Once a few test bricks are made you can test them for compressive strength and at the same time for modulus of rupture by dropping them from knee height. Once stacked they should dry/cure for four weeks before use. Then stack them out of the way so that you can make more bricks. On edge they need about a week of drying. If they don't like to balance on edge, do a herring bone pattern with them touching each other to stay up. As soon as they can be turned on edge, turn them on edge. Let the bricks dry in the sun for a day or two. When the form is lifted, if the bricks slump down, then just put them back in the wheelbarrow or mixer and add more dirt to stiffen it up.With adobe there is always a second chance. With one form which has to be pulled right away to get ready for the next load, then the adobe mud needs to be stiffer. Worldwide most folks only have enough wood to make one form for four adobes and that is just about the amount that comes out of a worldwide standard wheelbarrow. It can be pretty slurpy if you have enough forms so that you can leave mud in them overnight to start drying and then pull the forms the next day. And that judgement comes quickly after several tries. The best measure of water is your judgement of what is workable. I would have just gone up the wadi and gotten sand and forgotten about Pharaoh's straw. Too much clay and the bricks crack and that is when you need straw and that got widely publicized by Moses up in Egypt. The best test is to make some test bricks. The jar test is rarely straightforward and easy to read. Q: What is the best mix for good adobe blocks?Ī: Mainly you want 30% clay or less. His website,, lists the course schedule and many other resources related to working with adobe. In the fall of 1995 he establishedĪnd taught the full-time Adobe Construction Program at Northern New MexicoĬommunity College. More, Quentin moved into professional solar adobe construction in 1976Īs the Project Manager and Instructor for the Sundwellings Demonstration Later, he traveled a bit, went through theĪrmy, and graduated eventually from the University of New Mexico withĪ major in physics, minors in math, chemistry, and education in 1970.Īfter teaching high school two years and community college math for three By age thirteen he made full-sized adobes in the back Sheets in his mothers oven in order to construct house models forĪ class assignment. In the fifth grade, he made miniature adobes on cookie Up in the South Valley of Albuquerque, New Mexico where he watched adobeīricks being made. Add some mortar if needed to make the patch even with the rest of the wall.Associates, specializes in solar adobe design and construction. It may be necessary to remove some good brick to have a good surface to apply new bricks and mortar.Īpply some mortar to the brick and insert it into the wall. Scrape out and remove deteriorated parts of bricks or whole bricks. Make or buy adobe bricks to replace whole bricks or a substantial amount of one. Scrape out deteriorated brick and patch it with adobe mortar, if the deteriorated part is small. Plaster over the repaired area with adobe plaster. Use a trowel to fill in the joint with mortar. Spray the bricks around the joint you are repairing with water to get it a little wet. You'll also need some adobe plaster, which is a little dryer than the mortar. Make adobe mortar using the same adobe mixture that makes the bricks although a little wetter. Scrape mortar out of the joint to a depth of two or three times the width of the mortar joint. Remove loose or deteriorated adobe mortar from the joint between the bricks. Spray the area you are going to patch with water to get it a little wet.Ĭoat the area with the plaster until you fill out any depressions and cracks match the preexisting plaster.
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