A DIY house made of concrete is only as good as the cement mix. For the meshcrete going on the walls, we are using a cement-rich mix of a half bag of Portland cement to two bags of #4 (fine) blasting sand. The grey substance in this photo is the cement, the other material is the sand. We will mix this batch with more water than we would use for most applications because we want the mix to be able to penetrate the net mesh and "key" (or adhere) to the surface of the blocks in the wall.
We have discovered that the nylon mesh, when properly draped down the block walls, tends to stick to rough spots on the blocks. Basically, once you get the knack of draping the mesh it pretty well supports itself on the wall until it is parged with the cement mix. A little pressure bonds the cement to the blocks and the finish is smoothed out by hand. We are purposely trying to keep a certain amount of irregularity to the wall surface to achieve the look of the old Spanish missions as opposed to a smooth, slick, modern, manufactured appearance.
Excuse the shadow of the utility pole here, but I'd like to illustrate a point and need this photo. This freshly applied meshcrete took approximately 90 minutes to do by myself, including mixing the cement and washing the buckets. Our cost for this section of 80 square feet is $3 for netting, $3.50 for a half bag of Portland and about $3 for the sand. That's $9.50 for 80 square feet, as opposed to....
...this section of wall, which represents one bag of a popular surface bonding cement product. The bag is supposed to cover 50 square feet, although our application produced somewhat less due to the need to smooth out wall surfaces. The approximately 50 square feet cost $14 to clad with the bagged cement as opposed to $9.50 for 80 square feet. Although the bagged mix contains a waterproofing agent and the white finish, we plan to seal and paint the meshcrete walls with the money we will save. The meshcrete also has a smoother finish appearance.
We continue to be impressed with the cost and labor savings in our use of meshcrete, especially in light of the fact that we seem to be the first people to make use of this material in house construction. Feeling rather pleased with progress, project management decide we've done good work for the day and vote themselves a performance bonus.
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