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Ancient technology construction has received a new lease of life among dacha developers. Natural material has a lot of positive characteristics. Clay perfectly accumulates heat, so such houses are warm in winter and cool in summer. The article will discuss the technology of building a house from clay and straw.

General characteristics of clay for building a house

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

plastic;
waterproof;
soundproofing;
non-flammability;
environmental cleanliness;
possibility of processing by firing.

Clay houses photo

Clay houses maintain an optimal microclimate. Indoor air humidity 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. Coefficient this parameter is equal to 0.5, this indicator is equal to the thermal conductivity of mineral wool.

Benefits of building with clay

The main advantages of building a house from clay include:

availability of material. Deposits are present almost throughout the entire territory of Russia and former countries THE USSR. From this fact Another undeniable advantage follows - low cost;
thanks to natural origin and the absence of harmful impurities, clay is classified as an environmentally friendly material. A comparison can be made of the same brick, gas and foam concrete blocks, which under certain conditions can emit harmful substances;

a clay house “breathes” and is able to absorb odors, dust and even stains. Thanks to this quality, clay buildings are suitable for people suffering from allergic diseases;
clay and wooden elements interact perfectly with each other. The tree seems to be preserved in kaolin. Due to this property, lumber can not be processed protective equipment, which contain almost the same chemistry;
the durability of the material is beyond praise. As proof of this statement, one can cite buildings that scientists date back more than 1000 years;
the finished blocks can be soaked and the resulting mass can be reused. Thus, the material does not generate 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 with plasterboard sheets, then the interior can be decorated with any materials.

But this only applies 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, tiles and other ceramic products. It is also used in its raw form for stuffing walls, lubricating (insulating) ceilings, when arranging roofs and plastering wooden walls.

Mostly one-story buildings, utility blocks, and garages are erected from unbaked bricks. This building material has several subtypes:

raw brick- mainly used for laying internal walls and partitions, because it has poor resistance to dampness and moisture;
adobe, in turn, is divided into light and heavy. It depends on how many parts of straw are contained 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 the clay only improves its characteristics.
Chopped straw (15-20 cm) serves as reinforcement, since long stems make work difficult. Straw and clay must be soaked in advance.
The clay is taken with medium fat content, this will avoid large cracks during drying. Before mixing, the clay is freed from large impurities: branches, stones, etc. All components are thoroughly mixed using a concrete mixer or using the old method - with feet.
The bricks are formed by hand by placing the clay mass into prepared molds without a bottom. Taking into account shrinkage, the dimensions of the matrix should be 1 cm larger than the finished block. Forms are made from lumber, moisture-resistant plywood or metal sheets.
The matrices are laid out in advance on a flat surface. When laying the mixture, special attention is paid to corner places. It is important to ensure that the mold is filled tightly with the mixture around the edges and corners.

The site must have good drainage, then light rain will not be a problem for the blocks. Otherwise, it is better to hide the workpieces under a canopy, cover them with boards or film.
In this form, the bricks will dry for 3 days, then they are taken out and placed on an 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 production was carried out correctly;
- the product should not get wet or lose shape during prolonged (1-2 days) contact with water;
- Dark spots of moisture should not appear on the block break.
If you take about 13 thousand kg of clay, 70-75 kg of straw and 4 thousand liters of water, then from the resulting mass you can get about 1,000 bricks. In terms of thermal insulation, an adobe block 30 cm thick corresponds to brickwork 50-60 cm thick.

How to build a house from clay

The construction of walls can be done in four ways.

