Cseri Miklós, Füzes Endre (szerk.): Ház és ember, A Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum évkönyve 12. (Szentendre, Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum, 1998)

SZENTI TIBOR: A hódmezővásárhelyi hagyományos épületek falai és építőanyagai

Tibor Szenti WALLS AND BUILDING MATERIALS IN THE TRADITIONAL BUILDINGS OF DETACHED FARMSTEADS AROUND HÓDMEZŐVÁSÁRHELY Only the landowner had the right to burn bricks in the feudal system in Hódmezővásárhely, therefore, the population of the region set up earth buildings. The heat and sound insulation of these buildings is excellent even today. We mention first the wall built of adobes. The sundried bricks were made in the detached farmsteads from earth of lesser quality. The earth was mixed with chaff and winnowing for a good coherence. The bricks were dried in the sun and when erecting a wall, normally without foundation, they were laid upon each other. The thickness of the wall had to be 50-60 cm including the daub. Thin-liquid mud mixed with chaff and winnowing stuck the adobes together. Stamping earth between two boards made the cob wall. The layers were about 28-32 cm high and about 60 cm wide, included the later applied daub. Reed, sprigs, straw, sedge were used to provide coherence. Either they were mixed evenly into the earth or they were laid on the top of each layer of earth and stamped, after which the earth was watered. Laths and poles often strengthened the cob wall. For walls with pile structure both of above mentioned methods were used, mainly in areas exposed to ground water and floods. Strong piles were fixed in the walls vertically at distances of 2,5-3 m. Ceiling and roof constructions held them together in such a way that the building was supported by an integral framework of piles. Fences made from sun-dried bricks were also common, mainly to separate the run of animals from the clean yard of the farmhouse. Bricks became widespread for constructions in the detached farmsteads not earlier than the second half of the 19th century. At the beginning, they were used for the foundation of bigger buildings, for chimneys, for gables on the short ends and for paving. Shaped bricks served as building material of ovens, and bricks lined the wall of well pits. Broken burnt roof-tiles were mixed to the earth to make the cob wall stronger, they served as foundation of ovens and covered the foot of walls and the pavement. (By the end of the 19th century, roofs were covered with round-end tiles.) Detached farmsteads used wood as well in constructions. Smearing mud on laths made wattle-and-daub walls. Wooden planks were used to build separating walls, wooden parapets were set up under overhanging roofs, plank gables closed the short end of the houses and the wall above the crib in the stalls was lined with planks. Niches and cabinets were cut in the walls of the rooms and shelves were fixed on the walls. The walls offered thus storing space and as such were useful for the dwellers. The walls in the detached farmsteads needed regular maintenance. Twice a year, in spring and autumn, after applying a new layer of daub and white-washing, the dwellers highlighted the walls along the bottom by a 30-40 cm wide black or seldom ochre streak. After the First World War, well-to-do farmers introduced colour-washing and house-painters made use of paper patterns.