Clay houses. Ecological building: a house made of natural materials

Clay house: construction features

The ancient construction technology has received a new breath among country developers. Natural material has a lot of positive characteristics. Clay perfectly accumulates heat, so in such houses it is warm in winter and cool in summer. The article will focus on the technology of building a house from clay and straw.

General characteristics of clay for building a house

This rock Rarely found in its pure form (kaolin). Depending on the amount of impurities contained (sand, limestone, etc.), clay is divided into oily, medium and lean. Main properties this material is an:

• plastic;
• water resistance;
• soundproofing;
• incombustibility;
• ecological cleanliness;
• the possibility of firing.

Clay houses photo

In clay houses supported optimal microclimate. The humidity in the room is about 50%. Such walls do not accumulate charges of static electricity.

It is worth noting another advantage of the material - the transfer of thermal energy. The coefficient of this parameter is 0.5, this indicator is equal to the thermal conductivity of mineral wool.

Clay building benefits

Of the main advantages of building a house from clay can be noted:

• material availability. Deposits are present almost throughout the territory of Russia and former countries THE USSR. Another indisputable advantage follows from this fact - cheapness;
• thanks to natural origin and lack harmful impurities clay is classified as an environmentally friendly clean materials. In comparison, you can bring the same brick, gas, foam concrete blocks which, under certain conditions, can emit harmful substances;

• a house made of clay "breathes", is able to absorb odors, dust and even stains. Due to this quality, clay buildings are indicated for people suffering from allergic diseases;
• clay and wooden elements interact well with each other. The tree seems to be preserved in kaolin. Due to this property, lumber can not be treated with protective agents, which contain almost one chemistry;
• the durability of the material is beyond praise. As evidence for this statement, we can cite buildings that scientists date back more than 1000 years;
• ready-made blocks can be soaked and the resulting mass can be reused. Thus, the material does not form construction waste;
• in a sense, clay carries a divine component. In several religions, this material was used to create man, in particular Adam.

• Such surfaces can only be whitewashed, unfortunately, wallpaper and paint will not “stick” to clay. Although the premises can be sheathed drywall sheets, then it will be possible to decorate the interior with any materials.

• But this applies only to residential buildings; for outbuildings, issues related to the interior or exterior are not relevant.

Clay in construction

Clay is used as the main material for making bricks, adobe, roof tiles and other ceramic products. It is also used in its raw form for stuffing walls, lubricating (insulating) ceilings, arranging roofs and plastering wooden walls.

From unbaked bricks, mainly one-story buildings, utility blocks, and garages are erected. This building material has several subspecies:

• raw brick - mainly used for masonry internal walls and partitions, because it has a weak resistance to dampness and moisture;
• adobe, in turn, is divided into light and heavy. It depends on how many parts of the straw are in the mass. As a rule, light blocks are used as insulation, and heavy blocks are used for laying walls.

Making adobe bricks

• The standard dimensions of self-made adobe bricks are 40x20x20 cm, the dimensions of factory-made bricks are 33x16x12 or 33x17x13 cm. It is better to prepare the main raw materials in the fall, repeated freezing / thawing of clay only improves its characteristics.
• Chopped straw (15-20 cm) acts as reinforcement, as long stems make work difficult. Straw and clay must be soaked in advance.
• Clay is taken of medium fat content, this will avoid large cracks during drying. Before kneading, the clay is freed from large impurities: branches, stones, etc. All components are thoroughly mixed with a concrete mixer or, according to the old method, with feet.
• Bricks are formed by hand, placing the clay mass in prepared molds without a bottom. Considering shrinkage, the dimensions of the matrix should be 1 cm larger than the finished block. Forms are made of lumber, moisture-resistant plywood or metal sheets.
• Matrices are laid out in advance on flat surface. When laying the mixture, special attention is paid to corner places. It is important to monitor the dense filling of the form with mass at the edges and corners.

