LEARN TO BUILD WITH MUDBRICKS
....a home, a shed, a garden room, a wall, a community building.
Mud Brick Construction aims to develop an understanding of how to approach building with mud bricks. Mud brick building is also known by the alternative name 'adobe'. There are other ways of building with mud brick apart from 'adobe'. These will be covered briefly in this course. For the novice, there is not a lot which can go wrong if you choose to build with mud brick.
Lesson Structure
There are 10 lessons in this course:
Scope of Mud Brick
What is Mud Construction (Adobe, Pise)
Advantages of Earth Construction (Cost savings, Self satisfaction, Aesthetics, Eco friendliness, Health benefits)
History of earth construction
Pise (Rammed Earth)
Mud Brick
Wattle and Daub
Cob
Cinva Ram
Cement Stabilisation
Bituminous stabilisation
Mortar
Variations in Earth Building Techniques
Appropriate Soils for Earth Construction
Finding Resources
How to make a mud brick
Testing and working with different soils
Soil Tests
Steps in making a brick
Plasticity Soil Test
Cake Soil Test
Compression Tests
Brick Size
Brick Weights
Moulds
Binding Materials
Mixing Mud
Treating Bricks after they are Cast
Stacking Bricks
Troubleshooting
Planning and Site Works
Choosing Building Materials
Timber (Characteristics, Selection)
Adhesives
Plastics
Masonary, Bricks and Concrete
Insulation Materials
Selecting a Building Site
Solar House Design
General Principles of Building Design
Impact of Buildings on Health
Dangerous Building Materials (Awareness and factors)
Legal Considerations
Building Regulations (Variations between jurisdictions)
What might be regulated
Types of Permits
Building Codes
Foundations
Strip Foundations
Slab Foundations
Specialist Engineering Advice
Rock and Rubble Foundations
Problems to Avoid
Sealing Foundations
Other Options (Masonary pillars, timber pylons)
Earth Floors
Laying Bricks
Damp Proof Course
Methods for laying bricks
Making mud mortar
Laying mortar
Bonding
Reinforcing Walls
Doors, Windows and Roofs
Roofing Options
Thatching
Bark (for sheds)
Tiles
Fibreglass sheet
Shingles (timber or slate)
Mud brick domes
Steel sheet
Hessian soaked in concrete
Earth/sod
Roof Pitch
Roof Weight
Roof Gardens
Doors and Windows
Lintels
Fixing, Joinery and Plugs
Ceilings
Timber Finishes
Slab Floors
Supported Floors
Floor Surfaces
Finishes
Wall Finishes
Whitewash
Bondcrete
Dagga
Lineed Oil
House Paints
Natural Loam Render
Cement Render (Plaster)
Latex Paint Render
Other Options
Floor Finishes
Applying Paints and Renders
Natural Healthy Paints
Making Lime Wash Paints
Problems with Lime Wash
Aly’s Clay Paint
Tallow and Lime Based Coating
Using Commercial Paints
Timber Treatments
Services
Electricity
Water
Gas
Toilet
Working with Eartyh Walls
Plumbing
Electricity Supply Systems (Turbines, generators, batteries, Solar Cells, etc)
Safety with Electricity
Electro Magnetic Radiation (Managing EMR)
Terminology
Other types of Earth Building
Making Rammed Earth Walls
How to Build Forms
Tampers (Hand and air)
Rammed Earth Construction
Wattle and Daub
Sod Buildings
Cob
Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.
Aims
Discuss the nature and scope of Mud Brick construction
Identify the legal considerations which need to be met when building in mud.
Determine the requirement for foundations for a mud construction.
Determine options for building doors, windows and roofs into a mud building
Analyze options for coating or finishing the surface of a mud wall or other mud construction.
Compare options for providing water, electricity or any other required services in a mud building.
Describe a variety of mud construction techniques other than mud brick.
What You Will Do
Get together a sample of earth which you might like to use to make mud bricks. This earth might be on a property where you wish to build a mud brick house, or it might be from a friend's property. Collect earth from at least a few inches below the soil.
Find different types of soil. Give your assessment on the suitability of each for making mud bricks. Send a sample of each soil type along with your assessment of it's suitability for making mud bricks.
Using different types of soil make test mud bricks. One mud brick should be made with each type of soil plus straw. Make another brick out of each type of soil without straw.
Visit or contact your local council's building department. Find out from them where you can obtain a copy of `Standard Specifications' from.
Explain step by step how you would go about putting down a concrete strip foundation for a small single story mud brick workshop.
Lots more (These are just some examples of what you may do)
Mud brick building is also known by the alternative name `adobe'. There are other ways of building with mud apart from `adobe'. These will be considered briefly in this course. Of all the mud building techniques, `adobe' or `mud brick' is the most foolproof. For the novice, there is not a lot which can go wrong if you choose to build with `adobe'.
ADVANTAGES OF MUD BRICK CONSTRUCTIONS
There are several major attractions associated with earth buildings:
Cost Savings
Earth building can be a very cheap way of building. This is not necessarily always the case however. If you become too ambitious in your plans and design a building full of cathedral ceilings and stained glass, you are likely to find that any savings you might make by using mud are offset in the added expense of these features).
Self Satisfaction
Earth building can be so very simple that (with adobe at least) a beginner can attempt and successfully build his own home. The self satisfaction to be obtained from building your own home should not be underrated.
Aesthetics
Earth buildings have an appearance which is very unique. Many people build out of mud simply because they like the look of it.
ECO Friendliness
Earth is a natural material that can create a more environmentally friendly building. If done properly it can place less demand on planetary resources than other types of construction both in the actual building and in the running costs (eg. You are not chopping down trees to build, or burning fuel to create bricks. Thick earth walls are great for insulation, reducing heating and cooling costs).
Human Health
If done properly an earth building can be constructed with less use of toxins. You may not need pesticides to control termites. You may not need so many plastics, adhesives and other building materials that emit toxins into the air. An earth building can however be dusty if not constructed properly; and that can lead to problems with dust mites, allergies etc.
When it comes to making an earth building people friendly, you do need to pay attention to how things are constructed. Just because it’s an earth building does not mean it is automatically going to be a healthier place for you to live in.
Two of the most common types of `earth building' are:
<!--[if !supportLists]--> <!--[endif]-->Adobe (i.e. mud brick) involves making bricks (i.e. blocks) out of mud; allowing them to dry and then laying them to form a wall; the same way that any other type of brick would be laid.
<!--[if !supportLists]--> <!--[endif]-->Pise (i.e. rammed earth) involves forming a framework to encase the earth (i.e. two timber walls are built perhaps 300 mm or so apart) with the ramming earth between these two boards. Once one section of wall is completed, the framework can be moved higher and another section of wall built.
