Clay-based flooring initiative aims to give Ugandans access to cheaper, cleaner housing

A cheap, eco-friendly flooring system is helping to improve health and bring down construction costs in Uganda. The clay based earthen floors use local earth instead of cement, helping to reduce carbon emissions and when replacing traditional mud floors, help reduce dust as well as disease causing pests.

Ugandan company Earth Enable is at the forefront of the initiative, working to give people access to better, cheaper housing, while also reducing the carbon footprint of the construction industry.

But for customers, one of its main attractions is the cost, says Alex Wanda, a construction officer with Earth Enable in the town of Jinja, some 130 kilometres from the capital Kampala. “For the cement floor, it is expensive. Why? The client will have to buy cement, will have to buy the gravel, will also have to buy sand and in big quantities, and all that is money, vis-a-vis earthen floor. For us, we need only murram and you find out that the client doesn’t feel like maybe you are oppressing him. It’s very easy".

The murram, a type of red gravely soil that makes up the majority of the flooring, is easily available across the country and just needs to be dug up. It's then mixed with sand and water and compacted. After being left to dry for two weeks, more material is applied. It's finally topped off with a sealant made from clay and varnish.

Getting rid of dust and pests

Earth Enable say their flooring system is also more hygienic, by making it easier to keep homes clean and pests out.

“Currently our communities, those that we are serving, have been facing issues that are a result of the dust that comes from the mud floors and the mud plasters. Such diseases has been like flu, malaria where by mosquitoes hide in those dusty places. We have also had incidences of jiggers, the lice, and all those other insects that bites people’s bodies, and also the bedbugs. But once we install for people these floors that are decent, without the dust, we get to get rid of all of these,” says Noeline Mutesi, Marketing Manager at Earth Enable.

Simon Tigawalana has had the flooring installed in his home. As a local leader, he was one of the first to get it. He says it's made a difference to the quality of life for him and his 16 children.

“I am very happy because there is no dust in the house like there used to be. The floor used to have holes that the rats had dug and rats used to disturb us a lot but now there are no rats in the house,” he says.

Housing deficit

Uganda remains one of the poorest countries globally, with about 42% of the population living in extreme poverty. According to official figures, the country faces a housing deficit estimated at 2.6 million units, expected to hit 3 million by 2030.

To bridge the deficit, the country needs an estimated 300,000 housing units per year, mainly in rural areas, where housing quality and availability remain pressing concerns.

One of the reasons for this poor-quality housing is the high cost of construction materials such as cement, bricks and labour.

This flooring is one way to bring that bill down.

The company also offers flexible payment options to help people afford it.

“We don’t ask them to pay for the money upfront, we get to spread it over a period of time where someone gets to pay in instalments and this is in turn becoming very much affordable to them. And we don’t also enforce a particular amount for someone whenever they have to make a payment, it is entirely up to them to make a payment that is available to them at a particular moment,” says Mutesi.

Carbon emissions

Earth Enable has been promoting and installing clay based earthen floors in Uganda since 2017 with Jinja district being their first location in the country.

Some 10,000 households have so far benefited from this initiative.

While initially concentrated in Jinja, Earth Enable plans to scale the program all over the country.

For a country already highly impacted by climate change, low-carbon housing innovations like Earth Enable provide a much needed solution.

According to the United Nations Environment Program, the building and construction sector is by far the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, accounting for a staggering 37% of global emissions.

The production and use of cement, steel, and aluminium have a significant carbon footprint.