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

Third way. It assumes the presence of a large amount of lumber. The formwork is constructed, the free space is filled with adobe mass and carefully compacted (rammed). During the process, the formwork is built up until the walls reach the required height.
Fourth way. This is a house made of wood and clay, 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 purpose, brick, rubble stone, and concrete blocks are used. The optimal foundation for a house will be a strip or pile-rammed foundation.
The height of the lower part of the wall must be at least 50 cm. mandatory waterproofing materials (roof felt, roofing felt) are laid. The thickness of the base should exceed the thickness of the walls, both on the inside and outside, by approximately 30 cm.
Cornice overhangs, which should protrude by 50 cm, will help protect the walls from rainwater. It is also necessary to arrange blind areas to prevent snow and rain from falling on the wall surfaces.
When constructing walls in summer, a clay-sand mixture with the addition of sawdust or finely chopped straw (wheat, rye, etc.) is used as a binding solution. If construction takes place in spring or autumn, then it is better to use lime-cement mortar.

Clay house video

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

Plastering clay walls

Plastering is carried out in 2 layers - rough and finishing. For the 1st layer you will need:
- clay;
- clean sand of medium fraction;
- sawdust, which must be dried and free of fungal diseases.
First, sawdust and sand are mixed, 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, mix 3 parts of sand and 1 part of clay and sawdust, and gradually add water. Since clay comes in different fat contents, the elasticity of the mass depends on this component.
From ready mixture it is necessary to twist a flagellum with a diameter of approximately 20 mm. The presence of cracks when bending the rope indicates poor quality of the resulting mass. If there are no cracks, then large volumes of solution are mixed in these proportions.
The adobe mass is thrown onto the walls in small portions and smoothed with a spatula. If the mixture is slightly dry, add water. The thickness of the plaster layer, depending on the unevenness, can be up to 2-3 cm.
For finishing, a solution of sand, cement, clay and water (3:1:1) is mixed. The mixture should be slightly liquid, which will make leveling the surfaces much easier.

It is worth noting that the layers must dry under natural conditions, and this process can take up to 2-3 weeks. It is strictly forbidden to use hair dryers to speed up drying. Such manipulations will lead to cracking of the layers, then it will be necessary to seal all the cracks and re-do the final leveling.

In conclusion

The environmental and economic component of a clay residential building is obvious. If all the rules for making blocks and erecting walls are followed, the structure will last for many decades.

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

Of course, the lifespan of such housing is quite short - about 5 years, but as the “builders” claim, by this time a new house can be printed.

Every year, more and more people around the world resort to green construction to build summer houses and country houses. And most often the main material for construction is clay. Clay houses are cheaper than similar buildings made of modern materials - brick, gas silicate blocks or concrete. They are warm, cozy, and have an original appearance. A long time ago, houses made of clay were a common sight in our latitudes, but the invention of alternative construction methods and building materials replaced this method. Today one can observe an active revival of the traditions of clay architecture. If you are thinking of joining this ancient practice, our article will help you figure out how to build a house out of clay.

Why clay?

The modern construction market offers a wide range of materials for building houses. However, despite the large selection, many prefer time-tested natural and environmentally friendly options, namely wood, clay and straw. The main reason for such a decision is often the cost of construction - clay can be bought for next to nothing or even extracted independently for free.

Building clay houses is the least industrial and at the same time the safest and easiest way to get your own home. Since ancient times, people have used it as the main building material. And if today concrete (cement-sand mixture) is used to create load-bearing structures and fasten various elements, then earlier clay mortar was mixed for this. Such houses can stand for centuries, especially if they are located in latitudes with moderately dry and warm climate.

Interesting: Clay houses were built not only in Ancient Rus', but also in Babylon many hundreds of years before the birth of Christ. People took unfired clay, moistened it and stuffed it into wooden rectangular molds, which they then placed in the sun to dry. This produced very durable bricks that perfectly retained heat in winter and gave coolness in summer.

Advantages and disadvantages of clay houses

Before choosing a technology for building your future clay house, you should identify the advantages and disadvantages of such a building. We can immediately say that, as is the case with many modern building materials, clay has, rather than disadvantages, but specific features operation. That is, if used correctly and provided with proper protection, a clay building will last for decades without repair.

