Localities where Adobe Works
Quentin
Wilson and
Associates, specializes in solar adobe design and construction. He grew
up in the South Valley of Albuquerque, New Mexico where he watched adobe
bricks being made. In the fifth grade, he made miniature adobes on cookie
sheets in his mother’s oven in order to construct house models for
a class assignment. By age thirteen he made full-sized adobes in the back
yard and ruined the grass. Later, he traveled a bit, went through the
Army, and graduated eventually from the University of New Mexico with
a major in physics, minors in math, chemistry, and education in 1970.
After teaching high school two years and community college math for three
more, Quentin moved into professional solar adobe construction in 1976
as the Project Manager and Instructor for the Sundwellings Demonstration
Project at Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, NM. He became a licensed general contractor
in the State of New Mexico in 1982. He has been building homes and teaching
seminars and workshops ever since. In the fall of 1995 he established
and taught the full-time Adobe Construction Program at Northern New Mexico
Community College. His website, quentinwilson.com, lists the course schedule and many other resources related to working with adobe.
Q: I am involved in the design for a passive solar home in Maryland. Are you aware of any sources of adobe bricks on the east coast, or do you suspect we would have to cast our own?
A: I don't know of anyone making adobe bricks in the area at the moment. A manufacturer in this area has shipped them to Washington, D.C. That is not viable unless cost is no object. Bricks were made by English immigrants in Geneva, NY, some Amish or Quakers for barns and sheds in PA, and there were two rammed earth homes in DC. So the project would be unique in this time but not without precedent.
Q: I would like to build an adobe garage for my Harley Davidson. I live in Nashville. The climate is quite wet here. Should this cause any problems? Will my garage just turn to wet mud. Yuck what a mess. Also do you think the leaking oil will cause any problems with the foundation.
A: Is this a prank message from my cousin Kent in Nashville, the only person I know who has a Harley that leaks oil? Nashville is a fine place for adobe. The garage should not be in a valley subject to flooding or puddling. A good foundation with a concrete or block stem wall that gets eight inches above the finished grade would be in order. Finish it off with a good pitched roof with at least twelve or sixteen inches of overhang and the walls will be fine. Cement based stucco on the exterior would be a good idea, too. The major obstacle will be making or importing adobes. About three weeks of dry, sunny weather are needed to make adobes on the ground. Walls can be built during intermittent rain as long as they are kept covered between work sessions. The final problem will be that upon completion the Harley will be living in a building that is stronger and in many other ways superior to the dwelling of its human companions. I wouldn't want it any other way for my bike, either.
Q: In Nova Scotia it is very cold and we just do not build Adobe houses, or anything Adobe, let alone Mexican for that matter.
There simply aren't any professionals dedicating any time to the "real thing" here. There would be no way to build a house here unless one is prepared to pay double, or perhaps triple the price. And some of us aren't millionaires! Hence I ask myself - "What is the next best thing to achieve the Mexican look"? The fact that people do like the Mexican Adobe design style is a compliment, especially if they are trying to duplicate the style.
A: I am sure there are earthen homes somewhere in NS but they will indeed be few and far between. When the Pilgrims hit the beach in Massachusetts, they had no clue how to build, nor did they have tools. Their first winter was in dugout earthen structures. It took some time to develop abilities and acquire tools to build the log homes we usually think of. There are Viking sites all up and down the coast up into Labrador which were stones mortared together with mud. Many of these coastal areas had no trees that could be used for structures anywhere nearby so even more modern builders would have used some masonry until roads were available to bring in trees and lumber. There are plenty of examples of earthen homes in Ireland, England and Scotland. There is, in fact, a new blossoming of such building techniques. Time has arrived for NS to follow suit.
Q: I would like to hire a builder to design an adobe home for my family and me in Florida. Is it possible? I recently got divorced and lost a home in the process, which means that my credit is bad. What are my options?
A: There is almost no adobe construction in Florida. Rammed earth buildings are found in the Carolinas and there is a history of adobe homes in the Black community around Tuscaloosa, Alabama. If you build yourself and make your own bricks, adobe can save some money but not a lot. If you have someone else build and import the adobe bricks from the nearest brick maker which could be Texas, the cost will be astronomical. There are a couple of community colleges in Florida which have courses to teach owner/builders. If you stay in Florida it will save money to go with the prevailing style and type of building.
PS, the early near adobe material used in Florida was called tabby or "tapia."
Q: I recently bought property in north east Florida. It is on high elevation so no worry about flooding here. I was thinking about building an adobe home because I like the look and durability. So I was wondering if building an adobe home on my property would be a good choice considering it is not the most dry - it rains quite a bit there as you probably know. I would really like to know. If it is not a good idea, could you suggest another option.
