Mud Brick House Project


Imagine stomping in a mud pit for an afternoon. The water and soil mixture starts out lumpy and inconsistent, but as you step and step and step some more, it gradually becomes of uniform consistency, except for some big and rather hard stones that have to be removed. I found out that the Thai equivalent of "ouch" is "jip", but I heard fewer jips than ouches.

The process is just about the same as me mixing my instant oatmeal in the morning.

When the mud is smooth, rice husks are added to get the right moisture level (when you pull your foot out the hole remains). And then the mud is scooped into 12 kg buckets and poured into moulds where it is worked into the corners and patted level. That process is like putting cake batter in a pan, without the licking of the fingers!

The mould frame is then removed and in a week or two there will be a set of very hard, strong bricks, which is probably about the same time period for our feet to return to their normal colour!

You ask: why were we playing in the mud?

Wycliffe Thailand has a project to resurrect this ancient method of brick building to build itself some new buildings, and to be able to help villagers adopt the technique, as another method of outreach. Cement and the normal methods of building are quite expensive, but labour is cheap and water and soil to make mud are everywhere. We made 58 bricks in our 1 3/4 hour time; a good team with good dirt can apparently make 500 a day!

Here's the process:

The mud pits ready for mixing.

Is it ready yet?  No

Mmmmm

Mud's ready - time to mix in the husks

Making the bricks

Cleanup time

Pits are ready - bring on more soil and water!




Looks like fun, doesn't it!



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