Advantages of clay houses:

Low construction costs - clay can be obtained completely free of charge. The mixture includes sand and straw, which are also inexpensive or even available for free. The average price for 1 m² of finished clay housing is only 5 thousand rubles, which in our time is generally incomparable with the prices of apartments or private properties.

Excellent thermal insulation - clay itself is a good thermal insulator, and in combination with straw or other additives it will not allow you to freeze even cold winter. In addition, a house made of clay heats up quickly, the material warms up well and then gradually releases this heat back into the house, even when the stove has long gone out.

Noise insulation - in a clay house it will always be quiet and cozy, even if your site is located near a busy highway.

Durability - on average, a clay house will last at least 50 years without major repairs. Such buildings last the longest in regions with a dry and hot climate. Thus, in Israel and African countries you can still find houses that are more than a thousand years old. In addition, rye straw, which is used for construction, is not chewed by mice, and it almost does not rot even during prolonged dampness.

Speed of installation - building a house made of clay with your own hands does not require haste, but its time is significantly shorter than when building a house made of brick or concrete.

You can create a structure of a unique shape and the same internal layout. In clay houses, rooms are almost always made with round or smooth corners. It has been proven that in such rooms without corners there is always a favorable and peaceful atmosphere, the energy background is better, and residents are less sick and sad. We can also easily carry out any redevelopment by demolishing or completing part of the house from the same clay. It is much easier to dismantle a clay wall or make a hole in it than in concrete. To do this you need to use an ordinary electric saw.

The low weight of the house box and foundation gives a small load on the ground, so clay houses can be built even on slopes. For greater savings, it is recommended to make a pile foundation that can easily withstand the load. Clay houses shrink only in very rare cases, so interior decoration can begin immediately after the walls have dried and the roof has been installed.

Fire safety - clay does not burn and does not support combustion. The same applies to compressed straw - it does not catch fire, but slowly smolders when in direct contact with fire. For this reason, residents can immediately smell smoke and eliminate the source of fire. If you properly plaster the walls, a clay house becomes non-flammable.

High seismic resistance.

Easy to lay communications.

Among the disadvantages, or rather, the features of the operation of clay houses, one can highlight the fact that the walls require a coating of a rather thick layer of plaster. You should also strictly adhere to the technology of mixing clay-straw mortar and press the blocks well (if you resort to block construction). As you can see, there are no fatal complaints here, so it is not surprising that clay houses are so popular today.

House made of clay and straw

Most often, clay is mixed with straw. This is a natural material that increases the thermal insulation characteristics of a clay wall. Thanks to the voids in the straw tubes, small layers of air remain, which serve as a natural barrier to the cold. In addition, straw makes clay construction lighter.

If proposals for the construction of private houses modern technologies seem unreasonably expensive to you, we suggest you use invaluable experience ancestors and build a cozy house from straw and clay. Any construction should begin on paper. Create a detailed drawing and layout of your future home. Here you can move away from the usual and boring housing geometry and make a house of any shape - a curved facade, oval and round rooms, zigzag corridors. The image below shows an example of a clay house project:

The main points of building a house from clay and straw:

The size of the house must be related to the size of the plot on which it will stand. Prepare a site on the ground for construction. It is very important to ensure good soil drainage. This can be done artificially (sand cushion) or the house can be placed on a hill so that the water flows down on its own and does not flood the foundation.

When the sketch of the house is ready, and there is nothing more to add, calculate the volumes of required building materials. To build a house you will need not only clay and straw, but also crushed stone, sand, pipes for communications (water supply, sewerage, gas, electricity), wires, wood for formwork and support beams. If you extract clay on your own directly on your site or near it, it will be useful to find out what additives are needed specifically for this composition. Instead of straw, crushed flax or large sawdust is sometimes added.
To make a clay mixture for construction, take 1 part clay, 2 parts sand and 0.6 parts straw or other filler. Since the composition of the clay is different everywhere (somewhere it is more oily, somewhere it is dry), it is necessary to determine the most optimal ratio of the ingredients of the mixture. To do this, first mix clay with sand in the proportions of 3:1, 2:1, 1:1, 2:3, 1:3 and 1:2. Add a little water to each mixture so they stick together but aren't too wet. For each lump, make a label with the proportions so as not to get confused. When they are ready, throw each of them effortlessly onto the ground from a height of about a meter - if the ball crumbles, it means the mixture is too dry, if it turns into a cake, it’s too greasy. The option that will suit you is the one that retains its shape when dropped - this means the clay is durable and suitable for construction.

