NO!!! Hurricane Ian DESTROYS MY STRAWBALE WALLS!

Earthen #clayplaster fail on my #strawbalehouse. The walls are falling off!!! What next? How to prevent this in the future.

[@catherineromero1862]

Oh nooo. I was thinking last night about your design, which I admire mind you, but not much overhang to protect that clay plaster. I thought, “I’d want an lower kind of roof overhang at the lower level. Yes lime. Dang! You’ll fix it. 🙏🏼

[@HeirloomBuilders]

❤ Yep, been waiting for a few years for this to happen so I can replace it with all lime plaster.

[@JTHOMAS7143]

So sorry man.. Hang in there. Prayers for you and yours. Good thing your more resourceful than many.

[@HeirloomBuilders]

Thanks Armor316! I’m actually glad this is happening right now. We’ve experienced some plaster failure in years past on this north wall where it was mostly clay plaster, and I’ve been waiting for the rest to get wet, expose the weak spots and fall off on it’s own so I could come back and replace it all with 3 coats of lime plaster that will stand these harsh conditions faced on the north wall.

[@leebstill]

I totally appreciate your transparency here. This is very scary. Will the strawbales get molded?

[@HeirloomBuilders]

Thanks, Liora! Everything should dry out soon. I’m not too worried about it. We have a week of full sun in the forecast!

[@lizhyink5636]

​​@@HeirloomBuilders respect the honesty, as well as willingness to improve the situation with a new approach. This may help people prevent damage too.

[@keithmccracken5557]

What a painful lesson. So very sorry for this happening to you.

[@HeirloomBuilders]

Thanks. It’ll be fine when I get the lime plaster on

[@DDL2728]

I'm so sorry you're going through this. We're in South Louisiana & have experienced hurricanes all my life - terrifying & so destructive!! I'm praying for you and your family!! ❤️

[@HeirloomBuilders]

Thanks, Dianne! This is the most destructive one So far for me.

[@ronselliers6951]

Great information, sorry for your loss.

[@Maggiewuvsrufus]

So sorry, hope you can get it fixed quickly and safely ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@gont1553]

How to prevent this from the beginning?? To make it more resistance for decades??

[@aaronmcfee506]

Could I strap it and put a good vapor wrap and board and batten over the straw with a coating ?

[@chewdoobautomotivedetailtm2883]

Hope everythings ok it's good to know now whats good for hurricane prevention..🇺🇸🇺🇲🦅🦅🦅♥️♥️♥️ im in Massachusetts

[@mlauntube]

The first little piggy built his house out of straw. Then Hurricane Ian huffed and he puffed and blew the plaster off. Hurricane Ian slobbered a lot when he huffed and puffed causing spittle to weaken the integrity of the plaster.

[@613kc]

So Sorry. We add Portland in the SW Holds up well. Thx for the update!!

[@hayleydwyer6768]

I am so sorry!!!! So the preventative is to use lime plaster instead of earthen plaster on the north walls? Why wouldn’t we want to just use like plaster on all the walls? Cost? Hope you get your home all fixed up soon! 💛

[@HeirloomBuilders]

That’s it exactly, Hayley. Use lime everywhere. I used earthen clay plaster because I have the perfect clay soil here and a big pile of it after digging my foundation. But more than anything, I wanted as much opportunity for volunteer groups helping plaster to be able to use their bare hands to plaster: and get inspired on how easy the process can be. I was willing to take the risk and experiment on how long this would last. It stood strong for almost ten years, which is longer than I expected. But now it’s time to get to work!

[@ml3110]

Ohh I'm sorry you are going through this. You need a bigger hat. "Good hat and boots to protect your home." With an earthen home, one needs a sombrero. 🙏

[@HeirloomBuilders]

You’re right, but we have a 36” overhang and the rain was blowing straight at the walls for 16 hours. It soaked every bit of the wall that was lower than level with the drip line. We need a 12’ overhang or covered porch on the entire north wall, or lime plaster instead of clay

[@hydrangeadragon]

maybe treating it with tadelakt would help? it's an ancient moroccan technique which makes it much more waterproof

[@bluecollarvoices]

Ouch! KZbin just recommended this video, I've not seen you before. I checked out your bio - interesting what you are doing.

[@HeirloomBuilders]

Thanks for checking in and saying hello. I hope to see you around!

[@bluecollarvoices]

@@HeirloomBuilders - I took some time, looked through your videos. Checked out your website. Good stuff. I'm always looking for good candidates to be on my podcast. If you do that sort of thing I'll send you an email.

[@HeirloomBuilders]

@@bluecollarvoices happy to set something up. Email me at [e-mail]

[@bluecollarvoices]

@@HeirloomBuilders - I'll get you tomorrow.

[@chewdoobautomotivedetailtm2883]

Definitely a blend of lime rock with earth soil and straw..💪🎸🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊

[@hankjones7829]

So concert is the way to go?

[@HeirloomBuilders]

Lime plaster is the way to go!

[@colinstace1758]

I mean really, what did you expect ? On a northern wall you need good overhangs and cement-stabilized renders. Let's hope the bales are safe, good luck 👍🙂

[@HeirloomBuilders]

😂 right?! I’ve been waiting for this moment so I can replace with stronger lime renders

[@colinstace1758]

@@HeirloomBuilders if that's your only damage, you got off lightly, God bless 🙂👍

[@aaronmcfee506]

** without a coating ** ??

[@DataSmithy]

Oh no I can't imagine what you were going through. Of course that's heartbreaking because there's so much work that goes into building a strawbale wall. When I built my straw bale buildings I did read a lot about the debate over using lime plaster over clay plaster, and how they can separate into layers and not really bind to each other. Builders were saying either use all clay or all lime walls, don't mix them. So I went with a hybrid approach where my first layer of plaster was 25% lime my second layer was 50% lime my third layer was 75% lime and my fourth layer was 100% lime. I'm in Southwest Virginia so the hurricane is not affecting me nearly as much. So far everything looks good here.

[@HeirloomBuilders]

That’s a great strategy with the clay:lime ratios!

[@DataSmithy]

@@HeirloomBuilders my goal was to have higher percentage clay near the straw to draw moisture out of the straw and mummify it, while having high weather protection on the outer skin, while avoiding the issue of separation of layers.

[@HeirloomBuilders]

@@DataSmithy love it

[@normaburton161]

Should have lined with a liner

[@necrokittie2291]

your letting driving rain hit your walls.... this would still work if you had big enough eaves so the rain never hit the house in the first place..... i long decided if i was going to build like this i'd have a wrap around porch on the whole house.

[@normaburton161]

Practice makes perfect

[@HeirloomBuilders]

That’s right. Hopefully y’all can learn from my mistakes. It was really nice being able to have kids help bare-handed with the earthen plaster and get so many people inspired to build something with their own two hands. But that earthen clay just doesn’t hold up over time

[@bigbird2240]

Haha 😂