The construction industry is constantly updated with new high-tech materials, ideas and technologies for the construction of buildings, but the traditional concept of an eco-house still remains relevant. Such objects attract with fundamentally important advantages, including minimal financial investments and environmental safety. One of the most accessible and widespread construction methods in this direction is the construction of a house made of clay and straw. A photo of a finished structure of this kind is presented below.
Pros of houses based on clay and straw
In addition to modest financial investments in the construction of an eco-house and the naturalness of materials, one can single out a number of its advantages of a technical and operational nature:
- Thermal insulation. The clay structure has a good insulating function, warming up quickly and keeping the heat energy indoors for a long time.
- Noise isolation. Another advantage associated withinsulating properties of clay.
- Durability. With careful operation, such houses can stand for about 50 years without losing their basic protective properties.
- Possibility of communication device. In the course of building a house of clay and straw with your own hands, you can make a channel of any configuration for the future laying of a cable or pipeline. The flexibility and pliability of the material opens up almost limitless possibilities in the engineering equipment of the structure.
- Fire resistance. One of the rare cases when natural building materials without special protection and additives can withstand fire.
Technology can also be seen as a worthy alternative to modular construction in terms of an optimized approach to the direct construction of a building. Even without the help of specialists and professional equipment, such an object can be implemented as soon as possible.
Disadvantages of clay and straw houses
Despite their durability, these are not the strongest houses, even compared to today's popular frame structures with a modular design. Much depends on the quality of construction, but homemade clay as such cannot compete with bricks or foam blocks in terms of strength. On the other hand, the lightness of clay and straw houses makes them more resistant to dynamic loads, so in terms of seismic resistance, this is not the worst housing option. As for the weak points of this type of eco-house, without regular biological treatment there will always bethe risk of fungus, mold and bacteria development indoors persists.
Create a project at home
The clay structures have a fairly simple layout, they have few rooms, no attic and technical rooms. Therefore, the creation of a technical plan can be reduced to a sketch on paper in the form of a drawing. It should outline the geometry of the premises, the lines of walls and partitions, the shape of the facade and the parameters of the corridors. Based on the prepared project of a house made of clay and straw, a calculation is made in terms of the volume of building materials. It is important to consider that the work will require not only clay and straw, but also sand, crushed stone (or gravel), reinforcement elements, lumber and communication consumables.
Choice of clay for home
A fundamentally important point, since the clay will be laid at the base of the frame and all the load will be on it. In some regions, this material can be obtained in a free manner right at the site of the future construction of a house. This is possible if there is sufficient clay content in the soil as such. To find out if a particular material is suitable for construction, the following test will help:
- Clay samples are taken from pits 10-15 m apart. Usually up to 10 samples are taken.
- Approximately 50 g of s alt is diluted in 3 liters of water. The finished solution is poured into jars.
- One clay sample is placed in each jar.
- At intervals of 30-40 min. shake each jar several times.
The process of separating the ingredients of the composition will follow. Already by its signs it is possibledetermine whether a house made of clay and straw will be durable if this composition is used. In the process of softening the samples, three groups of ingredients will be separated - sand, debris in the form of grass and various organics, and clay itself. The sand should settle, and the clay should stay afloat. If eventually the sand layer is thicker than the clay material, then the particular sample is suitable for construction.
Technology for creating clay-straw mixture
A full-fledged mortar is made on the basis of clay, but unlike cement mixtures, it will be used precisely as a raw material for blocks. As already noted, you can use traditional ingredients with gravel or rubble, or you can limit yourself to the minimum set of components for building a house from clay and straw. The technology for making the solution involves the use of 1 part of clay, 0.5 parts of straw and 2 parts of sand. There are no strict standards regarding water, since the volume will depend on the structure of a particular type of clay. That is, it will be necessary to select the ratio by eye so that it is not a liquid, but not a dry crumbly mixture. Stir the ingredients with a stirrer after thoroughly softening.
Shaping building blocks
Clay blocks are made from the prepared solution. Without special equipment, with the simplest devices, they can be made outdoors - of course, it is advisable to do this on warm days under a clear sun. Initially, a crate structure is madefrom timber and planks with cells of 20x40 cm and a height of about 20 cm. A solid sheet of plywood can be used as a substrate. At this stage, it is worth answering the question of how to build a house of clay and straw so that it has even geometry and a minimum of gaps with cold bridges? The quality of the frame largely depends on how correct the shape of the blocks will be. If they allow you to arrange even and dense walls, then a sufficient margin of safety and thermal insulation effect will be achieved. Each cell is carefully filled with a solution. The time of complete hardening can vary from several days to a month - it depends both on the properties of the mortar and on climatic conditions. During periods of rain or wind, the structure is covered with polyethylene or roofing felt.
