The outside render is a 50/50 mix of clay and sand. (with a little bit of lime added) The clay was obtained from the bottom of our dam, and the sand from an obliging neighbour. We put on three coats by hand. The first was clay/sand mixture to get good penetration into the bales. The next layer was mixed with a lot of loose straw (cob) to build up thickness, and the last layer was the sand/clay mix again. This produced a finished coat of about 3” thickness, providing excellent accoustic isolation as well as temperature control.

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