RenderClay
Enduit à l'argile
The render that regulates humidity best — and the one that least tolerates being wetted.
A decorative render of raw earth and grain husks: the fibre stays visible in the material, and it is the fibre that makes the pattern.
Photo Loïc ROSO · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
At a glance
- Water
- Keep it dry
- Outside
- Indoors
- Floor
- Walls only
- Upkeep
- Periodic
- Vapour
- Vapour-open
What it is made of
Clay as the binder, sand as the filler, plant fibres (straw, hemp) against shrinkage; no firing and no chemical set.
Application
The support
An absorbent, rough support: brick, straw bale, earth, wood with lath. On a smooth ground, a sanded bonding primer. Dampen lightly.
Tools
Trowel, wooden float, finishing trowel, sponge, mixer.
Steps
- 1Mix the clay with sand, water and fibre to a plastic paste; let it rest.
- 2Thick body coat, pressed on by hand or float.
- 3Thin finish coat, laid before the first is fully dry, then compressed and sponged smooth.
Drying
One to three weeks depending on thickness and ventilation; air the room, without strong draughts.
The trade’s general sequence, at about 20 °C. Where a producer publishes its own data sheet, that sheet wins.
Price
One product, from a single producer
Cheapest pot
61.74 €
12.5 kg
Per kilo, from
4.94 €
Per m², from
not published
| Product | From | €/kg · €/L | €/m² |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enduit terre/argile finBiologement | 61.74 € | 4.94 €/kg | — |
Material prices incl. VAT as published by this catalogue’s producers, samples excluded. Labour is never included, and a price per m² only exists where the producer publishes a coverage.
Upkeep
A soft cloth, never a scrub: a mark comes out by light sanding or a touch-up, not with a sponge.
- Demands · Periodic
- Vapour-open