[Greenbuilding] Timbersil (and alternatives to)

[RT]

On Fri, 08 Apr 2011 15:17:00 -0400, Alan Abrams  
<alan at abramsdesignbuild.com> wrote:
>
> is this material crisp and stable enough for detailed cornice work?
>
> On Fri, Apr 8, 2011 at 11:05 AM, Sigi Koko <sigikoko at earthlink.net>  
> wrote:

>> Timbersil

>> In terms of ordering, if there isn't a
>> distributor near you, you should be able to approach a local lumber mill
>> and order through them.


If the Timbersil (TM) product isn't locally produced then it would seem to  
make sense to use local lumber and simply soak it in a saturated solution  
of sodium silicate which is relatively easy to make out of readily  
available materials (ie water, silica, sodium hydroxide), and then sticker  
the treated wood until it has dried.

That way, one would be able to use locally-harvested salvaged lumber and  
you'd have an up-close/personal view of the consequences of your material  
choice (ie sodium hydroxide isn't exactly friendly stuff).  In NYC, that  
lumber would likely be pallet wood, wooden pallets being a major disposal  
problem in urban centres. (This being the *Green* building list, not the  
Home Despot building list).

But speaking of fancy cornices...

Rather than build it up out of a gazillion pieces of increasingly-rare  
clear lumber, perhaps it might be made of cement or lime plaster, possibly  
with pigment integrated into the plaster mix so that painting would never  
be required , and with whatever lightweight aggregates and fibrous  
admixtures your heart desires to achieve the performance characteristics  
you'd like ?

The simplest way would be to make a scraper that is cut to the profile of  
the proposed cornice and pull it along the still-plastic mud, a process  
not unlike what carpenters used to do when making wooden mouldings and  
cornices, with a series of moulding planes, often self-made. (Yes, been  
there, done that.)



-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
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