Building a Roundhouse: Clay Walls with Bare Hands | Bushcraft Shelter (PART 6)
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- Опубликовано: 5 окт 2024
- We build the walls of the iron age bushcraft roundhouse by hand using a clay and straw mix that sets like concrete when it dries. This ancient building technique is known as wattle and daub and was used thousands of years ago by celtic tribes who lived in roundhouses. The walls of these iron age roundhouses were built with sticks that were woven together to form a solid structure. The clay is then mixed with straw, water (and animal dung) to form a mix that is easy to mould into the gaps of the wattle sticks. This then sets hard after a few weeks. We clay the whole exterior walls of the celtic roundhouse. Thanks for watching!
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So half way through filming this episode I cut my head. I carried on working for the day but ended up going to hospital. Head injury here: instagram.com/p/CCT_2HiD8Jn/ Feeling better now but lesson definitely learnt! Hope you guys enjoy this one! Catch up on every episode of the series here: ruclips.net/p/PLxnadpeGdTxC1z7ODd-UYXvzdal9nnt9i
Sorry to hear u was hurt
🙌😥
For the clay mixing, I would make a low pit, put in some pine needles/leaves etc then put in the tarp, and mix it with the feet. Way easier and less fatigueing for your body since your legs are way better suited for that job than your arms.
Danger never takes a day off !!! Glad to hear your ok 👍🏻
Lately some of my colleagues got themselves "bump caps", which are basically baseball caps with hard hat style plastic in them. You might consider getting some of those (quite seriously!).
They have all the advantages of a normal cap, sitting tight on the head and giving you the brim for sun protection, while also keeping your head intact.
Glad you are both ok. I saw Dustin's back on his channel. Ouchies for you both. This is why construction workers wear hardhats. In an emergency you can use crazy glue as a sealing bandage. It was originally developed by the US Army as liquid skin to seal cuts and scrapes. Small cuts nothing as big as yours.
A pro tip learned from 8 years in submarines, the brim of your hat keeps you from seeing things you are about to drive your head into. Turn it backwards while working in areas with low hanging objects. (I gained lots of scar tissue learning that lesson)
Thanks for your service . I discovered going down ladder on the U.S.S. New Jersey, prior to its decommission, our ancestors were a lot shorter , making steel beams a lot further from their foreheads than my generation . l' m ex Army , first time on a ship , and my CPO brother in law didn't bother to warn me .
Thanks
That’s why I never wore hats on construction sites.
Lol slow learner eh
Very cool guys. I love watching you build as a civil eng guy. Side note; wood ash was used in primitive cement. Clay, wood ash, sung and straw. I built back yard fire pit from clay, sand, wood ash and dried crab grass clippings.
When you rolled the clay about 23 mins in; we litterally STILL do that today to test soil plasticity to see what load/weight it can take.
Over a year ago my dad and I built our own massive version of the viking long shelter with the big fire pit in the middle in our local forest, we created a chimney system and built the shelter around that. It was a really optimistic build and we had never done anything so big before but seeing you two give something like that ago gave us the inspiration we needed to try it ourselves
Shelter building is one of the most satisfying survival/primitive/traditional skills to learn. I have built many primitive structures before and I always find myself in awe of your builds. Thank you for sharing and inspiring. - Sammy
Thank you Sammy, glad you like them
hi guys, I have to put something to your attention. you did first the outside and it will be half dry when you get to the inside, which give you a bit of a problem. the clay in the inside will not stick so well to the outside clay. it would have better do both sides at the same time, working together inside and out, to make the clay stick together through the hazel. love to see how it will work for you. love and courage
They will have to wet the inside clay so that the next layer will stick
When I lived in France I helped a guy I knew build a structure not too different to the one you're building, but he mixed river sand with the clay and used actual straw, but then he used a landrover with stubbly tyres to mix it all up (previously oxen were used to trample and mix the daub, so indeed there would be a fair amount of dung in there.) and had so much stuff ready he only had to make the daub a single time. He also used much more straw and made the mix wetter so that it worked its way right through the wattle. At night he wet the work down so it wouldn't dry too much overnight, and continued doing that for about a week afterwards with the result that cracking was minimal by the end - when it dries too quickly it cracks. Really enjoying this series and full of admiration for what you're doing. Finally, thanks for the giggle at your almost visible injuries - when I were a lad etc. Loving it, keep up the good work.
