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The traditional adobe roof has been constructed using a mixture of soil/clay, water, sand and organic materials. The mixture was then formed and pressed into wood forms, producing rows of dried earth bricks that would then be laid across a support structure of wood and plastered into place with more adobe.
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 mixture is formed into blocks and left to dry. Meanwhile, a hole is dug where the new building is to be constructed and supporting poles are planted firmly in the ground to make a frame. When the blocks of adobe are dry and hard, they are laid around the building and bonded by wet clay, used as a cement.
The buildings have been inhabited for over 1,000 years and are constructed entirely out of straw, water, and the grounds of the earth to form a mixture called adobe.
Wall murals show that adobe production techniques were highly advanced in Egypt by 2500 BC. [11] Adobe construction is common throughout much of Africa today. [31] Adobe bricks are traditionally made from sand and clay mixed with water to a plastic consistency, with straw or grass as a binder.
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.
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