A: There are rammed earth homes and churches in the Carolinas. An African/American community built adobe homes in the 1930's somewhere in NW Alabama. English immigrants built homes of adobe brick in Geneva, NY. If you have three weeks of sunny weather, that is enough time to make bricks. Exhausting. Then you can lay up walls in slightly less sunny weather by covering the walls should it rain. All homes, frame, block, metal, need good foundations well above ground and surface water. They all need a good roof with plenty of overhang. Florida is the home of good roofs with lots of overhang. The fact that it is adobe should not stop you. Finding support in your area might be the deal breaker. The Spanish in north Florida built with some wonderful stuff the name of which I cannot remember. The Fort at St Augustine is an example.
Q: We want to build an adobe house and cabin here in N.W. Montana and have spent many hours trying to find someone with experience in building in this area but without success. We live in a dry valley (10-12" of precip./year) with temps that can go as low as 30 below (but very rarely). Is the reason for the lack adobe construction here that it is impractical in light of the above climate?
A: Adobe would be a perfect material to use in your area. Elongate the house east and west and put extra glass on the south and very little on the north, modest amounts on the east and west. The house will do nicely in that climate unless you are in that part of Montana where it tends to be cloudy during the day and clear at night. Here in NM, the heart of adobe country we experience similar very cold nighttime temperatures in the winter. It usually warms up 30 degrees in the daytime. To meet the NM Energy Conservation Code, we apply exterior insulation. It is usually rigid polystyrene or polyurethane nailed or sprayed on the walls. Standard cement/lime based stucco goes over that.
Q: My wife and I love the Adobe look and would love to own an Adobe home. However, we live in southwest Missouri and it does not appear to be a common local building ingredient. Can I use local material to make adobe? If so, what do I look for in the ingredients? Also, because we do not experience long sunny dry spells, is there a different method of drying? By making smaller bricks would I shorten the drying time?
A: I don't know about Missouri's adobe history but if you get extremely southwest in the state you are into Oklahoma which has extensive use of adobe, particularly in the Great Depression Era. Missouri is probably just one giant adobe brick waiting to be formed into smaller, easily handled units. You need about 30% clay and silt and the rest sand to make a good adobe brick. Straw helps when there is too much clay to keep the bricks from cracking as they dry. PG McHenry's book Adobe Build it Yourself published by the University of Arizona Press is the best book to get started. (Available above)
Q: I have a lot for a house in Lee County (Lehigh Acres), FL -Gulf Side- and I'm interested in building a spanish style home on it. The land is uncleared (bushes and trees) and I'm wondering how well Adobe-built homes would fare in the hurricane-prone, damp climate of southwest Florida?
A: Adobe will work just fine. As it turns out earthen building materials are actually just a little bit stronger in lab tests at higher humidities than here in the arid Southwest. (60% ambient humidity is the peak strength.) It needs a concrete foundation that gets six-inches above the finished exterior grade and four-inches above the finished floor level or any potential standing water. The foundation should have a moisture barrier on top of it to stop capillary action which might move moisture upward. A good roof with overhanging eaves would be highly recommended. In the Southwest, many adobe homes have parapet walls and flat roofs but up in the high country where there is more rain and lots of snow, the steeply pitched mountain village architecture predominates. In short, adobe requires no more or less protection from moisture than wood or steel framed structures.
The big problem to solve will be making adobes. Two men after a little conditioning can make 300 adobes per day and if they are brutes, 500. A modest sized home, 1800 sq ft, can be built with 5000 to 7000 adobes of the slightly odd 10x14x4 New Mexico Standard Size. At the 300/day rate it would take 23 days of production to make the 7000 bricks so a four-week window of mostly sunny weather is needed.
There are some machines that can make bricks on site quickly. The ones that rely on ferocious hydraulic pressure to create bricks should be viewed with caution. Moisture for sure, and high humidity perhaps can cause them to "blossom" a kind word to describe expanding and loosing their strength. That won't happen to regular cast-on-the-ground, sun-dried-bricks. Also, it is better to find someone who will roll on to your site to make bricks than for you to acquire the machinery yourself. Even if you resell it, you take a big hit in depreciation. Bricks can be purchased in NM or Texas production yards and trucked to FL. Transportation costs will be about double the cost of the bricks themselves.
There are famous and successful churches in the Carolinas built of rammed earth. Church of the Holy Cross in Sumpter South Carolina first comes to mind. A famous rammed earth structure, Hilltop House at 1500 Rhode Island Ave NE, was built in Washington DC. Built before the Stone House in Georgetown, it would be the oldest house in the area except it got torn down in the 1950's for urban renewal! A doctor with the USDA built a home not far from the Capitol Area in the 1930's. It still existed as of 1996. The DC area was essentially a swamp and is still probably as wet as Lee County.
