rammed earth construction

right now we’re in the process of hiring a surveyor for soils tests and all things considered rammed-earth construction and super adobe. SOURCING, ANALYZING, and TESTING of the SUBSOIL will determine the feasibility of our design.

what’s beautiful about rammed earth is once the wall is set to cure, then revealed, it doesn’t need  a finish or additional maintenance like coating; it simply exists in a pure state.  in this diagram, you see the process of rammed earth in 5 stages, more or less. in step one, after the soil has been tested, a mixture of sand, gravel, clay, and concrete is made. the frame work is built in this stage, and a layer of moist earth is filled in.

in the second step, a pneumatic tamper compresses the first layer of moist earth. in the third step, successively, layers of moist earth are added and compressed until you reach the top of your formwork, flush and smoothed out. in the final step, the rammed earth is set to cure and then the framework is removed. at times, it may take up to two years for the rammed earth to cure, creating a solid rock termites can’t even bother with. in addition, gorgeous visible layers of the earth’s composition punctuate a beautiful design.

of course, in a perfect world there would be no cons to this process. so here comes a dose of reality.  rammed earth equipment needs to be brought on-site. that process can be both costly and loud. despite the fact that in the long run rammed earth is highly sustainable, noise is a major disruptive issue to the community and ecosystem. rammed earth can work if we schedule the pneumatic compression time to be done during the time patients aren’t being seen, and for it to occur over the shortest period of time. the skilled workers we chosse to use will need to have to undergone a specific amount of training to ensure this process occurs in a timely manner; and before hand, a village meeting would need to be held, to ensure residents are okay with the noise that will be made. it would be nice to be able to provide job opportunities to this village. offering training to those who are willing will be win-win situation, offering the residents another opportunity to strengthen its dynamic as a community.

the place for building materials and construction in Uganda is called Depo. they offer the type of training we are thinking about, however, we didn’t come across rammed-earth or adobe as a technique commonly implemented, if at all. any ideas, blog world?

check out Tanglefoot, consultants who have mastered the execution of rammed-earth in both conventional and non-conventional ways. it would be great to partner with them, and see if they’d be interested in training a construction team out here who already has a reputation for excellent work…

this is an up-close shot of a gorgeous rammed-earth wall; and how you can see the compacted soil layers... makes me want to touch it. wish i was there.

and lastly, this video is a glimpse of what the rammed-earth process looks like. my initial response was, why the music? i guess i like the sound of construction, the hammering of things… people working. enjoy :]

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