Adobe cla

Loading Video Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. Free bonus plugins:. True classics stand the test of time. Chris Lord-Alge is a true classic. Over the course of a career spanning almost three decades, he has worked alongside many artists who are classics in their own right. Green Day. Dave Matthews Band. Tim McGraw.

Brian Setzer. Peter Frampton. Tina Turner. Rod Stewart. Today's adobe is sometimes made with an asphalt emulsion added to help with waterproofing properties. A mixture of Portland cement and lime may also be added. In parts of Latin America, fermented cactus juice is used for waterproofing. Although the material itself is naturally unstable, an adobe wall can be load bearing, self-sustaining, and naturally energy efficient. Adobe walls are often thick, forming a natural insulation from the environmental heat that creates and sustains the material.

Today's commercial adobe is sometimes kiln-dried, although purists may call these "clay bricks. If the brick is mechanically compressed, the adobe mixture needs less moisture and the bricks can be used almost immediately, although purists may call these "compressed earth bricks.

In the United States, the word a dobe is said with the accent on the second syllable and the last letter pronounced, as in "ah-DOE-bee.

It is a Spanish word that does not originate in Spain. Meaning "the brick," the phrase at-tuba comes from Arabic and Egyptian languages. As Muslims migrated across northern Africa and into the Iberian Peninsula, the phrase was transformed into a Spanish word after the eighth century CE.

The word entered our English language through the colonization of America by Spain after the 15th century. The word is widely used in the southwestern United States and Spanish speaking countries.

Like the building material itself, the word is ancient, going back to the creation of language—derivations of the word have been seen in ancient hieroglyphics. Compressed Earth Blocks CEBs resemble adobe, except they usually do not contain straw or asphalt, and they generally are more uniform in size and shape.

When adobe is NOT formed into bricks, it's called puddled adobe, and is used like the mud material in cob houses. The material is mixed and then thrown in lumps to gradually create an earthen wall, where the mixture dries in place. In the Natural Building Blog , Dr. Owen Geiger, Director of the Geiger Research Institute of Sustainable Building , contends that Indigenous groups in America used puddled adobe before the Spanish introduced adobe brick-making methods.

Adobe is resilient if well-maintained. One of the oldest known structures in the U. Preservationists at the National Park Service of the U. Department of the Interior provide guidance on historic preservation, and their Preservation of Historic Adobe Buildings Preservation Brief 5 published in August has been the gold standard for keeping this building material maintained.

Constant monitoring of deterioration sources, including the breakdown of mechanical systems like leaky plumbing, is the most important part of maintaining an adobe structure.

Problems usually have more than one source, but the most common are 1 poor building, design, and engineering techniques; 2 too much rainwater, ground water, or watering of surrounding vegetation; 3 wind erosion from windblown sand; 4 plants taking root or birds and insects living within the adobe walls; and 5 previous repairs with incompatible building materials.

To maintain historic and traditional adobe, its best to know traditional methods of construction so that repairs can be compatible. For example, true adobe bricks must be assembled with a mud mortar of properties similar to the adobe. You can't use cement mortar because it's too hard — that is, the mortars cannot be stronger than the adobe brick, according to preservationists.

Foundations are often constructed of masonry red brick or stone. Adobe walls are load-bearing and thick, sometimes braced with buttresses. Roofs are usually wooden and laid flat, with horizontal rafters covered with other materials.

The familiar vigas projecting through the adobe walls are really the timber parts of the roof. Traditionally, the roof was used as additional living space, which is why wooden ladders are often propped up alongside an adobe home.

After the railroads enabled the transport of building materials to the American Southwest, other roof types e. Adobe brick walls, once in place, are usually protected by applying a variety of substances.

Before an exterior siding is applied, some contractors may spray on insulation for added thermal protection—a dubious practice in the long term if it allows the bricks to retain moisture.

Since adobe is an ancient building method, traditional surface coatings may include substances that seem odd to us today, such as fresh animal blood. More common sidings include:.

Like all architecture, construction materials and methods of building have a shelf-life. Preservationists recommend following these general rules:. Since the first Earth Day, people from all walks of life have found a calling advocating for natural building methods that will help save the earth.

Earth-based products are naturally sustainable—you are building with the materials that surround you—and energy efficient. The folks at Adobe is not Software are just one of many groups in the Southwest devoted to promoting the benefits of adobe construction through training. They offer hands-on workshops on both making adobe and building with adobe. Adobe is more than software even in the high-tech world of southern California.

Most of the largest commercial manufacturers of adobe brick are in the American Southwest. Both Arizona Adobe Company and the San Tan AdobeCompany are located in Arizona, a state rich in the raw materials needed to manufacture the building material.

New Mexico Earth Adobes has been producing traditionally made bricks since Shipping costs can be more than product costs, however, which is why architecture made with adobe is mostly found in this region. It takes thousands of adobe bricks to construct a modest-sized home.

Although adobe is an ancient method of construction, most building codes tend to focus on post-industrial processes. A traditional building method like building with adobe has become non-traditional in today's world.