In Uganda, an innovative clay-based flooring system is transforming lives, offering a healthier home environment, cutting construction costs, and reducing carbon emissions. Developed by Earth Enable, a social enterprise, these earthen floors are made using locally sourced murram, a reddish gravel-like soil.
The material replaces traditional cement, making the process both affordable and environmentally friendly. Once compacted, dried, and sealed with a mixture of clay and varnish, the result is a durable, low-dust floor that also helps keep disease-carrying pests at bay.
“For cement floors, clients need to buy cement, gravel, and sand in large quantities, which gets expensive,” explains Alex Wanda, a construction officer with Earth Enable in Jinja, about 130 kilometres from Kampala. “With earthen floors, we only need murram, which we can dig up locally. It’s simple, cost-effective, and doesn’t burden the client.”
Beyond cost savings, the floors bring significant health benefits. Traditional mud floors can trap dust and harbour pests like mosquitoes, jiggers, and bedbugs. “Our communities often suffer from diseases like flu and malaria linked to these poor conditions,” says Noeline Mutesi, Earth Enable’s Marketing Manager. “But once our floors are installed, the dust disappears, and so do the pests.”
Simon Tigawalana, a local leader and early adopter, says the flooring has changed daily life for his large family. “The rats used to dig holes in our floor and disturb us at night. Now, the house is clean and pest-free. Even the dust is gone.”
With an estimated 2.6 million-unit housing shortage in Uganda, a number expected to reach 3 million by 2030, affordable housing solutions are urgently needed. Rural areas are especially hard-hit, where conventional building materials like cement and bricks are typically unaffordable.
Since launching operations in 2017 in Jinja district, Earth Enable has provided earthen floors for over 10,000 households and is now working to expand across the country.
Earth Enable’s solution addresses this challenge head-on. By offering flexible payment plans, the company ensures the service remains accessible. “We don’t require full payment upfront,” says Mutesi. “Clients pay in instalments, on their own terms, making it much easier for families to improve their homes.”
Uganda is also grappling with the impacts of climate change. As the construction sector accounts for nearly 37% of global greenhouse gas emissions, largely due to materials like cement and steel, low-carbon innovations like Earth Enable’s floors offer an essential path forward.
Written by Kweku Sampson
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