• The site must have good stock, then light rain for the blocks is not terrible. Otherwise, it is better to hide the blanks under a canopy, cover them with boards or foil.
• In this form, the bricks will dry for 3 days, then they are taken out and placed on the edge, after 2-3 days the blocks are placed on another edge or on the end. The quality of finished blocks can be determined as follows:
  • throw a brick from a 2-meter height, if it remains unharmed, it means that the manufacture went well;
  • the product should not get wet, lose shape during prolonged (1-2 days) contact with water;
  • on the break of the block should not appear dark spots moisture.
• If we take about 13 thousand kg of clay, 70-75 kg of straw and 4 thousand liters of water, then approximately 1,000 bricks can be obtained from the resulting mass. In terms of thermal insulation, an adobe block with a thickness of 30 cm corresponds to a brickwork of 50-60 cm.

How to build a clay house

Walls can be built in four ways.

• First way. The construction of buildings using ready-made blocks. Clay-sand mixture acts as a binder solution. The construction technology is no different from laying walls using gas, foam concrete blocks and similar materials.
• The second way. This technology requires certain skills. First, vertical racks made of timber or logs are installed. Rods (shingles) are intertwined between them. An adobe mixture is thrown onto the frame in thin layers on one side, and after it dries, on the other. Then the surface is leveled with the same solution.

• Third way. It assumes the presence a large number lumber. Formwork is being built free space filled with adobe mass and carefully crushed (rammed). In the process, the formwork is built up until the walls reach the required height.
• Fourth way. This is a firewood and clay house in which the wood acts as blocks and the clay is the binding solution.

DIY clay house

• Adobe buildings do not like moisture, so the foundation and plinth are made of moisture-resistant materials. For this, brick, rubble stone, concrete blocks are used. The optimal foundation for the house will be a tape or pile-stuffed foundation.
• The height of the lower part of the wall must be at least 50 cm. without fail are laid waterproofing materials(roofing felt, roofing material). The thickness of the plinth should exceed the thickness of the walls, both on the inside and outside, by about 30 cm.
• Eaves overhangs, which should protrude by 50 cm, will help protect the walls from rainwater. It is also necessary to equip blind areas so that snow and rain do not fall on the wall surfaces.
• When building walls in the summer, a clay-sand mixture is used as a binder solution with the addition of sawdust or finely chopped straw (wheat, rye, etc.). If construction takes place in spring or autumn, it is better to use lime-cement mortar.

clay house

• A thin layer of binder mixture in horizontal seams (up to 1 cm) will help minimize the shrinkage of a clay block house.
• Window and door openings are reinforced with thick reed stalks or thin boards. The same material is laid in the corner joints. Openings should not be located too close to the corners of the house, minimum distance 1.5 m
• For adobe walls use only wooden floors. The roof must be simple forms, a roofing materials- light. For these purposes, a profile sheet, slate, ondulin is suitable. To make the exterior of the building look modern, external walls can be sheathed with siding or tiled with brick.
• Plastering is carried out a year after construction. During this period, the house will completely sit down.

Clay wall plastering

• Plastering is carried out in 2 layers - roughing and finishing. For the 1st layer you will need:
  • clay;
  • clean sand of medium fraction;
  • sawdust, which must be dried and free from fungal diseases.
• First, sawdust is mixed with sand, then clay and water are added. The presence of sawdust in the solution allows you to apply the mixture without the use of a special plaster mesh.
• The proportion of components is made experimentally. In a small container, 3 parts of sand and 1 part of clay and sawdust are mixed, water is gradually added. Since clay can be of different fat content, the elasticity of the mass depends on this component.
• From the finished mixture, it is necessary to twist the flagellum with a diameter of approximately 20 mm. The presence of cracks during bending of the bundle indicates the poor quality of the resulting mass. If there are no cracks, then in such proportions a solution of large volumes is mixed.
• The adobe mass is thrown onto the walls in small portions and smoothed out with a spatula. If the mixture is slightly dry, water is added to it. The thickness of the plaster layer, depending on the irregularities, can be up to 2-3 cm.
• For finishing a solution of sand, cement, clay and water is mixed (3: 1: 1). The mixture should be slightly liquid, which will greatly facilitate the leveling of surfaces.

