Lath-n-Stuff™

photo of straw/clay wall corner partially stuffed photo of straw/clay wall corner fully stuffed photo of straw/clay wall corner after finish plaster application

Lath-n-Stuff is our signature straw/clay building system in which straw/clay is hand-stuffed into stud-frame wall cavities sheathed on both sides with wooden lath. The advantages of this straw/clay wall system compared to systems using slip forms with dense-packed straw/clay are the following:

  1. less straw — hand-stuffed straw/clay has a lower density than dense-packed straw/clay
  2. faster construction — because of the lower density, hand stuffing straw/clay is much faster than dense packing straw/clay; subsequent filling of resultant cracks and gaps is not required (see #'s 4 & 5 below)
  3. greater insulation value — because of the lower density, hand-stuffed straw/clay has a higher R-value than dense-packed straw/clay
  4. no shrinkage — hand-stuffed straw/clay does not shrink as it dries; dense-packed straw/clay develops cracks from shrinkage and gaps from settling as it dries
  5. less drying time — hand-stuffed straw/clay walls can be plastered immediately; dense-packed straw/clay walls require 1 week of drying time per inch thickness of material (3 months for a typical 12-inch dense-packed straw/clay wall)
  6. same ease of plastering — plaster adheres equally well to hand-stuffed straw/clay walls as to dense-packed straw/clay walls

Once the straw/clay walls are fully stuffed and all the voids filled, both the interior and exterior faces of the straw/clay walls are coated with a thick layer of earth plaster. This earth plaster is the key to success of the system—the desiccant properties of clay result in the earth plaster wicking moisture away from the straw/clay, evaporating it to the atmosphere. A thin coat of breathable finish plaster is then applied over the rough coat of earth plaster. Lime plasters are typically selected for exterior surfaces because of their weather resistance; the choice for interior finish plaster is usually based on aesthetics—lime, earth, and gypsum plasters are all appropriate. It should be noted that concrete stuccos are detrimental to straw/clay walls, and are therefore never recommended.

Because lath-n-stuff straw/clay walls can be adapted to any type of stud-frame wall system, construction details are similar to those for conventional stud framing. Please contact us for specifics regarding your natural building project.