Green building

Environmental issues are so firmly entered into the life of every person today that the choice of life in "eco" style is no longer a question of politicians, the green party or professional environmentalists. It seems that today one can substitute the prefix "eco" for everything: eco-vessels, eco-clothing, eco-cosmetics, eco-food, eco-house.

It is no secret that a man of today is in an aggressive environment most of life - it concerns lack of time and life rapid pace. It is impossible to be in this state constantly, protective reflexes are triggered. Intuitively, there is a need to hide, to protect yourself to regain some strength. But it may be worth trying to change your environment, your lifestyle, priorities, values, so that you don't need to hide from anything or anyone, but to exist in harmony with yourself and the world.

In recent years, the trend of environmentally friendly housing is becoming more and more fashionable, as most of the materials used for the construction of "ordinary" houses contain harmful chemical compounds that negatively affect human health. The latest researches are just mind-boggling. It turns out that home air is 4-6 times dirtier and 8-10 times more toxic than street one, so it's time to clean up your apartment.

And indeed: there are plenty of natural materials in nature that can be used for the construction of walls and roofs, as well as interior and exterior decoration of houses. One of the natural materials is clay, yes, clay!!

Clay is everywhere. Clay is a universal material. It is a part of nature, shaped by human hands, taken from the environment and always remains its part! The Great Wall of China, Indian temples, Arab skyscrapers, frame houses in Europe, African mosques, on all continents and at all time, clay adobe buildings performed many functions and had various forms. They reflect the culture of antiquity as in a mirror. Being rediscovered, the clay meets modern requirements, and its scope is huge. For several decades, clay was not even remembered, it was considered the material of poor people and hard times. However, the clay has huge advantages, it can be obtained almost anywhere and it does not require a lot of effort and it is easy to work with. There are many ways to process the clay, three of them are most convenient: pressing in the form of soil blocks, filling of wooden structures or stamping.

It is very important that clay is an extremely simple material. It is affordable and cheap. Few architects manage to beat this material. Those who are interested in clay are usually cranks or environmental geeks. For them, clay is a way to go back in time. It appears that it is precisely because of this romantic misinterpreted desire for idealism that modern architecture has imposed an unvoiced prohibition on clay. Today, this ban seems to have relaxed, and architects use clay in new buildings as a contrast to glass and concrete. It is used for interior rooms and primarily for plaster almost always. Such a huge absorbing area improves the indoor climate, draws harmful substances out of the air, and regulates temperature and humidity. A room without harmful substances is especially useful for allergy sufferers and people with various diseases. No wonder clay is used for medicinal purposes. The clay is an alternative to chemicals for controlling harmful substances.

Clay is everywhere. Isn't it? Both here and in those climatic areas where clay is not of the highest quality, you can find clay buildings. When the first of them appeared is unknown. In Turkmenistan and Iraq, archaeologists find remains of ancient huts dating back more than 10000 years. The greatest structures of mankind - the Great Wall of China is made of clay and only in a few places reinforced with stones.

Today, some parts are destroyed due to the trade in old bricks. It is used to build new homes for hardcore poor. In contrast, in Japan, the clay is still considered to be the material that best meets the climatic and aesthetic requirements and is used in tea ceremony homes. Japanese masters know a lot about the design of clay, this knowledge is also remembered in the Himalayas and India.

The houses are also built at an altitude of 3600 meters, and their thick walls keep warm and keep out the cold, such as the former residence of the Dalai Lama in Lhasa. The buildings radiate dignity, they are not residential but they are for the soul.

An impressive clay structure was the fortress of the Iranian city of Bam. Along with much of the city, it was destroyed by an earthquake in December 2003.

For more than two thousand years, this castle stood on a hill. From afar, there is a noticeable evidence of the building culture of the Persian Empire. Now builders are looking for a way to build earthquake-resistant structures.

In the Arabian зeninsula, the special culture of Yemen with 9-storey clay houses of five hundred years has been seen. It is to them that the fabulous city of Sana owes its nickname the most beautiful Arab city in the world.