• It is worth noting that the drying of the layers should take place in natural conditions, and this process can take up to 2-3 weeks. It is strictly forbidden to use building hair dryers to speed up drying. Such manipulations will lead to cracking of the layers, then it will be necessary to repair all cracks and re-finish alignment.

In conclusion

The ecological and economic component of a clay residential building is obvious. Subject to all the rules for the manufacture of blocks and the construction of walls, the structure will last for decades.

As an option, you can consider a rather interesting idea proposed by Italian developers - to make clay houses on a 3D printer for low-income citizens. You can bring the equipment into working condition in just a couple of hours. Only 2 people are needed to operate the printer.

Of course, the operation of such housing is quite short - about 5 years, but according to the "builders" by this time it is possible to print and new house.

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Of all the variety of building technologies, this method of building houses is the most unusual and interesting. If we add to this the minimum cost, absolute environmental friendliness and impressive durability, then you will probably want to get to know him in more detail.

In Russian, this technology was given the not too euphonious name "clay pot".

In English, it is called cordwood, which translates as "woodpile". Both terms quite accurately define the essence of the technique, since its basis is ordinary firewood.

It is from this material, which is more familiar to us as heating oil, that original and solid houses are built in America, Europe and Russia.

The history of clay and wood-burning houses has more than one century. And today, across the ocean, you can see buildings erected using this technology by the first settlers. In Russia, houses made of firewood have been preserved in the former possessions of Count Leo Tolstoy. They were built by his peasants in the 19th century and still look quite presentable.

Clay pot technology is applicable to any type of building, ranging from chicken coops, sheds, garages, baths and ending with two-story country-style cottages. The bearing capacity of a woodpile bonded with clay is not inferior to a brick wall. Firewood is a fairly light and plastic material. Therefore, the walls built of them are not afraid of shrinkage and heaving of the soil.

The main advantage of this technology is the ease of implementation. Even without special building skills, any "average" man will be able to build strong and even walls. To do this, you only need to periodically control the verticality and horizontality of the masonry, carefully and tightly laying the logs on the solution.

Building examples

Houses made of firewood and clay captivate with their unusual appearance and unique masonry aesthetics. Even an ordinary do-it-yourself smokehouse is guaranteed close interest from friends and neighbors.

If you want to build something more monumental out of firewood, then excursions will very soon begin to lead excursions to your house and be photographed against its background.

Even the most modest cottage with wood-burning walls turns into a real work of wooden architecture.

A small bathhouse with an earthen roof, built using cordwood technology, keeps heat very well. The cost of its construction is mere pennies.

A two-story cottage with wood-burning walls and an open gallery is a cozy nest for a family out-of-town vacation.

If you show a little imagination, using multi-colored glass bottles in the masonry of the walls, you can create a design of unique beauty not only outside, but also inside the building.

Features and secrets of technology

Building a house out of wood and clay is reminiscent of brickwork. Only instead of bricks, logs are used here, and instead of cement mortar (although sometimes it is also used) - a mixture of clay with sand and chopped hay.

Wooden chocks are laid not along, but across the walls (just like a woodpile is made of firewood). Firmly linking wooden bricks", clay provides the wall exclusively high strength and fire resistance.

To increase energy saving, the clay pot construction technology offers a special technique: the clay is not spread in a continuous ribbon, but in two parallel beds, 5-10 cm wide. Sawdust, perlite, ecowool or any other loose insulation are poured into the empty space formed between the clay and the logs.

The cross section of firewood used in masonry can be anything, but their length is strictly the same. The ends of the firewood can be slightly let out beyond the plane of the wall (by 3-4 cm) to give the wall an expressive embossed texture.

It is better to split firewood before laying, because solid logs crack over time and open access to moisture deep into the walls. The bark should be disposed of by clearing the logs of it before construction begins.

