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Back in 2011, I found myself camping alone on a remote
Turkish hill. There was no power or water on the land.
It was the start of an adventure that profoundly changed
my beliefs about what is enjoyable, or possible...
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What Are Walls For?

24/11/2014

6 Comments

 
As autumn sinks into winter, the nights on the Mediterranean turn from cool to cold. This week I watched the crooked, brown limbs of stove pipes poke out from windows, and smelt the first wafts of smoke floating out of them. It was like the mist of another world. The world of winter. Winds howl. Doors are closed. Fires are lit.

It is at this time of year that I give thanks for my cosy earthbag home. For its strength and warmth and shelter. And as I sit, stove chugging, in t-shirt and leggings, I muse on those fat earth walls of mine.

Before I began natural building, I think, like most folk, I assumed the function of a wall was to protect. This isn’t all that surprising. I’m issue from an education that separates the world into illusory isolated parts and has them battle it out for survival. This way of looking at the world is so pervasive, we forget it is a creation of ours derived from subjective and partial information. Separation is the window from which we Westerners observe everything, including our homes. They become our castles. The wall is a barrier to keep enemies at bay. There is an outside and an inside, and never the twain shall meet.
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Yet, as I began constructing this home, I started to investigate a little more carefully into walls, and what the devil they’re for. Mainstream building, unsurprisingly, follows the prevailing attitude that walls are to protect. They are built nice and strong, stuffed with insulation to keep the cold out, coated in chemicals to keep bugs and mould out. It’s all about keeping stuff out.

Natural building, however, draws on nature for inspiration. What are walls for in nature? Are they all about protection, or do they serve other functions? The most obvious walls in the natural world are either the cell membranes of plants and organisms, or the skin of larger animals. Hmm, skin. How about regarding a wall as skin? I began to compare my mudbag walls to a thick earthbeast’s hide.

Granted, my earthbag walls do act as a protective barrier, and a very efficient one at that. At near on half a metre thick, they can defend the interior of my house from hurricanes, rain, wild boar, bullets and fire. But it’s not all about that, because life isn’t all about that. Despite how we’ve been taught to view it, life isn’t simply a power struggle, nor is it only brute strength that prevails. If it were, then this planet ought to be dominated by an Herculean iron-skinned monster with ten foot long teeth and claws, and no sense of ethics. If it is all about strength and domination, then where do daisies and butterflies and Vivaldi fit in? And obviously they do fit in, because they thrive just as well as their more brutish counterparts. Sometimes they thrive far better. Tyrannosaurus rex didn’t make the cut, yet field mouse did.

Back to walls and skin. One of the most important functions of skin is sensation. Sensitivity equals an ability to respond and adapt, to transmit information from outside to inside. Sensation is the intelligence of life in its most basic form. So where does this tessellate with earthbag walls? Now, even I’ll stop short at suggesting my earthbag walls experience sensation. But what they can do is communicate information from the outside in a way a concrete wall coated in chemical paint can’t. Earth, earthplaster and lime are all breathable. They allow the outside to be drawn in and the inside to flow out, yet incredibly, just like skin, they manage this feat without losing heat. So, in an earthbag house there is no mould or damp, no stagnant air. It always smells fresh and healthy, even when I’ve been away for two weeks. In fact, I’m always eager to inhale that first breath of Mud Home. If you add concrete anywhere in the building process, you lose this freshness. Concrete holds water. It’s not permeable. It’s all about protection and nothing about communication or connection.

Sound familiar?

So as winter pushes me within my ring of earth, as the doors are closed and the stove lit, I gape out of the window at the rash of stars spreading over the skin of night. Their luminescence travels light-years across galaxies until it penetrates my window pane and hits my retina. It is an information-clad communication that makes me shiver. Some piece of them, albeit a reflection, has touched me. And I wonder. Really, are the stars out there at all? Or are they in here? Because we are for a moment connected. But it doesn't end there, does it. For if my mind can soar out of these earth walls and into the heavens to wonder all this, where, if anywhere, am I?

6 things earth walls and skin have in common.
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6 Comments
Cathy
30/11/2014 07:36:23 pm

Lovely writing as usual Kerry. I so look forward to your posts and I love your dream and also the brave way you have gone about making a life without being on the grid or having mains water with a an aim to live as much as possible off the land.

Re the breathing permeable part of your building you speak about in your blog. Your building is constructed of plastic bags filled with soil. How does that breathe through the whole layer of the house?

Your home is so beautiful and I would love one day to live like you do - you are an inspiration to us all!

Reply
Kerry link
1/12/2014 02:00:01 am

Good question Cathy.The bags, being woven, are not solid plastic nor waterproof.They allow airflow, as does earth. People ask me if you could make a pool using earthbags, and the answer is only if you line it with something waterproof, because it's permeable. If you live in a climate without earthquakes and severe flooding, then cob without the earthbags would be a more natural option.

Reply
Cathy
1/12/2014 07:57:59 pm

Thank you Kerry for the explanation. I didn't think about why you construct with earth bags - I thought it was ease of construction, however earthquakes and flooding are great reasons!! :)

Reply
Mary
27/8/2015 05:19:01 am

HOW DO YOU GET YOUR MUD ART WORK TO LOOK LIKE A DIFFERENT COLOR THAN THE WALLS, WITHOUT PAINT?

Reply
Kerry
27/8/2015 05:53:37 am

Hi Mary,
The walls are painted in lime, and the earth sculptures are left bare (ie, that's the colour of the earthplaster).

Reply
Kerry
27/8/2015 05:55:55 am

If you want to know more about how to create the lime wash, or the plaster download the free earthbag building PDF.

http://www.themudhome.com/earthbag-pdf.html

Reply



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    Atulya K Bingham

    Back in 2011, I found myself camping alone on a remote Turkish hill. There was no power or water on the land. It was the start of an adventure that profoundly changed my beliefs about what is enjoyable, or possible...

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Disclaimer: All the content in The Mud Home website is provided for informational purposes only. The author undertakes no responsibility for any person or entity who chooses to use the information on this website. It is not intended to be a standard and should not substitute for the exercise of good engineering judgment by engineers. It is the user’s obligation to make sure that he/she uses the appropriate practices and consults the appropriate experts when building. It is the user's obligation to make sure they are following health and safety guidelines. The author is not responsible for any accidents, injuries or damages to persons or property incurred while using the information presented in this website.

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The Mud Home  Copyright © 2013  Atulya Kerry Bingham
  • Home
  • Building
    • Earthbag >
      • Rubble Trench Foundations
      • Earthbag in Extreme Weather
      • Earthquakes and earthbag
    • Earth Plaster
    • Using Lime
    • Cob
    • Straw Bale
    • Wattle and Daub
    • Inspiration
    • Off-Grid Living >
      • Off-Grid Prep Course
    • Mud Building Blog
  • Books
    • Dirt Witch
    • Mud Ball
    • Mud Mountain The Book
    • MUD BUILDING PDF PACKAGE
  • About
    • Contact
    • Mud Home Facebook Group
  • COURSES
    • ATULYA's In Person Workshops 2025
    • Perfect Earth Plaster Online Course
    • Lime for Beginners Online Course
    • MUD BUILDING PDF PACKAGE
    • The Off-Grid Roadmap
    • Consultation
  • Blogs
    • Mud Home Turkey
    • Barn Life in Spain
  • My Projects
    • The Earthbag Home in Turkey
    • The Barn in Spain