You can mix the clay solution in a hole specially dug for this purpose or on a piece of tarpaulin, but it is better to combine these two methods - dig a hole and cover it with a tarpaulin overlapping the edges. Mixing the clay is simple - you just need to trample it with your feet until the mixture becomes more or less homogeneous. If you have a concrete mixer, everything will be much simpler - load the ingredients into it and add a couple of additional cobblestones so that they break up the lumps and evenly mix the clay with sand. In this case, the straw is added last, pouring the solution out of the mixer.

Carefully level the construction site and remove the fertile soil layer. The foundation can be made of piles or strips on a sand cushion for drainage. The height of the foundation must be at least 50 cm, and the width (strip) must be 25 cm greater than the thickness of the walls. To know more information You can learn more about this topic by reading the articles “Do-it-yourself strip foundation for a house” and “Technology for tying foundation reinforcement.”

Lay the necessary communications and drainage pipes.

The clay-straw mixture will be placed between the wooden walls of the sheathing. To make this sheathing, first build a wooden frame of the entire house - with walls, window and door openings, and internal partitions. Start compacting clay and straw inside this formwork. The wall thickness should be at least 30 cm to make the house warm and cozy.

Place reed sheathing around the perimeter of all external walls. To do this, make mats from reeds, tying them with aluminum wire or linen twine. They will provide additional insulation of the walls.

Cover the reed mats with a layer of plaster made from lime and sand in a ratio of 1:1 or 1:2. The layer of plaster should be quite thick to reliably protect the straw and reeds from dampness - about 25-30 mm. A house made of white clay will look very beautiful if you can get one.

The inside walls also require plastering, but for this use a mixture of clay and sand in a ratio of 1:3 or 1:4.

When the external plaster has dried, cover the walls with lime paint by diluting the lime paste in 5-6 liters of cold water. Add 0.5 liter of aqueous solution to it table salt and mix thoroughly. Then bring the mixture to a volume of 10 liters by adding the required amount of water. This way you will get high-quality and cheap whitewash. To make the facade unusual, you can add special weather-resistant pigments: mercury cinnabar, ultramarine, cobalt violet, red lead, umber, lead chrome green or chromium oxide.

After this, you can begin building the roof. We'll touch on this in more detail a little later.

Building your own home is a process that does not require haste, especially if we're talking about about a house made of clay. The video material below clearly demonstrates the main stages of construction:

How do you know if clay is suitable for construction?

If your site has soil with a high clay content, then it is quite possible that it will be suitable for building a house, and you will not have to buy clay from outside. But not all clay is suitable for creating strong and durable buildings. We suggest you conduct a short test to find out whether it is possible to build a house from earth on your own plot.

We test the soil for suitability:

Take 3 liters of cold water and stir 50 g of table salt in it.

Grind several soil samples from different test pits.

Pour the water over three-liter jars, filling them halfway, and place them there according to the pattern.

Seal the jars and shake them vigorously for a minute. If the clay pieces are hard, let them soak in water for 40-60 minutes, and then shake again.

After such shaking, the samples will separate into small particles. Useful sand will settle in the first seconds. When this happens, make a sand level mark on the jar. Then in 10-20 minutes. fine sand and silt will settle (make a mark after 10 minutes). The clay will gradually fall behind them, and a layer of water will remain above it. Organic matter will remain floating on the surface - pieces of plants, insects, etc.
The sediment located below the 10-minute mark is silt and sand, above it is clay. In soil suitable for construction, the layer of useful sand that settles in the first seconds will be thicker than the layer of clay, and there will be very little silt with fine sand.