The humidity of the freshly sawn "building material" should be minimal, since the firewood absorbs a lot of moisture from the clay solution. Before starting work, they must be dried under a canopy for at least 2 months.

In addition to firewood, a clay pot house requires a lot of clay (20-30% of the volume of wood).

Builders arbitrarily vary the amount of masonry mortar in the wall. Someone puts chocks on very thick layer solution.

And someone likes tight styling more chopped firewood on relatively thin seams.

Pay attention to the dressing wood walls at corners, and near window and door openings. Here, the extreme logs are laid so that they go all the way into the adjoining wall. This is a necessary condition for a strong bond. corner connections and junctions to openings.

The configurations of clay-wood walls also differ significantly from each other. The easiest way is to build a building that is round in plan, since in this case there are no problems with bandaging the logs at the corners. Yes and appearance such a house is more expressive and original than that of a rectangular residential "box".

Wood masonry can be used not only as the main load-bearing structure, but also for filling gaps in a wooden frame.

Mortar and firewood

Sand is needed to prepare the solution. It reduces the fat content of clay and thereby reduces its cracking. It is put into the solution in a ratio of 2 to 1 (two parts of sand one part of clay).

Hay plays the role of an organic “reinforcement”, reducing the intensity of crack formation during the drying of the solution. It will have to be cut on a straw chopping machine or manually chopped with an ax (fibers 3-5 cm long). The amount of dry grass cuttings added to the solution is 10-15% of its volume.

The volume of water is determined by eye, ensuring that the solution is sufficiently plastic, but not fluid.

Firewood of any kind of wood (pine, oak, aspen, poplar, birch) is suitable for masonry. But to combine in the wall logs sawn from different types trees is impossible due to the unequal expansion coefficient.

The length of the firewood is chosen based on climatic conditions region. In the southern regions, 30 cm will be enough. For middle lane you need to cut chocks at least half a meter long. AT northern regions Russia optimal length logs is 60–70 cm.

Foundation, roofing and finishing

Since a clay-wood wall is much lighter than a brick wall, the foundation for it is not made too deep (60-70 cm is enough). But it is desirable to make the base higher in order to reduce the impact on the walls of melting snow and precipitation.

Another important point - eaves overhang roofs. For such buildings, it should be at least 80 cm wide. You can cover a wood-burning house with anything, but wooden shingles, straw, ceramic or shingles. Such a structure does not need finishing, but if desired, it can be plastered from the inside with clay mortar on wooden shingles.

While the walls are being built, they need to be protected from rain by a temporary canopy. After the masonry is completed and before the installation of the beams and roof begins, the walls must be given 1-2 months to dry and gain strength.

Estimated cost and profitability of construction

The price of building such a house is the lowest possible, since you do not need to look for materials for construction in stores. Clay and sand can be dug up right on the site or brought from the nearest quarry, and firewood can be purchased at the forestry or at the sawmill. Hay will be gladly sold to you by local farmers.

Let's calculate how much it will cost us to build 1m2 of a wall using cordwood technology (log thickness 50 cm) with our own hands. About 0.32 m3 of firewood, 0.12 m3 of clay, 0.04 m3 of sand and 2-3 kg of chopped hay are placed in one "square" of clay-wood masonry. The cost of all the listed materials today does not exceed 600 rubles.

For comparison, you can take the cost of purchasing the materials necessary for the construction of 1 m2 of a brick wall 51 cm thick, insulated with mineral wool (10 cm). They will amount to about 1800 rubles.

In addition to the symbolic price, the reviews of the owners of buildings built using the clay pot technology contain high marks for the quality of the microclimate and energy saving. No wonder. Clay and wood are not only optimally combined in the wall, but also perfectly regulate the humidity in the premises. In a wood-burning house it is never too damp or dry, and in winter, even with a frost of -40C, you do not have to wear warm clothes.

Clay houses are nothing new. Exist different descriptions construction and certain terms, but they all describe the processes of building from a mixture used for thousands of years as a reliable building material. You may find a definition of "clay" building material that uses words like fibers or aggregates, but it's actually a simple mixture of clay, sand, and straw mixed with plain water.

