Small new farmer just outside Matsue-Shimane

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Zasso Nouka
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Post by Zasso Nouka »

If you have any questions about Shikkui just ask our resident expert @gonbechan, she can probably tell you anything you need to know :thumbup:

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Post by gonbechan »

haha no I bow to the superior knowledge of @BrettRas (haven't seen him around for a while though)

We have used shikkui both as a plaster and as a paint over wallpaper thick paint. Both times we went for the non traditional which uses diatomaceous earth instead of being heavy on lime. In hindsight I wish we hadn't done the paint over wallpaper one (even though it is holding up really well) as the straight up plaster on (After applying a sealant) is absolutely gorgeous and not at all difficult to use. Its just the masking and sealing bit that is a PIA

I am surprised your architect friends dont know about shikkui...
All castles, shrines and temples use it still interior and exterior. Use of it did decline (maybe because it lasts so long and post war houses were made to last only 30 years or so) Nowadays its trending back to traditional plaster and now the new diatomaceous earth plaster. People are slowly becoming aware that wallpaper and other building materials emit formaldehyde and shikkui and DE plaster are a way more healthy and durable alternative.
But then again, proper insulation is also just now catching on ... lol. SO I really shouldn't be surprised.

Year Of Mud



The diatomaceous earth plaster is slightly more expensive than the traditional shikkui but a little goes a very very long way and you can get all different colours without having to buy and add colouring agent yourself.

anyway herendethelesson and hopefully @BrettRas will pop on by and give you the lowdown on the more traditional stuff.

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Post by Tora »

I did my whole house with DIY shikkui made from agricultural lime, builders sand, a couple different kinds of fiber, a little clay for color and some sea weed glue I can’t remember the name of. Much cheaper than anything you can buy but a lot of trial and error. It takes more time than wallpaper and needs to be outsourced hence it’s a pain and ends up being more expensive through a contractor.

A product would be very doable from a diy perspective. Like Gonbechan said, masking is a PIA. Expect to drop a lot on the floor at first. Start in a closet or area you don’t use much and/or practice on the plasterboard offcuts.

Happy to answer any questions I can from my experience.

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Post by donguri »

We used shikkui for all the new walls that were put up ,originally there weren't any walls, just sliding fusuma. Our next door neighbor is an old-school master carpenter, he set us up with the tools and goop and showed us how to do it. Those master plasterers can really get a nice, clean smooth finish, but as beginners, our mentor encouraged us to just have fun and draw designs or patterns in it. It was fun and the finished walls are all different. That look may not be to everyone's liking but for us it made the whole space more personal and not just large slabs of white. The old school dudes all gave their approval and laughingly told us it looked cool and there was no way they'd ever be able to conceive of such designs :lol:

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Post by Chuck2 »

MatsueMadness wrote:
Mon Nov 22, 2021 10:26 am
Chuck2 wrote:
Sun Nov 21, 2021 7:21 am
Hi and welcome,

I can totally relate to having a wife straight out refuse to first live in an newly purchased akiya. Wife's mom made a comment in the beginning that she wouldn't have taken our akiya for free. Haha. It took 5 months of renovations before my wife would live in it. Wife's mom 7years before she would spend a night, and even then I think she didn't sleep well because of fear of seeing a ghost.

We have done pretty much every kind of reno so if you need any advice would be able to hopefully give some.

Looks like you got lots of experience through woofing. Was the peach orchard organic? What colour of bags were you using? I grow grapes and peaches in Hiroshima prefecture inaka for a living. I spray both but I really want to start growing them organically. I irrigate both with drip lines/ timed controller and liquid fertilizer. Lots of times I feel like I know nothing about how to grow them but if you decide to grow them I could give you my advice what I do know.

Good luck with your adventure, having a young family and doing what you're doing is going to be stressful at times, just do what you can and things will turn out ok.

LOL we got lucky with our place, it's pretty solid and no one died in it. But we do have the families graveyard tucked away nearby.

We got connected with an english speaking architect, her and her family do renovations on places and they are helping us out. Mainly, organizing the rebates from the government, and we are doing some earthquake structural work with them (couple of walls to enclose the genkan properly and brace them). I'll be doing everything else but using them for their connections for wood and anything else I need. So that's been a help asking them where to buy stuff, first one been where to get concrete board to place in the bathroom for the tiles. I'll keep your offer in mind though it will come in handy I'm sure.

Not sure but have you seen Tokyo Llama on youtube? He did some Shikkui (spell check), like a limestone plaster. I asked about it and they didn't seem to know too much about it and said it was for outside??? I like the idea of what Llama said about it been anti mould and that it can help with Moisture. Any info you have about that would be good. OR PAINT!!! I've seen some at our local (Innai), Konan had a little bit more of a selection. But from NZ we had dedicated paint stores where the colour selection was complete, multiple shades of the same colour and what not, any idea on that?

About the peach orchard, nah he was the only one who wasn't organic and we spent a couple of days spraying his yards but I can't remember with what. The bags (this was about 6 years back now) were a white paper wax bag. It was pretty much a take off all the small peaches and leave the 1 biggest on each branch and then bag it. Pretty sure he said he got them off amazon (he loved the same day/next day shipping).
Yeah, like everyone has commented shikkui is still very much used. We also used it a lot on our interior and exterior walls. I think some contractors only use a product called jiraku for interior walls. Bad thing about jiraku is, I have heard, it contains a lot a chemical that are bad for you.

