(Builderclub expert)I’ve decided to start a topic about my journey into the world of clay construction. I’ll share my experience and listen to advice.
We are building two buildings in Sevastopol - a workshop and a house made of clay + straw + water, without formwork and with formwork, monolith. From now on I will call this mixture cob(from English cob), so as not to confuse it with adobe, because basically (in my experience) adobe is understood as homemade clay bricks.
The main reason for choosing this method is because I liked it. No calculations, scientific calculations, economic justification I can’t imagine my choice, and there aren’t any. At the end of 2012, my wife and I saw a lot of pictures of the buildings of their kob and decided to do the same because:
1. I really liked how the process and the end result looked.
2. You can do everything yourself, without being led by builders, who for some reason always know better than you what you need
We are not eco-maniacs, but that same notorious “ecological friendliness” does not seem superfluous.So, the following books were used as theoretical preparation:
David Reed
The Art & Craft of Stonework: Dry-Stacking, Mortaring, Paving, Carving, GardenscapingAdam Weismann, Katy Bryce
Building With Cob: A Step-by-step GuideIanto Evans, Michael G. Smith, and Linda Smiley
The Hand-Sculpted House
A Practical and Philosophical Guide to Building a Cob CottageCedar Rose Guelberth, Dan Chiras
The Natural Plaster Book: Earth, Lime and Gypsum Plasters for Natural HomesThe Forgotten Art of Building A Good Fireplace
Internet.
On this moment(12/23/2013) the following was achieved:
It's hard to see, of course.
Workshop irregular shape With internal size approximately 4.5 by 5.5 m, the walls are added to the roof. 6 monster beams were laid for the earthen roof.
A plan has already been conceived for the house and the foundation has been made, about which more details should readers wish
Look. I can’t endlessly persuade you not to do as you want :-). I'll try again:
1. The belts I’m writing about would be needed without straw, right. It just turns out this way: you have half a shell tied with belts, and two-storey house. The straw carries only itself; the structures do not rest on it. On such a wall, ceilings can only be wooden beams. It is very difficult to make a screed on wooden beams (in which you want to lay a warm floor). It is possible, but with materials that you do not want to use. In addition, if the warm floor (under the coolants) is not insulated, then it warms not only your ceramic tiles, but also the screed, and all the layers under the screed (ground, for example). And this leads to higher electrical costs. Here, look at how such floors are solved. They have effective insulation, waterproofing, etc. , - and these are all materials that you would not want to use. And further. For heating with electricity and, as you write, “savings on radiators, boiler rooms and gas.” Look, we recently did a calculation of the costs of different types heating, here. Heating with electricity is usually much more expensive.
2. Regarding the attachment of the net and straw solution to the shell. It is impossible to attach two floors of straw like this. Straw will shrink differently than shell. And all this finishing will crack at all fastening points. You see what still confuses me very much. In all the links you provided, there is NO information on which you can build, understand. It would be much easier for me to tell you, this is how it’s written here, do it :-), but I can’t! There is nothing written there related to the actual construction of what you want. There are slogans, theory, and advice. It is impossible to build using these materials. Conversations and movies about the fact that in Canada, Nebraska, they stand for a hundred years, etc., are conversations, nothing more. Schemes - conditional, the calculations are incorrect, there are no figures (and those that exist contradict each other). You don’t want a one-story house, but a house with heating, two floors!
3. I will offer you an alternative option :-). Make a wall like this: half a shell, 5cm perlite, half a shell, plaster. In this case, there is also a belt along the top of each floor (for both blocks). Then, with such a wall, it will be possible to pour a monolithic ceiling and make warm floors normally. True, I would still advise insulating the heated floor from below so that it only heats what is needed. Perlite is a backfill that is in no way inferior to straw in terms of ecology, warm - warmer(0.05 vs. 0.09). You can read more about perlite. During construction, the walls are connected to each other by a masonry mesh. The result will be a normal house, both in terms of seismicity, and in terms of heat, and so on. The wall is about 43-45 cm (total thickness).
Write down the dimensions of the house, we can advise the sections of the rafter beams. And which one do you want roofing material. Then it will be possible to somehow estimate whether you “fit” into 15 thousand or not.
answerIf you happen to own an old adobe house, do not despair, because in principle there is nothing wrong with restoration. Knowing how to put everything in order, you can repair an old adobe house yourself and without problems. In essence, an adobe house is, that is, unfired raw brick, which, if possible, was lined around the perimeter with ordinary brick.
Where to start renovating an adobe house
Like any repair, it all starts with an inspection of the building, drawing up a work plan, estimates and procurement necessary materials. If you are not sure that you can carry out all the work yourself, then it is better, of course, to turn to qualified workers. The main elements of any residential building are the foundation, walls and roof, so we will consider everything in order.
Foundation
In adobe buildings, the classic one was rarely used, that is, the walls of the house were built on a compacted clay pad. Or in the version of the adobe structure, they were driven into the ground wooden poles, which were subsequently coated with clay. When inspecting a building, if you see the presence of cracks on the walls, the difference is in the level window openings, then with a 100% guarantee we can say that the house has shrunk and the foundation under the walls needs to be repaired.