Environmentally friendly clay.

So what is a clay house? It is a structure built from this material of mud and straw, and main idea is that all materials are of local origin and available to everyone. The cottage is cheap, sustainable and environmentally friendly. Nowadays, it is advantageous to use local materials for construction, especially for fancy structures. Companies offer modern materials, which are easy and fast to work, as well as provide many benefits such as appearance, durability, but these materials are sold for profit, right? In terms of the use of sustainable materials and the growing trend towards eco-friendly living, these homes are becoming more and more popular as they only use natural materials available in the area.

Adobe house ideas - the benefits of natural building materials.

These homes are unique as they offer many benefits that conventional homes lack. What are the benefits of living in such a house? In the first place, the cottage is very durable. The straw that is part building mix, and plays very important role. This helps the structural stability of the home and makes it exceptionally strong, stable, durable and earthquake resistant. Clay houses are fire resistant. The fire retardant properties of the material are very high, but you must choose your roof carefully, as other elements of your home may not be as fire resistant as clay. Termites or insects can be a big problem in conventional homes, while clay ones don't.

The living environment in such houses is very energy efficient as it absorbs sunlight. Clay is one of the best materials for solar heating, which provides heating of the house in winter period and coolness in summer. In addition, the price of such houses is much lower than the price of a conventional one. Materials for a mixture of clay, sand and straw are cheap and readily available. Even if you need to restore some elements of the house, the materials will also be available, and you will not have to take out a huge mortgage when you do this kind of construction. Another great advantage, which is also a major budget saving factor, is that the owner can build such a house on his own. Many people attend building workshops that help them understand the technique of building such a house.

Clay houses offer many health benefits as they are not made from harmful industrial materials but natural and pure. In such a house, the air is always fresh, and they are called "breathing houses", which eliminate allergy problems and improve the quality of life. The walls are soundproofed and have exceptional sound-absorbing properties. The clay house is a quiet place as it absorbs outside noises as well as noises from within.

Clay house ideas - the concept of eco-friendly houses.

As you can see, mud houses combine sustainability, energy efficiency and offer many benefits for the occupants. The concept of a clay house is to live in a simple way and enjoy life in a house built according to your needs. When you build a house with your own hands, you plan the living space to reflect your lifestyle, and very often clay houses small size. Size also helps energy efficiency features as small house does not suffer from energy losses such as large size.

Many are attracted creative design and artistic appearance of such structures. You can break everything building regulations and build a place without right angle or line. There is beautiful ideas houses that have original shapes and design options are numerous. There is no limit to creativity and inspiration when you want to turn your mud house into a work of art.

When it comes to mud house interior design, homeowners prefer simple designs in regards to sustainable living and architecture. The fact that the structure is made of clay does not mean that homeowners will not have a comfortable lifestyle and all the equipment of a modern home that a person is used to. Often the interiors are decorated in rustic style with wooden floors and solid wood furniture. The main living area has an open plan concept and accommodates a fireplace that brings the family together, functional kitchen and dining area. Plastered walls, curved lines and beautiful accents create a feeling of warmth and cosiness. We invite you to familiarize yourself with interesting ideas clay house designs on our website

Dwellings in Jericho, which were built in 9000 BC of mud brick, still stand as a testament to the longevity of earthen houses. Adobe and clay, as a building material, has been popular throughout Europe from Great Britain to the Kuban, wherever the soil has a high content of clay. Thousands of old mud dwellings are still in use as residences in the UK. And adobe houses and mud huts still stand in our villages all over the country.

The formula is simple: Mix 2 buckets of clay, 3 buckets of coarse sand, add some water and straw, tread lightly on bare feet, form blocks for easy transport, and then start building. The foundation can also be built from local stone.

If the quality of the clay is good, it will stand from 50 years. And if you use a wheelbarrow or cart to transport the material, then you will not leave a transport trail with exhaust gases. Such a house will certainly not pollute environment when building, plus you can tear it down and use the clay over and over again. We practiced it and it's great.