Oh paint, I know what you mean. In Canada too, all hardware stores had huge selection of paints and you could easily take in a paint chip and then get that exact paint made. As for a dedicated paint shop. I have only ever seen one in Hiroshima city. Never went inside but driven by it often and always wanted to stop in. I'm not sure if Shimane ken has a Nishimura Joy homecentre, if they do this homecentre has one of the best paint selection I've seen in Japan, a far second would be Nafco homecentre. Oh, Lect might be good only ever was in one once.
"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."

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Post by MatsueMadness »

gonbechan wrote:
Mon Nov 22, 2021 2:52 pm

I am surprised your architect friends dont know about shikkui...
All castles, shrines and temples use it still interior and exterior. Use of it did decline (maybe because it lasts so long and post war houses were made to last only 30 years or so) Nowadays its trending back to traditional plaster and now the new diatomaceous earth plaster. People are slowly becoming aware that wallpaper and other building materials emit formaldehyde and shikkui and DE plaster are a way more healthy and durable alternative.
But then again, proper insulation is also just now catching on ... lol. SO I really shouldn't be surprised.

LOL yeah I was surprised to but it's a family run business and we were talking with the daughter who is the main face, and when we meet with the father I forgot to ask for an update on the Shikkui
Chuck2 wrote:
Thu Nov 25, 2021 7:10 am
MatsueMadness wrote:
Mon Nov 22, 2021 10:26 am
Chuck2 wrote:
Sun Nov 21, 2021 7:21 am

Yeah, like everyone has commented shikkui is still very much used. We also used it a lot on our interior and exterior walls. I think some contractors only use a product called jiraku for interior walls. Bad thing about jiraku is, I have heard, it contains a lot a chemical that are bad for you.

Oh paint, I know what you mean. In Canada too, all hardware stores had huge selection of paints and you could easily take in a paint chip and then get that exact paint made. As for a dedicated paint shop. I have only ever seen one in Hiroshima city. Never went inside but driven by it often and always wanted to stop in. I'm not sure if Shimane ken has a Nishimura Joy homecentre, if they do this homecentre has one of the best paint selection I've seen in Japan, a far second would be Nafco homecentre. Oh, Lect might be good only ever was in one once.
Shiet, we went to costco yesterday and could of stopped in and I hadn't checked for messages here!!! Oh well will remember for next time, we don't have a Nishimura here and Nafco nearby doesn't have anything. Think we will stick with the plain white, it's an ok colour to have.

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Post by MatsueMadness »

Tora wrote:
Mon Nov 22, 2021 5:02 pm
I did my whole house with DIY shikkui made from agricultural lime, builders sand, a couple different kinds of fiber, a little clay for color and some sea weed glue I can’t remember the name of. Much cheaper than anything you can buy but a lot of trial and error. It takes more time than wallpaper and needs to be outsourced hence it’s a pain and ends up being more expensive through a contractor.

A product would be very doable from a diy perspective. Like Gonbechan said, masking is a PIA. Expect to drop a lot on the floor at first. Start in a closet or area you don’t use much and/or practice on the plasterboard offcuts.

Happy to answer any questions I can from my experience.
DIY seems a bit more complicated than I'd like, buying a bag and adding water seems more like my style. Yeah I got some back walls upstairs that I'll practice with first not the main lounge room ones. What was the sealer you used?
donguri wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 7:47 am
We used shikkui for all the new walls that were put up ,originally there weren't any walls, just sliding fusuma. Our next door neighbor is an old-school master carpenter, he set us up with the tools and goop and showed us how to do it. Those master plasterers can really get a nice, clean smooth finish, but as beginners, our mentor encouraged us to just have fun and draw designs or patterns in it. It was fun and the finished walls are all different. That look may not be to everyone's liking but for us it made the whole space more personal and not just large slabs of white. The old school dudes all gave their approval and laughingly told us it looked cool and there was no way they'd ever be able to conceive of such designs :lol:
Lucky, we got a carpenter next door in our rental - I'm going to do some pressure washing on his place and he'll come take a look and possibly help out, hopefully he has some retired mates that I can do the same deal with for some plastering help. What sealant did you use? Taping and masking will suck but well, I've done it with cars and bikes when I've painted them so same shit, just slower

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Post by Zasso Nouka »

You can also get a type that is made from volcanic ash which is what we used. You mix the bags up with water and spread that directly onto plasterboard. It's supposed to regulate humidity and kill any bugs that crawl across it for any length of time due to it's crystalline structure being quite sharp.

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Post by MatsueMadness »

Zasso Nouka wrote:
Thu Nov 25, 2021 6:27 pm
You can also get a type that is made from volcanic ash which is what we used. You mix the bags up with water and spread that directly onto plasterboard. It's supposed to regulate humidity and kill any bugs that crawl across it for any length of time due to it's crystalline structure being quite sharp.
Ugh does it work on mosquitoes?? Cause I'll get that if it does, don't suppose you remember what it was called? I thought the standard Shikkui also helped to regulate the humidity and was one of it's benefits

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Post by gonbechan »

The sealer depends on the wall you are using it on.
If it is an already plastered wall like in a tatami room with a sandy texture then you need one specific to that.
If you will be plastering over rock sheet type boards or veneer boards then you want something they call 'akudome' which stops stains leeching through the plaster.
If you will be replastering a bathroom ceiling (old houses have this) then you need a waterproof sealant and special plaster for the ceiling.

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