This house was rebuilt at the Museum in 2004 modeling on Mr. Trang A Lu’s house in Lao Chai 1 Village, Y Ty Commune, Bat Xa District, Lao Cai Province. Its area is more than 80m2. Twenty villagers spent 56 days to complete the work.
The walls are 45 cm thick and 4m high, made of a mixture of clay and small stones. 150m3 of clay and 14m3 of stones were used. Clay was put in wooden moulds and pestle. A team of six people work with the molding work. One people put stones and green bamboo in the mould; two others fill the moulds with clay; two people pestle; and the last one smoothes the wall surface. After placing moulds on the walls, clay is added to make the walls hard; then the moulds are removed.
The straw grass roof is 45cm thick. In roofing, the grass root is arranged downwards. Approximately 10 tons of grass (about 1,500 bunches) were used for this house roof.
An outhouse next to this house is used as the barn and stable.