When building clay houses, it is very important to put shoes on ( right foundation) and cover ( good roof with wide plumb lines), since such a house is afraid of excessive moisture and dampness.

let's consider interesting selection beautiful houses from clay and adobe for inspiration.


Mud houses with thatched roofs in Devon, UK. Adobe was the most popular material here until 1940 when brick replaced it. helsieshappenings.blogspot.com


This is a brand new washed limestone and mud house on the River Dart in Dittisham, Devon. Architects: Bedford & Jobson. Builder: Kevin McCabe. buildsomethingbeautiful.co.uk


The restored clay cottage is covered with lime plaster. Finishing plaster must breathe, in order to avoid damp walls. A few decades ago, old mud houses in the UK began to be covered cement plaster. But over time, it was compromised, as the water began to slowly eat away at the clay inside the house.

Mud house in East Devon, UK.
Built in 2001 by master clay builder Kevin McCabe.
This clay was taken on the spot and this house literally grew out of the ground.
buildsomethingbeautiful.co.uk

A new clay building in Dyssekilde, a car-free ecovillage in Denmark.
www.dyssekilde.dk/uk

Clay and stone house
facebook.com/cordwoodconstruction


Clay house (275 sqm) by Harry Zucker in Austin Texas. Harry spent on expendable materials only 2520$:
- 250 bales of straw, $375
— 6 cubic meters blue clay, $25
– 60 tons of limestone, $120
- 50 planed pine logs, $2000

In fact, the house is more of clay than adobe. Harry used the pyramidal shape of the walls to make it more stable. The base of the building is intentionally wider than the top of the wall. Instead of adding sand, he only used clay and straw in his mix. placepatterns.org
cob home.


Harry used pattern theory in the construction. Read about it at placepatterns.org


This green roofed house was built to host a wetland mammal exhibition. It was made of clay and wood, lime plaster. A timber frame supports a heavy earthen roof. earthedworld.co.uk

Meditation house in Canada. www.hollyhock.ca

round house Charlie and Meg in Pembrokeshire. The house was built without a permit and the couple is currently fighting to protect it from demolition.

Clay cottage in Vail.
caemabon.co.uk


on the Orel River, Ukraine.
Dome rooms were built using traditional methods Ukrainian construction, where the wooden frame was first covered with a mixture of clay and straw, and then with clay mixed with sawdust. ryntovt.com

Clay house in Ireland
Colin Ritchie and Phil Butler. They give seminars.
80% of the materials have been salvaged and reused. Total construction cost: €114,000 includes €45,000 for windows and heating and €5,000 for a rainwater harvesting system. Heating costs last year amounted to € 115 (very cheap by European standards). mudandwood.com

Heidla Mud House, built in 1999 during a 3-week workshop led by renowned clay builder Ianto Evans and Elke Cole. The roof was put up in the fall and next spring completed interior decoration Tracey, Elke and Patrick. The Heidle Project was the first fully authorized mud house in Canada. Roof is complete bearing walls from clay. House 182 sq.m. on 2 floors with sewerage and electricity. Costs were approximately $56,000. cobworks.com

lowcountrynaturalbuilding.com

Clay house by renowned builder Ianto Evans cobcottage.com

Clay house in Victoria, British Columbia.
The features of this house are earthen floor with water heating, green roof with solar panels connected to windmill, solar water collectors, composting toilet, system drip irrigation, a hybrid rainwater/drinking water system for domestic and irrigation use, framed in a mix of recycled and sustainably cut lumber. ecosenseliving.wordpress.com

Unique Cob buggeri clay house created by Danish craftsman Fleming Abrahamsson with his friend Ianto Evans.

