Wattle and Daub
The number 1 Iron Age building material
Wattle and daub were the main choices for lining walls right up to the mid-1800s when better building materials became available. It was used many thousands of years before the common era as far back as when people first started to leave their skin huts and tents and make more permanent structures, starting right after the ice age.
What is Wattle and Daub?
Wattle refers to a lattice wall made by weaving sticks through each other, and daub refers to the material used to coat the walls to make them waterproof. Daub is normally made from 4 main ingredients, clay, mud, animal dung, and a binder such as straw, reeds, hay, or horse hair.
It was common across most of Europe and the Middle East but everyone had their own preferred ratios to the daub mixture. Evidence of wattle and daub walls can still be seen today in very old buildings like cottages or the black beam homes often seen in the oldest parts of ancient towns and villages.
How long does Wattle and Daub last?
If made properly it can last for hundreds of years, with some of the older manor houses in England still bearing the original daub used to create them, with one example being just over 700 years old. The problem with this material is that it’s slightly soluble, so it’s most effective if protected from the rain. If you’ve ever seen an Iron Age roundhouse with wattle and daub walls, you’ll notice that the roof always overlaps the outer walls enough to protect them from the rain.
(The classic black beam building style, first becoming common during the Tudor period)
The larger buildings that had their walls exposed would normally be coated with something called whitewash, which was equal parts of lime and water mixed into a thin paint. It made the walls more resistant to the rain and gave them a nice bright and shiny look.
How do I make Wattle and Daub?
The first stage is making the wattle wall or fence. Simply gather a load of straight sticks and lay some on the ground vertically in front of you spaced 6 to 12 inches apart. Then take another stick and starting at the bottom, weave horizontally and go over the first stick and under the next and repeat. It’s very easy to get the hang of and you can make any size and shape wall you like if you can find enough sticks.
As for the daub, there were various recipes that depended mostly on where people lived. The main things you’ll need are clay, mud, and a binder with the additional option of adding some kind of grazing animal dung, though it’s not necessary.
Mix equal parts of clay and mud together, then when it’s well mixed add handfuls of your binding material. If you’re just trying this for an experiment then any kind of fibrous material will do, which includes grass, straw, reeds, hay, or any similar material. If you want to go the traditional route and also use animal manure, then mix this in with equal parts of clay and mud before adding the binder.
As for forming the daub, the clay can be very hard to mix with the softer materials, so the best thing to do is dig a little pit and put the clay and mud in, then take off your shoes and socks and get stomping. It’s hard work mixing daub and takes a while, but make sure you only add small amounts of your binder at a time because if there’s too much it can cause the material to crack when it dries.
As for applying daub, it’s quite straightforward, just take a handful and cram it onto the wattle, making sure to press it into the gaps in between so it gets a good grip on it. It can take a while to dry and you should always leave it to dry out naturally as heating it to speed up the process will cause it to crack more. The inside of the wattle wall should also be covered with daub and if possible, it’s best to do this by pressing on both sides at the same time to make sure there are as few air gaps as possible.
When it’s dry, parts of the wall will crack anyway, but there shouldn’t be anything too big, and if there is just touch it up with a bit more daub.