Q: I live in central Wisconsin, and am wondering if adobe would work in this area; How would that work with freezing cold winters.....Are there any areas that adobe would NOT be advantageous?
A: Adobe will work just fine in central Wisconsin. Probably very few people have built there with adobe but there are surprises all around the country. English immigrants built simple cottages and stately homes in the fingerlakes region of New York. There are at least thirteen known structures and three of them are on the market. They were built from 1840 to 1860 for the most part.
Washington, DC has two known adobes built in the 1930's and a huge palatial home, the Hilltop House at 1600 Rhode Island Avenue, NW survived from 1774 until the late 1950's when it was razed for low-income housing. There are famous churches in North Carolina and homestead buildings in Alaska. Mennonites built adobe homes in and around Hillsboro, Kansas.
Adobe's cousin sod, was built all over the plains and probably the SW corner of Wisconsin. Wherever there is an area with few trees when the first immigrants arrived, there is a good chance that they built with adobe, rammed earth or sod up until the time the railroads arrived.
Lots of Irish cottages with thatched roofs are built of adobe. Scandinavians used various forms of earthen construction especially earth as the infill for half-timbered houses. Germans, French, English, Bali Hai. Manitoba recently. Adobe was found all over the USA during the Great and Grand Depression. East Germans used it widely while The Berlin Wall and Iron Curtain were up. Slovakia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Ditto. The list goes on.
All you need is a good foundation that gets 8-inches above the ground level and a good roof with generous overhangs. Wisconsin is not the place for the round, warm, brown, Santa-Fe style adobe home. New Mexico adobe homes in the higher elevations where we get a lot of snow have pitched roofs with good overhang. This is just the type of construction details needed for any type of wall in Wisconsin, not just adobe.
Now, the one problem you do face is whether there is a three-week window of mostly sunny weather in the summer so you can make adobes and have them dry out enough to stack off to the side with a cover when the rain comes. You need soil with 70%sand and 30% clay or less. If there is too much clay in your topsoil, adobes will crack. Dig deeper and you will find strata of sand somewhere under the topsoil. There will also be layers of clay and gravel thanks to convenient glacier activity a few years back.
Building walls is not such a problem. You can cover them if rain threatens and they survive a certain amount of rain with little damage. Be prepared to move on with roof construction as soon as the walls are up and get the building dried in. Wood frame, and other builders do the same. For your climate, a scheme to apply insulation to the exterior of the adobe walls will pay off with much reduced heating costs. Just as it took until the mid-s950's for builders to figure out that frame houses should be insulated, it took until the 1970's for us to see the advantage and in your climate, necessity, really, to insulating. Put lots of glass on the south and you will have the best possible passive solar home. If you think it will not work, look around your neighborhood. If there are photovoltaic panels at work producing electricity from the sun, then there is enough energy coming in for passive solar heat. Cloudy days hold in the heat so even if you do not have the input we have here in NM, you don't have the loss, either.
Call me when you are done and I will help you select interior wall colors. Adobe paints nicely with oil or latex paints.
Q: I live in Laos, in Southeast Asia and run an international humanitarian development organization (Village Focus International). My wife, who is Lao, and I have just bought a beautiful piece of land on the Mekong River and will build a house there in the next 5 or so years. We hope to build a big (2 story, 3 and half to 4000 square feet) home. Can this be done with Adobe (or strawbale or other alternatives). Is adobe appropriate for this hot, wet climate? Labor is cheap, and clay, sand and gravel is readily available. Any thoughts?
A: Germans have built millions of earthen structures in Central Germany. English Immigrants built adobe homes in Geneva, NY and various parts of Canada. Brazilians have built adobe buildings several stories high along the Amazon in that city with the famous old opera house. Adobe homes are built in parts of India and Bangladesh where the moisture is so severe, they get washed away almost annually. You can build some form of earthen structure in Laos whether it's sun-cured adobe bricks, compressed earth blocks, rammed earth, or monolithic adobe which is called cob in some places. You need a foundation that gets the adobe above the ground level and a good roof. That is the same requirement for any type of house which will last over time. There is some evidence that adobe is less prone to mildew and mold than certain other building materials.
