The First Ferrocement Section

Before bringing in the cement mixer we decided to mix some concrete by hand to practice the process. We put the ferrocement on the smallest part of the roof. First we painted on a concrete milk, the idea was to completely encapsulate the nylon shade cloth in the bottom 1mm of concrete. This meant that we couldn’t put on the nylon or chicken wire until the mixing had begun, which would have made the whole process quite rushed on the day the mixer came. We decided that the concrete would likely seep through the gaps in the nylon anyway so the milk wasn’t necessary. This meant that we could prepare the nylon and chicken wire before mixing the concrete, so that pouring would be much easier.

We cured the concrete for three days by keeping it wet, and then jumped on it! This is the smallest roof section so its not a true test, but so far so good.