Mikkel House (10 years later). Built by son and father.
Eco-builder, Bjarne Grube Wickstrøm, oeko-byg.dk

Clay house (918 sqm) in California.
The thickness of the walls at the bottom is 55-66 cm, narrowing to 48 cm at the top. Tractors transported adobe bricks along the perimeter of the construction. californiacob.com

Sota Corporation Headquarters, 2012 LEED Platinum Certified Building, Showcasing Clay Walls, Native Grassland Plants, and daylight. daylighting. sotaconstruction.com

Iowa mud and straw house built for $7,000.
Half of that cost went to the roof and windows.
The house was later covered with white lime plaster.

Mud House, People's Co-op, Portland, Oregon.
flickr.com/robbibaba

Hobbit house made of clay and wood, built for $3,000.
Simon Dale, beingsomewhere.net

Clay house in Oxfordshire, England.

The return to partially forgotten building technologies is associated with the trend of using natural materials. They give houses a natural coziness and have good environmental qualities.

The return to partially forgotten building technologies is associated with the trend of using natural materials. They give houses a natural coziness and have good environmental qualities. A classic example of such buildings are adobe houses, the main material of which is a mixture of clay and straw. The buildings gained their popularity for their environmental friendliness, natural regulation of the microclimate in the room and the relative ease of construction.

Samani house. What it is?

Analogues modern houses from straw and clay existed in ancient times. Some of them have survived to this day - in the arid regions of Asia and Africa, you can find entire adobe cities. The improvement of building technologies has led to the widespread distribution of clay buildings in central Europe and modern Russia. Properly built clay houses have more than a century of service life and are safe for residents.

Visually, adobe buildings do not always differ from ordinary ones, although their main "charm" lies in the ability to give the walls an arbitrary shape and adapt them to objects. home interior. Numerous recesses, baths and smooth transitions strikingly distinguish clay buildings from brick and other block-cement structures.

Old technologies are rarely applied in their original form, since the performance parameters of modern homes are improved through the use of modern additives. The natural fire-fighting properties of clay, which is prone to baking at elevated temperatures, are improved by the introduction of components that increase the strength characteristics.

Clay construction technology

1. Materials that should be stocked up in advance:

• wooden boards and beams for building the frame of walls and roofs;

• clay;

• sand;

• straw;

• water (well or centralized water supply).

Additional materials that will be useful during the preparation and finishing stages include:

• gravel - for the preparation of bedding under the foundation;

• material for the manufacture of a solid or brick foundation;

• flat wooden planks for upholstery of the walls of the house;

• wooden (metal) formwork or mold for making blocks.

Although the house will be clay, it is better to make its foundation classic - tape. A solid and elevated base will increase the life of the house and reduce the impact of melt water on the lower part of the walls.

The place for construction should be chosen away from the lowlands and access to the surface ground water. The optimal location of the clay house is on a hill.

In order to obtain the most durable building suitable for our latitudes, the walls are best made by pouring mortar into the formwork. You can also use clay blocks, which are laid similar to classic block structures.

A significant reduction in the cost of construction is achieved through self-extraction of clay on your site. Straw in small quantities is cheap, and the biggest cost will be associated with the purchase of sand and lumber.

The straw must be dry, without rot. It is best to buy it immediately after the harvest season, and then leave it for the winter in a dry and ventilated area.

2. Solution preparation

Many authors advise using not pure clay, but its mixture with sand. Since clay and sand differ in composition for different regions, you can test their different proportions (2:1, 1:1, 1:2, etc.). The clay-sand mixture, to which water is added until a pasty consistency is obtained, should be squeezed in a fist and dropped onto a solid base from a height of 1.5-2 m. A lump of a suitable composition should not split or flatten strongly when falling.

To prepare the solution, you can use a concrete mixer or a flat base with edges curved upwards (stir the solution with your feet). Clay is crushed to a finely dispersed state, after which sand and water are added to it. The latter should not be much so that the mixture retains a highly viscous consistency and does not flow out of the formwork.

Straw is added to the resulting clay-sand solution in an amount of 30 to 60%. The more straw, the lower the thermal conductivity of the walls and their strength (you will have to limit yourself to one floor). The resulting solution is poured into the forms of formwork, exposed along the edges wooden frame Houses.