C1: Having spent a year only a couple of hundred miles from central Laos, I strongly suspect that adobe would not be suitable. South East Asia monsoons are a memorable experience - 30-45-60 days of non stop downpour was my experience through two monsoon seasons. Regular stick and stone structures even took a beating. The rain in the monsoon season makes the California rains seem like spring showers. After the first 30 days of the monsoon season- every piece of my clothing and gear had mold of various colors - everywhere. I recall one thunderstorm lasting 18 hours non-stop - it was an amazing experience. I also recall that most structures - even large 5 bedroom bungalows were built on stilts. I visited many isolated villages and all the small homes were on stilts made of bamboo sticks and bamboo leaves. The rain knocked the leaves off - the villagers put new ones back. I do not recall ever seeing a home made of mud - except for some earthen plaster on some.
To make a bad pun - I don't mean to rain on Rick's parade - but I just don't see how it would work. If Rick can find any local structures built in the area with adobe like blocks - then by all means get the mud formula and history of the buildings. As far as I know most all S.E.A. experiences the monsoon season. I also recall that when building office buildings - 5 or 6 stories high - instead of digging a basement foundation the engineers built the basement above ground - then diverted streams of water into the foundation around the building - then over several weeks managed a controlled sinking of the basement into the mud to the first floor level. Wow! I could be wrong - but I would check with a lot of locals first - who have experience there.
C2: "Mudbrick and Earth Building the Chinese Way" is an excellent book. It is written by Ron Edwards and Lin Wei-Ho - isbn 0 909901 34 1 The dust jacket says Lin Wei-Ho lives in Kunming, China which is just over the border from you. It goes on to say his research indicates that 95% of the buildings in the countryside around Kunming are of earth construction.. A sketch on page 32 describes some farm buildings in nearby Leshan, Sichuan Province. A meter and a half of rains falls here annually, that's about 49 inches. These buildings have wide eaves. I would think that Quentin's suggestion of the wide eaves (a verandah even) and dry foundations is very sensible. An earth building that caters for sufficient air flow should avoid humidity problems such as damp on the walls and provide for a very livable dwelling. Ron Edwards lives in a mudbrick house in Kuranda, tropical Nth. Queensland where the average annual rainfall is approximately 2 meters or 79 inches.
C3: Below: Excerpts from several references found relative to building materials used in Laos (over time). Evidently Laos is not southern China. I was thinking Quentin should incorporate the Laotian mortar recipe (below) into an adobe mix - a type of adobe aroma therapy built into the blocks. HA!
Laotian mortar recipe: 'Two stone-masons, aged 75 and 85, provided the recipe for traditional Laotian mortar: stew buffalo-hide for nine hours, add crushed yang bong bark, tamarind seeds, chopped rice straw (soaked in water for two days), some markfen leaves, khi bi resin, and a measure of sugar-cane juice. Pour them all together into a mix of lime and Mekong sand, and stir.'
French Colonial Architecture in Laos:... As pre-colonial non-religious structures were built with wood, no secular buildings still exist from those periods. When the French first came to Luang Prabang in 1864, they used the fired brick and ceramic roof tile previously reserved for the wats (Buddhist Temple / Monastery) to build their homes and administration buildings. The result was an array of white-washed colonial style edifices: houses with wrought iron balconies, hotels with large verandahs, schools and administration buildings with black shutters and high ceilings. With many buildings refurbished as hotels and restaurants, even a bank, Luang Prabang has appropriated colonial architecture, maintaining an air of its recent past.
The Characteristic Buddhist Temple buildings of Laos are all Wooden construction, on wooden pillars, with long, steep, stepped-out roofs. Flamboyant finials mark the up curved ends of the ridgepoles and the eaves extend to cover wide verandahs. The Vat Pbraphra Kheo, Vientiane. Rebuilt in the nineteenth century Faint echoes of Khmer style are here incorporated into a characteristic local type of wooden building.
'External finishes to the building are concrete, masonry, rendered and painted with long wearing coatings as commonly used in Laos.'
Kleiwerks an international grassroots natural building organization is pioneering earthen house building in Laos. They work with permaculture principles and appropriate design, incorporating materials such as clay, sand, straw, bamboo, stone, wood, rice husk, urbanite, glass bottles, and whatever else is re-usable or local to the particular areas we are building in. The techniques they have incorporated include: adobe; wattle and daub; cob; strawclay/slipstraw; timber-frame; strawbale; earthen plasters, paints and floors; living and thatch roofs; dry stack stone and earth bag foundations; decorative and structural bamboo; and other innovations.
Q: Is central South Carolina a good place for an adobe house? I notice that you thought Nashville would be o.k. We have similar weather--not quite as cold.
A: There is the famous Church of the Holy Cross in Sumpter, SC. You should get "Adobe Build it Yourself" by PG Mc Henry, Jr from the University of Arizona Press. About $25. Another of his books, "Adobe and Rammed Earth Buildings" has the photo of the church.
