Semi-Mechanized Adobe Brick Making 101
297,225
Published 2010-08-20
Video by M.Piedad Alliende . No music. Audio by Steven McCann
This is what Steve wrote about the video 2 years ago: "Pia was kind enough to make a film about the adobe brick wall we are building in front of our house (Steve's hobby). I missed the opportunity to work with Tim & Quinn who wanted to see how it is done. To regress a bit, adobe and other sorts of earth building methods have been around for thousands of years. I am very interested in the processes and results, having lived in Latin America for several years. Building with earth is very labor intensive, typically. There is machinery available for adobe bricks and rammed earth but nothing you will see in this video. Here in the US, labor costs may not support earth building in most cases - though some people may want work done. I have set about trying to find a method for building with adobe that is semi-mechanized. To my knowledge, my process is unique. I have not heard nor found any other brick making process that uses the equipment that I use. We are in the process of building an adobe wall in front of our property (like the Alamo! ha ha). The goal is to make stabilized bricks (water-proof). I hope you find the film informative. Please take special note of Vincent. He has stepped up and is becoming a top hand. Thanks - Steve
p.s. I misspoke at one moment. The scoop-n-mix holds approximately 1/3 yard of adobe mix. "
All Comments (21)
-
I built my own passive Adobe home in New Mexico in the late 70’s. I hired a guy to make adobes out of the dirt excavated for my footings and sand I collected from arroyos. I paid him @.25 cents an Adobe. I supplied all the materials and helped with things like screening the dirt and mixing the mud. He made 2000 adobes in 5 days. I revisited the house last summer. It looked as good as new.
-
What the heck? The kid is having fun and being productive.
-
Good lord people, this video was meant to help us learn how to make bricks which these people generously shared their knowledge with us. You are making assumptions on ages and safety issues and not getting the true point of the video. Just pay attention to the information and stop berating these guys for posting this video. Guatona61, may I say, thank you for posting.
-
My uncle told me not to put anything under the adobe. The sand help such the water out and there is less splatter out the sides
-
Thank you for the video, I love Adobe Homes. One day, I am going to make my home the adobe bricks
-
I will concentrate on all old time ways of making Adobe for a 20 X 30 cabin in the northern mountains of Arizona at 6800 foot elevation. A quality made brick from times past will last 1000 yrs.. We have Adobe buildings that are more then 800 yrs old now. And they have No cement, lime or such in them.. going to have a warm cabin with 24 inch thick walls. One other possibility is to build a Strawbale and cob cabin with Inside finished measurements being 20X30. Same diameter of the proposed Adobe cabin needs to be... With plenty of windows to let sun shine in..And have a 8 foot over hang or have 8 foot covered awnings all around cabin with a nice wood decking all around cabin. That will be good insurance to keep rain off cabin and the snow off as well. Have a nice root cellar too for food storage.
-
Nice seeing the youngster on the heavy equipment..
-
Best part is bonding with your young man
-
Your machine operator is so dang impressive!!
-
Chris... thanks for commenting. You make several good points. I was probably too optimistic about how long the wall will last. It requires a steady maintenance to last. Also, it is very important to stop water from entering through the top or wicking up from below. I now have a cap on the wall. Have a nice day.
-
Very nice bud
-
Thanks for the video, Id love to see periodic updates on your progress.
-
Great video - I can see why it gets so many views, loads of info in here! We are off grid in NZ and have made some small projects out of earth brick. We love it :D
-
Very informative video, thanks for posting.
-
To me, the best part of making bricks is the SILENCE. There's no way I'd put up with that constant noise, couldn't even make it through the video. It is so incredibly satisfying to use a pick to loosen up the hard desert dirt, double screen it into a wheelbarrow and the small rocks are saved for other projects. Was hoping the mechanized part was a press. Quiet, manual. Much harder bricks without the airholes and of course they'd dry faster.
-
That's exactly right when it's a 'learning curve' job - "when we get to the entrance it'll be build with the best bricks we know how to make". I've just dug and built a concrete drain / troth / channel around the house and the best wooden forming and concrete mixing and laying is in the last section I put in. It started off pretty rubbish. The digging technique was no problem because I've dug in lots of different jobs over the years and I know hoe to do it. But I've never laid or formed concrete before. My advise to anyone doing diy construction at home is - watch as many of these videos as you feel you need to until you're confident in what you're going to do. I'm about to lay a 20ft path out back using recycled materials (from the drain dig) - I might make some adobe bricks as extra stones for the paving just to add a bit of curious / interesting variety.
-
To MilitiaHQ - Yes you can use regular portland concrete. Normally, you would never use more than 8 or 9 percent in the mix. Sharp sand that sets up well can be up to 60% of the mix. The heaviest clay element of the mix should not be more more than 20%. Lots of purist say don't use straw because it will break down over time. I think a clean straw to bind the bricks and make them stronger. Experiment until you find a good mix and solid bricks. Good luck!
-
Inspirational and a real labour of love, i can see why your trying to introduce some mechanised elements. I'm off to look for updates from you now to see how the project has come on.
-
Nice video and very informational.
-
Posted quite some years back but a very likable video, inspiring as well.