The presence of cowdung (animal dung) in clay mix improves the resistance of adobes to water because of the formation of
insoluble silicate amine which glues isolated soil particles together. This causes the material to become less porous and resistant to water. Also, their presence in adobes prevents the propagation of cracks.
Nice tip. I wonder if the smell fades after a while tho...
I remember hearing a story about a missionary woman in Africa. Where it was her first time there. She was in a native Hut with another missionary and a local woman. And she kept running her hands on the smooth inside of the Hutt talking about how beautiful it was. Almost like glazed pottery. Swirls of different layers of brown and tan. Super smooth like glass. Constantly rubbing her hands on it the whole time. The Other missionary woman was horrified. And finally told her that the walls are covered in clay and cow poop! LOL
Walls are always my most favorite part... It makes everything seem so much more like a home
G'day Mike. I've only ever done one, two story clay brick house. And just double checked we didn't use sand in the mix. But used equal (by weight) barley straw to the clay mix. Once the clay bricks were dry and setup, as walls, then made a slurry of the same clay and water and that was our plaster. Gave the completed wall a good coating, and results in a beautiful smooth finish. The type of clay we used down here in NZ may be different to yours. Not sure. Our system was based on 1000+ year old style in Egypt. Maybe that system was used in daub. Sorry my comment is so long , but I'm interested in your projects. Love your channel. Take care.
Great to see you and Dustin doing a great job on the roundhouse. Love that the dogs just entertain themselves and get on so well and create there own fun. Great collab Mike and enjoyable watch. Cheers.
Lol... put whatever spin you want to on it but I’m seeing grown men building forts/clubhouses like we did when we were kids. Good stuff!
Just some fun facts: Wood ash is basicly lime(the powder kind, not the fruit) and salt. Ash from normal camping/cooking fire wont have been hot enough so only a small part will be quicklime. This will harden when it reacts in water, which is the basic of concrete. The salts are called potash and will slowly wash out of the walls over the next months/years and might even form salt crystals on the walls if a lot was used.
That dragonfly was so kool. Interesting to see the different clay mixtures and how they will perform. Hoping that your injury is healing, Mike. Loving this build. ❤
I love the juxtaposition of the chaotic hammering of the wattle and then the silent smooth sound of the dorb
Such a cool build!! Love the channel, am new to it but it's educational and entertaining. New hobby/skill set to try during quarantine.
Welcome to the channel!
@@TAOutdoors I've had my own experience building a round house and working with wattle and daub and understand your struggles lol
using daub is like mixing cement, you have the clay working as your lime, your main binding agent, you have sand as the bulk of material (which you could have also used in daub) that you'd be binding together, and you have aggregate to give it more strength (your fiber added)
but in order to properly mix these ingredients together, it needs to be dry and broken up. if you add wet ingredients like piece of chunked up wet clay, you'll have chunks of daub going on with higher or lower moisture content than the rest of the material, which....when it dries, causes intense cracking. Similar to why ceramics crack when being fired, expansion of water. but in reverse with drying. Ideally you will have completely dry daub mixed together with its materials before adding the PERFECT amount of water to each batch.
For our daub we mixed dry, crushed clay (which was crushed traditionally with horses or animals, which is why dung was frequently in the daub and considered to be an extra binding agent) dry sand from badger mounds which had excellent amounts of dry straw and bedding material already mixed in, and we also added crushed, dry, horse manuere to add even more strength. Then when we mixed all the dry ingredients together, we gradually mixed it while adding water to get uniform consistency.