Option to strengthen the foundation of an adobe house
To do this, trenches are dug along the walls, but not in a continuous strip, but in increments of approximately one meter and a depth of about 0.6 m. Waterproofing is done along the lower edge of the adobe blocks. IN problem areas lay foundation sections (the simplest option, reinforced concrete or sand-cement blocks). After this, waterproofing is done around the entire perimeter and a blind area is constructed.
Walls and ceilings
One of the main problems is that over a long period of time a “belly” appears: irregularities and bulges appear on their surface. If such irregularities are up to two centimeters in size, you can try to clean them up, and when they are larger, it is better not to risk it, but to think of a way to cover them (in the case of a facade, you can use drywall inside).
Plaster adobe walls inside the house
When building adobe houses, all floors were mainly made of wood. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the condition of the floor beams and if they are in poor condition, they need to be completely replaced. Of course, this is a large amount of work, since this will require dismantling the roof, replacing all the piping and making new wooden floors.
Roof
The roofs of such houses were previously covered with whatever was at hand: from reeds to. When restoring an old roof, the first thing you need to start with is to inspect the entire wooden structure. If necessary, replace worn-out elements and treat the entire sheathing, for example, with mastic.
Before starting roof repairs, it is necessary to carefully inspect all its elements.
If old roof covered with tiles - it is advisable to replace them with more lightweight material, since, having a lot of weight, it creates an undesirably large load on the entire structure of the house.
When deciding to carry out a complete reconstruction of a building, first of all, never neglect the advice of specialists. Because, unknowingly, you can cause irreparable damage to the entire building, which will ultimately affect your budget.
Adobe houses- This oldest species construction of a building from a unique building material - adobe - a mixture of clay and straw. Such buildings have been preserved from times thousands of years ago. They built it from adobe Egyptian pyramids And Chinese wall. Therefore, it is considered inexpensive, but very effective material for the construction of low-rise buildings.
What are the advantages of adobe houses
Since adobe is a completely cheap building material, which is a significant advantage over expensive artificial building materials, it is used quite widely in different regions. Adobe houses are common in Crimea, Kuban - in all regions with a temperate and warm climate. Therefore, among the advantages of adobe we can highlight the following:
- It has excellent thermal insulation. Adobe retains heat well, which is especially important in winter period and in the summer heat: in winter the house is warm, and in summer it is cool.
- Adobe is hygroscopic, which means that in adobe house it will never be damp or humid.
- Adobe is an environmentally friendly product, since straw and clay are used for its production - natural materials can be purchased in environmentally friendly areas.
- Adobe is an earthquake-resistant material. Even with seismic movements of several magnitudes, adobe houses were not destroyed.
- Adobe is not afraid of fires because it does not burn.
- Buildings made of adobe are durable. They are in no way inferior to brick or wooden buildings.
How to make adobe yourself
First you need to prepare a solution of clay and sand, bring it to the desired consistency. Then add chopped straw to it (not too finely, otherwise the adobe will be fragile), dilute with water if necessary. Form the mixture , dry well. With the correct ratio of components, the blocks are quite strong and easy to process.
What are the features of building a house from adobe?
First of all, you need to take care of the waterproofing of the building. To do this, you need to build the foundation correctly. It is best if it is monolithic - made of piles or concrete. The base is made of brick. It is also necessary to waterproof the base cement mortar. Near the finished building you need to build a blind area that will not allow wastewater penetrate under the foundation and thus destroy the building or introduce moisture into the walls of the house.
Adobe house - affordable, environmentally friendly housing
As already noted, adobe is inexpensive. Therefore, housing will be inexpensive. And if there are clay deposits near your site, and cereals are grown in a field not far away, then the building material itself will cost you almost nothing. The briquette production process itself also does not require special professional skills. Two people can easily handle this task. And the construction itself is not difficult either. Future owners often build adobe houses themselves. This process is slow. You can also correct any defects yourself. At the same time, the field for imagination is unlimited. Your building can be one, two or even three stories high. Adobe is such a strong material that this option is also acceptable.
But the house is made of adobe, built with my own hands, will be especially comfortable and cozy for you. It will maintain a special microclimate.
An excellent option is light adobe
Today, lightweight adobe is very popular among residential builders. This is the same adobe made of clay and straw. Used in construction frame buildings as a filler. It is environmentally friendly, has great strength, does not sag, and retains good waterproofing, the atmosphere inside the building.
If this factor can be classified as a disadvantage, it is dirt during the production of briquettes. Otherwise, adobe is not inferior to expensive ones building materials, which, among other things, are not always made from materials that are beneficial to human health.
Light adobe and heavy. What is the difference?
Light adobe is briquettes made from rye straw in a clay shell. Heavy adobe requires the use of more clay. Light adobe cannot be used for load-bearing walls. Construction from light adobe requires the presence wooden frame, similar to the usual Canadian one. This frame is filled . Thus it turns out monolithic wall. To avoid the wall bulging, double-sided formwork is made: the frame is covered with boards from above and from the inside. When the wall is dry and stable, the formwork is removed. The blocks hold their shape well, they “breathe”, retaining heat well. The top walls are finished at your discretion.
By observing the requirements for all processes, you can build with your own hands an inexpensive, strong and reliable house in which more than one generation of people dear to you can live.