Anybody ever plaster dirt walls?

[FarmboyBill]

Where I was raised up, we had 2 cisterns at the house, and a cellar under it. All 3 were plastered up against the sides of a dirt wall. I was wondering if anybody had ever done that, and try to see how its done.

[RichNC]

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

Where I was raised up, we had 2 cisterns at the house, and a cellar under it. All 3 were plastered up against the sides of a dirt wall. I was wondering if anybody had ever done that, and try to see how its done.

You mean plaster over dirt walls, not plaster in a cistern, because inside a cistern that just wouldn't work. And yes, I have read about plaster over dirt walls, dry type walls, not one with a lot of dampness, if you know what I mean.

[FarmboyBill]

The cistern was dug, then plastered. Same as the cellar.

[RichNC]

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

The cistern was dug, then plastered. Same as the cellar.

Unless you are actually talking about concrete, which I am starting to guess you are, plaster of paris is not going to hold up in a cistern, it just isn't!!

[Sawmill Jim]

Most had chicken wire or hardware cloth pegged into the dirt then use the same cement they use to lay bricks . Yes it can be done

[FarmboyBill]

It could be concrete, I don't know about that. It was done at the turn of the 20th century. I saw it as it had cracked apart in the basement in the 60s. I helped dad empty the cistern, and then he went down in it and replastered the crack in it. The mud in the bottom stunk like heck. I remember that also. That was in the early 60s also

no wire used in either case.

[bruce2288]

yes, it is concrete. My cistern and dug basement walls are both that way

[FarmboyBill]

So anybody know the tricks to being able to do it? Does concrete stick to dirt. This here was around 1in there bouts thick

[Shrek]

Portland cement mixed with native clay instead of sand and gravel makes what folks around here call dirtcrete and has been used in past eras in cellars and storm pits but is not near as strong as fibrous concrete used today.

I still mix dirtcrete for keeping the foundation of my house more stable by mixing a bag of concrete in with clay during the dry season to lay splash walks under the eaves as I don't have gutters or want any as its easier for me to just resurface the splash walks as needed every 7 to 10 years and the cost is minimal.

[RichNC]

Originally Posted by Shrek

I still mix dirtcrete for keeping the foundation of my house more stable by mixing a bag of concrete in with clay during the dry season to lay splash walks under the eaves as I don't have gutters or want any as its easier for me to just resurface the splash walks as needed every 7 to 10 years and the cost is minimal.

I lived in a house with those, the realtor called them "French Drains", they worked was all I knew!!!

[cab]

If it is that old, odds are it is lime render (plaster), not portland.

[wy_white_wolf]

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

So anybody know the tricks to being able to do it? Does concrete stick to dirt. This here was around 1in there bouts thick

The modern way would be with shotcrete. It's how most swimming pools are done.

https://www.google.com/#q=shotcrete

WWW

[FarmboyBill]

That's like gunite. Either has to be blown onto the surface with high psi. That's out.

[o&itw]

Originally Posted by RichNC

Unless you are actually talking about concrete, which I am starting to guess you are, plaster of paris is not going to hold up in a cistern, it just isn't!!

A lot of people think that the verb "plaster" means cover with plaster of paris. Paster is a descriptive temr that means more or less to "cover with mortar" In old homes and basments and cisterns, the "plaster" used was basically concrete without the gravel, very similar to brick motar. If you ever tear into the "plaster" walls of a (very) old home you will find it is nothing like the drywall that is now used. The plaster (often called "mud") was applied with a trowel, something like stucco.

It would not take hydrolic pressure (water pressing in from the soil). In cisterns, the water in the cisterns would balance out the water pressure from the soil. If water was divirted from an empty or low cistern, water pressure in the soild after rains would often cause the walls to cave in.

[FarmboyBill]

The cisterns and the celler and the cave outside were built before there were any water in the cisterns.

[o&itw]

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

The cisterns and the celler and the cave outside were built before there were any water in the cisterns.

Yes, but I bet they weren't built when it was raining or the soil waterlogged.

[FarmboyBill]

AND that's MY point. They were built likely in the summertime when a long stretch of dry weather was counted on to build them.

[o&itw]

Meant no disrespect....thought that you were being humerous when you said the cistern was built before there was any water in it..

[FarmboyBill]

I was lol sorda