Primitive Technology Tiled Roof Hut (Must Watch)

Here we have an awesome video from the now-famous Primitive Technology channel – featuring the construction of a tiled roof hut; completely from “prima material” – the raw materials of the forest, using nothing more than home made tools, bare hands and sheer ingenuity.

There’s an element of mime theatre to this video as we are continually guessing what he is going to do next.

First we see the him make an axe in the true stone-age fashion, from a rock fixed onto a wooden club. From here he cuts the poles used for the frame of the hut and knocks the poles in using rocks. Mortices are cut in the poles using crude stone chisel and wooden club. Finally the frame is lashed together using Loya canes as twine.

The next stage is the creation of the kiln. The grate is made from clay, with finger holes poked in it. Mud is used to build up the kiln walls, then a fire is lit under it.

Moe clay is dug from the riverbank and some crushed pottery is added to strengthen it. This will be used for the roof tiles. A wooden tile frame is created from twigs. Ash is put on a flat stone to stop the clay from sticking, and the tiles are shaped, one by one, with a tab formed.

Once dry, the tiles are placed in the kiln to be fired, which will make them brick-hard. The following day, the tiles are removed. They are ready to be laid on the roof! Starting with the lowest course, the tiles are hooked on – simple! The process is repeated, with a few tweaks to improve the kiln.

The ridge line tiles are created by folding them over a log, which gives the curve shape. He makes it look easy but it’s astonishing that all of this is done literally starting with his bare hands. No tools whatsoever from the outside world – aside from the camera equipment of course.

Now it’s time for the walls – these are made of stone. He’s even putting in an under-floor heating system, ok you are just showing off now. Finally it’s all packed together with mud and fired.

The key to all of this, really, is understanding how mud can be fired and turned into brick. It’s a perfect natural building material that has been used for thousands of years and we can see that this simple skills can enable one man to create a usable dwelling without any materials at all from the hardware store! The project took 102 days, but would have been 66 days were it not for rain days.

Primitive Technology Tiled Roof Hut (Must Watch) – Graphic © off-grid.info. Images: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P73REgj-3UE