I would recommend (based on how much clay you're going to need) that you dig a mixing hole in the ground, so you can pile your ingredients in, and stomp around in it (bare foot) if you intend on continuing the wet mixing method. Too much water really ruins your structure for cracks. obviously you can always fill them in. Also, remember to moisten your wattle! Daub adheres to daub better if its moist, just like concrete.
Are you planning on sealing it with lime wash after? I hope so =) and make sure that roof gets on before it rains, that rain will destroy your walls.
In the future when making walls on the ground, try putting down a layer of stone under it to prevent _"rising damp"._ "Rising damp" is the materials of your wall (wood and mud in this case) absorbing the moisture in the ground like a sponge, it weakens the structure and makes it rot faster.
Don't use just gravel as that's generally too fine, best to use rocks of differing sizes up to hand-sized rocks. Use enough to maintain about a 5-7 cm layer above the ground as well as the same underground (ideally you'd want double or tipple that undeground, but that's more a 1600's era and later thing) under the wall and don't cover the stone layer with any daub or plastering.
If you're worried about authenticity (mixing building methodology timelines), most town-building cultures from around the world faced and adapted to this issue in similar ways. One of the earliest documented sources I could find was the Roman architect Vitruvius, back in 70 BC.
@They Live! Again. The foundation would just be stone; no mud or wood except for the building's frame going into the ground.
If you're worried about insulation: the floors to early medieval homes were raised with dirt and, depending on several factors like personal knowledge, culture, time period, and wealth, some floors would have a bed of stone lower than the wall footing and dirt placed on top of it and tamped down to raise the floor level to the base of the wall. The raised floor improved insulation and helped prevent flooding.
@They Live! Again. I see what you mean, that works too. Though lime was generally used to make mortar (mud and/or clay could be mixed in to stretch it, depending on how much the person had or could afford). However, the wood plank ground-level floors aren't a medieval thing at all; more of an early-to-mid renaissance thing (1600's era). Sure, the upper floors (if there were any, which was rare) would be wood, but the ground level pretty well never was unless it was temporary (repairs for castles or manor homes).
These homes are warm and they last for a long time, you two are doing a great job.
Adding sand to the mix might reduce the cracking when it dries. Clay plaster used for rendering walls in houses should contain at least 50% sand so maybe it is worth trying that out if you have sand available.
Yes, but not sure the celts would have used sand unless they had it in their area. Think that is why they used animal dung. But we have a project coming up with sand involved!
@@TAOutdoors You did an awesome thing there. Looks really beautiful!
I've had trees bite me a few times, a rock here or there to the noggin while falling from a tree ... but ever tree fort was worth it!
I know it's been a couple weeks, I hope you are both all healed up now!
When I was 3 I requested a tent ⛺️ for Christmas. Turn 4, Christmas came, got my tent!!! That summer I spent ever single night that didn’t rain, camping in our back yard. We were putting in a garage in the back of our house. So the area I camped on was solid red clay. My mum fashioned a stove and a safe place for me to have fires. I had a blast! Left fruit out every day for Sasquatch. 🤔 at first my mum was so frightened about me sleeping outside. Our home butted up against miles of woods. Our neighbors were far from us. No one knew. I convinced her that her fears were made up of her own internal worries. Not actually going to happen. I won! I camped the whole summer.
To be honest. I talked her ears off asked why about anything and everything knowing... she would want me outside rather than in! Hahahahaha! Yup! Master mind at 4. Hahahahaha. My poor mum!
MzClementine sorry bugs ate ur fruit not sasquatch 😞
MzClementine Aww, you’re so thoughtful to do that for Samsqwanch. ✌🏻
MzClementine everyone knows sasquatch eats rotten maggots. ....fail.
Finally get a real wind break once you start mudding those walls! Looking good fellas! 👀 👍👊
Another thing to reduce cracking when drying is to wet the sticks first, before putting on the clay and straw mix.
So that the sticks don't suck up all the water, letting the walls dry too fast.
