Did you enjoy making castles out of sand when you were young?
You’ll likely find the same joy and satisfaction when making clay bricks from homemade cement.
And the best part is that no one will mock you because this is a job for adults, although children may play their role in this just fine.
Many people are overlooking the importance of some basic materials such as cement.
But, as you may already know, this is an essential ingredient to an off the grid lifestyle.
If you are trying to live in the forest or if your area was just hit by a natural disaster, then homemade cement will become your most practical friend.
You won’t believe how easy it is to make.
And the best part – it’s FREE.
Step 1: You first need to find some clay or mud
An important aspect you need to take into consideration here is that the mud should have a high clay content.
You’ll figure the consistency by molding a mud ball. If it maintains its form, then it’s the right kind of material.
If you feel like you can’t find a good initial source of mud, simply pour water over the soil of a flowerpot.
Then, after you finish you should head over to step 2 and continue the process.
Step 2: Find a bucket and fill it will mud.
Depending on what you want to build, you can choose the size of the bucket.
The awesome thing about homemade cement is that you can build almost anything with it: from bricks and shelters to ovens for cooking.
Believe me, making cement is easy and really entertaining.
Even kids can do it and, in the end, you will be left with a beneficial lesson for the little ones, as well as a homemade cement brick.
Tips for building a better cement:
- Aim for achieving a good texture
If you use the survival cement as mortar, then it is better if you make a mixture that is damper and thinner.
It will easily spread to every joint of whatever you are building.
For me this is the ideal mix when making any type of cement.
- Use water moderately
When making cement it is really important to not drown your mud.
It is better if you underuse water in this case, and it is much easier to add more water and try to re-create the mud once it gets harder instead of waiting for it to dry up.
- Creating the mud form correctly
When building something, in our case bricks, you should take into consideration the length and shape of the bricks.
Carefully calculate what exactly you want to build and what sizes you need in order to build at least somewhat symmetrical object.
Please bear in mind that this is a very easy project.
If you have kids, you can even put them up to the test, and they will surely finish this task successfully.
Homemade cement has been used throughout the ages and is still being used now by different aborigine populations due to its easy mechanics.
It also fits well to various types of constructions and it’s basically just a mix of mud and water – two ingredients which are easy to come by and together create one of the most durable resources you can use when confronting a crisis.
I hope this tutorial will tend to some of your basic needs of providing a shelter.
Be it that you use this method during rough times, or just as a Sunday mini-project experiment, I would love to receive your feedback and shots of the outcome, if possible.
May you remain in good shape and with an ever-expanding appetite for everything survival and prepping.
