Adobe, a heavy clay soil used to make sun-dried bricks. The term, Spanish-Moorish in origin, also denotes the bricks themselves. Adobe house in Santa Fe, N.M. Adobe is a mixture of clay, sand, and silt with good plastic qualities that will dry to a hard uniform mass.

Adobe walls are load bearing, i.e. they carry their own weight into the foundation rather than by another structure, hence the adobe must have sufficient compressive strength. In the United States, most building codes call for a minimum compressive strength of 300 lbf/in2 (2.07 newton/mm2) for the adobe block.

Adobe is essentially a dried mud brick, combining the natural elements of earth, water, and sun. It is an ancient building material usually made with tightly compacted sand, clay, and straw or grass mixed with moisture, formed into bricks, and naturally dried or baked in the sun without an oven or kiln.

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When mixed in the correct proportions, the resulting material is as strong and durable as concrete, but with absolutely no additional energy needed for production, except the man- (or woman-) power to harvest and mix the ingredients, of course.

Do adobe houses burn? Fire, Pest and Mold Resistant: Adobes are fire, sound and bug resistant. Earthen walls do not burn, they are dense and solid to discourage insects, and they “breathe” easily so they are mold resistant and promote healthy indoor air-quality.

The light-colored adobe walls reflect and absorb the sun’s energy during the daytime, which keeps the interior of the home cool. Three other benefits of traditional adobe houses are they are naturally fire- and pest-resistant and provide excellent acoustic properties.

The concept behind building with adobe is that adobe walls have enough thermal mass to absorb heat during the day and release it at night thus keeping the home at a fairly stable temperature year round.

What’s more plentiful or inexpensive than dirt and sunshine? As a green-building bonus, adobe’s mass helps keep buildings naturally cool in summer and warm in winter, reducing the need for air conditioning and heat.

Adobe is very hard, but it does erode a little in the rain and need to be repaired every so often. At least a couple times per year… sometimes violently… and over a millennium that’s a lot of rain! Mostly because the roofs are made of a more waterproof material, and they overhang beyond the edges of the walls.

How is cob different from adobe? The most basic difference is that adobe is formed into rectangular bricks which are dried in the sun before being used, while cob is built wet. Cob therefore lends itself to organic shapes: curved walls, arches and vaults.

Adobe is one of the oldest building materials in the world. Though it has ancient roots, it continues to be used across the globe today. Some people still make adobe bricks and construct their homes using traditional methods.

Adobe construction is also quite cheap because it only requires a modest amount of labor to construct, and the labor involved in building an adobe home from smaller bricks is not excessively demanding.

while quite strong, are not waterproof and will not meet Uniform Building Code requirements. Burnt adobe bricks are also used in some areas. These are simply kiln-fired adobe bricks. They are attractive and durable but extremely absorbent, and will flake severely in areas where frost is a problem.

Costs for owner-built projects start at a low of $55 per square foot, using salvaged and saved materials, a simple design and a few custom touches. As one adds features, a more realistic figure might be $85.

The Adobe House was a typical structure used as a house style that was built by the Pueblo, Zuni and Hopi tribes of the Southwest cultural group who inhabited the desert climates of New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas.

Building a Modern Adobe Style Home with ICF Blocks. An ideal wall system for a modern Adobe style home would be an insulated concrete form (ICF) wall assembly. The design flexibility of ICF Blocks allows for the thick, round-edged walls of an Adobe style home.

Adobe has been used for centuries around the world. Building codes in the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas now include adobe as an accepted building material, with restrictions.