Using modern building materials, you might wrap the house in plastic wrap to slow down the drying process, which should also help to prevent cracking. Perhaps damp burlap could be used if you want to used period materials.
I feel like the dung on the inside of the shelter might not be great in the summer heat....
Might be better to keep that outside and stick to mud inside.
A suggestion, put some clay balls on the edge of the roof sticks.
i live in USA .
the mud near à stream is what the Pioneer used when the made their chinking. also the Indians used the mud from near the rivers. My great grandfather taught me this. we used to make a half dug in round housse with an opening in the center.the walls were clay. the fireplace was in the center.
love your vidéos. you guys are awesome ;)
A simple aid to slow down the drying of the clay (I use the same to slow down mortar/concrete curing) is to simply grab a garden watering can and give it a little splash once a day, to put some water back in!
Great show! Unfortunate news about your head injury and Dustins back injury. Glad you both will recover nicely. Situational vigilance is hard to maintain doing a mundane repetitive task. Keep up the fantastic work, I am looking forward to the rest of the series and future builds! Id love to see you hand make a log cabin one day. Cheers from the States!
Put some pieces of a pool noodle on those ends until you finish the project.
The use of the tarp to make the daub is brilliant, save you from wasting the mix where it sticks in layers on your boots.
Tie a coffee mug or small pot over end of the rafter while you are working close by. A safety tip.
better yet, turn that pointy side up so when you stand up you hit the dull side and not the sharp side
Great video series! It's best to use manure, as this provides a source of calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium. All of which stabilizes the crystalline structure of the clay, making it less susceptible to cracking. Ash provides small amounts of potassium, which is why you had seen the improvement 🤓
Thats going to look amazing once you've finished it. Right now it looks a lot like a Cherokee council house. Great work guys.
But it's not.
I bet the original folks rounded those off the first time they knocked their heads on them. or wrapped them in something.
Thanks for sharing the workings & ups/downs :)!
That is ALOT of work. It is appreciated. On the Roundhouse job site, it's time to wear Celtic hardhats. Also, nothing is more fun than using animal dung! (so I've heard)
Its enjoyable watching you and Dustin at work outside. Keep The Faith.
Will you put mud on the inside walls to create a thermal vapor barrier? Refreshing 2C Jax & Amber playing together, Kudos to Dusty for doing so much steady work!!
Very nice bushcrafter build. Thank you for sharing. Honestly this is the first "bushcraft" build that I've seen that incorporates adobe (earthen, clay, "daub"). You guys make it look like fun!!
Props from Arizona your mud wall reminds me of the adobe brick houses here in Arizona
Monolithic clay structures are awesome
Can last 900 years
2:38
that's a brilliant way to do that. When I do my wattle and daub I'll do this as well. Thanks for coming up with this idea.
Great job guys! I think your dads going to be disappointed he didn't get to play in the clay. Its looking really nice.
As I understand it daubing would have originally been done on both side of the wattle simultaneously so that as it dries it would bind not only on the outside of the wattle but through the wattle as well creating a stronger bind which as you discussed would help hold cracked pieces in place. Given the fact that there is two of you and you could do this is there a reason that you daub one side of the wattle first and then the other?
Dragonflies are nice to have around because they eat mosquitoes.
Damsel flies are similar but smaller and more delicate. Also, the wings on a Damsel fly fold together and upward when at rest. Beautiful specimen. I've never seen that color pattern before.
they do tend to stay near water, as that's where they lay their eggs and hunt for recently emerged mosquitoes....
There's something about endless repetitive tasks that is very soothing. You can kinda lose yourself in the work. But ya gotta be in the right mood, sometimes it feels like torture lol
Fully agree, those endless repetitive tasks help to keep the mind focused and the body working
A lot of the mixes I've been looking at in structures I've seen in Utah.. when you look closely you can see burned pieced of wood in it. Very fine pieces.
In hindsite might have been better to put animal dung on the outside and clay on inside... Also might be good to have grass in bundles on top of clay on outside running from top to bottom so that rain would run off of it instead of clay or maybe you can bake harden the clay with a reflected fire a little at a time going around the shelter.
