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Mortars and Plasters
Homemade Mortar for brick laying and building:
After some looking around for suitable home made building compounds that would hold up against a zombie invasion, I've discovered that you can make a Lime mortar suitable for building. This mortar or putty was used to build most buildings (including most castles) up until the 19th century. Below are the steps needed to use to produce a Lime mortar and plaster suitable for building.
The process involves taking lime in it's raw form, changing it's chemical make-up to create a pliable material, using that chemical as a mortar for building, then converting it back to it's solid hard form.
Warning: working with lime is dangerous and all personal protective equipment must be worn including goggles, respirator, gloves, and an apron.
The raw material for lime mortars and plasters is naturally occurring limestone, and also shells and coral. Since we wont have access to a real kiln to heat the lime you're going to have to use a pit instead. Place the Lime stone or other raw material in the pit, layered with fuel such as coal or brush, and burn for 12 hours. The limestone, shells or coral needs to reach a temperature of 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit (1,200 degrees Celsius) for the heat to fully penetrate to the center of the stone. After the burning process, whitish lumps of calcium oxide are left, along with bits of burned and unburned fuel and also over-burnt lime which will appear as black glassy pieces. Remove the whitish lumps of calcium oxide (also known as quick-lime, or lump-lime) and discard the rest.
Calcium oxide is very reactive and can be dangerous. So be careful.
The calcium oxide (or quick-lime) you have left may be left as lumps or ground down into powder, and must be kept dry. Quick-lime reacts very quickly with water (even the moisture in the air or in your skin) to form calcium hydroxide.
Making the putty:
Always add quick-lime to water. Never add water to quick-lime because if you do this, it can explode! Remember, just as making quicklime needed heat, the reverse process produces heat. Care must be taken because as the temperature rises the heat generated can burn any grass or wood underneath your mixing tub.
Recipe: 1 part quicklime to 2 parts water, by volume. Use only a portion of the water to begin with.
This process is going to take two people. One to add the water and quick-lime, and the other to mix or rake.
Add water to a metal barrel and gradually add the quick-lime to the water. Immediately start to rake and mix the mixture. A metal garden hoe or rake would be the best tool for the job. Slowly add a little more water, then a little more quick-lime until the recipe is complete. Rake and mix the mixture until the lumps have all broken down. Once all the lumps are broken down sieve the mixtue through a 1/16-inch (2 millimeter) grid to take out any pieces of unburned limestone. A course piece of screening might work for this.
Once this is completed the lime or lime putty is best stored for at least three months before use. This is to ensure that all the calcium oxide has hydrated.
Also, do not expose the lime mixture to the air, or it will begin to carbonate before you can use it as a mortar. To keep this from happening, traditionally, it was stored in a pit in the ground, where it was kept for several months or even years before use.
Making the mortar:
Recipe: 1 part lime putty to 3 parts sand, by volume.
You can do this on a piece of ply-wood. Simply put the lime putty on a sheet of plywood and begin pounding and beating it using a wooden mallet or post. The more you do this the easier it will be to mix with the sand and the more plastic like the end product will become creating a stronger mortar.
Once you have beat and pounded the putty enough you can start mixing it with damp sand continuing to pound and beat. If need you may add a little water at a time until you reach the consistency.
After some looking around for suitable home made building compounds that would hold up against a zombie invasion, I've discovered that you can make a Lime mortar suitable for building. This mortar or putty was used to build most buildings (including most castles) up until the 19th century. Below are the steps needed to use to produce a Lime mortar and plaster suitable for building.
The process involves taking lime in it's raw form, changing it's chemical make-up to create a pliable material, using that chemical as a mortar for building, then converting it back to it's solid hard form.
Warning: working with lime is dangerous and all personal protective equipment must be worn including goggles, respirator, gloves, and an apron.
The raw material for lime mortars and plasters is naturally occurring limestone, and also shells and coral. Since we wont have access to a real kiln to heat the lime you're going to have to use a pit instead. Place the Lime stone or other raw material in the pit, layered with fuel such as coal or brush, and burn for 12 hours. The limestone, shells or coral needs to reach a temperature of 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit (1,200 degrees Celsius) for the heat to fully penetrate to the center of the stone. After the burning process, whitish lumps of calcium oxide are left, along with bits of burned and unburned fuel and also over-burnt lime which will appear as black glassy pieces. Remove the whitish lumps of calcium oxide (also known as quick-lime, or lump-lime) and discard the rest.
Calcium oxide is very reactive and can be dangerous. So be careful.
The calcium oxide (or quick-lime) you have left may be left as lumps or ground down into powder, and must be kept dry. Quick-lime reacts very quickly with water (even the moisture in the air or in your skin) to form calcium hydroxide.
Making the putty:
Always add quick-lime to water. Never add water to quick-lime because if you do this, it can explode! Remember, just as making quicklime needed heat, the reverse process produces heat. Care must be taken because as the temperature rises the heat generated can burn any grass or wood underneath your mixing tub.
Recipe: 1 part quicklime to 2 parts water, by volume. Use only a portion of the water to begin with.
This process is going to take two people. One to add the water and quick-lime, and the other to mix or rake.
Add water to a metal barrel and gradually add the quick-lime to the water. Immediately start to rake and mix the mixture. A metal garden hoe or rake would be the best tool for the job. Slowly add a little more water, then a little more quick-lime until the recipe is complete. Rake and mix the mixture until the lumps have all broken down. Once all the lumps are broken down sieve the mixtue through a 1/16-inch (2 millimeter) grid to take out any pieces of unburned limestone. A course piece of screening might work for this.
Once this is completed the lime or lime putty is best stored for at least three months before use. This is to ensure that all the calcium oxide has hydrated.
Also, do not expose the lime mixture to the air, or it will begin to carbonate before you can use it as a mortar. To keep this from happening, traditionally, it was stored in a pit in the ground, where it was kept for several months or even years before use.
Making the mortar:
Recipe: 1 part lime putty to 3 parts sand, by volume.
You can do this on a piece of ply-wood. Simply put the lime putty on a sheet of plywood and begin pounding and beating it using a wooden mallet or post. The more you do this the easier it will be to mix with the sand and the more plastic like the end product will become creating a stronger mortar.
Once you have beat and pounded the putty enough you can start mixing it with damp sand continuing to pound and beat. If need you may add a little water at a time until you reach the consistency.
MilitaryMisfit |
Latest page update: made by MilitaryMisfit
, Aug 22 2009, 5:52 AM EDT
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