House made of clay and wood

There is another way to build strong and durable clay houses - with the addition of firewood or logs. This technology is called Cordwood or, in our language, clay pot. The masonry resembles the creation brick wall, but in this case pieces of wood of various diameters and clay mortar are used. The only thing that should be the same is the length of the wooden “bricks”, corresponding to the thickness of the wall.

The construction of houses from firewood and clay was invented relatively recently, but this method quickly gained popularity, since the result lives up to the wildest expectations. Special credit goes to the invention of electric wood splitters - these devices help to very quickly cut a large amount of firewood into pieces equal length and almost the same diameter.

What are the benefits of houses made of wood and clay:

Cheapness Supplies– firewood is more expensive than straw, however, if you live near a forest or sawmill, getting it is not a problem.

High speed of construction - you can build a house from clay and firewood faster than from foam blocks.

Good thermal insulation – wood has always been an excellent insulating material. In such a house you can organize any heating.

High strength - perpendicularly placed wooden blocks guarantee high stability of the walls, even during earthquakes.

Ease of construction - to build your own home from clay and firewood, you do not need to have professional skills, just understand the process and follow the instructions.

You don't need heavy construction equipment.

The foundation of a house built on clay and wood can be made from inexpensive materials. Pile, columnar or strip (regular or shallow if the site is on non-heaving soil) is suitable.

It is impossible not to note the high aesthetics of such houses - some prefer not to cover the wooden ends of the logs with plaster, so they give the facade and interior an original appearance. You can “play” with different diameters of logs and chocks, insert glass bottles made of multi-colored glass, make mosaics and create various compositions.

Unfortunately, such structures have more disadvantages than houses with straw. So, fire safety in the case of firewood is much higher. Wood burns even if it is embedded in a clay wall. Therefore, in order to protect the house, it is better to cover the walls with plaster and strictly follow the rules fire safety. Additionally, you can impregnate the firewood with a fire retardant.

Disadvantages of a clay house with wood:

Since the firewood in the walls is located perpendicularly, and their ends protrude outward, the wood is more susceptible to moisture. For protection, use high-quality paints or plaster. In the second case, the walls of the house will look ordinary and lose their uniqueness.

It is difficult to protect such a house from wood-boring pests. To do this, it is mandatory that all firewood is impregnated with antiseptic compounds and poisons against pests before starting construction.

Under the influence of the sun, unprotected ends will quickly turn gray and may crack. They can only be protected with plaster. If you leave them visible and varnish them, you will have to renew the protective layer every year.

This method still has many more advantages, but there are quite serious disadvantages, so you should think twice before deciding to build a house from clay and logs. If you are confident in your choice, we suggest you familiarize yourself with the construction technology.

But first, some useful tips:

Use only dry wood for construction, otherwise the wood will crack.

It is faster to build a house made of solid logs than one made of ingots, but they require less mortar, since they can be adjusted more accurately than logs.

Be sure to remove all bark from wooden elements, otherwise it will begin to rot, and this is where pests often settle.

To make your home as warm as possible, use logs 35-40 cm long or longer.

Apply the clay solution only to the edges, leaving the interior space empty - it will later be filled with shavings, sawdust or straw and will provide better protection from the cold.

It would be very practical to cover the facade with boards, and leave the internal walls as they are - with the ends of the logs sticking out. Then the appearance of the house will remain beautiful throughout for long years, and inside there will be interesting interior.

For subsequent plastering of the facade, use panel masonry. Make a shield from plywood or boards and place it strictly vertically outside the wall. Plant the firewood on the mortar close to this shield, and after a day, move it a little higher and continue laying. This will give you a perfectly flat surface for plastering.

Take care of high-quality waterproofing of the foundation and basement floor.

A house built on wood and clay weighs quite a lot, so you shouldn’t skimp on the foundation. In fact, its weight can be compared to the weight of a brick building.

