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Post by silverseeds on Nov 30, 2009 10:47:17 GMT -5
Ive been reading some about adobe and cob building...... It seems like I need more sand in my soil to use it as it is, but if sand is all I need, it might be workable.... So does anyone have some good links on cob or making adobe bricks???
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Post by plantsnobin on Nov 30, 2009 10:59:11 GMT -5
The permies.com forum has a lot of threads on alternative building, with links to some youtube videos.
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Post by silverseeds on Nov 30, 2009 14:13:12 GMT -5
Thanks I will check it out.... Seems from what Ive read so far, I should be able to do this, if I add some sand. I might even have a place to get some. If that turns out to be true, I will build a one room sized place before the end of next summer, and see how I do.
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Post by silverseeds on Dec 1, 2009 11:33:45 GMT -5
Just bumping the thread since, its in a section with so few threads.....  I didnt check out the link from karen yet, but I will. I think I went to that site before.... Im especially interested in the oldest methods..... Meaning I want not not buy anything, to mke the bricks atleast for the wall I want o put up, so Id love a way to get around the sand, and make a decent adobe brick...... |
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MikeM
grub
frost-free 365.25 + clayish soil + altitude 210m + latitude 34S + rain 848mm/yr
Posts: 91
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Post by MikeM on Dec 4, 2009 10:41:19 GMT -5
Im especially interested in the oldest methods..... Meaning I want not not buy anything, to make the bricks at least for the wall I want o put up, so Id love a way to get around the sand, and make a decent adobe brick...... Can't speak about adobe bricks... but we built a cob oven a few years ago. It has since collapsed for reasons unrelated to the cob side of things. (We paid no attention to making decent foundations or footers, and we placed the structure too close to a dam overflow that -- a year after building the oven -- proceeded to overflow, causing the walls to shift a bit, cracking the lime plaster and allowing water into the walls and dome. Catasrophous! We have some thought of rebuilding it Real Soon Now!  ) My advice -- if you do go the cob route -- use a cement-mixer to do the mixing. That stomping-the-clay-by-foot romantic image is just that... it's hard work! I only discovered that it could have been done by machine after we'd finished the job.   |
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Post by silverseeds on Dec 4, 2009 11:44:28 GMT -5
when I said I want to try to find the old ways, I meant the alternatives to sand..... I do hope I can find a cheap mixer of some sort.... Did you use all on site materials??? If Im nt mistaken the spanish learned adobe in africa and brought it to the southwest here.... Ever here any cool old time tricks?  being that your in africa... adobe is alot like cob, just they make bricks instead.... |
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MikeM
grub
frost-free 365.25 + clayish soil + altitude 210m + latitude 34S + rain 848mm/yr
Posts: 91
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Post by MikeM on Dec 6, 2009 3:03:30 GMT -5
when I said I want to try to find the old ways, I meant the alternatives to sand.....  Forgive my confusion! Did you use all on site materials??? Pretty much. Our soil is a foot or two of topsoil (depending on whether you dig the badly-eroded bits or elsewhere) over many, many metres of solid clay. We were expanding a dam at the time, so clay was easy to access. A gravel quarry just a little bit down the road provided gravel in lieu of sand, and grass for fibre we cut onsite. Friends who own horses provided horse-hair for the plaster. If Im nt mistaken the spanish learned adobe in africa and brought it to the southwest here.... Wow! I didn't know that... I would have thought that all variations on building with clay were pretty-much global. Ever here any cool old time tricks? being that your in africa... adobe is alot like cob, just they make bricks instead.... Adobe (or claybrick) construction is/has been used lots here, just not by us personally. I don't know about "old time tricks", but... Make good foundations. ;D Don't allow water to get to the walls, whether from above, below or anywhere else. Water and clay walls are a fatal combination (to the walls, anyway ) Old (100years plus) clay houses around here were usually built on a footer of stone chips and sand so that there was good drainage under the walls. Oh, and don't use cement! Whilst water is bad news for clay walls, some moisture is essential for the walls to maintain their integrity, so the plaster has to be able to "breathe", and cement plaster doesn't. We used (like almost everybody else) lime plaster (and what a pleasure it was to work with, compared to cement!) Everything else seemed pretty easy to us, and we had no prior experience of working with clay. |
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MikeM
grub
frost-free 365.25 + clayish soil + altitude 210m + latitude 34S + rain 848mm/yr
Posts: 91
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Post by MikeM on Dec 6, 2009 3:15:06 GMT -5
Ever here any cool old time tricks? I left out the coolest old-time trick... We deliberately built something small -- the oven -- as a learning tool, rather than cocking-up a larger project (say a house ;D) with our mistakes. So, even though our construction didn't last very long, so by some view might be considered unsuccessful, we view it as a completely successful learning project. Next time we know better... |
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being that your in africa... adobe is alot like cob, just they make bricks instead.... 