Water Damage/Repair

In our haste to beat the imminent rain storm in May when applying the plaster, we applied a coat of plaster that had too high of a percentage of clay to sand ratio. In mid June the wind and rain begins to blow from the South-West and pummeled the earthen oven. The clay plaster developed cracks an allowed the water to seep in, damaging the bench facing the water. Additionally, there is some water dripping off the thatched roofing that appears to have aided in the damage. Below are the damage photos.

Mike and I chipped off the original clay plaster and experimented with different mixes. We arrived on a 3 parts clay (is sandy too)  to 8 parts pure sand. We also ground up some local grass called alang alang and included that into the mix. As I post this page nearly two weeks later there is NO visible cracking. Our game plan is to apply a lime plaster to make it more weather resistant. Once we secure the lime, we will experiment with some lime plasters.