Wattle and Daub - Animal dung?

[michael]

This doesn’t affect me but I’m just interested. What would be used nowadays to repair, replace or build a wattle and daub wall?

Wikipedia advises that Wattle and daub is a woven lattice of wooden strips (what kind of wood?) daubed with a combination of wet soil ,clay, sand, animal dung and straw.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wattle_and_daub

Do you still use these ingredients to make daub and if so in what quantities
or do modern building standards insist you use another kind of mix?

 

[middi]

Wattle and daub.

Wattle is the wooden lattice frame to wich daub is applied to.

Depending on age, status, distance between main frame oak timbers and to some extend local geographical area, wattle construction varied significantly. On the earlier wooden buildings of higher status where expense was not an issue the wattle and daub was omitted altogether and the infill consisted of a " muntin" where the entire length of the adjacent faces of the wall studs were " carved " with a " V " groove and an appropriate " V " tongue was " carved " along the entire length of a split oak plank and slid into the " V " groove. Ie; "tongue and groove" . This was a very costly and skilled labour intensive way to buid walls and some very fine examples exist.

Wattles were generally adopted on these earlier buildings which consisted of short " V " gooves cut in the adjacent faces of the wall studs and an horizontal , usually oak, " stave " was forced between the wall studs and jammed in the grooves. "Stave" is/was nothing more than an oak split stick with tapers at each end. Two, three and sometimes more of these stave were inserted between the wall studs where the " wattles " ( usually split oak laths of varying width) were secured perpendicular to the staves by ( invariably ??) willow.
This kind of construction was the benchmark of of wattle construction for a number of centuries and mainly adopted up to the later part of the 17th C . From then on the " average " or " small cottage" building became more " spindly" in their construction and the materials for wattle was, basically, whatever wood was readily available in the vicinity. Wattle construction was similar but plenty of variations of direction and methods of wattle weave was used. As the purpose of wattle is/was basically to create a " mesh" for the daub to hold on to,it is inevitable that " anything goes " attitude was applied.

As to the actual daub, this was a mixture of ingredients as described by your research, but the urine which was also used in great quantities is omitted. There was not a balanced scientific formula to create a mix that would easily stick in the gaps of the wattles ( applied by HAND on both faces of the wattles) and stay in position once dried due to inclusion of straw.

As to how you would repair it in a traditional manner, well, it is a bit pointless asking us for a " short" cut, just buy yourself a PROPER gas mask and get on with it :lol: .

If you are of a " gentile" disposition ask your CO ( if listed) if you can omitt the P*$$ and the C**P. ( I would !!!) or better still don't tell him/her, just repair it , it will work fine and you will smell better. If the property is GRADE 1 listed pay some "slaves" to do it properly.

On a more serious note, a lot of the wattle and daub has disappeared over the centuries purely because it is very labour intensive on maintenance and once gone is gone. I do not condone destruction of wattle and daub as this should be conserved wherever possible, but modern and insulated infill panels should be seriously considered as long as the relevant authorities ( if required) are aware.
CO's are also a very good source of information ( usually, anyway) in the best approach to solve a particular restoration problem.

Middi

 

[biffvernon]

In Lincolnshire we call it 'mud and stud'. Nice introduction here:
http://www.emess.org/Mud%20and%20Stud.htm

 

[robgil]

Dung and Urine , from what I can gather was a by product of mixing the daub with horses or perhaps cattle of one sort or another.
I read somewhere that cattle and horse dung was more valuable as a compost than an additive to daub, which will work just as well without including it in the ingredients.
Do you have a photo of the damage you would like any particular advice on?

 

[oxalto]

Dung and Urine , from what I can gather was a by product of mixing the daub with horses or perhaps cattle of one sort or another.
I read somewhere that cattle and horse dung was more valuable as a compost than an additive to daub, which will work just as well without including it in the ingredients.
Do you have a photo of the damage you would like any particular advice on?

I attended a course with Marianne Suhr, who suggested that the ingredients of daub were straw and mud mixed together. The mixing of this by hand would have been a laborious process so instead the mud was thrown in a farmyard, court or road with straw on top and then cattle or horses would be driven back and forth over the top to do the mixing. Urine and dung might be unitentionally added as a result of the animals offloading whilst being driven. She felt that there were no need whatsoever to add these ingredients now. She also pointed out that the mud would have come from the ground right next to the property so any repairs would be most authentic if dug from the garden of the property. I will have some quite substantial areas of daub to reinstate before too long and will be using mud from my own garden, local straw(!) and am very hopeful that some abliging livestock may be found in the farm next to my house. If not, pehaps some American tourists would suffice. The process of daubing is a huge amount of fun and is a game for all the family, not least as you can exchange banter from either side of the wattle as you push your daub through to each other. I am expecting to recruit many local children to play mud pies with me and take their first steps on the road to restoring old properties.

 

[Flyfisher]

That all sounds sensible enough, but is any old local soil suitable for daub though?

The surviving daub in our house looks very clay-like and is in good condition. In some places the daub is grey and in others it is a sort of dull yellow/ochre. It looks very clay-like to my non-expert eye.

But our soil is very light and free-draining, which I wouldn't think is particularly good for making a good, sticky daub. It would probably just crumble away as soon as it dried out. So perhaps daub was not always made from local materials?

 

[biffvernon]

The tool to use for forking the daub into place is called a daubing fork. Here are two:

There is a series of excellent pictures that show how Lincolnshire mud and stud is constructed here:

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2006/02/333761.html

 

[robgil]

Usually you will find ponds around cottages, this is where the daub came from. You need to dig down deep to get to the clay , I had to go down almost a meter to get to the clay to do repairs on my place.

 

[Flyfisher]

We're into chalk less than one metre down. I've done a lot of digging here for drains and other services but have never found any clay. There is a nearby river but it's a chalkstream with a gravelly bed. Where silt does build up around the bends it's very sandy.

Still, I guess there must be clay somewhere within a few miles, probably more than one source judging by the different colours of our daub.

 

[middi]

The main constituents of daub is sub-soil, very poor in nutrients and "tacky when wet".

When one things about it, a rich top soil with a good dose of cow dung stuck on an exterior wall would have made a good vegetable plot.

As to Biff and the " forking daub", I bet that's what they thouht of it as well.

 

[biffvernon]

We're into chalk less than one metre down....
Still, I guess there must be clay somewhere within a few miles, probably more than one source judging by the different colours of our daub.

Use the subsoil just above the chalk. It will be just right. You really don't want pure clay - too many cracks when it dries.

 

[Flyfisher]

Interesting. I'll have to pay more attention when digging the next trench and have a closer look.