Michael,

Have you seen the restoration of the Taj Mahal show that I caught a glimpse of on television last weekend?  If not, check it out, if yes, then what did you think of their mortar mix, not to mention the carvers.

Best,

Leland

 

 

 

Much of my initial talk and interest  in lime mortars
stems from the fact that I am 
I am working  pro bono with a client in the high desert of   North  to north West Argentina restoring some 1840 adobe structures ;

I go every winter to work with his masons
last year much of our time was spent hauling
stone with mules on rock sleds pulling
rounded Basalt out of rivers along with river sand and making coarse stuff with the Calcium oxide  that they sell there ( 70 miles away) in bulk  in 60lb plastic bags 

All the restorations are performed in this manner ;
either rustic random rubble walls
or   (then )stuccoed followed by  historic lime wash ;
however the new  'add ons"  to be constructed this year 
are extentions out the back of the historic originals
Viewed from the road only the historic front facade can be seen
The extented rooms out the back
of the two room mud houses(called puestos)
are  bathrooms and sleeping quarters some with large kitchens .
The owner wants to construct these with  ICF"s
( Insulated concrete forms ) .
Because they are easy to  transport and put up ,
they require little  technical skill to assemble ,
make doors and windows  where you want them
and are easy to store ,
they arrive flat with the re bar in them .
and all you do is pop them open at the corners , then lock in place
and pour with your mud 
Being a luddite I first had trouble making such a  switch
but the stone being so difficult to get to 
and  the area  is so remote  the . ICF's make some sence
not much happens here the last big event was a ufo crash they sent the troops up into the mts to investigate ...they found Nada ,zip , the usual swamp gas
although many people saw it

(Imagine big Bend national park with   77,ooo acres of nature perserve and desert  wilderness with mountains at 12000 ft )-
Talk about lonesome cowboys
and all i get for crews are mostly cocca chewing grave diggers or unemployed shamans (here smoke this..err no thanks) 
These  ICF's  (I am told )can be filled by shovel with  soil cement,
or adobe clay
we got good test pours in cubes with clay ,
dolomitic ag lime , cal oxide and pebbles  
  the adobe (used even in the towns ) has not been  tested

after the icf  walls are up we can use
the tradional stucco and lime wash to color them 
even the roof is a insulated form that you can place red tile on 

I have not discovered any of the the downsides of these systems;
and would appreciate hearing  from anyone
or getting in touch with technicians who have experince  as to what to look out for
.....besides salesmen and the local  cactus juice          Py



**************************************
Check out AOL's list of 2007's hottest products.
(http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop00030000000001)

-- To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html