Special attention pay attention to bandaging the corners 0 and lay the beams with a certain step, as shown in the image below:

Construction technology

A house from firewood and clay can be built even without professional skills. The main thing is to develop the project correctly and strictly follow the technology.

The volume of clay solution is about 20% of the total volume of wooden ingots or logs. To increase the strength, elasticity and thermal insulation properties of clay, mix it with straw (10-15% of the total volume). The foundation for such a house needs a strong foundation, but with a laying depth of no more than 1 m. The best option– 50 cm.

Helpful advice: To make the walls of the house warmer, lay logs with a minimum thickness of the clay layer. Do not lay the solution in a continuous layer, but in two parallel lines, between which pour straw or sawdust.

Let's consider the construction of a clay house using wood using the example of a building with an area of 9x9 m:

Logs 40 cm long will be used for work.

Lay out the walls like a woodpile, at the corners each row overlaps with the next row of the adjacent wall.

After 50-70 cm of masonry, make a frame from an inch-thick board. It is also needed for leveling.

You can lay out three rows of firewood at a time, and then leave the wall to dry for a day.

To create an even outer layer, it is better to put together a mobile panel formwork, which you then move as the masonry progresses. The same can be done from the inside of the wall.

To create window and door openings, you need to knock together boxes the same width as the thickness of the wall. Boxes should be placed on the masonry in place.

The internal partition can be made on a frame made of 150x150 mm timber, the ends of which are embedded in the external walls.

If the house has one more floor, one side of the floor beams should rest on the frame of the internal partition, and the other on the outer wall. Under the beam on the wall, lay a board along the entire length of the wall, controlling the horizontal level with a building level.

These are the basic principles of building a house from clay and wood. As you can see, there is nothing complicated about this, and simply by understanding the process itself, you can guarantee a successful result.

Roof of a clay house

As we promised, we’ll tell you a little about the specifics of constructing a roof for a clay house. First of all, it should protrude strongly beyond the walls, forming a wide canopy to protect the clay masonry from dampness during rain and snow. Clay-straw roofing is quite simple to manufacture, but it has an impressive weight, so it must be made with a slope of 40°-50°. It will serve neither more nor less, but as much as 25-30 years without major repairs. Rarely does a cheap building material boast such durability.

Features of the roof structure:

The rafter system for an adobe-straw roof should consist of massive wooden beams.

Place a sheathing of boards 5-7 cm thick on the beams. These boards should rest on dowels made of hard rock and inserted into rafter holes with a diameter of 2 cm and a depth of 6 cm.

Attach the furring boards with nails at both ends.

To protect the rafters from sagging, place supports under them. They can be removed only after the clay has completely dried and becomes a little lighter. It is also recommended to place a support board under the cornice and support it with a pole.

Make sure that the straw for the solution does not contain any impurities of foreign grass and rot. Clay for the roof should be oily and contain no more than 15% sand. It is better to prepare it in advance for the winter.

Clay consumption is approximately 1 m³ per 30 m² of roof. If the clay sits for the winter and freezes thoroughly, it will be looser and will easily become wet when mixing the solution.

Tie loose sheaves of straw or ocheret with a diameter of 15-20 cm and a length of 50-100 cm (cut off the spikelets).

Pour the loosened clay into a pit for mixing the solution or a concrete mixer, fill it with water in a ratio of 1:2 and leave there for 5-6 hours. Then mix until smooth. To check the thickness of the clay, insert a straw into it - if it stands strictly vertical and the solution does not flow down it, then the mixture has reached the desired consistency.

Make the first row of the roof from sheaves with straight edges, pressing them against a support board. Place the sheaf on the crate, untie it and level it.

Apply another one slightly overlapping the first sheaf, and so on. When you lay a whole row, check that its thickness is the same everywhere and is 10-15 cm.

Starting from the overhang, attach the sheaves in rows, gradually moving to the ridge.

