Wattle and Daub
Riven hazel or oak staves woven between the studs of a timber frame, then daubed both sides with a mix of subsoil, straw and water. The frame carries the load; the panel closes it.
Carbon and evidence
How This Is Made
An Environmental Product Declaration is issued by a manufacturer against a declared unit. This record has neither, so it states sourced facts about process and provenance instead of a carbon figure.
The standard infill of English timber-framed building from the medieval period onward
Process
Feedstock
Earth
Subsoil with straw and coppiced hazel or oak staves; historically with animal hair and dung
Process heat
No heat
Binder
Clay
Fabrication
Site-formed
Sourcing: site-won to local
Who Builds It
Specialist trade
Rare in the UK
Labour-intensive and slow to dry, and it shrinks as it does — the second daub coat is what closes the shrinkage cracks
End Of Life
Separable
Daub returns to subsoil and the staves compost; the frame is released undamaged
Maintenance: Limewash or lime plaster finish, renewed periodically; patched in place with fresh daub
Specification Risk
What a specifier has to resolve before this can be built.
- Certification
- No Agrement and no published U-value for the panel; thermal performance must be argued case by case
- Fire
- The daub is non-combustible but the staves and straw are not; no Euroclass classification is held
- Warranty
- Workmanship warranty only
- Insurance
- Normally encountered in listed and historic work, where it is expected rather than questioned
- Supply
- Very few contractors outside conservation work
Read This Honestly
- •Not structural. The timber frame carries the load; the panel fills it.
- •Thermal performance is poor by contemporary standards. Specifying it for a new build means arguing the case on other grounds.
- •A cement render or an impermeable paint will trap moisture and rot both panel and frame.
Design & Specification Notes
Riven hazel or oak staves woven between the studs of a timber frame, then daubed both sides with a mix of subsoil, straw and water.
Material Note
An infill panel, not a wall in its own right. Almost no process energy sits in the material; what governs it is the frame, the finish and keeping water off the panel.
Typical Uses
- •Facade cladding
- •Weather protection
- •External accents
Key Performance
Weather-resistant finish for facade exposure.
Specification Actions
- •Establish whether the subsoil is site-won and its clay content tested — the daub is mixed to the soil, not to a recipe.
- •Confirm the finish is lime, not cement or a plastic paint; a sealed face will rot the staves and the frame.
- •Record the panel as separable — the daub returns to subsoil and the staves compost, leaving the frame intact.
Indicative Health & Indoor Air
Unfired subsoil, straw and coppiced wood. Historic panels may carry later cement repairs or lead paint on the finish.
Products in this category
6 products from 4 manufacturers · 329 in this category. Ordered by the evidence each record holds, never by commercial standing.
Specification
- Finish
- Daubed earth over woven staves
- Service life
- 60 years