduce porosity in most masonry products such as concrete, stucco, and plasters. This effect aids in reducing water penetration, but has no known effect on reducing water vapor transmission and emission.[25] A chemical reaction occurs with the excess Ca(OH)2 (portlandite) present in the concrete that permanently binds the silicates with the surface, making them far more durable and water repellent. This treatment generally is applied only after the initial cure has taken place (7 days or so depending on conditions)."
BTW - love the look of rammed Earth!
I’ve seen other rammed earth builders using a stone, I don’t know what type, to grind or rubb of imperfections and rough joins.
We have seen this too, I think they make concrete finishing stones. Off to do research :-)
@@RedEarthRanch I imagine a pumas stone is ideal.
@@sferring thanks! I'll check it out