Would you like to build a Thatched Hut as a long term shelter option?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ส.ค. 2024
- Building a Long-Term Thatched Hut Shelter
In this video, we'll walk you through the process of building a long-term thatched hut shelter using natural materials and traditional techniques. By following these steps, you'll create a sturdy and weather-resistant shelter that can provide comfort and protection for extended periods.
Materials Needed
Grass bundles (harvested in late summer to early autumn)
Cordage (for lashing and tying)
Hoop structures (to form the skeleton of the shelter)
Fork sticks (for creating raised beds)
Optional: Leather gloves for hand protection
Step 1: Harvesting Grass Bundles
Preparation: Ensure your hands are protected, either with leather gloves or by being cautious during handling.
Gathering Grass: Select a bundle of grasses and gently twist them to identify the location for cutting.
Cutting Grass: Use a saw with a serrated edge to cut through the bundle cleanly. Lay the cut grasses in a uniform direction, forming a sizable bundle.
Step 2: Creating Twine Balls
Prepare Cordage: Find the center of your cordage and mark it with a slipknot.
Winding Twine: Wind the cordage from both ends into balls, similar to yarn balls. These twine balls will be used for lashing bundles together.
Step 3: Lashing Hoop Structures
Determining Length: Measure approximately one-third of the overall length of your grass bundles to determine where to place the hoops.
Square Lashing: Secure the grass bundles to the hoop structures using square lashing technique. This involves wraps and fraps to create a sturdy connection.
Tying Off: Finish the lashing with clove hitches or knots, ensuring tightness and stability.
Step 4: Thatching the Shelter
Layering Grass Bundles: Lay the grass bundles over the hoops, overlapping like shingles to shed water effectively.
Tying Grass Bundles: Use the pre-made twine balls to tie down the grass bundles securely, preventing them from shifting or loosening over time.
Step 5: Adding Final Touches
Securing Grass Mats: Use additional grass mats to cover any remaining openings, ensuring the shelter is fully enclosed.
Building Raised Bed: Create a raised bed inside the shelter using fork sticks laid parallel to the walls. This bed will capture heat radiated from a hot rock placed inside the shelter.
Optional Features: Consider adding a raised door using a hoop structure and creating storage space underneath the raised bed by leaving one end open.
By following these steps, you'll construct a durable and sustainable thatched hut shelter capable of withstanding various weather conditions. This shelter provides not only protection but also a comfortable living space for long-term use. Remember to maintain the shelter by periodically tightening lashings and replacing grass bundles as needed.
About the School:
At Maine Primitive Skills School, individuals discover a haven dedicated to the exploration of survival techniques, primitive skills, and nature education. Led by survivalist Michael Douglas, who has taught wilderness and survival skills for over 30 years, the school offers a diverse range of courses catering to every skill level, from beginners to experienced outdoorsmen. Douglas, with his wealth of experience, has also served as an advisor on several TV shows, bringing his expertise to a wider audience. The school's mission is evident: to equip its students with the practical knowledge and hands-on experience necessary for success in wilderness and survival environments. Classes are diverse: mastering fire-starting methods to refining tracking abilities. The survival school has also served as a springboard for instructors, providing expert knowledge and guidance for those who wish to start their own wilderness and survival skills ventures. Based in Maine but teaching internationally.
This course is called Long Term Off Grid Shelter Building 5 Day Intensive, we do change the design each year.
www.primitiveskills.com
Instagram: / maine_primitive_skills...
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Your response is valid save for the use of such structures on every continent. The space is heated by rolling hot rocks in to a central pit or burying them beneath your sleeping area. The one in the video is still standing after hurricanes and snow storms and the parts we haven't torn down (we're building another this fall) still shed water. Come to a class. It is far more fun than watching the videos and you'll learn it for real.
Thank you Matt. We use the grasses near the school and harvest them after they go to seed in order to encourage thicker growth for the next years courses.
Using the chaff from wheat fields is the best form of thatch and can give you a good yard of material thickness, especially if you add a double layer.
Seasoning the thatch is important, as the smoke cures and rids the material of insects and mould.
Using a mixture of lime, mud and hay, you can then plaster the interior walls for a more permanent home and if you're going large, you can daub the outside as well. This is called mud and stud thatching and I've used it during a six month stay in the wilds of New Zealand.
My hut was still up [just] with no maintenance after 20 years when I visited it again. 1991-2011.
+DrLeavingsoon an addendum to this - the wilderness M+S hut didn't use chaff, naturally. I used tussock instead.
The problem is that nowadays, the straw from wheat is simply chopped up by the new combines. Most farmers don't want to waste the fuel cutting the wheat and then harvesting the straw.
