“One half of the world’s population approx 3 billion people live or work in buildings constructed of earth”.

A living surface
The use of clay for constructing houses has been around for a few thousand years. Clay is an excellent, versatile and beautifully unpredictable building material which can entertain a wide variety of interior and exterior colours and textures. It perfectly compliments the character and charm of recycled timber and can also be formed into almost any shape. Clay is an imperfect living surface which changes shades of colour with the rhythm of the light that shines on it.

 A living surface.               Almost in any shape.       A beautiful wine shelf.     Used both in- & outside. 

Insulating properties
Clay has got excellent insulating properties and when used in conjunction with good passive solar designs it will result in wonderful savings on heating/cooling costs. Any building constructed of a masonry product can be given a clay finish.

Use and methods
Natural House Builders often use a herbal solution (to create shapes) and blocks and bricks for strength but our favourite and most cost effective construction method for the clay render is to create a double frame (making a 200 mm or more thick wall) with recycled timber, clad it with old sheets of galvanised tin inside and outside. These galvanised tin sheets are fixed horizontally so the ribs hold the render.

 
Our team at work. Before, during and after the clay render has been added.  

Sourcing clay
We mostly use clay found onsite but if this is not possible there is usually an excavation site in the area which will be happy to give it away good clay for our projects. The clay we source has usually been broken down in baths and has been kept as close to it’s natural state as possible.

To retain the original colour of the clay we sieve and separate it into 3 mixes; base, filler and finish. The end result is usually a sponge finish and acrylic sealer. Some clay colours are harder to retain depending on where you are geographically.