Natural Building Blogs by Sarah Partridge

Building Community Crafts Environment Heritage Natural Restoration Rural Skills Suffolk Vernacular


 
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Fraser applies daub to wattle
Fraser applying daub to hazel wattle

Mixing daub using feet

Human powered daub mixing!
 


That Lightbulb Moment 9.7.2018

I love my work. There’s something very special about the people I work for and with. Just recently I had the privilege of coaching two surveyors from Smithers Purslow in vernacular construction skills.

Like for Like 

Fraser and Zoe had come to assess the progress of the ‘like for like’ wattle and daub reinstatement that I was working on, but ended up ‘having a go’.

Using human energy

I’d spread my tarpaulin out with a careful blend of best Suffolk Boulder clay and reconstituted 600 year old daub. On the pile of mud I’d sprinkled handfuls of straw. What happens next is called ‘the tarpaulin method’. Fraser was pre-warned and had brought his wellingtons.

Mud sticks

Sporting a big grin Fraser jumped onto mud and straw and used his feet to mix the materials together. It was stickier than expected! A word of caution is needed here. Clay is both slippery and sticks to everything! Boots rapidly turn into ten league anchors. It is lots of fun and a great green gym activity.

Moments later ...

And so it was that Fraser reached down to reduce the weight of his clod-hopping foot wear. Still with a look of delight he stood up and in his hands was the nicest lump of vintage daub. In those few moments of stomping  the mud and straw had been transformed into building material.

Transformation

That is the light bulb moment that I see time and time again, and it is a joy to facilitate:)

It’s the moment when the simplicity of the materials shines through. It’s that moment when what looks like waste material is transformed into a natural and low impact building material with deep green credentials.

A change of perception

However it’s not just the physical conversion of materials at work here.  What follows is a major shift in perception. This is a building material directly from the landscape. Historically it was harvested from the site that it was then built on. And when its life as a building was over it returned to the earth and left no trace!

And here we are! Reinstating daub in a timber frame house dating back to the 1400s.Transformation on many levels!