That's why I'm thinking this would work well with cattails.
In wet areas reed-canary or couch grass grows about for feet. It is slower to rot than cattails and a good alternative.
Chaff is the husk of the grain. Miniscule in size....
No more Cattails. Invasive species has wiped them out.
It's good to learn different types of shelter building. You never know what materials might be available to work with in certain places of the world.
very nice, we made a long term shelter in washington at the school I go to, we used a hoop house style with grass walls and roof. I like your method alot. props.
Love this vid. We make bali huts, african thatches and umbrella thatches, but this is the REAL DIY version. Cheers.
Very nice presentation - Thank you for taking the time to film, edit and post this type of material for the general public. There are many approaches to primitive skills some filtering down from TBJ, some from LDO and some from others. Along the way their students have found modifications, tips and tricks to improve the methods. You, taking the time to show your methods will, no doubt, give people that have done this stuff for years another approach they may like to try out.
Thank you! Hope to see you on the trail!
I like this. I actually saw a video how to make an outdoor loom very simply and weave grasses to make mats that I think would work well on a thatched hut like this. Great video!
@MateWiggy Agreed! In the context of this course the approach is what to do with minimal tools to be independent the woods indefenetly. We gradually move students from metal tools to stone and bone tools so that it is an easy transition from "bushcraft" to comfortable "survival" without tools as they learn along the way.
Thanks! There is a big difference between what they portray on tv and what we do as instructors at our school and how we share skills with our students. Hopefully you can make it out to Dave Canterburys Spring Gathering. We'll be sharing skills all day Saturday, and other schools, like Sigma 3 are going to be sharing there craft as well. It's going to be a blast. Hope to see you there!
Yes, they came out and created a story for us to perform. It was a fun experience and a little frustrating as we wanted to share real skill sets and the importance of developing a community of skilled practitioners. After seeing our schools instructional vids, I hope you get a better idea of what we share.
learned alot such as the lashings of cordage and how to apply grasses. have you ever tried taking smoking the shelter to get out spiders and bugs? you can do it with a tin can and some hay
It's fun, and the final product is a water tight shelter that will last for four to seven years with only a day or two of effort. It is the next step after that awkward four day transition from domesticated living to earth living. For the first four days to four weeks we are in a debris hut and we modifiy it until we have a work room and storage for long term food stores. Than we build a longer term shelter, either w/ thatch, bark, or both depending on the season and materials in thee area.
Yes, we were featured on Doomsday Preppers. Sadly, they already had a story in their heads and missed what we had to offer. Our school has been going since August of 1989.
That's how it is on TV
@KonstantinKuehn You are correct. It would take about four days at this time of year to make a two person shelter with one person doing the work.
I was waiting for the the Girl to climb up and lay across the top.
Same
Lol me too
@huntingsurvival Thanks! We smudge as well using a flat piece of barks and an ember on wet leaves to generat the smoke. It's pretty cool watching the spiders rappelling to safety!
Thanks. Remember to use heated rock and avoid open flames. Grass shelters are more suited toward warmer climates, but serviceable here in Maine from Spring through Fall.
I love these type of shelter. strong and sturdy.
Excellent job. I have built my wigwam with cattail and birch bark. I'll use the grass for my skirt next time when I replace the cat tails.
wow that is FABULOUS! What's it like bug-wise? DOes it rain ticks on ya or did you smoke it out somehow? Really really cool man!
Thanks Ricardo! We'll be building a larger conical thatched hut beginning this winter.
Correct on the effectiveness of log structures in cool climates as the insulation of grasses is equal to or greater than wood, the heat retention is far less. This shelter is for seasonal migratory routes toward fishing areas in warmer weather. Tactical considerations make it a quicker, quieter shelter to build with far less signature on the landscape than a cabin. It is also easier to maintain a number of these for mobility rather than being a target at a fixed location.
wow very cool! looks cozy! how long did it take? and how many ppl helped? how long would it take to finish something like this as a single person? maybe 3-4 days??
nice video i bet it is warm . on a cold night but how long will the grass last till you need to do it again ?
Wow thanks I learned a lot! now I can do this since I will be going to a tropical place! Can't wait to try it!
It is so easy to make a wooden mallet in the bush I make them all of the time. you have a saw and the knife can be used as a drill or you can burn a hole through it and insert handle so easy to make and you can use it for many things.
You guys have some cool vids!!! Amazing that you can walk on that hut, must be strong wood.
that was fantastic!!! now is that for like 3 seasons? or would it work for winter also? I think adding pine branches to the outside may help for the winter???
really cool video, could you go into more depth on how to set-up the frame and the different knots (how to tie them and their best uses) if these videos are already on your channel i apologize in advance.
