Well, the fabulous subject of mud beautiful mud goes on and on...here are before and after pictures of our Firebox at home-
it used to be quaint but guzzled wood, smoked like a bastard and
wasn't much good in a minus 4 degree winter!
Now it has improved efficiency and is elegantly useful -
the new 'skin' of thermal mass did the trick.
I left a 2 centimetre gap between the iron stove and the mud
which i filled with wood ash for insulation-
(Becky Bee said to do this and it seems to work
though i wasn't sure why exactly...)
Then i used a rough clay and sand mix for the first layer, added sawdust to the mix for the second layer
and a straw and mud mix (cob) for filling in at the back,
I set rocks in to hold more heat and used a final coat of sieved
sand/clay plaster with pussywillow fibres and the smallest amount
of aquadhere to keep it from being dusty (which worked!)
Here it is now-the center of our Winter World, heating water (and us!) drying tools, the laundry
and all the stuff that got soaked in the Big rains...
it even keeps our slippers warm and dry!
It has a seat built in next to it
(RHS just out of the frame, in use!)
that provides a warm backrest,
the perfect place to sit and read next to the window.
and the logs don't roll out onto the carpet anymore!
i love home improvements
No comments:
Post a Comment