Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The mixture is then allowed to dry in the desired shape. Usually adobe is shaped into bricks that can be stacked to form walls. [3] Various claims are made about the optimal proportions of clay and sand (or larger aggregate). Some say that the best adobe soil contains 15% - 30% clay to bind the material together.
Mud, cob, adobe, clay, and many other names are historically used synonymously to mean a mixture of subsoil and water possibly with the addition of stones, gravel, straw, lime, and/or bitumen. This material was used a variety of ways to build walls , floors and even roofs .
The clay percentage may be reduced by adding sand, if available. [21] If there is more than 15% clay it may take more than 10% cement to stabilize the soil, which adds to the cost. [20] If earth contains little clay and holds 10% or more cement, it is in effect concrete.
Bousillage (bouzillage, [1] bousille, bouzille) is a mixture of clay and grass or other fibrous substances used as the infill (chinking) between the timbers of a half-timbered building. This material was commonly used by 18th-century French colonial settlers in the historical New France region of the United States and is similar to the material ...
A compressed earth block (CEB), also known as a pressed earth block or a compressed soil block, is a building material made primarily from an appropriate mix of fairly dry inorganic subsoil, non-expansive clay, sand, and aggregate. Forming compressed earth blocks requires dampening, mechanically pressing at high pressure, and then drying the ...
Clay based buildings usually come in two distinct types. One being when the walls are made directly with the mud mixture, and the other being walls built by stacking air-dried building blocks called mud bricks. Other uses of clay in building is combined with straws to create light clay, wattle and daub, and mud plaster.
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
The earth used for building ceramic houses is essentially a type of adobe with a higher clay content and fewer impurities. The earth and water are mixed until the substance has "the consistency of bread dough" [3] The clay/earth mixture is worked into forms, and the blocks dry over a period of one to two weeks.