Mud houses

[rezmut]

I'm in the making bricks stage of building a small adobe house as a getaway -planning on 16x24,with double brick walls,and an attached solar room for heat and aquaphonics,does any body here have experiance building with adobe,or any tricks they could share?

[Winter]

I hope we will get pictures.

[hunter63]

We don't do too much mud brick up here in the north country, too much rain....and stuff melts.

What is your recipe for you bricks, if you don't mind?.....any cement?

[kyratshooter]

Much the same here in KY, too much rain for mud huts to survive.

Emergency temporary housing usually has wheels.

If you want quick permanent housing you take the wheels off.

:thumbup1:

[Winnie]

Not sure if adobe would work, but Straw bale as a building material are very popular over here, and if the can handle soggy English weather, they'll do anywhere.

http://strawworks.co.uk/

If that doesn't ring your bell, wildwoman used this construction method.

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/forums/showthread.php?8694-Another-way-of-building/page3

[Winter]

It would help us out a great deal if we knew where you are. I do residential construction for a living.

[rezmut]

It would help us out a great deal if we knew where you are. I do residential construction for a living.

I live on the Hopi rez in northern Az,high dessert country.

Winnie,the english version of an adobe house is called "wattle and daub"-it's the same mud without being made into bricks-they use a stick framework and build up mud over it.

Hunter,I'm not using any cement,just 2 buckets of clat,1/2 bucket of pineneedles,and add water untill it's about the consistancy of stiff morter,then fill my molds and wait till the next day before dumping the bricks out to finish curing and mixxing another batch.

[Cast-Iron]

Interesting sounding project, but I don't have any experience with what you're attempting to do. What are your plans for securing your roof to the loadbearing walls? You'll need to have sufficient tensile resistance to keep it from flying off in a "wind event". You might be better off constructing some type of structural frame and then using your "bricks" to fill in between the elements of the framework. Maybe start with a small storage shed and once you like the results you can move forward with a larger building. Good luck and keep us posted!

[Winter]

I live on the Hopi rez in northern Az,high dessert country.

Winnie,the english version of an adobe house is called "wattle and daub"-it's the same mud without being made into bricks-they use a stick framework and build up mud over it.

Hunter,I'm not using any cement,just 2 buckets of clat,1/2 bucket of pineneedles,and add water untill it's about the consistancy of stiff morter,then fill my molds and wait till the next day before dumping the bricks out to finish curing and mixxing another batch.

That is the way. Just make sure your eves and gable ends keep drainage off the walls.

[RangerXanatos]

Are you not going to fire harden the bricks?

[rezmut]

I see that most of y'all aren't familure with adobe buildings-or the weather out here.lol
A traditional adobe house is built with 1 wall-normaly the south facing one "double bricked" this gives you a place to stand while wresteling the vigas(whole tree trunks used as roof beams)into place,the roof is flat,and set 2-3 courses of bricks below the tops of the walls,with a very slight pitch(4inches? in the whole roof)and spouts to let what little rain there is drain off. The structure is most often stuccoed to keep the bricks from melting.
A few years ago,my wife and I lived in an adobe house in northern New Mexico that was over 300 years old,and still very liveable.
I plan on using double brick for all the outside walls to increase thermal mass,using log trusses with a metal roof,and adding such things as limited solar power for lights,and gravity fed running water in the kitchen.
It might not hurt if I told you that we don't have any building codes on the rez,and that I have a lifetime of construction/maintainance experiance,as well as a bachlors in construction tech.

[Winter]

I see that most of y'all aren't familure with adobe buildings-or the weather out here.lol
.

Well, oops, thanks for stopping by.

[hunter63]

Sounds like a cool project....and yeah, a bunch of us live in northern, snow and rainy climates....so you don't see too many mud brick buildings.

Straw bale, stack wood, (like firewood stacked but mortared in place), log, block, brick (fired), metal, pour concrete and of course wood frame....are more popular around here.

Have see many articles in various magazines, dealing with all sorts of buildings, and alternate styles......but haven't know anyone that build with adobe.
Really would like to see pic's when you get a chance.

Found the pine needle reference interesting as well.

[randyt]

not to change course a bit but I wonder if a adobe "type" building could be built in the wet areas but before installing the roof and rafters fill it with brush and pile brush around the outside and light it on fire a fire cure it all in place. It's just a thought LOL.

[canid]

Oregon cob seems to hold up pretty well up on the coast there. As Ianto and Linda always said: most importantly, a cob house needs a good hat and a good pair of boots. I bet it holds true for adobe as well.

[rezmut]

Cob is basicly just another name for adobe,and here we don't get but maybe 15inches of rain a year,so the hat and boots don't have to be that great,as for brushfiring the whole building,I don't know if it would work or not-never heard of it being done,but here it's over 100degrees every day for like 8 months a year,with mega sunshine,so everything gets pretty well baked even without fire.lol
Hunter,the pineneedles I'm using inplace of straw is a cost issue-to get straw is a 75 mile trip one way,and it costs 7-8 bucks a bail. I had an old spanish guy in New Mexico tell me about using needles when he was a kid,so tried it,and it seems to be working fine.


On an unrelaited topic-does anyone have experiance with the 40watt solar setup from Harbor Freight?I'm tentatively planning on using 2 of them to get power for a few 12volt lights.

