Solid houses - made of clay, of course

Clay is one of the oldest building materials in human history. The indigenous peoples built their houses predominantly with clay, a sand-containing clay colored yellow to brown due to iron compounds. Even today, clayey loam is still an important building material in many regions, in dry, hot Egypt as well as in the high, icy areas of the Himalayas and the Andes.
The use in such different climate zones already shows two of the most important properties of this all-rounder: protection from heat and cold. These properties were further improved when humans began firing the clay into bricks, which also provide protection against moisture. Houses were built this way for many centuries.

Nothing is so good that it couldn't be improved

Inventors repeatedly thought about how to make even better use of the good properties of clay. In 1917, the first patent for the production of expanded clay was granted in the USA. Clay balls are fired in a rotary kiln at 1,200°C without any chemical additives. During this process, the balls expand, the surface melts and forms a protective outer skin. Fine-pored, light clay beads of high strength are created.
In the mid-1960s, a further improved process for producing expanded clay using dry processing was developed, which no longer produces wastewater or other waste. The technology, which has now become significantly more refined, makes it possible to produce a material with precisely controllable grain size, density and compressive strength: expanded clay - for the layman it is just inconspicuous balls of fired clay, for the expert it is a great, versatile, thoroughly environmentally friendly building material.

Good for people...

The ceramic outer shell of the expanded clay balls has particularly good heat storage capacity; The air cell structure enclosed in its core ensures above-average thermal insulation. This means that in winter, when outside temperatures are low, you can get by with the heating turned down and still not freeze. In summer, even when the outside temperature is high, the walls stay pleasantly cool inside and maintain a constant temperature. This saves heating costs in winter and invigorates in summer.
The small clay beads also have a whole range of other excellent properties. They are odorless, do not absorb water, and do not mold or rot. Expanded clay balls are also immune to acids and alkalis, frost and heat. It quickly becomes clear that an ideal building material was found decades ago that can withstand all the forces that affect a building day after day, year after year.

... good for the environment

Modern technology uses and improves the properties of clay and also uses this valuable raw material sparingly, because almost four cubic meters of expanded clay are produced from one cubic meter of clay. The depth of the clay pits is 20 meters; Just one square meter of pit area produces 76 cubic meters of expanded clay - enough building material for an entire single-family home. The clay pits are then recultivated and used for agriculture; no climate-changing bodies of water are created.