The third chicken wire concrete
project was definitely the most impressive. It was a literal tarpaper
shack, that had been completely covered in chicken wire concrete. The
shed was about 10’ x 12’ with 8’ walls. My neighbor had set 4x4 treated
posts in the ground at the corners and then hung 2x8 rim joists about 8
inches above the ground. The floor was laid on 2x8 joists set on 2 foot
centers and floored with old pallet boards. The walls were conventionally
framed with 2x4 stud walls and had a shed roof of 2x6 rafters. So far
this was standard building procedure, but from this point on, it was less
conventional. Rather than go to the expense of sheathing, my neighbor
than covered the walls with plain old tar paper, rolling it out over the
studs and stapling it down as tightly as possible. When the walls were
covered, he then stapled up some thin lengths of lathe to give the
tarpaper surface some rigidity. The lathes were set about 6” apart.
Then he had stretched two layers of cross lapped chicken wire over the tar
paper and lathes. Once the walls were complete, he had troweled
on the usual mix of concrete, forcing it through the mesh and unto the
surface of the tarpaper, taking some care not to tear the tarpaper.
It had taken him and a friend the better part of two days to concrete all
four walls and to get a decent finish on the walls. Even with just
tar paper backing and 2 layers of chicken wire mesh, the walls are
surprisingly strong. He gave them a semi rough texture with the
trowel and a stiff bristle broom. Eventually, he painted the
concrete, but this was purely an aesthetic choice. The raw
concrete is completely weather and fireproof, but it isn’t particularly
attractive in its basic state.
The real surprise was the roof,
which had been made using the very same method. After setting the
rafters, he had stretched tar paper across them and turned it down over
the edges of the rafters. He had then nailed on the thin lathes like
purlins, followed by five layers of chicken wire, cross lapped to make
the smallest openings possible. A wooden edge of 1x3 was then nailed onto
the face of the rafters to create a small form to hold the concrete,
cover all the wire ends and make the edge neater in appearance. The
concrete was mixed a bit thinner than it had been for the walls, so that
it would flow more easily and give a smoother surface finish. The
concrete was brought up in buckets and poured over the chicken wire mesh.
A stucco trowel was used to spread a thin layer of concrete over the whole
roof surface and to force it into the mesh. It was then given a smooth
finish with a standard mason’s trowel. After a few days curing time, he
painted the roof with concrete water proofing as an added precaution. The
whole structure is virtually fireproof, the roof is completely waterproof
and will easily support the weight of several grown men. All in all, it
gives a whole new meaning to the idea of tar paper shack.
After seeing these examples of
chicken wire concrete, I am convinced that this will be the method I use
to finish my two chimney stacks. As they are already sheathed with OSB
and tarpapered, it is only a matter of stapling up the chicken wire and
troweling on the concrete. It won’t be a small job, but I figure it can
be done in sections and that a rough and ready finish will probably be a
better solution than a smooth troweled surface. I’m not sure
how I will finish off the tops of the stacks. I may cap them
with sheet copper or metal, which will give a rich effect, but I may
attempt to do it with a built up edge of concrete and chicken wire
instead. I think before I send the boys up on the roof, we may
built something smaller on the ground as a practice exercise.
Maybe when we get our well installed this summer, we can build a little
well house to learn the finer points of chicken wire concrete. From
all I have seen, it’s simple and durable, it uses common and easily
procured materials and best of all its inexpensive. Sounds
like a perfect solution for many homestead building projects in my book.
