earth construction techniques

7/27/2019 Earth Construction Techniques

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This technique has been used all over the world since memorial times

Adobes are made of thick malleable mud, often added with straw.

After being cast they are left to dry under sun. They are traditionallyeither hand shaped or shaped in parallel piped wooden moulds.

Adobe production has been industrialised in Western USA. Severalstates in USA have codified adobe making and its construction.


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After being excavated, the soil is thoroughly sieved, to break the lumps andmake it lighter. Big rocks should be removed but some stones could bekept.

This method has developed from the cob wall so as to standardize or

regularize the thickness of the wall. It is also an attempt to increase the strength of the wall by ramming it.

Two parallel planks are held firmly apart by metal rods and clips or bolts,or by small crosspieces of wood.

Stiff mud is thrown in between these two planks and rammed down with

either a wooden or metal ramrod.


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There is an alternative where pivoted windowsare used where there is no need of wooden

frames and so the windows are directlyattached by pivots to the two sides of the walls.


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Rammed earth houses can be built in one of three basic ways.Individual, rammed earth bricks can be formed and used withstandard building techniques; in fact, such bricks may be used toform the floors in a rammed earth house built with other

techniques. Oxide flooring is used nowadays by which various colored

flooring can be produced from earth techniques.

Rammed earth flooring with covering of wooden blocks and stripsare also a good solution to achieve flat floors from earth.


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CSEB walls and the introduction of stabilizedwalls for rammed earth has given more easy

ways of making large openings of variousshapes and sizes.


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The joint of the wall with the plinth has to becarefully designed so that the rainwater can

flow down unhindered without entering thejoint between wall and plinth.


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One method of preventing rain from coming into contactwith a loam wall is to

provide it with a roof overhang.

A sufficiently high plinth (30 to 50 em) can protect fromsplashing rain.

Solutions Band C may be acceptable in areas with little rain.

Solution D is common, whereas E and F show perfectdesigns for combating this problem.


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As loam plaster is susceptible to mechanicalimpact, corners should preferably be coveredby wooden profiles, baked bricks or similarlippings.

earth construction techniques

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