Building the foundation
To begin with, it is worth deciding on the choice of a site for construction, since not every soil, in principle, allows the construction of such buildings. The surface must be reliable, earthquake-resistant and with a low level of groundwater.
Directly to the device of the foundation base can be approached in different ways. A simple technology, which is mainly used in African villages, involves the use of stone blocks as a load-bearing part. But if there are all the necessary components to create a cement mortar, then it makes no sense to abandon the strip foundation. In both cases, a perimeter trench (contours of external walls) with a depth of about 50 cm will be required. Ifit is planned to build a house of clay and straw on a stone base, then the bottom of the trench should be covered with a drainage cushion. Sand with gravel and soil is poured there. Only after that, the stones are evenly laid, which, however, will also be useful to fasten with one or another mortar. The grillage in this case is made of large logs or beams. In the case of a strip foundation, you will also have to form a reinforcing frame in a trench, after which you will arrange a wooden formwork and fill the form with concrete.
Construction of the wall frame
The key difference between the walls of a clay-straw building and a brick house is that a wooden profile is used instead of a cement mortar binder. At the joints, starting from the level of the grillage, intermediate strips are installed. The empty space of the frame is just filled with blocks of clay and straw. The house is strengthened by metal rods that sew the structural beams along the entire height and width of the frame. The lower blocks are put on the reinforcement fixed in the foundation at a distance of about 100 cm. Additional rods are passed at the next levels.
Home decoration
In order to increase thermal insulation and protect block surfaces, it is worth using an outer covering of fibrous mats. The same straw can be used for them, but it is better to include more rigid elements like reeds or chestnut trunks in the layers. A house made of clay and straw with such a finish will receive effective insulation and an attractive appearance. In the manufacture of matslinen twine or aluminum wire is used. The coating is knitted, which is later fixed to the facade either with the help of plaster or by driving to the crate on the block surface.
Construction of the roof truss system
The supporting structure for roofing is made from straight sanded perches. Full-length boards and bars, which are usually used in the rafters of private wooden houses, are not suitable in this case due to their heavy weight. The geometry of the slopes is calculated for holding angles of the order of 40-50 °. Pins can be used as a support for the poles, which will be placed in a circle connecting the walls of the house with the rims. Poles 6-7 cm thick are inserted into pre-prepared holes and fastened with nails. To insure the structure, you can additionally use supporting elements made of thin boards. Usually they are used for the drying period of a heavy clay-straw roof, and then removed.
Roofing device
Sheaves 50-70 cm long and 10-15 cm thick are knitted from straw. Spikelets must be cut off. Further, each sheaf is aged for several hours in a clay solution with the addition of water. Ready-made sheaves must be overlaid with the roof frame, completely covering the surface of the truss system. When building a house roof made of clay and straw with your own hands, it is important to correctly calculate the load. Excessive content of the solution in the sheaves will increase the mass of the structure, which is undesirable. In addition, you should consider the elements of strengthening the strappingcoatings with reinforcing elements. Fastening to slopes can be done using the same wire or thin reinforcing bars with clamps based on clamps. Linen strapping in this case should be abandoned, since in conditions of direct contact with precipitation it does not retain its strength qualities for long.
Renovation of a house made of clay and straw
Periodically, the clay house will need to be updated in construction, minor repairs and replacement of individual parts. Serious structural replacements are mainly required in relation to the foundations and are reduced to lining with sand-lime bricks, and otherwise the repair is cosmetic. For the most part, the restoration of the house from the outside with clay and straw consists in puttying the damaged areas on the surface. To do this, you can use the same clay mortars, and special compositions for plaster. Preference should be given to moisture-resistant and mechanically stable primers. Decorative design in the form of whitewashing or painting would be useful to combine with a practical protective function, using products with an antiseptic effect.
Conclusion
Building with clay soil should not be seen as an extremely cheap technology that justifies itself only in African villages. Improved techniques for such construction are actively used in civilized countries. What is the name of a house made of clay and straw in the language of specialists? Such objects are called saman (from the Turkic name for straw). But the main distinguishing feature still refers tothe use of clay mixtures in one or another recipe. Today, there are many modifications of this technology, which also allow the use of raw bricks, wood-shaving materials, lime, expanded clay filling, etc. A specific technique with technical nuances of construction is determined by the requirements for housing and the conditions for its future operation, taking into account climatic conditions.
