Many people in the States have been curious about my mud hut and the maintenance of it…. The time finally came when my hut was looking pretty shabby and needed a new cow dung smear coating, so I decided to document this bi-monthly routine to shed some light on the process… enjoy!
Step One: Move everything off the floor space, especially the vinyl covering. Big furniture can stay there (you can smear around it)
Step Two: Gather ingredients for the smear: 1 bucket water, 1 bucket sand, 1 bucket fresh cow dung (sometimes I mix in dudu dust, a pesticide, for extra bug control)
Step Three: Empty the contents of the cow dung and sand directly onto the floor space to be covered.
Step Four: Slowly pour in the water as you mix the dung and sand together until you get a mixture that is about the consistency of pudding.
Step Five: Smear! Smear the dung along the edges where the wall meets the floor first and then continue in wide sweeping motions… Leaving a thin but sufficient layer of the dung mixture behind. I go underneath all of my furniture and tables and double up on areas of high traffic, like the front door landing space. Here is my friend Jane showing me the ropes since I’m still not the greatest at smearing.
Step Six: Let dry for 30 minutes or until floor becomes light green in colour and move all the furniture back in place.
Step Seven: WASH YOUR HANDS haha
This process must be completed every two months in my house to keep it clean and to kill the pesky bugs like jiggers. All of the material in the cow dung kills anything pesky in my house. The walls are a mixture of mud and cement and do not need to be re-mudded as they are a more permanent structure that doesn’t get any traffic or erosion to them. They can be sprayed lightly with a chemical and water mix if bugs become a problem. Other mud houses in my village are re-mudded EVERY WEEK because they have small children in and out all the time that are crawling on the floors, and because most don’t have the vinyl cover I use in parts of my house that really make the smear last longer. And for the question in everyone’s mind… NO, it doesn’t smell! Yes while you are doing the smearing and are up-close-and-personal with the dung it does, but once it dries, you smell nothing!
MyKenyaExperience 