Applying the Base Coat of Cement Stucco on a Straw Bale House

Video Transcript

"Ok, we’re going to get started here. Normally the pins are going to stay in- I’m having a little bit of a problem right now, these are not very long and I don’t have it wired from the other side to help pull the wire tight. But normally they’re going to stay in, it’s not going to be a problem. And I like to start at the bottom of the wall and work up- everybody has something different, some people start at the top and work down- it just depends on what you like. But it’s easier, especially if your cement’s too wet or something, to start from the bottom kind of build on it and work your way down. But I’m start right here in the middle because we’re not going to have time to do the whole wall anyway, so I’m just going to give you an idea of how to put it on. So you’re just going to lean into bale and push it in through the wire as tight as you can. See I’m already getting- even though it’s not pulled tight, it’s actually going to stay pretty good. And you’re just going to keep packing it in there until it seals solid against the bale. And you’ll be able to see it’s pushing it up solid into the bale there. And your bottom coat you’re not smooth like this because you need your other coats of concrete to adhere to it. So once you get it up in there, you know it’s solid onto the wall, you’re just going to put a little thing like this so it has little trenches and whatever so the other concretes- the next batch- can adhere to it. It won’t be smooth and snap off and break off. So you’re just going to work the concrete in. Your base coat can be thick. You can put it an inch thick, two inches thick, whatever you want. And you can go over…some people do two coats, some people do three coats…well, they do two coats of concrete and then they do a finished stucco coat. So it’s just depending on how much money you want to spend, how much time you want to spend, and what you want it to look like, and how long you want it to be durable; lots of things to consider. And once we get it up we’re going to do this all the way along the wall. And then you let it dry, and when it’s thoroughly dry several days later, you go up and you’ll put the second coat up. "