Q: I'm considering building adobe on a beachfront with exposure to airborne salt from big surf days. What problems/remedies might you have for such a project - is this even viable? I haven't seen any discussion boards on the matter.
A: Depends on the beach. I wouldn't try it in Kodiak. Adobe homes can be found near beaches in Morocco, Yugoslavia, Mexico and other, usually arid areas. Last time I was in Gulfport, Mississippi, there was an adobe-looking home across the pavement from the beach. It could have been fake adobe; I never got back to knock on the door and ask the owners. Or was it Pass Christian?
If non-adobe homes can stand up to driven salt water, then adobe can stand up to it, too. If salt water moved into the adobe a bit and then evaporated it would leave behind a salt crystal residue on the surface. Called efflorescence, we see it all over the constructed world where masonry walls pick up moisture from the surroundings. Other than cosmetic, I don't know that it has any short-term effect. Short-term for adobe is a couple of hundred years. Long term is a couple of millennia.
We do have a yahoo group dedicated to adobe. It provides support and reassurance. Should you continue with your interest in adobe for the beach house you would be a good candidate for our participants to add their thoughts.
Q: I'm considering building an adobe structure somewhere in the new brunswick nova scotia area, and although I'm well aware of the necessity of keeping earth walls dry (I plan on a massive stone foundation, large overhangs, lime plaster,) I have not seen or heard anyone address the issue of freezing. Will adobe bricks hold up to the freezing/thawing that they will be subjected to during our harsh winters?
A: There are several adobe structures in your area but I have no contact information at the moment. English immigrants built sun-cured adobe brick homes around Geneva, NY. Thirteen are known to be in existence at the present and three or four of them are for sale. So you are not totally alone in your climatic area. Germans built 2 million adobe and rammed earth homes in central Germany alone. Lots of English, Irish and Scot homes and even castles have adobe as the central core of the wall.
Adobe walls will not hold up well to freeze/thaw cycles so the need is to keep them dry. If there is no moisture to expand within the adobes there will be no problem. The other approach would be to do what we do in New Mexico: we wrap the exterior of homes with rigid insulation and then plaster over that. That way the adobes never freeze and are available thermally to the interior of the home to soak up solar heat if it is available or to at least moderate temperature swings.
I think that with your foundation, overhangs and plaster, you have little to worry about unless deep snow piles up against a wall. It then becomes a problem when it begins to melt and moisture is held against the wall.
Q: I was wondering if you have any information on the soil make-up of the Cayo District of Belize. I'm interested in using Adobe brick or CEB for a home. I'm also wondering if this area would be too rainy, or if elongated eaves and a raised foundation would solve this.
A: Oddly enough I know nothing of the soils of Belize. I would guess that somewhere or through the process of blending you can find the ideal 30% clay and 70% sand. Higher clay can be tolerated with straw added to prevent cracking. Lower clay makes perfectly fine adobe bricks but the water resistance decreases. Silt and organic materials may often be found in perfectly strong bricks.
There are adobe homes in Ireland and the Fingerlakes Region of Upstate New York. As you mention, a good foundation well above the ground and any possible standing water coupled with a good overhanging roof will make the system work. Any wall material needs this protection for longevity. Wood rots and metals rust if not protected from water. Adobe asks no more than any other material.
Q: We are planning a sustainable community in Costa Rica and are exploring all kinds of green building. I am unsure if the tropical climate and its soils would lend to adobe construction, although there are some very old (few) adobe with straw homes here, crumbling after 100 years.
A: There is considerable earthen construction in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, San Salvador and just about any location with a Spanish name so you also get the historical and cultural connections bundled into your effort. Earthen materials: adobe, rammed earth, terrones, quemados, and monolithic adobe (cob) do just fine in high humidity climates. Rammed earth can be done while it is raining. A good foundation and a good roof make these wall systems work. That same foundation and roof would be needed for any other type of construction.
Q: Am interested in property east of the Sangre de Cristo's in NM (Morphy Canyon) and am wondering whether adobe or stone would be the better material for a small cabin. This area is mostly National Forest so I'm thinking fireproof. Other considerations are of course, insulation, cost (material & labor) and material availability.
A: There may be a number of people around the Morphy Canyon area who would have experience with stone construction. Adobe will certainly be familiar there in terms of finding someone to make bricks and someone to lay them and in my opinion is thermally better. Cost wise there should not be any great difference. Walls are usually only about 7 to 11% of the total cost of a house.
In that climatic area you will be much happier with the north wall well insulated on the exterior of adobe and stone walls. That does not improve the look. Just moments ago we had an extensive discussion in my office about insulating massive walls. The other solution is to eliminate north walls by use of berms or buffer spaces.
