How to Make an Adobe Home

An adobe home is a mud-brick house. The bricks are made of natural materials and dried in the sun. Adobe homes are common in dry climates. They are cool in the summer and warm in the winter. The style is especially popular in the American Southwest. You can build your own adobe home.

Things You'll Need

• Dirt
• Clay
• Water
• Straw
• Sticks
• Wood

Instructions

1. Gather your raw materials. Adobe is made from natural dirt. Ideally, this dirt should contain from 15 percent to 30 percent clay. The clay acts as a binding agent. Mix in some water. You need just enough to be able to mold the dirt into bricks. At this point, you may want to add some straw or small sticks. Adding straw or sticks is like adding steel rebar to concrete. All act to give additional strength to the building material.

2. Mold your adobe into bricks. You can do this completely by hand, or you can use a mold. A mold is a wooden frame the size of the brick. The mold should be open on both of the long sides. Pack in your adobe mixture and remove the frame afterward. Set the molded bricks in the sun to dry. Begin building your adobe home when you have a sufficient supply of hardened bricks.

3. Flatten the ground in the area where you plan to build your adobe home. The soil must be pressed down to take the weight of the walls. Adobe is quite heavy. Adobe walls will crack or sag if the foundation is not properly prepared.

4. Lay the bricks in the form of a wall. Pile one course on top of the other. Make sure to alternate courses: The bricks on one layer should overlap those of the layer below. Use the adobe mixture as mortar. Adobe walls must be much thicker than wooden walls. They will buckle and crack if not strong enough to support the weight placed on them. Make your ground floor walls about 2 feet thick. Leave spaces for windows and doors as you build. Continue building until you complete the walls of your adobe home.

5. Insert lintels made of wood in the adobe at the tops of windows and doors. Build your roof out of a framework of wooden beams. These can be poles in the style of the American Southwest. Cover the main poles with a network of smaller poles. Fill in the spaces with sticks. You do not need to cover the roof completely with the sticks. Spread adobe mixture over the covering of poles and sticks. Make sure adobe coats everything in a thick layer. Build the floor with adobe brick or adobe mixture. Make sure it is smooth and hard.

6. Coat the walls with adobe mixture, inside and out. This will help to keep out the wind and the rain. Heavy rains will require repairs because adobe is not waterproof. You also can add ornamental features to your adobe home. Many Southwestern houses feature curved pediments over their doors. They also may have additional curves at the roofline. You can mold adobe or adobe brick into these special shapes.

Tips & Warnings

• Experiment with the design of your adobe home. Adobe can be molded into almost any shape. Houses can be curved. Adobe can be incised and stamped with designs. You can also paint your home in different colors.

• Adobe homes are not suitable for wet climates. Torrential rains will ruin your house. Use burnt brick instead.