Rethink Your Life!
Finance, health, lifestyle, environment, philosophy
The Work of Art and The Art of Work
Kiko Denzer on Art



Cob Re: Commercial clay production

Huff and Puff Constructions huffnpuff at shoal.net.au
Sat Apr 3 16:28:05 CST 1999


Keith Breuker wrote:
> 
> We are just finishing our earthen plastered SB house in Northern
> Michigan.

Dear Keith

John Glassford from Huff'n'Puff here.

We are in the process of rendering/stucco some 250 face square metres at 
the moment in earthen/clay/straw, The Steens' Style.  We are using three 
250 gallon baths to mix up the clay and water we then mix in the chopped 
straw in wheel barrows.  The system works well, but labour intensive, 
(but what is wrong with that?) however at CASBA's International Straw 
Bale Conference I met Harald Wedig from Germany and he is in the process 
of tracking down a pump as follows by Harald's reply.  I hope this is of 
use to you it sounds like the way to go for us unfortunate builders who 
have to mechanise rather than use intensive labour, maybe we can change 
that?

Kind regards The Straw Wolf
http://strawbale.archinet.com.au

> Hello John,
> no I am talking about a maschine I saw 2 years ago when I did an sb-
> demonstration at a clay builders trade fair in Germany.
> It was able to break down clay lumps and mix them with water and straw
> or whatever fibers you want, thus making clay plaster, render or mortar
> out of rather raw and rough material.
> It was a pump also: when the mix was ready, the machine used its power
> to blow it on the wall.
> I believe this is what you are looking for. Am I right?
> I cant recall the name of the company producing it, but I know whom to
> ask.
> This might also be of interest for you:
> There is a german company, Claytec, that produces and sells clay
> building boards to bring the advantages of clay to quick drywall
> construction. You can saw them and fix them with screws. With a light
> wooden frame you can  set up a interior wall from clay within hours.
> A friend of mine who works for this company, Juan, a Mexican, claims,
> that he could produce these boards in Mexico without any machinery and
> he is planning to go back soon and set up a small industrie on the
> border to the US, to sell the boards to rich gringo architects who are
> starting to aprechiate clay construction.
> Do you want to know more about these boards? If so tell me and I will
> also get more information about them. Good thing is, that Frank can
> translate all this stuff. Just give me a mail.
> Bon chance, Harald
> Harald und Margit Wedig <avantgarden at wxs.nl>