The frame is assembled from beams and consists of vertical and horizontal guides. On top there should be a blank for the roof, because after pouring the walls, you must immediately start covering it. The solution is poured in steps (up to 30 cm per day), after which the wall should be allowed to dry. With independent construction, the wall usually "grows" by 10-15 cm in one day cycle.

Outside, the walls are covered with a crate of straw or reed - they create an additional heat-insulating layer. The crate is fixed thin layer, which is pressed against the wall with wooden flat planks (nailed to wooden poles). Outside, the crate is covered with clay or lime plaster.

On top of the roof frame, upholstered with boards, tied sheaves of straw are laid, which are then leveled (the rope that fastens them is cut). They fix the straw in the same way as the crate on the wall - with wooden slats. After covering the roof, you can start coating it with a clay-sand mortar.

The process is carried out from the lower edges of the roof to the ridge. After hardening, the coating will not let moisture through, but will leave the room able to "breathe" and maintain humidity at the optimum level of 50-55%.

Feature: the pouring of the roof should be done alternately and evenly on both slopes to avoid skew.

4. Finishing the walls of the room

What is the difference between modern houses and old buildings?

To give additional tensile strength to the clay solution (straw partly copes with this), manure was widely used in the past. cattle. The same solution plastered the walls of the room, called the "hut". The main disadvantage of such houses is the abundance of insects in the walls.

Now natural chaff and fire are used to increase strength. A couple of centuries ago, they were difficult to get, and now they are waste from plant processing.

An increase in strength and a decrease in shrinkage during drying is increased by the addition of crushed stone or expanded clay. Auxiliary element is sand. To increase the rate of hardening, cement or lime can be added to the clay-sand mortar. Their additives are used in construction in wet weather, aiming to reduce the risk of wetting the still wet wall material.

To increase the viscosity of the solution during operation, casein, starch and liquid glass. The latter is an antiseptic, therefore, it additionally prevents the appearance of mold and insects.

The use of modern construction technologies, including the sublimation of a strong foundation, increases the strength and stability of the building. Instead of a clay roof, you can lay out the usual roofing material, which is closed on top with slate or tiles. This will not worsen the environmental properties of the house, but will improve performance.

To protect the house from rodents, you need to provide for the presence of a thin metal mesh under the crate.

Peculiarities of caring for thatched houses

A separate item in the operation of buildings is fire safety. Clay houses having coating of external and internal surfaces clay or lime mortar, are less prone to destruction in a fire than conventional ones. When a flame occurs, the straw in the walls does not ignite, since air access to it is closed by a layer of clay.

Despite the high resistance to fire of the walls of adobe houses, the wooden parts of the roof do not possess it. To reduce the likelihood of their ignition, wood should be treated with flame retardants. They do not provide absolute protection against fire, but are very effective if the application technology is observed.

Construction companies involved in the construction of houses from clay and straw assure the practical impossibility of the appearance of insects in the walls. This is true only when maintaining low humidity, which is not always possible. Do not ignore the advice to use lime plaster, which will clog the walls for moisture access and will inhibit the development of insects.

Before building a house, consider the location of the stove and bathroom. In places of contact with heated surfaces, reflective screens should be placed, and in wet places, waterproofing should be performed.

Adobe house: the pros and cons of the building

Advantages of adobe buildings:

• clean and healthy "atmosphere";

• indoors cool in summer and warm in winter;

• cheapness building materials;

• relative ease of construction.

About the features of houses made of clay and straw, as well as personal experience construction of the author, see the video:

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Disadvantages of straw houses:

• construction cannot be carried out in winter;
• when damp, insects start up in the walls, which “gnaw through” the wallpaper;
• weak strength in hurricane winds (less relevant on rough terrain).

It is not necessary to exalt the durability and safety of clay houses, but they should not be underestimated either. The adobe house is ideal for giving or as a summer house on personal plot. A properly built clay house will last no less than its predecessors, but it will give more pleasant sensations and health. published

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