Q: I am seriously thinking about starting to build an adobe home for myself within the next 2 years (plan to start experimenting and gathering materials soon). My only concern as of now is that I live in southern Louisiana (humid and warm-hot for the majority of the year). Do you think an adobe home is a good idea for this area? What should I plaster the outside of the walls with?
A: I don't know of any adobe construction in Louisiana but there were some in Arkansas and Alabama in the Depression Years. All you need is a good foundation that gets well above any standing water and a good roof that sheds rain. A standard cement/lime/sand plaster will work fine but apply it directly to the adobe with stucco netting and no paper barrier. This stucco breathes at about 5 or 6 perms. If you can find an old practitioner, a lime plaster will also work.
Q: We live in South East Georgia, on the Ohoopee river. Our soil is sand; we have to have clay brought in. Also very high humidity. We are healthcare providers which means no natural ability with hammers, nails etc. Except maybe to maim ourselves. We are considering building, or trying to, an adobe or earth home. Would you consider this a feasible undertaking?
A: Sure. Adobe and rammed earth and other earthen techniques are found in all parts of the world and along rivers such as the Rhine, the Nile, the Amazon, the Mekong, the Yangtze, and soon enough, the Choopee.
Adobe bricks are actually slightly stronger in higher humidity. Right around 60% relative humidity is where they peak. Pity us poor folks in dry New Mexico. The best adobe bricks are around 30% Clay and 70% sand. If you have to bring in something clay is better since you need far less of it.
However, I am going to bet my entire reputation of the latter half of this week that you have more clay in your soil than you might think. Rivers deposit sand, silt and clay as they move along. The sand drops first and usually stays in the mountains. Silt gets farther down stream and clay is the stuff that makes the water brown or red or yellow as it moves further still.
There is a wonderful movie, The Last Brickmaker I think it is called, where a young kid finds the last old man making and firing bricks. Unfired, they are essentially adobe bricks. I think the movie took place in Georgia. If there were any brick kilns anywhere near you then all is well.
Finally, almost any where on the planet there are different strata of materials under your feet. Particularly near a river there will be layers of clay, silt, sand and gravel, and blended layer. Just try mixing some dirt with water and put in a wood form to make test bricks to dry in the sun. When there is sun. Fool around. Experiment. It has been said before: the material will inform you itself.
Q: Can you build an adobe house in north Idaho? We get lots of snow and a winter low of -20F.
A: You certainly can. Build a foundation that gets the walls 6- to 8-inches above the ground. A pitched roof insulated to R-40 that sheds the snow might be in order. That is what is done in Northern New Mexico where conditions are similar.
Insulate the exterior of the north wall and perhaps the east and west with R-11 or greater insulation. That plus the adobe's mass effect will act like R-24. Elongate east and west and put lots of glass in the south wall. Then one word: solaradobe.
Canadians build with adobe and rammed earth in Manitoba. Geneva, NY has 13 adobe homes from the 1850's. Adobe is at home in most places on the planet.
Q: I am an Italian architect engaged in a project in North Mozambique. It is a little tourist resort of 40 rooms plus public area. It is my intention to use adobe bricks and local materials. Can you give me information about this idea? I was born in Eritrea, former Ethiopia, and I know that these techniques are used a lot in Africa.
A: It will work nicely. I am in Riyadh and have seen the ruins of a small city, Al Ghat, where they are rebuilding units for a bed and breakfast. Very nice. Very eco. Very economical. Buy the books from University of Arizona Press by P. G. McHenry: Adobe: Build it yourself and Adobe and Rammed Earth Buildings. They say it all.
Q: Can adobe perform well in a cold wet environment as well? Hypothetical: Adobe walls in Flathead valley/mountains in NW Montana. In the summers it would be wonderful to keep the house cool I know, but what about winters when its 10 degrees F or lower on average day to day? Would I be better with log cabin to keep in heat produced by a wood stove?
A: Adobe does well in damp, cold climates. We have known for some time about adobe houses in upstate New York built between 1820 and 1860. More are coming to our attention and the plume continues east into Massachusetts, north into Ontario and west into Indiana. The one necessary requirement was to have a climate with three weeks of sunny, mostly dry weather to permit adobe bricks to be made.
Adobe is especially adept at storing the heat from a wood stove. Both adobe and logs have a heat storage capacity of 0.2 Btu's stored per pound of material per each 1 degree Fahrenheit rise in temperature. Adobe just happens to weigh more than a log wall and adobe transfers heat better from stove to wall to room than wood does. Modern
construction techniques for adobe include insulating the walls on the exterior. Always insulate the north wall, usually the east and west and if there is winter sun, never the south wall. Most common in New Mexico is 2-inch rigid polystyrene nailed onto the wall followed with metal stucco netting and standard three coat cement/lime/sand stucco. Some people prefer the sprayed on polyurethane also followed with metal and stucco. A few who hate the concept of such materials with simple adobe insulate with various schemes of fiberglass batt, cotton batt, multiple layers of reeds, various methods with straw or compressed straw boards, dual walls with air or insulation filled space.
