[Greenbuilding] Adobe mix

[sanjay jain]

Gary,

I've only seen compressed earth block (CEB) production and use. CEBs usually use cement and/or lime, I've not seen adobe bricks being used so decided to do a quick search...

http://www.adobebuilding.com - ".... the most workable raw material is a mix of about 75% sand with about 25% clay for bricks, mortars and plasters. Some people live in a very dry climate, which would allow them to use the mix just described without the need of stabilizers such as cement, lime, bitumen or others. However, the use of a stabilizer dramatically improves the structural performance as well as the wall surface durability."

http://www.solidearth.co.nz/adobe2.htm - "Adobe bricks are more durable and         stronger then rammed earth or pressed bricks. These latter techniques         can be made stronger than Adobe with the addition of         cement. However, the addition of cement has numerous disadvantages           including higher cost, less user friendly material to work with and           more limited with regards to earthwall finishing."

You may want to look in to CEB, I was really impressed by the interlocking designs that require no mortar and building the brick part of the wall was as simple as stacking them on top of each other (I say the brick part, as the construction I saw, had reinforcing beams for earthquake resistance).

~sanjay


Gary Viljoen <gary at humanworks.co.za> wrote: Hi All

Could anyone with experience comment on the pro’s and con’s of adding 5%
cement to my adobe brick mix? 



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