This weekend we fixed up the remaining footings and tried our hand at plastering.
On Saturday I finished off chiseling away the huge stones that were preventing me from continuing the footings repair at the rear. I added extra rebar and again rust treated the existing rebar. Around the corner we discovered huge gaps (you could put your arm in up to your elbow) between the wall and the footings so we filled these in and added a chamfer.
On Sunday we tried our hand at plastering and we think it went pretty well. Adding this coat was a lot slower as the wall undulates quite a bit and in parts I was probably spraying over an inch thick of the lime mortar, troweled it flat after I emptied each hoper. It’s not perfect but it’s a great thick coat which will be underground anyway. This now has to be left exposed to the air for a month to allow it to cure but after that we can start to fill up the trench. We’ll probably apply a coat or two of lime wash which we’ll do once we finish the whole wall.
Again, so pleased we found the mortar sprayer, what a mess it would have been without it and the time….
Should have worn a long sleeve shirt as I was splattered with a lot of lime which gave me some irritating burns on my arm, also the temps were in the triple digits so I was perspiring profusely whilst Aimee was glowing.
We returned on Monday night and managed to do another 6′ or so. We’ll complete it by the weekend.
Will it be all ready by Christmas?
The plastering yes, well at least at the back of the house
That was a long weekend but well done. Can’t you put a barrier cream on instead of sweating even more in long sleeves? Can’t wait to see it backfilled!
That’s a great idea, didn’t think about that, thanks Chris 🙂