yvres
Originally uploaded by ezappy.
Ruth and Julian thought it would be useful for me to attend a weekend course about the rediscovered use of lime in renovating old property.
Actually the techique promoted by Yvres (in the hat) as explained in Ruth's blog is to use hemp and lime together with pumice from an ancient Roman concrete recipe. The lime unlike modern cement, cures by absorbing carbon dioxide from the air, with beneficial effects on greenhouse gas emissions and reforms into calcium carbonate or in other words back to rock from which it was made.
The hemp is high in silicates and has been used as stable bedding for years because it had no other use before. Incorporated into the mix the vegetable matter becomes over time petrified by the action of the lime into an open and lightweight yet strong and easily worked building material. It takes on the qualities of lime in allowing solid structures to breath out moisture thereby maintaining dry conditions inside the building.
After the course I was presented with a manual all in French of course, so have been googling lime hemp and pumice as a building material. Up came an entry for a company in Didcot, called Lime Technology Limited Milton Park, Abingdon. They have a relationship with Castle Cement and instead of pumice they use the pulverised fly ash from Didcot Power Station.
Halleluyah!
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