Sacks and Plaster Used To Make Shed

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 76, Issue 6, 15 June 1948, Page 592

Sacks and Plaster Used To Make Shed

By

A. J. LYNCH,

Assistant Instructor in Agriculture, New Plymouth.

TN erecting any farm building the aim should be to combine the elements of size, convenience, and permanence with those of simplicity and cheapness. How these features can be incorporated in a building and lend it a particularly neat appearance is shown on the property of Mr. D. Eggleton, Tate Road, Waitara.

nTHE large shed which he put up measures 18ft. x 30ft. and is built with a gable roof having a 7ft. 6in. stud at the eaves. One end of the shed is partitioned off as a car shed complete with sliding doors, the other section having an lift, open doorway to allow the passage of most farm implements. A staging for fertiliser is built at the other end of the structure and a doorway raised 3ft. from ground level gives direct access to it from outside.

Thus the shed lacks nothing in convenience and is sufficiently roomy to house • all the implements of a small farm, several tons of fertiliser, and a motor-car. - The plan of the building is well thought out and does not sacrifice convenience for the sake of low expense. In the materials used considerable economy is effected, the walls being of a wooden framework to which is attached a single thickness of sacking plastered with a special cement mixture and reinforced with wire-netting. Timber for the framework of the shed is mainly 3in. by 2in. Pinus radiata, 3in. by 4in. heart timber being used

for the wall plates, and 4in. by 2in. heart for the corner. studs. Mounted on concrete blocks, this is erected in the normal way; a distance between studs equal to the width of a cement bag must be allowed and the structure should be braced well in every direction. Suitable bags are opened down the sides and tacked over the framework of the walls, flat-headed lin. nails or clouts being used. The sacks are then painted with the following mixture:

cement .. . . 121 b. hydraulic lime . . 21b. salt .. . . lib. alum . . Jib. water . . 1| gallons Before applying the mixture it is advisable to sprinkle the sacking with water, as the mixture will then adhere better and be easier to apply. The mixture is painted on at least three times, the coat being renewed when the first is nearly dry, otherwise it will be more difficult to apply the mixture. The sacking will then tighten and set hard. Added strength and permanency are given to the walls if Ifin. or 2in. mesh

wire-netting is tacked on and secured over the treated sacking. It is essential, however, that the wire-netting does not bulge or sag from the sacking and it should be secured in enough places to prevent this, the best plan being to have the netting about -Jin. from the sacking. -

The most satisfactory way to do this is to run the netting around the shed in horizontal strips, straining them tight and tacking them on one above the other. Each length of netting is thus run across the studs, enabling it to ■be tightly strained and secured at each stud, which would not be possible if it were run up and down the wall. On a building with a 7ft. 6in. wall stud two strips .of 3ft. netting and a third length cut down the centre reach from ground level to the eaves, the other half strip being used on the gables, over the doorways, etc. The netting is attached by wiring it through the sacking and stapling it to the studs.

Plaster is applied over the wirenetting to a depth of fin. to lin. and brought to a smooth finish. A roughcast mixture of a screening of up to Jin. in diameter may be used or, as in this case, a plaster of cement, sand, and screenings of up to Jin. - in diameter. The mixture should be a strong one and of not more than five of aggregate to one of cement. Later the walls are painted, the mixture used being prepared as follows:

Boil 281 b. of unslaked lime in 6

gallons of water until all lumps are

dissolved

Add 31b. of mutton fat, 1J to 21b.

of salt, 1-Jlb. of yellow ochre, and apply the mixture while it is hot.

With this the shed is given a waterproofing coat and, with cream walls and green facings, looks most attractive. Roofing iron not being procurable at the time, a substitute material was used.

Other Materials Used

Approximate quantities of other materials used were as follows:

Cement, 9 bags.

Metal, 3 cubic yards.

Timber, 1000 super feet.

The shed was built without assistance,, the total cost being only . £35, which included £l7 for roofing and ridging material, The shed is considered to be most durable and although not resistant to sharp bumps and other abuse, has been built 12 months and is absolutely weather proof. A small fowlhouse with a roughcast finish has been made on the same farm and has given equally-good results.

The method of construction appears to be a useful one for many farms, particularly as the work can be done by the farmer himself with little expense, even for a large building.