Jim:
Here are some more links to YouTube.com videos that I forgot to include with my previous note on wattle and daub construction. The links below include construction of a debris shelter, a good instruction on how to construct a clay and stone fire place with chimney. When constructing a clay chimney without stones you need to build up about two feet and stop and let it dry, continue the next day with another two feet, etc, until you have a height that you prefer. In log cabin construction in the old days they used to build chimneys of smaller “logs” maybe six inches or less in diameter and stack them up like when building the cabin. leave about a two foot opening in the center. Then daub the thing with your clay and grass daub mixture. Don’t forget to daub the inside surface of the chimney! Now these did catch fire and burn the cabin down, often in the middle of the night in the colder part of the winter. So my pet idea is to form a chimney “skeleton” of hardware cloth [wire mesh], forming it around something cylindrical. Put it in place over your clay and stone fire place and then proceed to daub it with your daub mixture. I am confident that it won’t catch fire [like a pioneer chimney that included logs].
Bushcraft Clay and Mud Rocket Stove
How To Build a Semi – Permanent Shelter (part 1)
Regards, – Darrell in Ohio
JWR,
About ten years ago I traveled across Northern Honduras by car. The wattle and daub construction was often used in the mountains and jungles and it was probably close to what the original inhabitants built. The size of the structure of course varied, but appeared to average about 10 x 12 feet. The post that they used were a type of tree that grew straight for most of its length and was cut at about 3 to 4 inches in diameter. The wall height was as high as the builder could reach. Of course the post was stuck in the ground for a foot or two.
Spacing on the posts was about 3 to 3-1/2 feet apart and the wattle was cane or whatever they chose to use. Daub appeared to be just clay and straw that was plastered either from the inside out, or from both the inside and the outside. I seldom saw a window. If there was a window, it was like the door and just an opening in the wall that had a piece of cloth hanging in it.
The roof was a framework of poles tied together with about a 45 degree pitch, that was “shingled” in palm branches. Sometimes these were not too thick and I wondered how good they were at shedding rain.
Often, there was a small open lean-to on the end of the house that served as an outdoor kitchen. It had a counter made of poles, and on this raised counter was a small clay oven. If they built a small fire inside the house for warmth the smoke just worked its way out of the branches in the roof.
One structure had a raised door sill of about one foot that kept the pigs and chickens out. Others that I saw had the live stock just wandering in and out.
Usually these houses were not too far from the river or stream, and families were bathing and washing clothes on the rocks during the warm afternoons.
The construction only required one tool – the machete. Practically everyone of the working class carried one when traveling or going about their business. Especially if they did not have a gun. But, that is another story.
Thank you for all of your hard work. – Paul in Southeast Texas
Hello James,
Copious greetings and kudos for the fine book…..
I saw the article about using natural materials for building construction.
Our home faces two groves of old growth trees. The detritus on the ground is copious, perhaps 2 to 6 inches thick. These groves of trees the old time residents here say go back to the 1920s when the original frame house stood on this site.
Each year I clear a section of the low branches to seven feet high. Pile them somewhere out of the way on the detritus.
Just today I worked one of these piles of brush to cut out the branches of over 3/4 inch for kindling. Nearly all of the wood in contact with the ground had extensive termite damage. I had to discard much of what was in contact with the ground. Only the wood that was elevated in the air was still solid. This was Hackberry, Hedge, Juniper, plum brush and Tree of Heaven. All good solid wood except for the Tree of Heaven which is a very light wood with a reduced density. Not very good for firewood anyway.
But the bottom line is that termites will take down a wall made with formerly living material such as wood, straw, brush and grass.
I lived in native built hut in Niger during my Peace Corps days. The bottom section of the walls were pure dense packed soil. No plant material until you got up above some 4 or 5 feet. They put the plant material above a height where the termites did not transition into.
We had termite mounds that went to 15 feet in height near by. Plenty of termites.
I would think twice before making any structure of wood in contact with the soil if you have a resident termite population such as we have.
Exception: I have a hunting blind set 24 inches deep in the soil. Lined with railroad ties that I selected for the best coating of creosote preservative. They have been in the ground now going on seven years.
I inspected the building yesterday and it still looks like the day I constructed it. But that is why creosote is such a good preservative. On the other hand you do not want to spend much time during hot weather in a creosote soaked wood structure. The fumes can be very evident. The railroad ties we have in the garden put off a very bad smell during the hot summer days out in the open.
I suspect you could spray for termites each year if you had the correct insecticide and sprayer system.
Chance favors the prepared. – J.W.C.
James:
I was in Haiti in January of 2010 as a civil engineer and paramedic. In the rural areas, nearly all the concrete and/or masonry block structures failed or were damaged. I only saw one wattle and daub dwelling that was destroyed. All of the others merely had to be re-mudded. Keep the Faith, – Bill D.