It is often referred to as "the oldest skyscraper city in the world" or "Deserted Manhattan". It seems that ancient construction techniques meet the current requirements for building construction.

But many are tired of old structures, and they prefer European land - cement. What lasted for thousands of years was destroyed in a few decades. Native folk techniques and materials were replaced with concrete blocks. There is no way to learn how to build from clay, and fewer and fewer craftsmen process it. Traditions of the past are in danger of disappearing everywhere.

In Europe, it is considered that clay is suitable for dry and hot regions, and not for wet and cold climates. History proves the opposite: frame houses that have been built in cities and villages for centuries are almost synonymous with industrial construction. In Germany alone, there are more than a million of them. Hundreds of thousands of clay adobe houses or unburned bricks are located in the Central Europe. Especially in Eastern Austria, they are often no longer recognizable because of the paint or plaster.

The clay lowered into the water dries up and becomes hard as a stone, it consists of pure clay, gravel, and the smallest sand. Their colors are diverse: from ochre to dark red, from white to blue.

Three-quarters of the earth's crust makes a clay. Simple and at the same time complex material with many features. The negative factors of using clay usually include ease of moisture absorption, relative fragility and tendency to crack from dryness.

No one was interested in unburned clay. The clay is still not an industrial product, a material without a lobby. But now everything is changing, the fact that companies and private investors are engaged in these products means that the industry is beginning to treat clay as a building material.

The relationship between man, earth, and clay seems almost mystical. This sounds very pretentious, but clay is also used for medicinal purposes. There must be some connection here, so a person feels good in a house made of clay or brick.

Ecostroy company has been engaged in manufacturing construction materials (soil blocks) from unimportant bulk mixtures – clay and sand for many years. We have developed a technique that makes possible to create a high-quality product from available raw materials and there is no need for laboratory tests and mix several varieties of clay, so it does not have a high cost.

Also, due to its composition and compaction technology, we get a wear-resistant, fire and frost resistant building material.

The use of batch compaction technology in construction enables us to save on materials as much as possible.

In addition, using natural materials in production, we preserve the environmental friendliness of blocks, that is, they absolutely do not harm the human body and the natural environment. The clay evens out the humidity of the air more and better than any other building material. When the humidity in the room rises above 50%, the clay begins to absorb moisture, and when it falls, it gives it back, so the mirror in the shower never fogs up, the humidity does not rise above 70%, it is absorbed into the walls, and we know that the optimal humidity is from 40 to 60 %.

The clay has a good effect on the microclimate in the house and has a positive effect on human health. It does not cause allergies and at the same time filters the air well from harmful substances. In addition, the clay houses do not hold static electricity charges on their surfaces. This material is almost 100% reusable, which allows the next generation to use this material again without any problems. This material does not change, it is eternal. If I no longer want to build anything from it, then I can fill the garden with it, and flowers will grow in it again, which surprisingly does not exist a second material with such quality.

It is also worth noting that during the construction of clay there is no waste, if there is excess clay, it returns to nature without any harm to the environment. The clay is perfectly combined with wood. It protects the tree from rotting, so you do not have to use pesticides. On the example of ancient clay buildings and structures, you can see how wooden structures are well preserved. If you construct a building from clay correctly, it will serve for a long time, and there will be no problems. Therefore, it is necessary to know that clay does not resist constant water flows, so all structures that are subject to constant wetting must be covered with plaster or wood. As for building a house, you can use the services of professionals, but there are no difficulties if you build it yourself. If you have the time and desire, we are available to help you with this.

A multi-faceted clay material, it opened a new chapter in construction, despite the lack of support. A retrospective look at this way of building in an era of technological omnipotence, which we believe we have, where we can really do everything, but did not do anything significant - this is comfort. This is humanity, this is the innovation of old things that come again and become necessary. It is saidthatnewiswellforgottenold.