Add a little more water to make it softer and it will go on way faster (like 2x faster). It will crack slightly more, but putting on another layer will fill in those cracks. I built a straw bale house using clay plaster and I can tell you that a softer plaster goes much much easier. It is also easier to get smooth.
You are a strong man,it looks like you and your friend having a ball , with the clay.
Big thanks to the land owner for letting you guys build there.
Decades ago in Boy Scouts we did waddle and dobb for a project. An old indian man showed us that you dobb inside and out at the same time, 2 people of course but the clay sticks to each other from both sides and each can press in and smooth at the same time.
You men will both need a much needed bath after this go round with the mud. Your Celtic round house is looking livable. Way to go guys. Stay safe.
mud is actually good for your skin and health!
If you were intending to live in that house over a winter, you might want a second wattle and daub wall on the inside of the beams, and fill the area between them with soil - for insulation.
The idea with ruminant dung is that it has a lot of very short grass fibers in addition to the -ahem- 'adhesive' properties, and that is why it's considered very good for daub. It prevents a lot of the cracking before it gets to being a wide rent in the wall. Grog (ground up fired clay from pottery) could also help with reducing cracking, giving the clay particles something to adhere to while drying.
Glad to see you are ok. For the mud and staw mixture. I was thinking the Ten Commandments, when the Hebrew slaves were making bricks from mud and straw. They would dig pits and mix it with feet stomping on it
Lovely Guys! Thank You Kindly! Watch your heads! Beautiful job! Our ancestors would be proud! DaveyJO in Pennsylvania
Część, nie jestem Anglikiem i nie rozumiem angielskiego ale z przyjemnością oglądam twoje filmy bo są fajne i bardzo ciekawe, można się dużo nauczyć z niech.
Pozdrawiam :)
Where is the next one? I want me a round house ! They look amazing 👏👏👍💰
Finally the daub goes on , and you get the painful lesson that our ancestors were a lot shorter . Or maybe they remembered when to duck .😁 Glad you are ok.
Also pine needles and mulched/hand ground dead leaves works very well also for a mixture 🤘
Wow! Lots of hard work. Very impressive! Curious to see your flooring.Something that cool needs a solid floor and a stove. Thanks
Ребята, вы крытые парни, но совсем не жалеете кожу на своих ладонях при работе с золой. Удачи и благодарю за уроки выживания в лесу.
coming along quite nicely now with walls
We still use that wattle fencing here in Newfoundland, Canada. Wonderful job!!!!
if you want to stop it from cracking dont be afraid to add more water to your mix. Your best option was to make sort of a thick pancake mix with the clay, hay, and with or without the ash so that it can dry at a slower rate while also minimizing the cracks. what you made was more of hardened clay which would crack since its at the leathering stage. Thats when you would add colored clay, make cut outs, details, and anything to just really embellish it before you let it dry through for firing. so add that water and really have a go at it. also use a flat board to kinda wack it smooth, no need to hurt your wrists like that. good luck and its looking top notch so far. :)
Head wounds always bleed a lot more than other body parts. Glad you’re both ok 👍🏻
I have had a head injury like that, the worst part about injuries like that is that they do bleed a lot. Be careful showering, that can agitate the scab.
Liquid poke can help the bleeding and healing..
well, one nice thing with clay daub walls (or mud) is that when it cracks you can fill the cracks with more, and eventually no more cracks appear
Real skill is always something to be admired.
Good job.
Hi, your videos are so relaxing that anyone can watch for hours.
Get well soon!!
Yes, you can add cow dung, mud, and husk to cover the walls. It is the best mixture for strengthing the wall.
In the rural part of India, some villagers are still using this method to build their houses.
And the Life span of somewhere around 10-15years.
And if villagers find some cracks on the walls then they used to fill these gaps with mud and cow dung mixture.