In those good old days it was not unusual to have a week in Northern New Mexico where 10 degrees would be the high and most of the month of January when the high would be about 30. It's still not NW Montana and
we probably have lower humidity so don't quite experience the extreme you do. Then there are the 2 million earthen homes in Central Germany, several known Alaskan homesteads, and as claimed by the Russians, 60 adobe homes north of the arctic circle.
Q: What would be best house to build in texas? Adobe? Any Texas groups that could help us?
A: An adobe home would be the best type of home for many places in Texas. In fact, they can be found already as historical buildings or recently built buildings. Hot spots are the Texas Hill Country, Marfa, San Antonio and the Lower Rio Grande Valley. It could be a challenge to build with adobe in Houston but with a good foundation and a good roof, all things are possible. You are in luck. There is a very active adobe and earthen materials construction support group centered in San Antonio. It is the Earthen Construction Initiative: www.earthenci.org
Q: I'm planning to buy property out in the Gila National Forest Area. I was wondering If you know If the soil in the Gila, or more specifically, which area of the Gila has the best soil for building adobe houses? Or if an adobe house would even hold up well out in the Gila? Or more specifically where In the Gila would it be best to build with adobe?
A: Much of the Gila area is automatic adobe. Mainly you need around 70% sand and 30% clay for perfect adobe bricks. That can vary down to 10% clay and there might be silt and organic material in the soil and you will still get a decent brick. Don't build in the bottom of a valley whether it's a river, stream or arroyo. Half-way up a slope facing south is perfect. There are adobe structures all over the Gila area. Even though timber was often plentiful, some people chose adobe.
A (Kelly): I happen to live not too far there and in fact I live in an old adobe house that I have improved by placing a layer of insulation on the outside. So I know that adobe soil is available in the region. I think it varies from place to place; the soil in my yard is not very good. Down near Deming, where I also own some land, the soil is almost perfect for adobe. I think you need to test the soil on the property you are interested in to find out specifically. There are adobe builders and manufacturers in the region who could inform you as well.
Would you recommend that building with timber or adobe is easier to learn to do? Also what books would you recommend for someone in my novice scenario?
A: I always advocate adobe but I'm not known as an impartial person. This is New Mexico and adobe comes with the territory. You can get your best introduction from P. G. McHenry's book Adobe Build it Yourself, from the University of Arizona Press. You can also sign up for online classes through www.adobeinaction.org There are lots and lots of adobe instructional videos on YouTube. If you see conflicting opinions, stick with McHenry. There is a discussion and support group at www.groups.io/g/adobe with about forty people helping each other along.
Q: It has been extremely difficult here in central Mozambique. We have experienced 3 cyclones in the past three years and before that, there hasn't been a record of one in 50 yrs. Which brings me to my point; the local villages here are mud brick houses with either grass or zinc sheeting roofs. That cannot stand up to the wind or torrential rains. The people are in constant disaster mode; losing crops, home collapsing and devastating floods. Please advise of successful projects in similar situations or your thoughts regarding the success of trying a project in this area.
A: Mud homes made of adobe bricks are found throughout the world. The best defense against rain and wind and water on the ground is a good foundation and a good roof. Foundations can be made of stones, fired bricks, concrete or even adobe bricks with emulsified asphalt added to make them waterproof. It is also important to avoid low places where flooding is likely.
Properly designed homes with several rooms built in such a way that they bolster each other results in walls that are highly resistant to wind. In the United States there are photographs of several earthen homes that stand in the middle of neighborhoods that disappeared in cyclones/tornadoes. Adobe walls should be 25 cm thick for a single story building. This makes very heavy walls which is the first defense against wind.
Q: I am interested in having an adobe home in Union County SC. Is this possible?
A: There is a famous church built of rammed earth in Stateburg near Sumpter. Rammed earth uses the same material - clay and sand with some silt and organic matter - to make walls directly on the foundation without having to make the puddled mud adobe bricks in forms which are then dried in the sun and put together with mud mortar to form walls. With adobe bricks protection from rain is needed until the walls are built and a good roof is built for protection. A foundation that gets six inches or more above the surrounding ground assures a long life for the building. Several homes of adobe have been built in recent years in North Carolina and one in Alabama by students from the Rural Studio at Auburn University. Several homes of compressed earth block were built in Mississippi so you are surrounded by examples of earthen construction. It would take a heroic effort but it could be done. (All owner-built homes represent a heroic effort.)
