Build Your Own House Using Adobe

Written by Vince Wheeler

Adobe

It’s amazing how mixing dirt (sand & clay), water, and straw can actually make bricks suitable for building a home. Adobe isn’t made with just one recipe. Just like your favorite chili recipe, everyone will have a different way of blending the main ingredients to create their own final product. Basically, if drop your blocks from about four feet and they break, you need more clay. If they crack while curing, you need more sand. Just like the recipe, the dimensions aren’t standard either. Maybe the only exception to this is New Mexico adobe bricks. I’ll discuss that in the next paragraph. Different parts of the planet and different intended purposes create a large variety of adobe bricks. Some bricks are used for building walls while others are for building things like ovens.
NOTE: There are two methods for creating modern adobe bricks. I won’t discuss those in too much detail because I doubt most will actually do this. It’s typically done by manufacturers of adobe bricks. The first brick is semi-stabilized bricks. These are created adding a 4-5% asphalt emulsion. They are water-proof, but typically still need a plaster coating to keep them from eroding. The second is fully stabilized brick. It’s made by adding 8-10% asphalt emulsion. They are perfectly find being left exposed to the elements. If you like the look of exposed adobe bricks, fully stabilized bricks are probably your best option.

The basics of making an adobe brick mold

This is a basic method. You can change the dimensions and materials to anything you want. Use this as a starting point. Do what you want! It’s your home and you’ll have to live in it.

Take the 2×4’s and stand them on their “skinny side”. This will give you a 4 inch tall brick. Cut more 2×4 pieces into 10 inch sections. Mark the inside dimensions with a pencil every 14 inches. Make sure you take the 2 inches of the 2×4 into account. A side note: the 2 inches in a 2×4 isn’t exactly 2 inches. Just use a scrap piece and mark your 14 inches, place the 2×4 scrap up to the line, then use your pencil to mark the beginning of the other brick form. You should be able to get a mold that produces six bricks. It will make life a little easier for you if you add some handles to the end to make picking the mold up easier between each batch.

If you have time, use a more wet mix and this will make your life easier. Let the bricks set in the form for a day. Each day, pull it off and make a new batch. If you are in a hurry, make a more dry mixture. This will allow you to pull the form off quicker. Regardless, let your bricks dry for 2-3 days, then stand them on their side to complete dry/cure. This should take about four weeks before you can use them to build.

New Mexico Adobe Bricks

In New Mexico, the Pueblo people who first settled the area, used pit-houses and rocks stacked into overhangs and caves to keep cool in the hot summer temperatures. Due to drought and other unknown reasons, the Pueblo moved closer to the Rio Grand and it’s tributaries. Their building methods evolved to use “puddled adobe”. Basically a mud that was laid down in layer to create walls. Similar to what we would call cob. Later as Spain conquered the southwest part of North America, they brought the traditional adobe bricks as we know them today. Historically the knowledge came out of Egypt as far back as 2000bc and worked it’s way around the world until the Spanish gave it the name “adobe”. The tradition dimensions of New Mexico adobe bricks are 10 inches wide, 14 inches long, and 4 inches tall (thick). They tend to weigh about thirty pounds each and are reasonably manageable by most people. About a ½ inch of adobe mixture is used as mortar to connect each layer of bricks.

Hornos Bricks

As Spain’s influence over the southwest region of North America came into being, Hornos were introduced. These are earthen ovens made using the adobe bricks. It’s believed that Spain got the idea of these ovens from the Moors. Hornos were introduced and used in almost all areas conquered by Spain. Although the Pueblo people used hornos and are often created for their design, they are strictly a Spanish introduction.

A hornos brick is made of a basic adobe mixture and formed into 5 inch wide, by 7 inch long, and 4 inch thick bricks. The first square below will take you to our article we wrote on earthen ovens. If you’re interested, check it out or one of the other choices.