[crashdive123]

Here's a thread where a couple of members reviewed a small solar set up (Sun Force). http://www.wilderness-survival.net/forums/showthread.php?17040-Solar-power/page2&highlight=harbor+freight+solar

[rezmut]

I think I've found my solar set up-yesterday I went with an older guy I do some maintainance/construction work for,down to a company called "Hopi Solar",to pickup the system he wants me to install for a hogan at one of his sheep camps-3 40watt panels,converter/regulator,and 2 heavyduty 12volt deepcycle batteries all for just under $500 out the door(no tax on the rez)looks like a great system.
I'v made just over 1000 of the estimated 6000 bricks I figure this project will require,and am about ready to start laying bricks-I can start on the sunroom,and work my way from there while still making more bricks everyday.
Wish me luck y'all.lol

[1stimestar]

We'd love to see some pictures of the process.

[rezmut]

We'd love to see some pictures of the process.

I'm a prepper-and this is going to be my main hideyhole when/if everything goes south,so I don't want to post regular pix;I will see if I can figure out a way to do pictures and change or chop the background for opsec purposes.

[crashdive123]

I'm a prepper-and this is going to be my main hideyhole when/if everything goes south,so I don't want to post regular pix;I will see if I can figure out a way to do pictures and change or chop the background for opsec purposes.

Avoid the aerial shots and the shots from across the fields. Close shots of your brick making process and wall construction won't divulge your location.

[Rick]

No offense but if you are on the reservation aren't there older Hopi available that have experience with this? I was under the impression that the adobi type house was the standard home for the Hopi for generations? Has the practice/knowledge been lost?

[rezmut]

No offense but if you are on the reservation aren't there older Hopi available that have experience with this? I was under the impression that the adobi type house was the standard home for the Hopi for generations? Has the practice/knowledge been lost?

The traditional Hopi house is made from "flat rock",mortered with adobe mud,and this has largely been replaced by cement blocks,just as a typical Navajo hogan is now made from plywood or OSB.

Adobe buildings are far more commen in areas where there is a spanish influence,and here,spanish are still considered the enemy-as in,they celebrate "Pueblo Revolt day" instead of Columbas Day.

Rick,if you would like to see pictures of some traditional Hopi homes,check out the "Moenkopi,Az"sight,it has some shots taken in the lowwer village,which considers it's self"traditionalist".

[Rick]

That's why I referenced the older folks. I've been to both the Navajo and Hopi nations within the last couple of years so I'm familiar with current building trends. I'm not familiar with the historical building methods however. Perhaps the Hopi Cultural Center at Second Mesa can point you in the right direction. I would think they have on site or access to individuals with the knowledge you are looking for.

[1stimestar]

Yep, wasn't asking for pictures of your location, just the process. But feel free not to.

[Rick]

Yeah, you know your family adheres to OPSEC if your kids salute their grandparents but refuse to divulge what they did in school that day.

[rezmut]

Yep, wasn't asking for pictures of your location, just the process. But feel free not to.

No,I've descided I want to-just need to figure out how to do this.lol(I'm not the most computer literate pup in the litter.lol)
Rick-it's cool that someone has actualy been out here-did you by any chance stop at the Tuuvi travel center at Tuba City?(I was working there a couple years ago)

[crashdive123]

How far is that from the nearest road?

[rezmut]

How far is that from the nearest road?

The travel center? Junction of US160,and Az hwy264-just on the south edge of Tuba City.

[Rick]

We did not make it that far north. We took 87 north out of Winslow and then east on 264 to First Mesa. That's as far as we went. Wasn't much to write home about but we were just out for a drive. We did stop in Second Mesa at the museum then back south on 87 and back to Flagstaff. I had rented a Mustang in Pheonix. I didn't realize there were as many unpaved desert roads as there were in AZ. We hit one place outside of Pheonix and there was a huge sign that said Paved Road Ends Here. They weren't lying. It was sand the rest of the way.

[Ken]

I had rented a Mustang in Pheonix.

Clearly a man of discriminating taste.

[hunter63]

We did not make it that far north. We took 87 north out of Winslow and then east on 264 to First Mesa. That's as far as we went. Wasn't much to write home about but we were just out for a drive. We did stop in Second Mesa at the museum then back south on 87 and back to Flagstaff. I had rented a Mustang in Pheonix. I didn't realize there were as many unpaved desert roads as there were in AZ. We hit one place outside of Pheonix and there was a huge sign that said Paved Road Ends Here. They weren't lying. It was sand the rest of the way.

LOL, they don't fool around out west, they just kinda figure know what you are doing if you made it that far.

Went thru a construction area......big high wheeled pick up truck with a sign that said "Follow Me".....

[rezmut]

We did not make it that far north. We took 87 north out of Winslow and then east on 264 to First Mesa. That's as far as we went. Wasn't much to write home about but we were just out for a drive. We did stop in Second Mesa at the museum then back south on 87 and back to Flagstaff. I had rented a Mustang in Pheonix. I didn't realize there were as many unpaved desert roads as there were in AZ. We hit one place outside of Pheonix and there was a huge sign that said Paved Road Ends Here. They weren't lying. It was sand the rest of the way.

If you saw the cultural center and museum,you saw most of what there is to see-besides a whole lot of nothing.lmao
Out here you can't follow a GPS-it'll try to tell you that it's a road when it's not even a good goat path-spent 12 hours a while back getting some pakastanie(or some such-hardly spoke english)semi driver turned around and back on a real road-took 8 guys,2 big wreckers and a backhoe.

I talked to my father in law about adobe(he's 93),he just laughed and said"that's a mexican thing".