Q: We plan to build in Alaska below the arctic circle. Is earth block good to use in Alaska? We want to be as natural and self sufficient as possible yet safe from wildlife in the area.
A: There is no reason why adobe bricks or compressed earth blocks (CEB's) cannot be made in Alaska. They would be a great choice in an area where there are not any stands of timber nearby. Adobes can be made anywhere there is a soil of clay, sand and gravel. Clay sticks it all together and sand and gravel are the ingredients of strength. You do need a soil that is devoid of organic ingredients which is the basis of much of Alaska's verdant valleys. You also need a source of clean water and climatic conditions of several sunny weeks without too much rainfall so that the adobe bricks laid on the ground will dry out. You could get by with a wheelbarrow, a shovel, a wood form to make four bricks at a time and a five-gallon bucket. Maybe some plastic sheeting in case of rain.
Q: I live in Saratoga, TX. I would like to build small house made of mud/adobe.. I need guidance.
A: You will find many people who will discourage you from building with adobe in Saratoga. However, it can be done. With a good foundation and a good roof any material that you put in between will work. Adobe will do just fine. Steel will rust, wood will rot so adobe is not alone in being sensitive to moisture. There are adobe or other forms of earthen construction around Baton Rouge and/or New Orleans. It was a traditional building material used by French settlers.
Q: I would like to build an earth/site built home/dwelliing in Minnesota. Can you tell me if Minnesota soil is Adobe worthy or any other green material that would be thermal enough for Mnnesota?
A: Adobe and similar earthen materials are best made with 30% clay and 70% sand. Some silt and organic materials can be tolerated. With a good foundation that gets the earthen walls above the surrounding ground and with a good roof above, adobe would do quite well in Minnesota. Wood rots and steel rusts so similar requirements keep them safe from the local conditions and adobe need not be viewed as a liability in damp climates.
In Minnesota you would need to add insulation on the north, east and west sides and maybe even the south. That would take site and climate analysis to determine. Wood and steel structures also need added insulation. Prior to WWII many structures in the USA had no insulation but over time we learned the value of adding it whether frame or masonry construction.
Q: I am planning to build a home in Todos Santos, Mexico to be near my family. It is my dream to build a natural built home... it is important to me to build using healthy, local natural materials and build in harmony with the natural environment as much as possible, and I also believe this is the way to have a healthy, beautiful, comfortable home. However in this area it seems like all the new buildings are basically like concrete boxes, which doesn't feel like home to me. The builders there told me that they can't build with adobe or natural materials because of termites, but I find that hard to believe, because before concrete there were still homes... and there has to be a way, even with blending old and new materials and techniques. It seems to me like the reason concrete has taken over in building in the world is just because of all the same wrong reasons that capitalism and imperialism has replaced traditional local wisdom and methods. I am wondering what is your opinion on building with natural materials vs concrete in this area? What about the termites?
A: Alas, your story echoes across the planet and across time. There are so many reasons given to not build with adobe (or rammed earth or compressed earth block) and they are all wrong. Adobe can be built successfully anywhere from upstate New York, USA to Manaus in the State of Amazonas in Brazil to the government buildings on the Plaza in Guadalajara to the two millions earthen homes in Central Germany to the trophy homes in Santa Fe, NM, USA to the Atacama desert in Chile to the big luxury development of compressed earth block homes by Canadian investors in Baja that failed a decade ago.
Your home can be built with exposed adobe bricks and mortar or covered with stucco outside and plaster inside. Mud plaster also works inside and out. It can be simple and minimalist with utilitarian built-ins or it can be as ornate as you wish with travertine tile, stainless steel appliances, a custom wine rack and a circular stair leading to the tower with a view to the ocean. If you are a long way from the ocean, build a higher tower.
Todos Santos had to have been built with adobe block in the beginning: modest homes, palatial homes, government buildings. Check them to see if there is termite damage. Somewhere along the way here came Portland cement and concrete and the surrounding myths! Mexicans are enamored of concrete and there are many virtuoso builders and architects across the country. One standout on the other side can be found in the book, "Oscar Hagerman, Arquitectura y Diseno." Also on the positive side, there are many thoughtful, engaged new architects coming out of the universities such as the Autonomous University of Baja California, University of Guadalajara, The Metropolitan Autonomous University. The list goes on and there is another university of note not too far from Guadalajara. You might find evidence of them if you wander the streets of Todos Santos, La Paz, Cabo San Lucas. Sooner or later you will find an architect and builder who are enamored of adobe.
