AdobeandHeritageProject/CommunityLearningNetwork/NewMexico

All about...Adobe!

In more modern English usage, the term "adobe" has come to include a style of building and architecture popular in the desert climates of North America, especially in New Mexico.

Adobe or "mud brick," is a building material made from earth and often organic material.

In dry climates, adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for some of the oldest existing buildings in the world. Adobe buildings offer significant advantages due to their greater thermal mass, and Adobe had been in use by indigenous peoples of the Americas in the Southwestern United States, Mesoamerica, and the Andean region of South America for several thousand years.

The Pueblo people of the Southwest built their adobe structures with handfuls or basketfuls of adobe, until the Spanish introduced them to making bricks. Adobe brickmaking was used in Spain from the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age, from the 8th century B.C. onwards. Its wide use can be attributed to its simplicity of design and manufacture, and the economy of creating it.[9]

Etymology

The word adobe /əˈdoʊbiː/ has existed for around 4,000 years

It came from the Middle Egyptian (c. 2000 BC) word dbt "mud brick."

As Middle Egyptian evolved into Late Egyptian, dj-b-t became tobe "[mud] brick." This was borrowed into Arabic as al tob, tuba, or Al-ţŭb.(الطّوب al "the" + ţŭb. "brick") "[mud] brick," which was assimilated into Old Spanish as adobe [aˈdobe], still with the meaning "mud brick."

English borrowed the word from Spanish in the early 18th century.

Composition

An adobe brick is made of earth mixed with water and an organic material such as straw or dung.

The soil composition typically contains sand, silt and clay. Straw is useful in binding the brick together and allowing the brick to dry evenly, thereby preventing cracking due to uneven shrinkage rates through the brick.

Recipe - According to some, the most desirable soil texture for producing the mud of adobe is:

15% clay
10-30% silt
55-75% fine sand

Want to read MORE on adobe and architectural conservation?

Visit Ed Crocker's bookshelf, for a list of recommended readings:
www.crockerltd.net/bookshelf.htm

Types

Cob - Poured and puddled adobe (puddled clay, piled earth) is called cob. Cob is made by placing and shaping soft adobe in layers by hand, rather than making dried bricks or using a form. These are the oldest methods of building with adobe in the Americas until holes in the ground were used as forms and later the Spanish introduced wooden forms to make bricks.

Bricks - Bricks are often made in an open frame of 25 by 36 cm (10 by 14 in). The mixture is molded into a frame, and then the frame is removed after initial setting. After drying a few hours, the bricks are turned on edge to finish drying. Slow drying in shade reduces cracking. Depending on the form into which the mixture is pressed, adobe can encompass nearly any shape or size, provided drying is even and the mixture includes reinforcement for larger bricks.

Reinforcement can include manure, straw, cement, rebar or wooden posts. Experience has shown straw, cement, or manure added to a standard adobe mixture can all produce a stronger, more crack-resistant brick.

Mortar - The same mixture, without straw, is used to make mortar and often plaster on interior and exterior walls. Some ancient cultures used lime-based cement for the plaster to protect against rain damage.

Information care of online resources inlcuding Wikipedia

Adobe & Heritage Project

All about...Adobe!