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Although houses made of clay and straw are extremely popular in the world, to many they still look like old houses that lack the usual amenities and modern solutions.
However, the creator of the ecological lifestyle blog Ieva Kazakevičiutė and her family discovered the golden meaning: they will soon move to a straw and clay house near Marijampolė, which will not only be ecological, but will have all the comforts and a modern interior dominated by natural colors. and materials.
“My goal is to live comfortably and consume as little as possible,” says Ieva, who shares tips on developing these habits in small steps on her blog. Ieva is also one of the creators of the “Sustainability Academy” project, which will help Lithuanian capital companies to be more sustainable.
The lifestyle, trying to leave as little footprint as possible on the ground, accompanied the girl from an early age: her mother produces natural cosmetics and natural and organic food in the Kazakevičius family is common. So a long time ago a mud and straw house was built.
“We wanted to create the most welcoming and natural environment possible, so the house has natural shapes. As in nature, it doesn’t have exact 90-degree angles, interior details, from clay, wood, and other natural materials, says Ieva. “The walls are covered with decorative clay, the ceilings are made of wood.”
It is not so easy to notice that this house is exceptional from the outside, but there is a clue inside: a “truth box”, where you can see that there is only straw and clay on the walls.
Workers install the so-called truth box in most thatched houses.
Incidentally, finding workers for the construction of the house was not difficult. Ieva is especially happy with the roof covered with authentic tiles. These were made by a Dzūk master.
It may seem like something has to be given up in a straw house, let’s say plastic, that this form of construction can make it difficult to install certain amenities, but the Ieva family did not face such difficulties in construction, they used materials that are really necessary: “People in thatched houses sometimes even avoid installing a shower. We wanted to live comfortably.”
One of the biggest challenges in construction was the introduction of electricity, since the electrical installations in thatched houses are slightly different from those of conventional houses. The main details and connections were downloaded by the family from abroad, since they do not exist in Lithuania. It is also possible to save the environment in this area: the family has chosen a minimal solar power plant for their own use.
Although the family chose a more expensive construction method, they are confident that the house will pay off over time.
“Some people collect straw and shake the clay. We hire people to make straw shields, to plan and carry out construction, ”said Ieva.
The walls of the straw houses are very thick, half a meter thick, so they retain heat very well and have minimal heating in winter. They are also air permeable, there is constant air circulation in the house, there is no mold, so this house is suitable for people with allergies.
If there was a fire in that house, the clay would not allow the fire to spread, so the house will not burn.
It is also interesting that everything that was used to build this house, all the materials that have served, can return to nature. It’s also worth mentioning that when building a house with blocks of straw and clay, there is almost no construction waste left.
To prevent the house from overheating in the summer, the windows were positioned accordingly: in the summer, when the sun rises above the horizon, the house would get less heated, and in winter, when the sun moves a little lower, the house it would get hotter.
The family planned the house on one level to integrate more with the natural landscape and not stand out from the common plain in Lithuania. The colonists are already planning landscaping work.
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