Weekend alone smearing muck onto the walls

On yer marks

I spent last weekend alone and did the thick "parging coat" (undercoat) of render on two wall panels.

I made the job harder for myself by making a really weak, watery render mix on Saturday, which I tried to thicken by adding more fibre.  It was so hard to make that useless muck stick to the walls, I had to abandon my tools and smear it on with bare hands.

Render this - you just need to make mud defy gravity

I made one bucket of stickier render, which I rationed to use on the window surround.  Even then, it threatened to glop off onto the floor every couple of minutes.  I had to keep pushing it in place until it started drying.

Juuuust holding on

Still, I worked at it alone and got the wall finished.  There was a certain amount of "I am woman, hear me roar" going on.

You can almost see how fibrous and nasty the render is from here

Next day, I mixed some render that was extravagant with clay and sloppy as a cow pat. It practically lifted itself onto the wall.

Ta da!

It was peaceful working out there, alone in the bush.  Fresh air, bird-song and fresh food from the garden.  And there's nothing like staring into the corner of a building for two days to make you appreciate the view.

How's the serenity?