We’ve heard a lot about UV damage to polypropylene bags. I was interested in seeing for myself just exactly how badly they degrade so I set up a little experiment. I filled a bag with gravel and stuck it aside. Unfortunately I soon after forgot about it so I’m not sure exactly how long it takes to progress to this level of damage but one thing is for certain- this bag is toast.
I dragged a single finger through a patch in the bag that was splitting and you can see how badly it held up. So- protect your bags as you build. Anything from a light plaster to paint will work, just so long as the bag is protected from sunlight. And just a note- you do have to get on top of it pretty quickly. While not an experiment per se, I did think I had more time to get a light plaster up than I did. While the bags didn’t degrade like this one, they did loosen up slightly making plastering a bit more difficult. The smoother and tighter the bags, the easier the plaster goes up. Lesson learned.
Another tip learned from blog site THE ULTIMATE ANSWER TO KINGS – if you intend to apply waterproofing to wall finishes such as plaster or concrete, make every attempt to put a SMOOTH finish so that the liquid waterproofing is easier to apply evenly, vs. having to work at finding every nook and cranny.
awesome tip- thank you!
I am covering mine with tarps when not working on them and this takes time and rocks!
That worked for us until the larger domes got too tall. Where are you building? Do you have a blog going?