Appreciation post: My granddad's way of sealing adobe walls still beats any modern product

The old mix of mud and straw he applied by hand has outlasted every new sealant I've seen. It breathes with the adobe, preventing cracks that modern stuff can't handle.

3 comments

3 Comments

parker_sullivan1mo ago

Seen the same thing happen with old plaster around here.

the_eric1mo ago

Yeah I used to think newer was always better with stuff like that. But my buddy's old farmhouse has the same mud and straw mix in the walls, zero cracks after fifty years. Meanwhile his neighbor used some fancy polymer sealant ten years back and it's already peeling away in sheets. Really shows how some old ways just work with the material instead of fighting it.

aliceshah25d ago

Ever notice how the simplest fixes seem to last the longest? That mud and straw story is a perfect example.