Earthen plaster

The traditional surface render that protects pisé and adobe walls from rain erosion. A finer, straw-tempered version of the wall mix is applied in two or three coats, with the finishing coat sometimes cut with lime or finished with a thin limewash for added durability. Earthen plaster is sacrificial by design — it is intended to weather and be replaced on a regular cycle, perhaps every five to fifteen years depending on exposure — and its periodic re-application is one of the principal maintenance tasks that historically distinguished a living kasbah from a deteriorating one. The collapse of the cyclical re-rendering economy is a leading cause of the visible deterioration of unrestored kasbah walls.