Hope this will helps
I admire your videos a great deal. And Dustin is a right proper Chef of the first order!
Wow. What a painstaking process. I wouldn’t have the patience.
Slip, trips and falls are actually the most common accidents on a building site or workshop so just be aware of your surroundings and where everything is because it only takes a second for something to go sideways
Hey Mike, Andrew from Switzerland here. Ever thought about building a tree house? That would be a new challenge, and fun! Love both yours and your Dad's channels!
Horsehair is a good trick aswell....as replacement for the straw.
That's looking fantastic. Can't wait till the next episode
Wow! With all that clay so close, you guys should build a kiln!
AH WELL...what's an extra tarp weigh! Very handy advanced technique for mixing daub when large quantities are required and when water is in short supply. GOOD THINKING, LADS!! (Later)...the ash is not only temper but it changes the chemistry of the clay to aid in fusing the particles together.
Thanks James! Always nice to see you comment 👍🏻
Hiya Mike, as a ceramist if the inside and outside of of the panel were done at the same time the wet clay would bond to each other presumably make the whole thing an integral solid unit and making it stronger!?
Nice to know you Dustin as well as your Dad and family are OK.....
I remember a wattle & dab builder say something to the effect that it will last forever if it has "a good hat and good boots". The "good hat" is a roof with a good overhang (which your building has), and the "good boots" are (is) the foundation, which in that video was made of stone. Your house sits on mud, so it is likely that the moisture will wick up into the wall and cause problems later on. Had you used maybe a foot or so high foundation of rocks, the wall would be sitting on dry rock and so would last longer as the rocks act as a kind of moisture barrier. Again, there is a RUclips video somewhere where I learned this. (Hopefully, it wasn't one of yours.) Anyway, the traditional method you used to build your structure may predate this bit of folk advice. I like your videos. Keep up the good work.
Last time I was this early, they were still building roundhouses with clay and . . . oh, wait.....
Hope you’re healing well! Would love to see a stone round house next!!
Would love to make things In the woods again did it when i was age 14 ect, 25 now I miss it
Always nice to see you guys. Looking very nice and the bars must be very dry by now. Moisturize!!! Till the next episode. Was happy to hear you saw a doctor.
I think you could add some more straw to the mix because as you said he straw binds the clay together.
Got you to 100 likes on this vid! Great project, love it.
🙌🏻 thank you
Head wounds bleed like CRAZY! I compete in medieval armored combat, and got a tiny, two-centimetre long cut above my eyebrow. From the amount of blood that came pouring down my face, you would have thought I'd bleed out right there. Hahaha!
Glad to see you guys are alright! I quite like the channel, and the builds!
greetings from a Belgian bushcrafter
Animal Dung next?? Well looks like you will have two volunteers for supply running around your camp site. 😎. Wear plastic gloves for it?? Amazing the amount of work you guys are putting into this project.. Sore Back, Sore Head, Sore Hands. Great job. 👍👍👍
Glad your injury is on the mend! Progress looking good guys, we’ll done! Look forward to the next one 👍🏼👍🏼
Can't ever decide who to watch first....Mike or Dustin.....😆
Thank you MIke and Dustin! 👍😁
Favorite videos are the building ones, in South Carolina we unfortunately have an abundance of termites, humidity, and heat
Just a busy olde woman here..come from olde ways..remote lumberjack families.
There's a very adorable dog going 90mph through your work site. :D
Siete bravissimi... grazie x la compagnia🤗
You might want to look into using horse hair for the binding of the clay. We used it when we lime rendered our house and it worked really well. Also use a hessian sheet to cover it while it dries. This will save you alot of cracking. Great work though, loving the progress.
Everytime i see the dog zooming past you guys I laughed so hard 🤣😂
Thats gonna be a cool shelter when yall are done
maybe try a crude white wash on the inside walls using ash? maybe just for experiments sake try charcoal on the outsides?
just remember the smoke layer puts out the embers that fly up from your fires so you really do want that in there, also used for drying spices/meat