Adobe

Advanced Framing Techniques | Structural Insulated Panels (SIP) | Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) | Adobe

Adobe, and ancient, energy efficient building technique, is a mixture of dirt or clay that has been moistened with water and baked or left to dry in a desired shape, like a brick. Often, builders add chopped straw or other fibers to the wet clay before shaping it, to add structural strength. Adobe can be shaped into uniform blocks that can be stacked like bricks to form walls, but it can also be simply piled up over time to create a structure.

Those who build in wetter climates often choose to make Adobe using either rammed earth or pressed block, which require little curing time. Today, builders use several tactics to keep moisture from affecting adobe earth walls, including adding cement stabilizers. Adobe construction, in combination with good passive solar design, makes for an effective energy-saving solution in cold, wet, hot, and dry climates.

Implementation of Adobe

Adobe BrickyardBuilding with adobe is a whole-building approach, so if your program is interested, there are several things to consider:

• Determining site logistics
• Identifying and preparing the soil,stabilization
• Identifying foundation and subfloor needs
• Choosing a wall system
• Identifying door and window bucks, attachments
• Designing electrical systems—bond beams and roofing systems

If your program is interested in integrating adobe into your construction, visit www2.itu.edu.tr/~isikb/Tech1.htm for a step-by-step approach, and contact your nearest green building organization for professional referrals.

FAST FACT: The proportional mix of soil and additives (such as gypsum and lime) are critical to the strength and durability of the adobe bricks.

Benefits of Adobe

• Indoor air quality in earthen construction is very healthy.
• Adobe is a good thermal mass material, holding in warm and cool air well.
• The mass of the adobe walls will absorb heat and radiate it back out into the house at night.
• When using high-mass walls, insulation, and a large south solar aperture, you can cut energy use in January by 60 percent or more.
• High-mass earth walls also cut cooling costs in hot desert locales.
• Earth walls allow you to buy smaller heating and cooling units.

Challenges of Adobe

• Adobe construction is labor and detail intensive.
• When adobe is used as an exterior plaster it will need to be either stabilized or re-plastered on a regular basis.
• Adobe does not insulate very well, so walls made of adobe need some means of providing insula-tion to maintain comfort in the building.
• A custom-built adobe house will cost about $45–$65 and up per square foot