[Greenbuilding] adobe question

[Norbert Senf]

At 03:03 PM 3/7/2007 -0500, Linda Lloyd wrote:
>they had an adobe house on HGTV last night and 
>the guy showed how he made his blocks and he 
>added asphalt emulsion to the mix ????
>
>I thought adobes were all natural materials
>Linda Lloyd

Fairly common, apparently, in this age of cheap petroleum.

Not needed, obviously, since adobe has been made 
for millenia and there are exposed walls in the 
drier parts of the world that have been standing for thousands of years.

Sounds like the kind of thing you might be 
tempted to do if you took the technology to 
wetter climates and started talking to engineers and building inspectors.

Modern rammed earth seems to have gone in a 
similar direction. I believe a typical mix 
includes about 10% portland cement. Regular 
concrete, with properly graded aggregates, is only 13% portland.


-------------------------------------------
Norbert Senf---------- mheat(at)heatkit.com
Masonry Stove Builders
25 Brouse Rd.
RR 5, Shawville------- www.heatkit.com
Québec J0X 2Y0-------- fax:-----819.647.6082
---------------------- voice:---819.647.5092