It's true, even a hot rock not properly brushed off. Defentiely a three season shelter here in Maine, and while it takes about four days to make on ones own, it only lasts for six or seven years before the grasses degrade. We built them every five years or so just because it's hard to justify debarking the trees that have lived long enough to reach the appropriate girth foe efiicient bark coverings. Elm was used here, as well as Basswood, but those trees are rare that would be big enough.
Awesome video, I was curious as to how much insulation the thatched hut provides. In terms of variance from the outside temp how many degrees would you say it is? Thanks
Can an interior fire be safely made in a thatch hut? I know to use dry,sparkless wood but still is it safe to make a fire and fall asleep in such a shelter?What other precautions should be taken?
Fascinating. So much work...
Yep, that Vid was really Informative, .It brought back some great memories to me from my Childhood, ... Thanks for sharing it mate! .. Tony
When the hut is done, I think you might want to make a small smokey fire just in the entrance way, for an hour or two, to kill off or flush out all the bugs from the thatched grass
@sneakyninja273 This years hut faired as well as the Augusta skating rink in that both suffered structural damage due to the excessive snow load. The debris hut is much stronger, an arch over a series of triangles, but a true survival shelter in that it's only purpose is to keep you warm and dry, no room for making snowshoes, etc. The added snow increases insulation and strength. Check out our "debris hut myths" video for an illustration of the structural integrity.
How long did the whole process take? Including harvesting all materials? I am really curious.
You make a sharp object, like a knife. It doesn't have to be metal, it can be a rock that is sharpened against another rock. Many things can be sharp.
Hope I helped.
Great video
is a fire in winter/snow conditions necessary to stay warm over night? will the thaches catch a flame too easily to do that inside the shelter, probabyl with a little hole on the top?
Great work! Thank you for sharing your knowlege! Best regards Sepp
This could have been a much better video if you would have used a microphone worn on your body and told your buddies in the background and keep their mouth shut. All the background noise of people talking made it very difficult to listen to your voice. Despite this complaint I still give your video a thumbs up for the job well done building it
Thanks. We are putting resources by for a quality mic for the school. The course participants aren't always the most quiet during video opportunities.
heat up rocks and put them in a hole in the ground inside the shelter
far out! i met a young woman on a plane who teaches at your school. do i need to attend the school or just watch/study all the videos?
The grasses last about four to seven years depending on humidity and snow depth.
Cool Video. Odd to see you doing all of this, and at same time hearing cars and trucks driving by. LoL
Wow, excellent building skill.
Very nicely done. Kudos!
Yes, it is I. The preppers folks had their perspective of how our school, family, and I shoudl be portrayed, and then there is what we actually work at offering folks. My sense of it is that they are two very different visions, but that the audience for one could benefit from the efforts of the other.
Yea i live in Maine!!!!
Wow, that was really cool.
yeah i saw your episode and thought Bushcraft immediately thats the sort of thing i want to learn instead of using guns and underground bunkers(although they are good they do not last)
Grest shelter it looks like a lot of work but if your there for 5 or six days it looks very comfortable you could survive in a hut like that for months if nedded
It lasts four years
met you all at the gathering nice channel i have footage posted from your fire methods. Subbed
Yeah, we do what we can to avoid the whole bursting in to flame thing.
Really nice video! -What cordage were used to build the hut?
Traditionally, retted basswood (Tilia americana) was used. We peel it in the spring and let it rot in a stagnant pond for three weeks before peeling the lengthy and durable fibers from the outer bark. This tree also copices very well and makes great food, medicine, and basket making material. It is one of may top ten bow drill fire making woods.
Cool, thanks for your answer!
Would scissors work with dryer grass
Super Camp!
Greetings!
Harry
How much twine do you need?
How long does the shelter last?
How water proof is it?
This shelter lasted four years. In that time it was water tight except the center opening. About 200 yes of cordage was needed.
Primitive Skills That is absolutely remarkable! I am so glad you decided to share it's construction here on TH-cam. Thank you very much!
Anthony Rizzo
Wow, I learned allot from this video. Thanks
Awesome video
2:50 - big foot finally caught on camera in the background. must be :-)
good vid, cheers
A quick knapped stone blade will work instead of the saw, for what it's worth.
+Homini Lupus Agreeed! Sadly, Maine has great braiding stone (Granite and Schist), but native knappable rock is rare. The original nations here used quartzite, which is well beyond the talent of the average practitioner, for bird points and the smaller projectile points. Kin Chert, which is really a rhyolite, was sought after and traded, but outside trade routes were preferred, usually for rock found native to New York and the People of the Long House.
