The short strokes of outside plastering

Straw Bale House Update: The weather has been crappy on Denman Island this spring. Wetter and cooler than normal. (graph on right proves my point (white line is seasonal norm) Perfect weather for plastering! With the humidity high, the plaster takes longer to dry. This makes for a much stronger wall. Just a few slow details around the living room windows and the exterior will be finished (for now). Once that is done the walls can sit for a year and do what they will. Any small cracks that develop over the next three seasons will be repaired and covered with the colour coat, which will go on next spring. The colour coat is only 1/8" thick so the 2nd (brown) coat finishes 1/8" shy of window and door trims.
The first few mixes for the first coat were mixed in a mortar mixer, which the straw bale gurus highly recommend. The rental was expensive and it turned out that my trusty (and cheap) cement mixer does a great job, (it just takes a little longer). I run the mixer for about six hours a day, six days a week. Not what is it intended to do, but so far, so good, (knock on plaster).
I highly suggest buying one of these cheapie mixers if you are going to tackle plastering yourself.... (or without a large crew). I also suggest dedicated clothes and footwear, as it is even messier than you would imagine. (My "plaster shoes" used to be brown).

The company that supplied the hydraulic lime did the volume calculation for me when we ordered it. It's going to be very close! I think we'll end up within a single bag....(on the plus side, I hope).