Hey everybody, today I'm going to show you how I get this effect on a mud-brick wall.
This is mud-brick, 10 inch thick with a rendered finish.
Then painted.
I'll show you how I render mud-bricks.
Also some kiln-dried clay bricks.
So I'll show you the render mix and how to apply it.
I better get out of this gear, get into some work clothes, and get into it.
Our tools for rendering will be a brickies trowel, and a couple of other rendering trowels.
We've started off with these dry old powdery mud-bricks.
Then got them into this finish.
You can see they are completely transformed and then finished even against a window.
They are completely different to how it all started.
Because it's going to be applied to mud-brick we won't use a super strong mix.
So not as much cement as in a normal render mix.
My mix is 2 shovels of brickies sand, one shovel of washed sand.
Do that 3 times
I end up with 9 shovels of sand and then one shovel of cement.
It's a mix of 9 : 1 I put that dry into the wheelbarrow
If I was using a cement mixer or some kind of mechanical mixer I'd put the water in first,
but because this is being done by hand I put all the sand and cement in and mix it dry
before the water.
That's the nine sand.
Now 1 cement.
Now mix it up dry.
This way I know everything is mixed properly.
You'll be able to see all the different colours.
Being a weak mix it needs to be mixed properly before adding the water.
I prefer to use a smaller shovel.
If you're feeling energetic you can use a bigger one.
That's lot a lot more work though.
You should end up with a grey looking mix.
The orange and cream will disappear.
Let's go and mix in the water.
The amount of water is determined by the dryness of the mix.
About 8 litres for this dry mix.
The amount will vary depending on how dry the sand is.
You need a consistant mix.
You often hear talk of a toothpaste consistancy.
Brick layers will talk of the fattyness of the sand rather than being like toothpaste.
So you want this "fat" mix.
Now to put it on the wall.
We have extremely dry mud-bricks.
If I applied that mix to the wall it will just fall off.
So the wall has to be wet down.
Quite a lot of water is required.
It gets soaked into the bricks.
Then amount of water is quite staggering.
Seems way out of proportion to the job.
However these bricks are so dry, this amount of water is what's needed.
Normal baked clay bricks don't need this amount of water.
These bricks need to be dripping wet.
Gather the tools.
I'm starting with this one.
I will keep this up for quite a while and eventually it will end up looking like this.
You can see how I've applied this area.
It ranges from a couple of millimetres to quite deep grooves.
With this method though the whole lot gets filled in one go.
This is why I like using this method on these uneven surfaces.
There's a couple of touch-ups required.
Using the other trowel it is easy to patch them.
Let that dry off a bit.
While I've got this trowel I will begin on this drier section to get rid of any indentations
and lumps.
Generally clean it up to achieve a smooth finish.
I use the front edge to cut into any dags.
When I start the next layer I will wet the unfinished edge.
Just as I originally wet the mud-bricks.
This will create a seamless join.
When rendering I always scrap upwards I'm slightly digging in with the front edge
and leaving the back edge to simply smooth things over.
Now it has started drying it's time to go over it with a bit more pressure.
This will smooth off any indentations or over filled spots.
Clean up this hollow.
Another good thing about this method is you can patch it up straight away.
Watch this.
Keep on going.
There you go guys.
The next thing will be to finish it off with the broom.
This top part has now dried.
The rendering is finished.
Remember their are different ways to do this.
This is my method.
You can buy pre-made materials as well.
It's quite expensive.
This is a cheap alternative.
The whole of this house has been done like this and in 30 years there are no cracks or defects.
It is all as it originally was.
Lastly brush off with a stiff haired broom.
This is dusty job.
This gives the final textured finish.
Also gets rid of any other small defects.
It can be gone over one more time with the broom if needed.
That's how I render mud-bricks.
This also works on clay bricks.
If you had a whole wall of clay bricks you would probably need a stronger mix.
7 : 1 approx.
It really is a matter of trial and error.
Getting used to the tools is a big part of the job.
Maybe practise in an area that is out of site.
So any mistakes are made before attempting the main sections.
Thanks for watching guys.
I'll see you again soon.