I love it
lol nice sound recording I thought a musquito was entering my right ear at 05:39
great video
Wouldn't it be easier to build your raised bed before placing all the grass?
Cool stuff!
The videos, no matter how much info they contain, will always be a poor substitute for actual dirt time. I'm not trying to talk you in to going to this or any other school, but to encourage you to interact with each skill using as much of your being as you can plug in to the experience. This includes emotional investment as well as the senses. Each of the skill sets connects us to the landscape as well as the wisdom of our collective ancestry; thus increasing our operational intelligence.
Very nice skill. Thanks for sharing.
zoran
How much thatch did you use for this shelter?
how do you survive in the jungle without a sharp object? (knife, razor, etc)
Built one lasted ten years no mortgage or taxes or power bill
Your presentation was great, thank you! check us out here in the Smoky Mountains in the Tennessee area
Why do you need to de-bark the trees?
We call that wikiup here in Oklahoma!
If this is primitive skills...where did the string come from?
Retted basswood fibers (Tilia americana) is our preferred cordage material, but willow, milkweed, dogbane, and the rootlets of most needle leaf trees are rugged enough and long lasting enough to be used if they don't make contact with the ground. Thanks for watching! Maybe you can get out to a class sometime!
+Tim Philfellinabrook pwned
What are you going to do in Maine when it's 50o degrees below o. Maine winters are awful cold. I spent time upstate New york in winter jumping up and down to stay warm. Do what native Americans do, they are survivors, my friend. Best Regards Digger.
well done !
I saw you on TV.
oh gawd that long grass is like woodtick hell
Sedums can be planted on thatch roofs. :-)
that's it I'm subscribing!!!!
what skill?
cool
1:40 i swear this guy was on "doomsday preppers"
The folks driving those cars are on their morning commute, a survival situation of the worst kind. If they are questioning the depth of an existence that robs them of their present for the promise of a cushy retirement and are afraid of the woods and anything "different" from the "status quo" than they are in survival mode and they DO need these skills. If anything to stop the sense of quiet desperation/shallowness and replace it with a sense of what is real and meaningful to them. Yes?
:0 I SAW THIS GUY ON DOOMSDAY PREPPERS!
Yes. That was us. Luckily the skills and where they bring folks speak louder than the story they created.
What do you mean?
Lucid Pharaoh On the show, they were obsessed with having a story about a family constantly training in fearful response to some oncoming event. Our students and instructors laughed hard at what the producer worked so hard to come up with to fit that story. They also commented on all the skills missed to get such a story. I guess sharing skills in cultivated bounty on the landscape with ancestral skills isn't as exciting to the sponsors. While a tragic loss of an opportunity it was still a riot to hear the dramatic voice and music trying to portray bird language skills.
Your episode was still my favorite though :) i am totally into primitive survival and ancient, native american living :) its a balance of spiritual energy that you do not get from hoarding guns and stocking up on food ;D
I learned a lot
how long did this take
+Paul Jordan It took your people a little over four hours to make a four person hut.
The poison ivy gets all over me
COOL!
What kinda of wood you uses for the frame?
Maple, ash, elm, and birch can be used. Wherever saplings are growing thick and will self prune over the decades, we can thin them for this shelter and encourage a healthy stand of trees in our wake.
Could you do the same thing with Cattails?
Yes, though cattails, while slightly more flame resistant, are quicker to rot due to their higher sugar content. You can slow the process by making sure the bottom (first layer) doesn't make contact with the ground, but expect about two to four years out of cattail thatch compared to six to eight with reed-canary grass or other grasses.
2-4 years is not bad at all. In that time, there will be plenty to replace it.
After all, these aren't permanent structures.
Oh, and one more question; if you eat the cattail bottoms (not the rhizomes) how do you get past the taste? They just taste like old swamp water to me. I'd have to be on the verge of starvation to keep those down.
The roots are pretty bland and the process is tedious. The young shoots with the out leaves peeled are easy to grab and taste more like a spicy cucumber. The tops while still green are also abundant and more pleasant to the taste.
No
thanks for letting me know how to build a shelter for me and 2 other people (we are running away)
+Kyttyboo Cool
awesome hope it works out👍
This may sound stupid, but can you have a fire inside? I'm going to assume no.
+Bipolrgod808 Fires make grass huts exciting. Unfortunately the price you pay is the loss of your awesome shelter. We use hot rocks.
oh ok, cool. yeah, i'll subb and look around a bit.
Sounds like a lot of traffic out in those woods
very good video. Thanks.........but I think my allergies were acting up just watching it.
It looks like a gillie suit on a tent and if that is dry grass wouldint it cach fire easy