At the same time, lay straw on both slopes at once (if there is a gable roof), laying 1-2 rows first on one and then on the other slope. This way you can evenly distribute the load on the rafters.

When 3-4 rows are ready, comb the straw with a metal rake and pour clay mortar on top.

Smooth the mortar with a spatula until the roof is perfectly level. It is very important that there are no depressions in the slopes, otherwise rainwater will accumulate there.

An environmentally friendly house built using the technologies described above is not only safe, but also useful for living. Clay and other natural materials have a positive energy background that has a beneficial effect on the mental and physical health of residents. Get your dream home if you want and with minimal investment Absolutely anyone can do it, and clay houses are excellent proof of this.

Houses made of clay: photo

Finally, we invite you to look at a selection of photographs of clay houses, as well as original interiors that can be realized right during construction. Clay can be used to make not only walls, but also some interior items and decorations. So, a clay staircase, a small table, shelves or niches in the kitchen wall, where you can put spices or jars of bulk products, will look very unusual.

Building a clay house is the right chance to turn any fantasy into reality and create a unique home that everyone around will admire! To begin with, you can make a miniature copy of a house from polymer clay, so that you can then compare the result and know how everything should look in the end.

Today, the materials used in the construction of houses are extremely diverse. Housing is built from aerated concrete and, or logs, brick or stone. Along with these popular materials, in Lately They increasingly prefer straw, which allows them to build a warm and reliable structure on a very modest budget. If all building technologies are strictly followed, a house made of straw can be much warmer, cheaper, stronger and more reliable than its stone and brick “brothers”.

Project of a modern eco-friendly straw house

The first thatched houses began to be built in America in the middle of the 19th century. Very often, the wood that was used in the construction of structures was not enough, but there was an abundance of straw in the fields. The first officially registered house made of straw is considered to be a school building in Nebraska at the end of the 19th century, the walls of which were completely eaten by cows a few years later. This is probably why compressed straw blocks began to be supplemented with a strong frame made of logs in the very near future.

A little later, the construction of houses made of straw for a wide variety of purposes began in full swing, the area of which reached 70 square meters. m. These were schools, shops, residential buildings, cowsheds, vegetable stores and even small luxury estates.

However, already in the middle of the twentieth century, straw house construction, as a result of the advent of more modern construction technologies, began to gradually lose its position. Despite this, the idea of building inexpensive and yet reliable structures did not leave people's minds. At the end of the last millennium, these ideas grew into a whole movement.

Highest value Architects showed interest in popularizing straw houses, thanks to which buildings with the most unusual architectural and planning solutions began to be erected in America. The resurgence of straw bale construction was supported by television and print media, including the New York Times and National Geographic magazine.

Gradually, houses began to be built in a variety of climatic zones and countries: Australia, Chile, Canada, Mexico, France and, naturally, in the USA. In Russia, the very first straw bale house was built in the village of Mayak (near Chelyabinsk) in 1994. Houses made of straw bales with various fillers (clay, sand, slurry) were known in Rus' as adobe houses. IN warm regions This type of construction is still popular today.

How to build a straw house with your own hands

As building material blocks of pressed straw measuring 35*45*90 cm are used. They are tied with nylon cord or wire. When making blocks, flax, rye or wheat straw is used; in addition, you can use hay. It is worth noting separately that straw in blocks is usually pressed so tightly that it is impossible to even burn through the bale. blowtorch. Thanks to this, straw houses are not exposed to moisture. Raindrops can penetrate the treated walls and roof no deeper than 5 cm.

Blocks for construction are usually made in a rectangular shape. Their size depends on the length of the stem: the longer it is, the larger the block and, accordingly, the more reliable. During construction, you can use not only dry straw blocks, but also those soaked in clay mortar. Before you start installation work, the compressed bale is dipped in a clay solution, and then thoroughly dried for a certain time. Thanks to these actions, you can achieve accurate wall geometry, as well as high performance fire safety and strength.